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Unless we give them Parker, we really have nothing appealing to give them for Batum.
With the Blazers expected to be very active, yet again, in the free agent market and because they currently have a logjam at the SF spot, does anyone think the Spurs will take another crack at trying to pry him away from the Blazers? From the passage below, the Blazers are still fielding inquiries about his availability.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129139
McMillan said three Blazers in particular are attracting serious attention around the league: Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw.
The problem is, the Blazers think very highly of all three and have balked at what teams are offering in return. At the same time, the Blazers stand to enter training camp with a logjam at small forward with Batum, Outlaw and Martell Webster competing for time.
"I like all of our guys, but there is no way we can play all of them," McMillan said.
"What's going to happen, if something happens, is a team is going to force you to make a decision," McMillan said.
The Blazers already have gone down this road before. At last February's trading deadline, Batum -- the rookie from France -- drew considerable interest, but the Blazers wouldn't bite at the offers. This summer, McMillan said that interest hasn't waned, as more teams are inquiring about Batum than Outlaw.
Unless we give them Parker, we really have nothing appealing to give them for Batum.
Stop dreaming Prickyard will never help us get anything from them...
A little more on the Blazers' situation:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft...3d09DraftBuzz2POSTED: June 22 -- 10:11 a.m. ET
Chad Ford: What would the draft be without a few Blazers trade rumors?
Portland GM Kevin Pritchard has been among the NBA's most active executives on draft night. In 2006, he pulled off three draft-day trades to get his hands on LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Sergio Rodriguez. In 2007, Pritchard landed Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen with draft-day deals. And in 2008, Pritchard traded up two spots in the draft to get Jerryd Bayless and then landed Nicolas Batum in a trade.
Will Pritchard strike again this year?
The Blazers have been making inquiries all over the first round. Their main target has been Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair, a burly power forward who plays with a toughness the Blazers lack and coach Nate McMillan would appreciate.
However, Sunday night, there was talk Pritchard has even grander plans. With point guard Ricky Rubio possibly slipping out of the top four, the Blazers are talking to the Wizards about acquiring the No. 5 pick. Pritchard has been on the hunt for a point guard, and Rubio would be a nice fit to round out the Blazers' collection of young, unselfish talents.
But trading for the No. 5 pick is far from a done deal, as the price would be high for the Blazers. The Wizards want any team interested in the No. 5 pick to take Etan Thomas off their hands -- a move that could eat into the Blazers' cap space this summer. The deal almost certainly would cost the Blazers some young talent, like Bayless, Travis Outlaw or Batum.
Even more pressing, McMillan has been pushing for the Blazers to sit out this draft and instead add a veteran to their young core.
Pritchard joked to The Oregonian that McMillan "will probably kill me" if he adds another rookie to the team. McMillan laughed and told The Oregonian, "you will have to put me behind bars" if Pritchard gets another rookie.
There's no question Pritchard also is trying to figure out a way to get maximum cap room this summer to use for a free agent or in a trade. The Magic's Hedo Turkoglu gets the most mention, but sources say Portland's real target is Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich.
If the Bulls re-sign Ben Gordon to a big contract this summer, they are going to have to part ways with Hinrich to be able to afford it. The Bulls are dangerously close to the luxury tax as it is, and gving Gordon a big deal would put them over the top. Enter the Blazers, who will have the cap space to absorb Hinrich's deal and put the Bulls back under the tax threshold.
Hinrich would give the Blazers a seasoned point guard, but one without the sizzle or upside of Rubio.
Can Pritchard sit back and let Rubio slip through his fingers?
At this point, it would be odd for Portland to trade a young talented guy like Batum who is still on his rookie contract and very inexpensive rather than Outlaw or Webster.
They can just trade Webster or waive Outlaw for more cap. I just want to get Tayshaun Prince if at all possible.
Personally, I'd still prefer Batum to any SF we could get in this years NBA draft. Obviously, it likely will not happen, but I can dream.
I'd love to have Outlaw, but there's no way I want to see Kurt on the Blazers. I just wouldn't want the Spurs to end up having to go through Portland with Tim having to deal with Kurt defending him on the ball, and the length of L.A. and J.P. allowed to challenge his shot from the weakside.(Especially, if the Spurs don't have a reliable Horry-like player to spread the floor.)
Kurt Thomas, in the short-term, to Portland would probably be more beneficial to there success than Outlaw would be to the Spurs. (And with the Spurs' window, the short-term is where it's at.)
The Spurs are hurting for bigs in a major way. No way they are trading KT without first signing a starting center.
Too early to tell, but his first two games with Portland have been good. If he confirms he returns to shape, do you think Portland would be interested in a trade (they still have quite a few players injured) ?
Ian and a 1st for batum...make it happen
Never Portland would accept a Ian + 1st for batum.
I'd love to see Batum playing for the spurs but it won't happen.
Won't happen. The city and the team are high on Batum. Much as I'd like to see him donning the silver & black, sorry, no go.
Think the Blazers have other trade options. Batum has too much ceiling to trade, and the Blazers need defense because Rudy can't play any. I will be interested to see if the Blazers make a move. They talk like they are going to be active, but I wouldn't be surprised if they kept the talent they had and hope everyone gets healthy. I don't see them trading Batum unless they get something they really want. Since I don't think they have a plan, I'm not sure what that would be. They already have 2 PG's who don't work, and a gazillion wings who are all talented but somewhat incomplete.
If the owners slap on a hard cap, teams like Portland and OKC are going to have some hard choices to make with their boatloads of young talent. It won't matter how rich Paul Allen is if there is a hard cap.
Never is a long time.
just a guess:
turn back time to draft 2008, the Rockets don't the Spurs with trading their pick to Blazers and the Spurs pick Batum.
2nd round the Spurs would go for the back up PG they need and keep Dragic.
the upside of this scenario? if the Spurs have a young SF like Batum, they might not pull the trigger on the RJ trade, but do another, more conservative trade. (maybe for Mike Miller or Salmons?)
Spurs back court would be: Tony-Dragic-Manu-Miller(Salmons)-Batum
don't get me wrong: I do like either Hill and Hairston. (and yes, I know the Dragic trade led to the pick of Blair). just for the sake of discussion. isn't the mentioned rotation better than the current one AND has more upside for the future?
fkn simple
give us batum + oden
they can have watever + splitters rights...
Karma...
Stealing Batum from Spurs has been Pritchard's last good move. After that he has done bad moves after bad moves and is one the verge of being fired. Blazers had a wonderful basis to build a great team and Pritchard screw it badly.
I couldn't imagine a harsher payback than that.
I think if he gets fired, it has more to do with him being a puke than his moves of the last time. as long as that guys are successful (and he did some impressing deals. but maybe it was just luck) the bosses accept his at ude. but watch out for the moment the stock is falling. I'm pretty sure there are some guys in Portland waiting to kick his ass out the door.
Just a hypothetical question . I noticed that Batum has been demoted by mcmillan in favor of mathews. Since Portland is in bad need of another big, would you consider a blair for Batum trade? I believe there contracts are pretty similar. Just wondering
I would consider that.
Not sure if their contracts are similar though
According to hoopshype: Blair 918k
Batum 1.2 mil
Perhaps...but I'd rather see if they would take Anderson first.
I know spurs have a small trade exception and 1st round pick they can work with. I would trade batum for that but doubt blazers would want that unless spurs include another future 1st rounder cuz this years 1st rounder wouldn't be that low in that case.
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