Captain Canada has Portland on 3 team shortlist?

[jhern87]

Portland could have 18 million in space

at least, that's what it was before the ruling about Hickson's bird rights. Counting his cap-hold gives the Blazers 12 million in space...

...which I'd assume would be mostly eaten up by a Nash salary

seems like a real short-term gain for the cap-space. But it would be fun to watch Nash in a Blazer uni. I'm kind of torn on the notion

one thing that's positive about this: if Toronto is focused on getting Nash, they won't be going after Batum early in the summer

So we can get something like
Nash / Nolan
Mathews / Williams
Batum / Claver
Aldridge / Freeland
Hickson

And hopefully Freeland too! Hopefully we bring Joel over.. I'd like to see him in summer league if possible. It's not the best place to scout a big man but I'd like to see him against some NBA caliber talent. Same with Claver, I feel they're both ready to come over.

That lineup would flat out be able to RUN.

[Mr Odd]

Nash playing as a Blazer would make me implode with
joy. Sure it would be messy, leave stains all over the
rug but NASH WOULD BE A BLAZER!! Also having Nash
on the team might help us draw other players in.. .

[PDXKnight]

Nash is a short-term solution, Dragic is a REAL long-term solution. That's why I want Goran 9 times out of 10.

I love when people capitalize words like "REAL" in these sorts of sentences. We have zero idea if Dragic is a long-term, short-term, or no-term solution because he has only performed at a decent level for about 35 games in his career. He is young, and if he is indeed as good as he showed during the 35 games, then he could be a REAL long-term solution. And even with a career high last year, his PER was still 2 points behind Nash's career average, which Nash pretty much hit last year as well. So what you REALLY have to conclude about Dragic is:

1. He showed some promise over a limited sample last season
2. That sample still doesn't put him among the elite PGs in the league
3. Houston says they absolutely want to keep him
4. Therefore in order to get him you'll have to give him a ridiculously expensive long-term contract with basically a 35 game stretch of a strike-shortened that may or may not pan out, depending on whether his small burst on the scene can be maintained going forward four or five seasons, and finally...
5. Even if he does maintain that pace, he's not going to be an elite PG in the league and thus the best you can likely expect is a solid to good starter at an all star salary.

It's the same situation reversed as we face with Batum. Like Batum, locking him up long-term at the price it will take to convice Houston not to match has incredible downside but not a huge amount of upside.

I have no doubt we'd have to overpay for Dragic, but I think he was legit over his last 35 games and I'd be willing to take a gamble on that if I were the GM. Dragic could only improve barring injury and Nash is gonna be in decline (and has been in decline in the last few seasons). I don't think Dragic is gonna be an all-star and yes he will be costly, but sometimes salaries aren't the biggest issue. If we gave Dragic a 4 year frontloaded deal with a signing bonus like we did with Wesley Matthews, our rookies' RFA contracts won't damage our cap situation plus since we won't have much capspace beyond this season until LA expires (and hopefully by then we won't have cap space considering that would mean we will have extended LA's deal) we can afford to overspend a bit for Dragic. It doesn't seem like offering Dragic a big deal would put the Blazers at risk of hitting lux tax territory so unless we can draw in another major target this off season, it would seem that we have nothing to lose by giving Goran an oversized contract. The biggest factor should be what gives the Blazers the best shot at a title and I don't think Nash will give us better odds than Dragic unless we trade the picks for an established star, in which case signing Nash would make perfect sense.

[mojomarc]

I guess my issue, Oden, is that I don't think either will get us a title. We are so far away from a title that no mid-grade PG will get us there. We'll be lucky to make the playoffs next season. The question is: we need to have *something* there playing the point, so which mediocre option costs the least and gives you the most flexibility once the overall talent level is good enough that we can actually think about deep playoff runs? I think that ain't Dragic. Once our talent level improves in 2-3 seasons, we'll be stuck with an expensive mediocrity for another 2-3 seasons that we can't easily move. I think that's a recipe for us treading water for a long, long time.

[PDXKnight]

I guess my issue, Oden, is that I don't think either will get us a title. We are so far away from a title that no mid-grade PG will get us there. We'll be lucky to make the playoffs next season. The question is: we need to have *something* there playing the point, so which mediocre option costs the least and gives you the most flexibility once the overall talent level is good enough that we can actually think about deep playoff runs? I think that ain't Dragic. Once our talent level improves in 2-3 seasons, we'll be stuck with an expensive mediocrity for another 2-3 seasons that we can't easily move. I think that's a recipe for us treading water for a long, long time.

If we're far away from a title then there's no sense in signing somebody like Nash. The thing about the NBA though is that a lot can change fast as soon as teams decide to rip their talent apart and rebuild. My hope is that we can find one of those teams this off season but it seems like the Blazers are in a unique situation where there aren't many teams looking to trade stars right now unlike when KG and Ray Allen were on a market. Our best hope is that the Celtics decide to rebuild and we get Rondo for our picks if we're gonna try to win it all soon but of course if it would draw Nash in, somebody like Iguadala might make sense if the price is right. Heck even Joe Johnson might not be all that crazy of an idea if every other FA option falls apart and Atlanta gets anxious to get rid of his contract. If all else fails, I think this draft is about building assets so that we can acquire that guy next to LA when the time is ripe.

[marsblazer]

If we end up retaining Batum, Hickson, drafting Lillard/Drummond, signing Nash and getting Sloan as a coach color me very very excited for next season.

agreed...except for sloan(who i would definately be ok with, just not my 1st choice)

[mojomarc]

I guess my issue, Oden, is that I don't think either will get us a title. We are so far away from a title that no mid-grade PG will get us there. We'll be lucky to make the playoffs next season. The question is: we need to have *something* there playing the point, so which mediocre option costs the least and gives you the most flexibility once the overall talent level is good enough that we can actually think about deep playoff runs? I think that ain't Dragic. Once our talent level improves in 2-3 seasons, we'll be stuck with an expensive mediocrity for another 2-3 seasons that we can't easily move. I think that's a recipe for us treading water for a long, long time.

If we're far away from a title then there's no sense in signing somebody like Nash.

Sure there is. Nash makes our crappy talent better. Additionally, he is a scorer as much as he is a distributor, which takes pressure off of LMA so he won't wear himself into the ground so quickly. And finally, having Nash allows us to teach guys like Batum and LMA how to really run a fast break, really spread the floor, and really move to get open, things that will prove very valuable once we make it to the playoffs again.

[hondaaccord]

I think the Blazers could win a championship in two years. The Phoenix Suns went from a .354 winning percentage to back to back WCFs. This Suns team was only 5 players deep

Nash
Johnson
Richardson
Marion
Amare

Washed up Jim Jackson and rookie Barbosa are the only other players of any note, and the rest of the roster was D-League level. IF

Semi-realistic Dream Blazers next year:

Core:
Nash
Matthews
Batum
Aldridge
#6

Bench:
S. Williams
#11
E. WIlliams
Freeland
Thomas
Claver

Situational:
Babbit
#40

Inactives:
Smith
#41

No way we could afford Hickson if we get Nash and keep Batum.

I feel like it is plausible that this team wins a championship. Not very likely, sure, but there is a slim chance they have it in them.

[SoHo]

I love the idea of signing Nash. He is an impact player and he has interest in playing for Portland. It doesn't get much better than that. (Unless Paul Allen has been working on brainwash technology to use on Deron Williams).

Yes his best years are behind him, he isn't a long term answer, and it's possible his body doesn't last the contract we give him. I find all those risks acceptable.

Short-term we're a playoff team and all our players overachieve because he's here, that's a win to me. I would even argue that Nash improves our long term outlook as well. Any rookies we draft this year will likely play much better as a result and be useful much earlier in their careers.

Better yet, if it doesn't work out all our players are going to look a heck of a lot better while he's here and we can trade them off above market value. (I'm looking at you Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire). Of course this assumes Olshey isn't Pritchard 2.0 and knows how to make a trade (I think he does...)

[BlazersRizing]

I dont understand why Nash would pick the Blazers honestly. makes no sense.

[cucad8]

I dont understand why Nash would pick the Blazers honestly. makes no sense.

$$$
No mention of any good team in those 3. So I would assume it's more from an agent than from him. Why let it out before free agency that you're going to take MLE to play for Miami, Chicago, NY, when you can get them thinking they need to work out a S&T and pay more for him.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Well Portland is as close to home as possible for him in the NBA since he's from British Columbia so it makes sense. That's why I laugh when Toronto fans reason that he'll pick them over anyone else because he wants to "play at home." That's like me saying Demar Derozan and Ed Davis will leave Toronto for Portland so that they can "play at home."

I was wondering why Portland was on his list. This may be the reasoning behind it.

[flitz]

I think it would be great to have Steve Nash playing for Portland for a while.
One thing is that our incoming draftees would most likely really benefit from a veteran presence at PG. But it could be especially good for LMA. Playing at least a season with Nash would probably really shape his game further and that effect would even go beyond a possible Nash-era.
He could bring such experience into later him<->PG duos.

All aside from the fact that it would be just pure fun to watch.
(yes I'm a fan )

[Daddy Forest]

So to my understanding, if we were to pursue Nash and sign him as a free agent, we could still sign Batum and Hickson and be over the cap because we have their bird rights... am I right?

Nash/Lillard/Smith
Matthews/Williams
Batum/Babbitt
LMA/(#40 or FA minimum)
Hickson/Drummond/Thomas

All of that doesn't sound too bad.
Between LMA, Hickson, Drummond, and fillers they could hold down the post. I also think our backcourt looking like this is solid.

And this year I think Luke Babbitt gains some confidence like Martell Webster should have..

got a little off track but I would personally be stoked if Captain Canada came to Portland I'm all in!

[Daddy Forest]

Nash is going to be better than Dragic next year and he'll probably be less expensive too. NASH

[Wizenheimer]

So to my understanding, if we were to pursue Nash and sign him as a free agent, we could still sign Batum and Hickson and be over the cap because we have their bird rights... am I right?

Nash/Lillard/Smith
Matthews/Williams
Batum/Babbitt
LMA/(#40 or FA minimum)
Hickson/Drummond/Thomas

All of that doesn't sound too bad.
Between LMA, Hickson, Drummond, and fillers they could hold down the post. I also think our backcourt looking like this is solid.

And this year I think Luke Babbitt gains some confidence like Martell Webster should have..

got a little off track but I would personally be stoked if Captain Canada came to Portland I'm all in!

with the new ruling from the arbitration (pending NBA appeal), the Blazers now own bird rights on JJ hickson. If/when Portland extends a QO to Hickson, his cap-hold becomes 250% of last years salary of $2,354,537 - a shade less then 5.9 million

add that to the rest of Portland's salary charges and their available cap-space is around 10-11 million. If they use the stretch amnesty on S.Williams, it comes in close to 13 million.

That won't leave much available after signing Nash. Maybe Portland, if they want, can get Hickson signed fast and create more space, as my guess is he'll get in the 3-5 million range. He should not get more, in my view

the 1st problem I see with your scenario is that I think the chances of Portland landing both Drummond & Lillard are remote, at best

Even if they did, Drummond will not be ready to be a starting C, meaning the Blazers would have none unless they signed a vet minimum player.

the combined cap-holds of Batum and Hickson are a problem in my view, especially Hickson's. That means that between Aldridge, Hickson, Kurt Thomas & Babbitt, the Blazers are eating up 24 million in cap-space on essentially PF's

Nash is going to be better than Dragic next year and he'll probably be less expensive too. NASH

the first thing is I don't give a whole lot of credence to this rumor. It may be true that Nash would consider Portland. It's the closest NBA venue to his home, and the city may fit his lifestyle well. But the rumors are fast & furious this time of year and I doubt that even 1 in 3 have any basis in fact

but if Nash is interested in being a Blazer, I think it will take a big offer to seal the deal. It could easily take every bit of Portland's cap-space if the Blazers don't renounce Hickson, My guess is that Nash will require a higher starting salary then Dragic...perhaps 2-3 million higher. And if it's a 3 year deal for Nash vs a 4 year deal for Dragic, there may be little difference in contract size

[Fitz303]

If we were to sign Nash (even if it were all of our cap space), draft Drummond/Lillard (possible if NOH ends up going with Rivers or Leonard/Zeller), draft O'Quinn in the 2nd, bring over Claver and Freeland, and re-sign Batum and Hickson, I would be very happy with that offseason

Nash/ Lillard/ Smith
Matthews/ Williams
Batum/ Claver/ Babbitt
Aldridge/ Freeland/ O'Quinn
Hickson/ Drummond/ Thomas

Just let me dream...

[JasonStern]

nash would have been amazing two seasons ago with aldridge, wallace, camby, and at times roy.

right now, he's an interesting option. he'd instantly make everyone else on the team better, which few players can do. presuming no injuries, he'd also be a nice trade asset should the blazers be unable to compete. but realistically, nash only makes sense if portland flips the picks for a proven player.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Joel Freeland may be the key to whether Portland resigns JJ Hickson. According to the RealGM Wiretap, the Blazers are overseas to watch him play today. Perhaps we'll know more in the next day or two as to whether Freeland fits into the Blazers plans next season. If so, they may not resign Hickson.

[SwaggWagg]

http://twitter.com/WolstatSun/status/216525821035282432

Ryan Wolstat‏

@WolstatSun

More updated Nash intel: Belief is Brooklyn is third team with Phoenix, Toronto in serious hunt (assuming Deron leaves), not Portland

6:39 AM - 23 Jun 12 via UberSocial for BlackBerry