Subscribe Feed (RSS)Hindsight is the clearest of all visions. The Trail Blazers may have learned some big lessons here. At least I hope they did. But even if Hedo Turkoglu completely double-crossed them, the Blazers made some real mistakes. A few random observations:
– First, you never, NEVER bring a guy to town in a free-agent situation unless he’s going to sign. It’s just not done, at least in a public way like this one. And if you’re not sure he’s going to sign and you need to bring him in, you don’t turn it into a media event. There was no excuse for that to turn into a media opportunity. Fly him in on the team plane and keep him out of sight. It’s most often done that way. I keep thinking of poor trainer Jay Jensen, standing there sheepishly in the airport having to hold up that sign welcoming Hedo in two languages. Ugh. This was so unnecessary. My goodness — this isn’t some goofy college deal where you bring the kid into the gym and show him his jersey hanging in the rafters and make a big fuss. I’m not even sure you send all the brass to meet him at the airport. You recruit NBA free agents with your checkbook, not a guide to your city’s best restaurants and nightspots. That stuff comes after he signs. It’s a business.
– I wrote a few days ago what everyone knew all along with this guy: It’s ALL about the money. People now are saying, “Hey — the money in Toronto wasn’t that much more. It was a combination of things.” Well, you can think that if you want, but it probably WAS all about the money. Even if it was only half a million. I wrote again about this yesterday — that it bothered me that this guy comes off as a total mercenary and that he appeared not to have any loyalty toward a team that just went to the Finals. So do you now understand why he didn’t seem to have any problem walking out on the Blazers yesterday? He had just walked out on a whole locker room full of guys he went to war with in the playoffs.
– When I say these things about Turkoglu, I’m not meaning to rip him. It’s his right to be this way. A lot of money is at stake and he’s doing what’s best for himself. In pro sports, you don’t often have a chance to pick your team and name your price. Ask Rudy Fernandez. But if you are doing business with a guy in that situation you have to understand the ground rules.
– By the way Portlanders, Toronto IS a heck of a city. It’s New York without the stink. That a guy would rather live there than here is no surprise and you shouldn’t be offended. Think SkyDome vs. PGE Park. That’s the difference between Toronto and Portland. “Keep Portland weird” is probably never going to be a viable recruiting slogan when it comes to NBA free agents.
– Is there a Plan B? Well, I’m sure they’ll say there is.
– It still all goes back to the Darius Miles affair. Giving him the big contract was a huge mistake. Without that deal, there was plenty of room to sign Turkoglu and anyone else out there. And don’t talk to me about Memphis and that whole mess of trying to get out of paying Miles the money. That just made things worse. He should have NEVER been given that deal in the first place.
– Hedo saved the Blazers from themselves. The last two years of this contract would have been brutal for Portland. I’m still not convinced this thing was going to work on the court. Turkoglu and Roy together, each initiating offense? More likely, Turkoglu would have just deferred to him, found a spot on the wing to stand and just thrown up a ton of threes. And missed a lot of them.
– A guy this concerned about the money, once he gets that last, big, final, lucrative deal — does he continue to work hard? Maybe. Probably. But maybe not.
Tags: Dwight Jaynes, Hedo Turkoglu, Portland, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto
It’s a pretty sad commentary when a retired sports columnist knows more about how to run a team than our supposed super star general manager.
Great work Dwight.
The same old story since the time of the caveman- Greed wins.
> Paul Allen got greedy with Darius Miles
> Blazers got greedy thinking now was the time
> Turkoglu got greedy taking the money over the best fit
Free Agency is all about overpaying for veteran talent and then trying to dump the guy during the hangover phase.
This could potentially be good for Portland and the team- now we got something to prove.
I’m also hoping that Travis Outlaw comes out of this realizing that passing and rebounding are what will keep him in Portland, not just heads down scoring.
Hey, gimme some credit for posting back on the 28th:
“There has been a lot of talk about Turkoglu, and as much as I love watching him do some of the things he does, he’s just looking for a payday since he peaked two seasons ago and will now just want to hang out and shoot 3s.” — http://ow.ly/guWc
Part of hindsight is giving a nod to those lucky bastards who guessed right. Keep up the good work Dwight! You’re still aces in my book.
I seriously doubt that greed was the most important factor, after all, most people can live pretty well on 10 million a year–I think it’s more about “respect” with these guys who are making obscene amounts of bucks–they want bigger contracts than their competitors.
I think it’s also likely he just preferred Toronto, the city, over Portland–not all players have winning as their highest priority, a few may think keeping their wives happy is most important.
I also think the jury is out on whether management bungled this deal–lets wait and see what happens next.
Franklin, I can guarantee you Jaynes knows far less about basketball than Pritch. No knock on Jaynes, but he is not running a basketball team for a reason. These are just his opinions, nothing more.
Anyways, I will agree that Plan B is in motion. Or at least it better be because wasting 9 million dollars in capspace is sooo much worse than had we actually signed Hedo in the first place. The Blazers would be making a grave mistake if they went into next season with the same roster.
Last thought. For anyone still harping for Andre Miller, Ramon Sessions, Gerald Wallace or anyone else that cannot shoot the basketball; you are wasting your time pleading for the wrong guys. With LA, Oden and Roy we need guys around them that can hit the outside shot.
Go Blazers!!!
Franklin — I’m not running a team because nobody has given me a chance. But there are former radio, TV and newspaper guys running teams all over the league. I stand ready to take over any team at any time! Just cut the check.
RipCityPeru — you can’t wait and see how Hedo does in Toronto to judge whether management bungled this deal. Fact is, they wanted Hedo and didn’t get him. And they raised their fans’ expectations by parading him around town and talking about what he’d do for the team. That may not qualify as a “bungle” but it’s close.
After taxes, won’t Hedo make less money in Toronto?
I think it was money plus city. Not exclusively money. But money played a big role.
That said, I’m glad it’s over. I warmed to the idea, but while I’m certain we could upgrade small forward, point guard is/was my main interest.
And it wasn’t even raining when he came to town!
I knew you wouldn’t admit to being wrong.
If it’s 100% about the money as you claim, then why did you bother to bring up the point about Toronto being a better city than Portland?
$3 million over 5 years is not more money when you factor in the larger tax bite in Toronto (income taxes and sales taxes).
Can you Pritch slap yourself?
Jeff,
We all understand that running a sports franchise is a very stressful, high-visibility job. I really like KP’s work and aggressiveness in trying to make Portland better. I think most of his moves have been spot on. But he may have bungled this one and I agree with the posters who think that he may not have been the best fit.
Just one more thought: just because someone runs a basketball team, doesn’t mean they’re any better at running a basketball team than the rest of us. I know it takes years to learn etc. but some of those guys who run teams bought them or hired incompetents who keep their jobs.
Case in point: Donald Sterling. Sports Illustrated called the Clippers the “worst franchise in pro sports” in 2000. The article revealed that among other things, at different times he was being sued by both his attorney and his life insurance agent for unpaid bills – just the guy you want owning your team if you’re a Clippers season ticket holder (both of them).
There are very good general managers out there. But you and I and the fan of your choice could screw up the Clippers and I would do it for far less than Sterling makes.
Go Blazers!
Clarification: when I said “he may not have been the best fit”, I meant Turkoglu, not KP.
Greg — I brought up Toronto because so many Blazer fans (or myopic Portlanders) just can’t understand a guy passing up a chance to live in Portland when the other city is shabby old Toronto.
“…It still all goes back to the Darius Miles affair…”
It does, but not how you lay it out.
Hedo was not a good match for this team, not for $10M or more a year. While I’m no fan of Darius, his contract didn’t deserve to come off our books (he’s still playing…) and now I’m glad that his contract got back on our books. Can you imagine the disaster if we overpaid for Hedo with the money freed-up from Darius’ contract? Unless Kobe was going to jet on the Lakers, this was a terrible year for FA and a terrible year to have cap space.
I don’t see a bungle at all. What I do see is an organization working very hard at trying to improve their team. They have no control what the client unltimately decides to do. In this case, he chose another city at the last minute
Btw he also did the same thing to Phoenix years ago and suddenly signed with Orlando. Yah Dwight there is a pattern
I am pretty darn happy with this franchise. They go the extra mile for their fans. They got us 54 winds and are still looking for opportunities to improve. That to me speaks volumes over Hedo choosing Toronto over us
and life goes on
I would say that the whole airport scene, looking back, is pretty embarrassing. All the brass there, the sign, the Turkish music playing — geesh, it raised fans’ expectations, which made losing him all the more crushing. And it made it look as if they really got played.
What’s next?
KP may have created a good group of ‘core’ players here, but moves like drafting Oden instead of Durant and not moving RLEC make me wonder.
Last year set the bar too high – the Blazers should be winning 54 games next year, not this past one. Maybe keeping the core group together is best (except Outlaw). Roy and LMA might be ready to go all the way now, but they are still so young, give it a few years.
Brandon Bass might be a good addition, although I am not sure how much he is worth. Anybody think we have a chance of trading for Boris Diaw – he’s versatile like Travis, but not a complete bonehead.
NO tried to dump Tyson Chandler simply to save money, so I think KP could make a serious push for CP3, which would be worth giving up Outlaw, Fernandez, and Blake.
When I said let’s wait and see what happens I meant to see what Pritchard does not how Hedo does (nice lyric–maybe better–how hedo do?).
How is it a management bungle if you offer a guy what you can afford and he turns it down? Furthermore, it ain’t over till it’s over–next week, right?
I’m like a lot of other people in that my first reaction was, who wants Hedo, he’s not going to put the TBers over the top. But I warmed to the idea partly because of comments in this blog and other sources. I’m still one who believes the TBers don’t have to do anything and they’ll be better.
Since “descripting” quoted an earlier comment, back on July 1st, I wrote:
“But we could get a bit of a reality check with this. Every now and then an NBA player makes a snide remark about life in the Rose City. As much as we like it, attracting someone here at this point could be a tough sell.”
Folks, I don’t think this was embarrassing. Or a bungle. It’s sort of funny. Now, if it costs a player I like in a trade later, that won’t be as funny.
But what really happened? Some guys got on a plane and then one guy flew out this morning. Nobody died.
We asked a girl to the prom, she said, yes, then she changed her mind. Some guys sit around and mope the rest of the summer, others just say, “Next!”
Besides, this could fall in one of life’s main categories: The best breaks you get are the things that don’t happen to you.
There are dozens of stories in sports when something fell through and it worked out great.
Everything is fine. The surgery to remove Kevin Pritchard from humping Hedo’s leg was a success. Time to move on.
This was probably the first time… a country/city is a deciding factor of this deal…lol
I thought Turk will have more money in Portland than Toronto due to the Tax reduction in Canada?
Hey man, why can’t we do the same thing and get a little crazy and offer Ron Artest 8 mil and stab the Lakers in the back? The guy is nuttier than squirrel crap, but I like him. How about Lamar Odom? How about Trevor Ariza now, you know he’ll play with a chip on his shoulder. How about Marion? That guy got screwed.
“How is it a management bungle if you offer a guy what you can afford and he turns it down? Furthermore, it ain’t over till it’s over–next week, right?”
Guys, the whole point is that they didn’t just offer him a deal. They flew him out here, sold the fans on him (that was a tough sell by the way), held up signs, played his lame music and wined and dined him. Did you see Toronto wasting anyone’s time doing that?
It may look foolish to bring a girl flowers who rejects you at the door, but I still think bringing a girl flowers is worth the risk.
In hindsight we can all say, “I should have known,” but when it works out, it is worth all the trouble. It’s good to be humbled once and a while. KP knows that this is the Rose City.
I still maintain it would have worked if we had dumped the Turkish music and gone with Van Halen.
Nobody seems to recall the almost exact same scenario about 4 or 5 years ago…”Trenton Hassell everybody! Welcome to Portland!” Oops!
Great post and excellent point about Turk and Roy doing essentially the same things offensively. Why pay 10 mil for another primary ball-handler who would probably be relegated to spotting up?
I’m suprised KP didn’t notice this. His pursuit of the overrated David Lee also makes me scratch my head. Isn’t this team’s biggest need a championship-level PG? Why would he throw big money at a guy who plays the same spot as Aldridge?
ANOTHER INTERESTING POINT………..his wife is pretty………he is not good looking……….if you remember back ………he had a nose job done on him………so he knows the ONLY reason he has a good looking wife is because he makes the money………..but he is not attractive and he better say “yes” to his pretty wife!! Joking of Course
Portland Roster vs Toronto Roster
Portland
PG: S. Blake/J.Bayless
SG: B. Roy/R. Fernandez
SF: T.Outlaw/N.Batum/M.Webster
PF: L.Aldridge/C.Frye
C: G.Oden/J.Przybilla
Toronto
PG: J.Calderon/R.Ukic/M.Banks
SG: D.DeRozen/???
SF: H.Turkoglu/???
PF: C.Bosh/R.Evans/K.Humphries/P.Mensah-Bonsu
C: A. Bargnani/P.O’Bryant/N.Jawaii
As a Raptor fan, Toronto is screwed in the wing depth..can DeRozen a super athletic rookie handle the starting position? Can he be like VC? or Gerald Wallace? or worst case a Gerald Green?
If Toronto can manage to get Delfino, and Kleiza for MLE and Rasho N. for LLE we can be a strong playoff team instead of the first round exit team.
Portland already have proven SG (B.Roy) and PF (L.Aldridge) but can Oden actually be helpful next season? So far in last year season, I rather have Bargnani then Oden.
Little thought (remember i could be bias):
Calderon > Blake
DeRozen Outlaw
Bosh > Aldridge
Bargnani > Oden; Bargnani < Oden (If Oden do not live up to his expectation, same as Andrea Bargnani)
What do you guys think?
Thank goodness for Memphis signing Miles or we’d have had really overpaid this guy. I was all for signing him as an asset, but he becomes a liability at this price point.
Dwight–I agree with most of this post, except for one thing that was completely out of place and that was revisiting the Darius Miles contract.
This management team (Pritchard, Penn) wasn’t around when Darius got his contract so it’s pretty useless to bring that into play. Pritchard and Penn played with the cards they were dealt and the whole Miles fiasco was John Nash’s and Steve Patterson’s doing– spurred on by Paul Allen’s infatuation with Darius.
Sure Pritchard may have been here when Miles was signed but nobody obviously listened to him back then (think of the 2005 draft where the guy begged for Chris Paul).
Canadian Taxes are steep at his income level. Just over 40% (federal and provincial). With what’s left, Ontario sales tax is 13% alone. The difference in income will be eaten up by taxes, maybe more. Compared to Florida (no personal income tax) his accountant will be working full time to protect what he can. Back to his wife, it was mostly about lifestyle. BMCD is right, the best deals are sometimes those that never happen.
Toronto won 33 games last year.
Portland won 54.
If they pull off this deal with Turk they will have the guys you listed and NO ONE else. The roster will have to be filled out with minimun salary D-league types.
Ptown Bench > Toronto Bench
Broy > Entire Toronto roster
as much as I dislike outlaw, even he is > any rookie SF, especially THAT rookie SF
I DO agree with you on Calderon being better than Blake and Bargnani (right now) being better than Oden, but I expect that to change.
One more note: Chris Bosh is good as gone, hopefully the raptors can get SOMETHING for him before he walks
Keep Portland weird should be changed to keep Portland negative. Holy cow, man there are some negative people that complain about everything in this town. So what if Hedo stood us up. Next.
This is entertainment for crying out loud.
I’ll make another guess, too: Dwight, on some level you love seeing upper management get tweaked. Who the hell doesn’t? Anyone who ever held a job loves seeing the bosses take one in the shorts.
In my opinion, you don’t feel embarrassed about this one bit. In fact, you’re loving it.
Portland will never attract a big name player in their prime no matter how much money is thrown out…. It is not about the team, it is about the town… Keep Portland Wierd !!! LMAO !!!!
One last thing. What’s WRONG with having fun while recruiting someone? Imagine, reader, if they did this for you. You’d be impressed. I don’t think it embarrasses brass one bit (makes them frustrated, maybe, if they get a no). In every walk of life there is a “new normal” ahead. So good on them for playing the Portland card. I think the idea was to get the whole city into the sell, that this wasn’t just a job but a lifestyle. If Hedo turned it down because people were nice to him, then he didn’t belong here to begin with. Maybe that’s part of the test.
This is the best article you ever wrote. I agree with everything you said. This almost never happens. The airport scene was a complete joke! It made Portland look so small town its not even funny. It was Minor league baseball at its best. Your a major metropolitan area and I swear I think a lot of people act like its Butte Montana. KP is great with the draft but looks about as amature as you can get with free agents. Hopefully its a lesson learned. But I think it just cost the Blazers any chance of beating the Lakers next year. Notice how there GM just made them a whole lot better. Keep it weird Portland.
I picture the scene at the airport and I want even more. I want belly dancers. The Blazers brass dressed in exotic costumes. Maybe hand out a few thousand European berets to the people in the airport.
To me, this was funny. Kevin Pritchard might not think so right now, but someday soon he’ll laugh about it. Anytime you get doinked by life, there’s a comedic aspect to it.
You know who probably got a good laugh from it? Channing Frye.
I hope we didn’t toss his number.
Portland is in kinda a pickle.
Five years ago this team was in the toilet. After a lifetime of support, the average fan, myself included, was ready to throw this team into the ocean. KP and the blazers took exactly the right approach to not only rebuild the team, but more importantly rebuild the trust with the fans, get people interested in the team again. In some ways he’s built them up too far, and fan expectations are at an all time high. As a fan, I love it. Truth is, KP has put himself, and Portland back on the map, but now the real works starts. He’s no longer given big chess pieces to play every year in the draft, but he has to make a series of calculated moves to accomplish success. I do think for the last year KP and Portland kinda had the attitude they could swing for the fences, and gem like “Gasol” would fall into their laps. As Dwight implies, maybe its time for the Portland front office to become a bit more reserved, and to quietly go about the business of building a championship. KP likes to tout his own horn, likes he and Portland is Los Angles or something. They are not, and they have to quietly out work and out hustle the big guys. I’ve always thought San Antonio has set the bar for a small market team to achieve the ultimate success.
Andrew – you have to remember, to get all of your cap space to sign Hedo, you not only have to renounce all of your players (Marion, Delfino, etc.) but you also have to renounce all of your exceptions. You can’t use the MLE after signing Hedo, or the Bi annual Exception. All you have left is the veterans minimum to give to players.
Portland fans are myopic…. That’s what you get with a one trick dog and pony show….
All this effort to lure then sign the Man from Turkey had all the elements of a Shakespearean play – a bit of history, much drama, and alas a dark comedy. My friends, although we did not give our Blazer Nation for our object of Turkish affection, perhaps we too can take to heart lessons for the summer days ahead, lest our Lord Pritchard still hath too much hubris. Good night all and happy Fourth of July.
bumpity sounds like a broken record. go back to your hole and quit trolling it up dude.
LMAO sod !!!! Keep drinking the kool-ade…. dude…
Though the Blazer management feels bad now, this is good for them. As discussed previously, Turkoglu is an average small forward and there were better options out there (including Ariza, BTW, what a great exchange for Houston, got rid of their biggest ball hog in Ron Artest and got an excellent player, which simultaneously weakens the Lakers and enhances the Rockets roster).
There are still quite a few good players available which Portland can target in free agency. Also, even more than free agency, this may be the jolt that gets the Blazers active in trade talks.
I continue to enjoy how you find any way possible to attempt to tie your posts into a mini rant about Portland and Oregon being small-town. It’s fun watching a curmudgeon purposefully trolling his own readers in an attempt to get more site hits.
Mark Mason,
Your 12:26 post was excellent! Isn’t this whole thing supposed to be about fun? About memories? And excitement?
The Blazers lit up the basketball world by boldly going where Dwight is too stuffy to have them go. (Sorry Dwight)
After Pritchard regains his manhood with a couple of good moves, and Portland realizes that we really do deserve some respect, we will be able to tell stories about this one and laugh.
For years, all the big name players have been getting out of Toronto as soon as reasonably possible. Bosh is leaving!? Roy and Aldridge want to stay. Carter left. McGrady left. Why do you think they drafted Bargnani first? Portland has a long list of players that have stuck around even after they were done playing. Toronto may be a great city, but so is Portland.
Pritchard is not selling swampland; we are going to win another championship here, and anyone who does not enjoy the ride is missing the point. People, please stop with the inferiority feelings and get a life.
One thing was standing out like a beacon light at the coast.
The wife didn’t come along to check out the scene WITH him.
Not good..
She had already made up her mind.
And no way in heck would I have moved here 34 years ago if I had a chance to move to Totonto.
Hey,I love my fir trees,and ferns and even the rain.
But there is a whole lot of prettiness there too with greenery
PLUS an atmosphere like New York.
Now that is an offer I would not be able to refuse.
The sad part is..he just came here to force Toronto’s hand,his agent probably had all that set up beforehand.
It didn’t need a trip here to confirm a deal or even close.
Portland is not going to be the defining part of the deal
in any of the free agents.
They are going to be looking at the green alright..the green in their wallets,not the fur trees.
Unless New O is going to make CP3 available, or Houston wants to move Brooks and Battier, plan B just became wait until January and start looking for the big lopsided trade deal. I guess the big question is are the Blazers willing to send Pryzbilla somewhere to get a starter/all star quality 1 or 3, because even though he isn’t that good, he is better than most team’s starters.