I don’t like the fact that Bynum is opting out of the mini camp. It would delight me if Oden progresses wonderfully this summer, and then proceeded to take Bynum apart piece by piece. Oden and Bynum seem to be a intriguing matchup, and I hope they both take it to a rivalry. Step up, and have something to give Greg a big ol' chip on his shoulder. 

That man is 10 fouls and one mean streak away from being a dominate center. Someone just needs to summon the beast. Please Ron Artest, just throw a punch at him.

Seriously though, I have heard all this chatter about Greg and his "A+ Workouts". I am dying to see him in action. If he improves as some expect him to, suddenly the holes we have in our rotation won’t stand out quite as much. I almost wish Greg was playing in the Summer League just to see if he learned to utilize his athleticism, work the pick and roll, keep those hands up, and lose 10-15 lbs.

If he grows faster then the media anticipates, we would be able to have an athletic 35 min a night center. How nice does that sound?

"Well hello there trade deadline, I’m KP and I have a monster amount of cap space. And due to the growth of our roster, we have a legit starting center on the block. He happens to be a great defensive, blocking, and rebounding force. We can change your center position entirely."

"What’s that? Why yes we have a cheap, expiring contract combo forward on our roster, he happens to be a great scorer off the bench. If you want a point guard back in the deal, we have a gritty tough Steve Blake to send over; and yes his contract expires as well."

We have about 8 million of expiring contract to send out, a ton of variable cap space to give, and with Joel’s contract added that is an extra 7 million of cap space. All that cash has to be very valuable to quite a few GMs, and with the quality of the players we are able to send out, that makes our situation at the trade deadline all the more important. That is truly the last chance to add serious talent, and if Oden develops it just makes it so much sweeter.

I guess you get my point; maybe management is hesitant to deal anyone because they want to make sure that the young guns on our team can step up and provide starter level minutes. If that happens along with our cap space we would have quite a few trade chips to offer GMs. More then enough to woo the people who seem to think GMs have a conspiracy against the Blazers. 

Just think of how we did last year with Greg’s production. 52 games is awesome considering where we came from. Then think about what we COULD do if Greg became even a marginal force. There is a reason why he was the most hyped player coming out since Lebron. Common trends show that rookies generally get a big bump in production their second year in the NBA. Micro fracture victims get a big bump in production from year 1 to 2. Add to this these talks of great workouts and losing weight, and I am officially hyped up.

Greg Oden,

It is officially time for domination. Go get em’ big man. Ditch that apathetic attitude, and be Jerryd Bayless’ big enforcing basketball bodyguard.

Love,

OdenFanBoy

P.S. Please foul less often.

I don’t post often at all, I know I am just beating a dead horse, and I know the rules of engagement on BE. This was intended to be a comment on a thread about why signing Hedo could benefit us in many different ways. Unfortunately it ended up longer then intended, and there was no place to nudge my thread in and have it be remotely relevant. And, of course, I dont want to fill this post with common themes from other Hedo discussions, so I will try and omit them the best that I can.

Just to throw this out there, I am not in favor of signing Hedo, but if I was...

3 and 30 is a contract I would enjoy for Hedo. I don’t mind the $10M a year as long as it’s a shorter and moderately flexible contract. Thank you

Let’s just stockpile him and trade him on the 15th of December if it doesn't work. I’m kidding of course, kind of...

Then again.. it isn't like our GM hasn't done anything unconventional lately has he? Oh, I forgot, our GM happens to be Kevin Pritchard.

But who isn't to say we could use Hedo as a rental, and possibly an asset at the trade deadline. Especially to match salaries in an offer for a targeted highly paid veteran. Considering most of our core salaries are around or fewer than $4 million, and the only real big contract we talk about matching up for a deal is Pryzbilla. There is no way we could get away with trading him, he is far too important to the structure and effectiveness of our defense in the paint. That is the foundation that championships are built on.

3 years would give the Blazers the flexibility we need. We can see how our parts develop, while at the same time improving in the short term. I would use 3YRS/$30M  as a starting point. I say starting point because the terms of this deal are much lower then what Hedo and his agent are fighting for, if the Blazer Management is really after Hedo that much I can live with a bigger number. It just depends on how much money and playing time we want to commit to him.

Hedo's floor right now is much higher then anyone else we have competing for SF minutes. For the most part, we can get a steady contributor until someone in Portland figures out what direction we want to head in, and which of our young talent we decide we want to lock up for the future.

Say what you want about Hedo and his style of play, but his contributions have been steady in recent years, I do not see a blowup happening in the first two years of the contract. Perhaps a slight decline, but nothing that is going to be a dramatic change in his all around game. Of course, this, like anything else in this post could be wrong.
We could find a lot of teams wanting to trade for Hedo at the trade deadline. Any situation like this would work in our favor. We may be able to exchange Hedo for younger talent sooner then we imagine.

1. A team looking for an upgrade at the 3 and spot minutes at the 4.

2. A team that is looking to add a 3rd or 4th scoring option. That needs to gain favorable playoff positioning and try to muscle themselves into the top tier of teams in the NBA. (see Rockets, Hawks, Jazz.)

3. A younger, borderline team that has improved recently, and is trying to make strides and break a streak of not contending for the playoffs. Most teams have their franchise cornerstone but need a better supporting cast. (see OKC, Memphis, LAC, NY, Min) And here is my wish list for events i pray will take place.

4. Dream scenario: Detroit bounces back from last season; even with their FA acquisitions they desire another scorer on the wing. Prince becomes available, with the pistons demanding Hedo is the main piece in the deal.

5. Perhaps the Bulls dump Deng, who has fallen out of favor in recent days, they then have a large amount of minutes at the 3. They decide they want to take the stress of Rose; they then move salmons to the 2 and come after a ball handling 3. The Kurt Hinrich saga will weigh heavy on my heart until he has a career ending injury or retirement.

Pure speculation, i know. Recently that has been the theme of the mass media though, and if they do it, I will too.

These options are from the outside looking in, as I usually reserve my judgment for people outside of normal Blazer news. As a generality they make stabs in the dark about what our franchise needs, and many times their assumptions are way off base.

Let’s not forget Hedo is a good offensive option. There are reasons why he is considered one of the larger free agent acquisitions of the summer. We could just as easily make him available if early on it does not look like things are going our way. Either way we have cap space and we need to spend it. It is a FREE net-gain of talent and assets. It will necessitate moving at least one of our young talented players, but that is NBA basketball.

Risks are a common theme the top teams in the NBA, barring the steady and structured modern dynasty of the Spurs. Look at the bulls bringing Dennis Rodman. Look at what the Celtics did two years ago. Big teams often take big risks. I am not saying that a team trading for Hedo has as much impact as trading for KG, that would be silly, but what I am saying is it would be a foreboding notion not to add talent and a legit #3 scorer for now.  Later on you would have either a trade asset in the future, or a declining #4 option off the bench.

Hedo hits last second buckets. With him, Aldridge, and Rudy on the court ready to take the big shot, maybe the opponents won’t be able to throw the house at Roy. Not only during the last shot of the game, but during the entire course of the game.

I'm not a Hedo fan, but now I feel like it was forced on me. I feel dirty. I need a shower.

Any thoughts on Hedo, with reservations of turning him into a viable trade asset as a plan B? It does not seem like a bad scenario considering the situation we are in this summer. Feel free to bash the idea if you like. I'm a man, I’ll just run back to commenting threads with my tail between my legs.

The shorter the commitment we get for Hedo in the end, the better value he will be as a trade asset. Taking back 4.5 years of a ten million dollar salary is not desirable for many GM's. But $10 million over 2.5 or 1.5 years fits the goal that many GM's have of beefing up their roster for the short term. The length of Hedo Turkoglu's potential contract effects his trade value. A good length contract for Hedo may very well shape his history with the Trail Blazers.