1) Trade:

After also watching (- Dave mentioned it first) Wesley Matthews do his best Iverson impression the last month or so, I would trade Matthews and Nolan Smith for Nikola Pekovic and Luke Ridnour. Minni without picks is desperate for a trade (see HERE).

Trade machine results: “This trade is successful”

Port. $7,442,080 -5 Wins

Minn. $8,183,600 +2 Wins

2) Sign FAs:

Offer Goran Dragic around a four year, $28 million deal. In the month of April, Dragic is averaging 19.8 points and 7.3 assists.

Spencer Hawes is a legit 7'1" and is only 23 years old.... offer Hawes around a four year, $30 million deal.

In this, his fifth pro season, Hawes has put up career highs in shooting percentage (.493), free throw percentage (.717), rebounds (7.5) assists (2.6) and blocked shots (1.4) per game.

3) Go after RFA Brandon Rush (SG). offer him around a three year, $15 million deal. He has connected on exactly 50 percent of his field goals this season, thanks in no small part to his ridiculous 54.5 percent three-point shooting. And, his defense has been either better than advertised, or more noticeable given the defensive limitations of some of his teammates. He also shows confidence in his ability to guard anyone one-on-one on the perimeter. Ref.

Conditions:

- Renouncing Victor Claver and Joel Freelands obligations (not convinced they will want to sign for the money here in the next couple of years).

- Assuming Williams and Crawford don't return.

The CAP total to this point is $47,236,661 (Storyteller please double check my math).

4) That leaves appox. $10.8 million to sign Batum and the draft picks.

(I don't think there will be enough to squeeze in J.J. Hickson.)

5) This plan would allow the Blazers to pick from the many PFs in the draft for LA's backup.

I'm going to START Outlaw. He has worked so hard to get to this point.

He deserves to START the season on the first team. And........

Look at his result. Travis led the team with 18 points in 35:28 minutes.

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 from DraftExpress

Where is Batum’s Physical?

Multiple teams reached out to us today wondering whether we have gotten a hold of Nicolas Batum’s physical yet. Batum underwent a series of heart tests in Cleveland on Monday and was cleared for workouts immediately afterwards, but still his physical is nowhere to be found. Batum traveled to San Antonio immediately after and was supposed to work out for Cleveland today. Some teams openly are wondering whether San Antonio gave Batum a promise and asked him to not distribute his physical around the league, which would make him very likely to slip to 26.

Batum is obviously a great fit in San Antonio, as the team already has two French players on their roster (Tony Parker and Ian Mahinmi) and sport a very aging perimeter with wing players such as Michael Finley (35 years old), Brent Barry (36 years old) and Bruce Bowen (37 years old) who will soon be clearing up plenty of playing time for an athletic, unselfish, defensive minded prospect such as Batum. He appears to be fully healthy, but it appears that only the Spurs and the Cavs currently have his physical. Multiple calls to Batum’s agent Bouna Ndiaye were not returned.

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http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre-draft-measurements/

Speed results for Lane Agility & 3/4Court sprint:

Sonny Weems..... 10.58    2.96
Joe Alexander...... 11.33    2.99
Eric Gordon......... 10.81    3.01
Brian Roberts....... 10.65    3.05
Derrick Rose......... 11.69    3.05
Reggie Williams.. 11.32    3.07
Jerryd Bayless...... 11.26    3.07
Jeremy Pargo........10.65    3.07
George Hill........... 12.20    3.07
DJ Augustin...........11.27    3.07
Mike Taylor........... 10.98    3.08
Russell Westbrook.. 10.98    3.08

Surprise: Michael Beasley    W/Oshoes: 6' 7"    With: 6' 8.25"

Check out your favorite player!

With the draft approaching and talk of trading up for another PG,

has anyone heard about the status or recent play of Petteri Koponen?

Last years read: ...showing good ball-handling skills, an ability to change directions quickly on the fly, excellent leadership skills, great poise, a high intelligence level, terrific intangibles, and a real winning attitude that made him standout in everything he did.

How does he look now?

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