Subscribe Feed (RSS)The New York Daily News is reporting that Jason Kidd’s free agency will begin Wednesday with a visit to the Knicks. He’d have to want to be a Knick pretty bad because all New York can offer is a mid-level exception, which is a lot less than Dallas or Portland could give him.
The story, by the way, also mentions that Kidd will meet with the Trail Blazers.
And in other news involving potential Trail Blazer point guards, the Detroit News is reporting that the No. 1 free-agent target for the Pistons will be Chicago combo guard Ben Gordon. That’s important because most people believe if Gordon leaves the Bulls, Chicago will not be interested in trading Kirk Hinrich.
Tags: Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Jaynes, Jason Kidd, Kirk Hinrich, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers
Dwight, love your updates on all things Blazers. Thx for being so diligent about it.
My question is, why is everyone so high on Hinrich? I don’t watch too many Bulls games, but can he really play any better defense than Blake? Is he a significantly better passer?
It seems to me that the only real difference between them is that Hinrich had a good postseason and Blake did not…I would not give up too much based on a 6-game sample size…
Honestly, I would say Hinrich had a GREAT playoff series — particularly at the defensive end. And it’s in that area that Blake can’t come close to Hinrich. And defense is an area where, if you can do it, you can do it. It’s not up and down like offense is.
Hinrich was all-defensive second team a couple of years ago and is great at getting steals. I’d love to see him and Rudy out there at the same time. I’m not sure losing Gordon means they’re unwilling to part with Hinrich, however, as I would expect they’d receive a guard in return (Blake) that would make more sense as a backup for them – that is unless they intend to play Hinrich at the two which would be a mistake. Hinrich can shoot the rock too which makes a lot of sense for this team and is the one thing that makes me reluctant to give up with replacing Blake.
Kirk is bigger, stronger, longer and smarter then Blake. He also happens to be a better passer, defender, shooter (except 3pt% last year) and just about everything else. Let there be no doubt, Kirk is better then Blake… the only open questions should be, “is Kirk ~$6million better then Blake?” and “is he enough of an upgrade to justify using our free agent money?”
Too bad Gordon is looking to get overpaid, I think he’d look nice shooting jumpers next to BRoy.
People have got to get over this Blake = Hinrich nonsense.
Blake is a great guy who squeezes every drop out of his talent possible, but he isn’t close to Hinrich or other legit NBA starting PGs.
OK, sounds like most people think Hinrich would be a significant defensive and assist upgrade. Like I said, I don’t watch enough Bulls games to know
I like itsMrHarris’s question — “is he enough of an upgrade to justify using our free agent money?” Definitely don’t know the answer to that one!