Roy Hibbert - Indy says they will match/offer same terms.

[mojomarc]

maybe Barton had a bad day. Or maybe he's just slow and that's why he dropped out of the first round. I'm not saying those times are critical. Maybe Barton is crafty-slow. But I think they are a definite caution sign

Well, part of the reason I'm so high on him is the guy is a flat out baller. A good article (that I agree with) is http://wagesofwins.com/2012/06/13/under ... ll-barton/. They talk about his strength, but notice there really isn't a question of his athleticism. In fact, NBADraft.net lists his athleticism as a strength and comments (which matches my observations watching game video) "once he gets past you he's at the rim in a hurry" and Draftexpress talks about how his athleticism bodes well for the next level. The guy has a lot of quickness, but it may not be the kind of quickness that shows up in agility drills but rather the herky jerky quickness that we used to love in Brandon, but his own style of it. And as you said--he could have had a bad day. Some players just mail in that part of the combine, and as you probably know the scouts said his competitive drill performance at the combine was very good indeed. Also, when you watch him I really like the way he plays off the ball--I think that will mesh very well with Lillard in the backcourt. He's not nearly so ball dominant as Brandon was, but he is a lot more versatile than someone like Matthews.

I'm not sure why he slipped. I hope I'm right when I say I think there are a number of teams in the late first and early second that will look at Barton a lot like Portland fans look at Blair or Faried. It will, however, take time. I'm not looking for Barton to necessarily be "the man" at SG until probably 2013-14. But I do think he has a great shot at getting there.

[GeraldWallace3]

I got quite a few responses but to answer them in a nutshell, I don't think you guys took the right thing from my post. I was mainly attempting to bring some form of subjectivity to the argument considering that it seems about 95 percent of you are gung ho sold on Hibbert. Would I like him? Yes. Are there other bigs who cost less and produce equal or more? Yes. (Gortat, Horford, ALDRIDGE, Garnett, Noah,Chandler, Faried, Monroe, Bogut, Lee, Griffin, Marc Gasol, Pekovich?, Cousins, Tim Duncan (likely going to make less), Ibaka, Favors?, Nene)

I think its ridiculous that most didn't want Okafor's contract but here many of you act as if this contract offer is out of this world. Again I wouldn't mind him on the team but I think if we signed someone like Humphries and either kept the cap space for future seasons or trades, we'd be all the better off for waiting. If you look earlier in the thread I mentioned how good Hibbert can be, I just am wondering what we might be able to do with the cap space otherwise. It certainly never hurts to have a bit of room to maneuver. Also if you recall, KP used to talk about keeping toxic contracts off the books and frankly I think there are better ways to deal with our talent situation other than offering a player who is riding off a playoff high a premium rate. Now I'm not saying it'd be a bad signing but I think its money that may be better spent.

...no. Hibbert>Gortat, Garnett, Chandler, Faried, Monroe, Bogut, Pekovitch, Duncan, ibaka, favors atleast right now. There is a reason Hibbert was an All STAR last season, and these guys weren't.

[PDXKnight]

I got quite a few responses but to answer them in a nutshell, I don't think you guys took the right thing from my post. I was mainly attempting to bring some form of subjectivity to the argument considering that it seems about 95 percent of you are gung ho sold on Hibbert. Would I like him? Yes. Are there other bigs who cost less and produce equal or more? Yes. (Gortat, Horford, ALDRIDGE, Garnett, Noah,Chandler, Faried, Monroe, Bogut, Lee, Griffin, Marc Gasol, Pekovich?, Cousins, Tim Duncan (likely going to make less), Ibaka, Favors?, Nene)

I think its ridiculous that most didn't want Okafor's contract but here many of you act as if this contract offer is out of this world. Again I wouldn't mind him on the team but I think if we signed someone like Humphries and either kept the cap space for future seasons or trades, we'd be all the better off for waiting. If you look earlier in the thread I mentioned how good Hibbert can be, I just am wondering what we might be able to do with the cap space otherwise. It certainly never hurts to have a bit of room to maneuver. Also if you recall, KP used to talk about keeping toxic contracts off the books and frankly I think there are better ways to deal with our talent situation other than offering a player who is riding off a playoff high a premium rate. Now I'm not saying it'd be a bad signing but I think its money that may be better spent.

...no. Hibbert>Gortat, Garnett, Chandler, Faried, Monroe, Bogut, Pekovitch, Duncan, ibaka, favors atleast right now. There is a reason Hibbert was an All STAR last season, and these guys weren't.

Making the all-star game means very little, its 90 percent a popularity contest. Also I think you're very sorely mistaken if you think Hibbert is better than all of these guys.

[d-train]

Hibberts per 36 is great, problem is he barely plays 30 minutes a game, doesnt look like he can go any more than that and is only 25 years old. It also means no more cap space for the foreseeable future, and we are relying on Damian Lillard to be our only ball handler/creator, and right now he is promising but still unsure. Basically just ask yourself if your willing to bet on us in the next 3 yrs with Lillard, Wes, Nic, LA and Hibbert as our lineup.

You want the ability to create cap space. You don't need cap space to happen on its own with the passage of time.

Right now, the Blazers have only 2 major commitments not counting what is going on with Hibbert. We are committed to LA and Matthews. LA’s contract is more than double Matthews’s contract but the contract that is a potential problem is Matthews because there is no market for it. But, that will probably change next year as we get to the final 2 years of his front loaded contract.

The Blazers have to make sure their commitments are with players that are game changers. As long as they do that, there will be a market for their players and they will always be able to create salary cap space if they want to enter the free agent market for players that require cap space.

[cucad8]

what good is that list, though, when none of those guys are available? I don't see the point of it. I also don't see how Bogut should be on it. He can't stay healthy.

[PDXKnight]

I wonder what the odds are that we can get Chris Paul after the off season. Rumor has it he's liked the Blazers for awhile so there might be some merit to waiting out the cap plan till next season if the Hibbert signing falls through.

[d-train]

I think its ridiculous that most didn't want Okafor's contract but here many of you act as if this contract offer is out of this world.

Okafor never caused LeBron's team fits with his defense, rebounding, and post up scoring ability.

The offer to Hibbert is a big commitment for sure. But, you can't compare it to a contract that was obviously bad before the ink dried. I would rather pay Howard $20M than Hibbert $13M but there is only 1 Howard and maybe Hibbert is more available.

[lukeyrid13]

I wonder what the odds are that we can get Chris Paul after the off season. Rumor has it he's liked the Blazers for awhile so there might be some merit to waiting out the cap plan till next season if the Hibbert signing falls through.

He liked the blazers when we had roy and oden

[d-train]

While getting Hibbert eats up cash, Portland didn't have to give up any players to get him.

I would wait until we actually get him before saying this. I think if we get him, it will cost more than cash.

[PDXKnight]

I think its ridiculous that most didn't want Okafor's contract but here many of you act as if this contract offer is out of this world.

Okafor never caused LeBron's team fits with his defense, rebounding, and post up scoring ability.

The offer to Hibbert is a big commitment for sure. But, you can't compare it to a contract that was obviously bad before the ink dried. I would rather pay Howard $20M than Hibbert $13M but there is only 1 Howard and maybe Hibbert is more available.

I absolutely see the logic of signing Hibbert and I wouldn't mind if he signed (I'd be relatively happy). That said I don't think we can't sign or trade for someone either now or sign someone in 12 or 13 who can't bring us about the same production. UFA's always go at a premium so the situation is understandable to me. I probably embellished the numbers a bit but I in the end we are clearly giving up a lot of flexibility in order to sign Roy. Frankly if I didn't think we'd match Batum's offer I'd feel a lot better about giving Roy the max.

[PDXKnight]

I wonder what the odds are that we can get Chris Paul after the off season. Rumor has it he's liked the Blazers for awhile so there might be some merit to waiting out the cap plan till next season if the Hibbert signing falls through.

He liked the blazers when we had roy and oden

True, but we still have LA and Batum who would fit well with Paul or we could conceivably let Batum walk if we sign Hibbert and have enough room to sign Paul with Shawne and Thomas coming off the books next season.

I would wait until we actually get him before saying this. I think if we get him, it will cost more than cash

You make a good point here, but I think this is only true if the Pacers sign and trade him before we sign Roy to an offer sheet. Afterwards Indy must either match or let him walk for nothing.

On another note

[JustBlaze52]

Ben Golliver ‏@blazersedge
Kravitz: President Donnie Walsh Calls Keeping Roy Hibbert The Pacers' "First Priority" http://sbn.to/M4zIFc

[DusterBuster]

Apparently Indiana's version of Jason Quick (Mike Wells) and John Canzano (Bob Kravitz) are at odds with what they think the Pacers will do regarding Hibbert. Mike Wells believes the contract will be too expensive for the Pacers, Bob Kravitz believes they'll definitely match the contract.

Kravitz wrote this article after talking with Donnie Walsh yesterday....

When I spoke to team President Donnie Walsh on Monday, he sounded like a man squarely in the middle of a negotiation. Which he is.

"We’re either going to match or not match, but we’re looking at all our options and looking at what else we might do," he said. "We’re trying to make our team better, but our first priority is still keeping Roy. We’re obviously working under a (salary) cap, and you want to keep the team in a position of being able to grow as you go along. That’s what we’re analyzing right now."

Sounds like the rumblings that they're going to match the contract is getting louder according to Chris Haynes this afternoon.

[cucad8]

The quote from Kravitz, to me, doesn't really lean one way or another. In fact, him even mentioning working with a cap, and trying to grow as they go along leans more towards not.

[sabi]

Back to the drawing board....

[DusterBuster]

The quote from Kravitz, to me, doesn't really lean one way or another. In fact, him even mentioning working with a cap, and trying to grow as they go along leans more towards not.

Yeah, the Kravitz quote from Walsh did seem pretty innocuous. Here's the full link....

http://www.indystar.com/article/2012070 ... ob-Kravitz

He's just a columnist, so maybe that's just more opinion by him. Again, according to Chris Haynes, the latest he has heard is that they're leaning toward matching, but Joe Freeman just did a chat on OregonLive and here was his answer to if the Pacers match.....

Comment From Guest
What is the likeliness Hibbert doesn't get matched and joins the Blazers

Joe Freeman: Ah, the (58)million dollar question. Based on what I hear from Indy and the things the Pacers are doing since the Blazers reached agreement with Hibbert, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Pacers ... do not match.
My guess is Hibbert is a Blazer.

So who knows.

[The Sebastian Express]

It's really up in the air in terms of if we're reading between the lines: Obviously a team official doesn't want to come out and say Yup, we're matching - because that'll give Portland a clear cut answer. On the other hand, bringing in Kaman, the rumblings we've heard from other people around the league and Wells (though some in Indiana are not fond of Wells so I'll take their experiences to heart since they know more than we do), and the "Well, we're looking at all our options and at what else we might do"..

I mean, who knows.

[The Sebastian Express]

Oh no, did not mean to just repeat the who knows sentence of yours Duster, ahaha.

[JustBlaze52]

I think KP is supposed to be on Canzano. We'll see if he gives anything away.

[sabi]

Our only chance is if they get a good deal on Kaman IMO