Trade Deadline Talk
By SJ
UPDATE VI (10:37 AM): More from Ford’s chat on ESPN and he’s got some things to say about the Blazers:
Ryan (Portland): After a week of dealing with the Blazers, if a deal doesn’t get done does, Pritchard run the risk of hurting their ability to talk to teams in the future. Do they look like they are just collecting information?
Chad Ford: I think that’s a nice way of saving face. They were trying to do a deal. Didn’t get what they want. Talked up the value of Raef LaFrentz relentlessly. Then don’t do a deal. I love Kevin Pritchard. But all of the deals he’s made so far have been low risk/high reward for the Blazers. This was the first time he had to stick his neck out there. Adding Vince Carter or Richard Jefferson was a higher risk scenario. I sounds like he didn’t want to roll the dice.
And Ford had this to say about Batum when asked if the Blazers compared to the Bulls in the way they seem to hold on to their young talent..
“They become afraid to let them go because they think they may just be another year away from stardom. Thus … you see the Blazers reluctant to include Nicolas Batum in a deal even though he’s given them little sign that he can be a great NBA player. It’s tough when you’re so close to the situation.”
If we could have gotten VC for cheap….I’m not going to be too pleased with KP for a little bit. I’ll get over it…but if you can get that caliber of a player, forget age and money…if you can get that kind of player for peanuts…you get it for peanuts. It’s just like if it was socially ok for guys to take girls on dates to fast food restaurants, you don’t think every girl in this country wouldn’t be eating from the Dollar Menu? Come on.
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UPDATE V (10:05 AM): Why do I have a gut feeling we’re going to get Vince Carter within the next two hours? And why does this post feel like a giant Twitter to me? Sheesh.
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UPDATE IV (9:51 AM): For those of you who are still with me, we’ve got a little bit more information. Yahoo is at least giving us a reason why Vinsanity more than likely won’t be coming to the Rose City. They are reporting that Rod Thorn does not want to give up the 2011 first round draft pick he got from the Warriors. Of course KP is all over that like a gold-digger into a mildly attractive man with highly attractive money.
I just don’t see a deal going down if that’s the case. Thorn and KP are both stubborn. I’m talking super, duper stubborn. Thorn’s always hesitant but he’s not backing down from anyone. Ditto for KP. Put the VC thoughts on life support.
And yes, I truly believe Charles Oakley and a few shots of Patron are responsible for Gerald Wallace not being in a Blazer uniform.
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UPDATE 3 (9:10 AM): Just went into Chad Ford’s chat over at ESPN and there was a Blazer question early.
John from Panama City, FL: Do you think Portland has a deal in the works right now, or will they stand pat?
Chad Ford: (12:04 PM ET ) I was told by a Blazers source that chances are, as of 11:30 a.m ET, the Blazers won’t do a major deal. Their talks with the Nets, Bucks and Bobcats aren’t totally dead, but there’s been little movement right now.
Another sign that there will be no trade. Our chances of making a big deal in the next 2:30+ hours aren’t quite dead but we’re definitely fading into oblivion like Jessica Simpson’s career. Yeah I said it.
(Sidenote: How does Chad Ford magically appear all over the place during the draft and trade deadline and them magically disappears? Or am I the only one who feels that way? How many people does ESPN have under contract?)
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UPDATE 2: Two minutes after I typed what is below you, I hit a refresh button on all of my tabs and..well….The Blogfather, Henry Abbott drops a bomb.
Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: A plugged in source just told me that the Blazers are done, and will not be making any moves before the deadline.
Well….uh….there you have it? Nothing official official but if Abbott drops something like that you more than likely go with it.
No Vinsanity, no pinball Gerald Wallace, thankfully no soft RJ. I blame Michael Jordan on us not making a move and I’ll get to more on this later. If I can duck all the lightning coming my way.
Looks like KP is going to ride this team out and make moves in the off-season. And I’m not mad about it, didn’t want to make a deal unless it was a move that significantly made us better. I think we’re still in a very good position with a very talented team.
But remember what KG said…
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UPDATE 1: Just under 9 AM and not much more movement on the Blazer front. I assume we’re locking in on Gerald Wallace and Vince Carter. Yahoo and ESPN are dropping a rumor that Shaq could be headed to the Cavs which just blows my mind. They both also report that the NBA has sent out a memo that the luxury tax will be dropping? Why is this important? Because the Wizards need to shed some money and shed some money fast. Which means there is a microscopic chance of Caron Butler coming to Portland. It’s the same chance that Average Joe has of going up to (insert celebrity hottie) at a bar and getting her number.
SI.com says that Richard Jefferson is off the table. I’m not even mad about this.
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A little under 4 hours until the trade deadline and no real new news. Over at ESPN they’ve been on top of everything and the word is that as of right now…the Blazers could do anything.
From what it sounds like, KP is definitely trying to get that home run. I feel like he isn’t making a deal unless we get the upper hand of it. Or he’s just dragging everything out. The principles of discussion haven’t changed much: Gerald Wallace and Richard Jefferson are still the two main guys in discussion. But apparently the Vince Carter talk has heated up. Chad Ford even goes so far as to say the N
ets want Raef and Channing for VC and Maurice Ager. And if that’s true…why didn’t we make that trade yesterday?
At this point I’m sensing a race between VC and Richard Jefferson. And at this point, this close, I honestly feel we should go after Vince. If it’s between him and Jefferson and we can get Vince for cheap (aka because the Nets keep bleeding, they keep, keep bleeding money) we have to do it. You can’t pass up on Vince twice in a lifetime can you? (No one remember Vince for Theo. No one).
The big question is does KP pull the trigger?