Zigs any buzzing out in Portland about Hedo?

[westkoast]

Rumors flying about saying Portland has the strongest shot at getting Hedo in the off-season.  Have you heard anything about that and what they might need to do to make that happen?

[ziggy]

I haven't heard that.  If the cap is $56,680,000 next year, and Portland renounces Channing Frye (which I believe they will), and two Euro first rounders (Koppenan and Freeland) from the last couple of years, then they will have $8,848,382 in cap space, so they could start with that and offer a $1,000,000 per year raise.  That would allow them to offer Hedo $54,073,000 over 5 years.

The Magic can offer a max level deal for 6 years, which I believe could start at $16,000,000 a year with a $1,920,000 raise every year.  So Orlando can offer way more if they want to.

If Portland and Orlando wanted to do a sign and trade, they could use the $8,848,382 in cap space, plus say Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez.  All that added together would allow them to pay the $16,000,000 that Orlando could pay, assuming Portland wanted to go that high, and assuming that Orlando wanted to take back Outlaw and Rodriguez.

My gut says that Hedo would be doing well to get 5 years and $50,000,000.

I don't think Hedo is a high priority for them though.  They have Outlaw, Batum and Webster as their SF, so they would need to move two of them to make it work.  I believe they are more interested in a good PG upgrade.  My gut says that Kurt Hinrich is a more likely option.  They could offer the $8.8 million plus a $3 million traded player exemption to get it done, and Chicago wouldn't need to take back salary.

At the same time this came from an article recently from a local writer;
I bumped into Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard at a local farmers market last Saturday. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and enjoying a breakfast burrito. Which is only to say that he looked like a regular Oregonian.

The cat also was working the cellular telephone.

Basketball business, he said.

Said Pritchard: "Man, seriously, if you only knew who I was talking about."

So I would say expect the unexpected.

[WayOutWest]

My gut says that Kurt Hinrich is a more likely option.

Kurt and Billups are my triangle offense wet dream. 

[westkoast]

I haven't heard that.  If the cap is $56,680,000 next year, and Portland renounces Channing Frye (which I believe they will), and two Euro first rounders (Koppenan and Freeland) from the last couple of years, then they will have $8,848,382 in cap space, so they could start with that and offer a $1,000,000 per year raise.  That would allow them to offer Hedo $54,073,000 over 5 years.

The Magic can offer a max level deal for 6 years, which I believe could start at $16,000,000 a year with a $1,920,000 raise every year.  So Orlando can offer way more if they want to.

If Portland and Orlando wanted to do a sign and trade, they could use the $8,848,382 in cap space, plus say Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez.  All that added together would allow them to pay the $16,000,000 that Orlando could pay, assuming Portland wanted to go that high, and assuming that Orlando wanted to take back Outlaw and Rodriguez.

My gut says that Hedo would be doing well to get 5 years and $50,000,000.

I don't think Hedo is a high priority for them though.  They have Outlaw, Batum and Webster as their SF, so they would need to move two of them to make it work.  I believe they are more interested in a good PG upgrade.  My gut says that Kurt Hinrich is a more likely option.  They could offer the $8.8 million plus a $3 million traded player exemption to get it done, and Chicago wouldn't need to take back salary.

At the same time this came from an article recently from a local writer;
I bumped into Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard at a local farmers market last Saturday. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and enjoying a breakfast burrito. Which is only to say that he looked like a regular Oregonian.

The cat also was working the cellular telephone.

Basketball business, he said.

Said Pritchard: "Man, seriously, if you only knew who I was talking about."

So I would say expect the unexpected.

Hmmm....sounds like maybe this is where the rumor started from.  Must have grown legs and ran.  I saw it on the SI site in the rumors section. 

"Several general managers and agents in the NBA believe that the Portland Trail Blazers -- a rising club like the Magic -- might offer the stiffest competition to sign Hedo Turkoglu."

I've always wondered how this all works between the GMs.  Like how do multiple ones know the intentions of another?  Is it due to chatter of trying to shift players around?  Or are they a bunch of 14 year old girls and as soon as one hears 'information' it gets spread threw the phone lines among each other??

I guess my other question is how many people on the board feel Hedo is worth a 60+ million dollar contract to anyone other than Orlando (since his style and the system work well together)

[rickortreat]

Hedo is an interesting player with a unique combination of skills, but he's also over 30 and a long-term contract is a risky proposition. He may test the free agent market and not find a lot of takers at the salary and length he wants.

He wasn't exactly a Laker killer in the finals.  He had opportunities to win that he didn't take. He isn't a defensive stopper, and Ariza and Odom were too much for him to guard, and scored enough to offset what he did on the other end.

I wouldn't offer him max money and I wouldn't want him for more than 3 years. He's not a piece that would put anyone over the top, but if San Antonio could get him, that might get them back to the finals.

He fits Orlando so well, that loosing him will hurt the Magic a lot. And, he would be a hard player to replace because of his floor presence. Still if you saw him struggling against Andre Iguodala, you'd realize that he's not quite a top-level player.  In other words he's not worth busting your team's salary cap over.

[ziggy]

I know nothing of Victor Claver.  Complete mystery.  Fran Fraschilla loved him, called him lottery like talent.

We moved disgruntled PG Sergio Rodriguez to Sacramento, for the first pick of the second round.  One thing to remember with this trade is that we freed up cap space, because second rounders do not count against the cap until they are signed.  Sergio is going to make $1.6 million, so that is additional $ off our cap.  By my calculations that gives us potentially $10.3 in cap space.  So we get both a trade exemption and cap space by trading Sergio.

Recognize as well that we also now have 2 trade exemptions, $3 million from Ike Diogu, and now $1.6 million for Sergio.  If we renounce Frye, Koppenan, Freeland, we will now have $10.3 million in cap space.

So lets look at this
Hinrich is making $9.5 million, so Travis, and the two trade exemptions is $8.6 million so that is a do-able deal.

Orlando just traded for Vince Carter, so Hedo is no longer going back to Orlando.  We have between $8.7 and $10.3 million to sign him

We lose Sergio and replace him with Hinrich
We lose Travis and replace him with Hedo
We lose Frye and Ruffin and replace them with Cunningham, and Pendergraph
All in all if that is really how it plays out then we have really improved.

[WayOutWest]

Orlando just traded for Vince Carter, so Hedo is no longer going back to Orlando.  We have between $8.7 and $10.3 million to sign him

I think people overvalue Hedo, seems like he's going to get a big payday but I don't see him being worth a big contract.  I was not impressed with him in the playoffs but maybe he will get back to 2007-2008 form and earn his next big contract.  I don't know about Hedo I guess.

[ziggy]

Orlando just traded for Vince Carter, so Hedo is no longer going back to Orlando.  We have between $8.7 and $10.3 million to sign him

I think people overvalue Hedo, seems like he's going to get a big payday but I don't see him being worth a big contract.  I was not impressed with him in the playoffs but maybe he will get back to 2007-2008 form and earn his next big contract.  I don't know about Hedo I guess.

I am not sure about him either, but I keep hearing these rumors.  I see them looking at a 3-4 year deal max.  Honestly I believe it will be something along the line of 4 years and $32 million.

[westkoast]

Orlando just traded for Vince Carter, so Hedo is no longer going back to Orlando.  We have between $8.7 and $10.3 million to sign him

I think people overvalue Hedo, seems like he's going to get a big payday but I don't see him being worth a big contract.  I was not impressed with him in the playoffs but maybe he will get back to 2007-2008 form and earn his next big contract.  I don't know about Hedo I guess.

I am not sure about him either, but I keep hearing these rumors.  I see them looking at a 3-4 year deal max.  Honestly I believe it will be something along the line of 4 years and $32 million.

I think the deal they were looking for was 5 years for 50+ million.  That is what I heard on Dan Patrick's show this week at least.

[ziggy]

I heard he wants a Maggette type deal which was $48 million for 5 years.  Unfortunately he lost his best suitor in Orlando.  There are only a few teams with cap space
Atlanta
Detroit
Memphis
OKC
Portland
Toronto

It seems his best options are Detroit, Toronto, and Portland.  With the economy the way it, I am expecting something like $40-$45 million