Portland Trailblazers Pre-Season Presser 1987-88

[WigNosy]

The cat is leaned back in an office chair, feet up on the desk, using a nail file to sharpen the claws on his right foot while the assembled press waits. Finally, his eyes narrow he speaks.

"Frustration, that's what. Losing James to a broken arm in the final week of the season meant we went into the playoffs distracted, searching for an identity, and worst of all, it meant I didn't get the chance to learn a lot about this team in the playoffs, because the focal point wasn't in place.

"The off-season was interminable. I went back and forth with a number of teams during the draft, trying to find a way to bring in an infusion of fresh talent. I was able to spend some cash to get the final pick in the first round of the draft, but that wasn't the solution we needed.

"I was actually looking forward to Free Agency, assuming that since nobody had shown much interest in my impending RFAs as I shopped them the last couple of seasons, I would be able to bring them back on team-friendly deals. I think I accomplished that nicely with Randy Breuer and Steve Stipanovich... we have solid backup bigs that know our game plan, don't make mistakes, and both stand over seven feet tall for the next four years. So I'm happy with how things went with them.

"I'm considerably less happy about Thurl Bailey signing with the Kings. Thurl grew from a callow rookie into a seasoned veteran here, and he thanks me for my patience and care in developing him ... by signing with DARTH VEGITO? I felt betrayed, and I couldn't very well bring him back here after he knifed me in the back that way! When Darth told me the sign-and-trade offer was essentially Johnny Newman I felt a relief... I would have a new young mind to brainwash - er - mold.

"Then there's Sedale. I initially thought about letting him go, too... but once it became clear that I wouldn't have to carry a maxxed out Thurl Bailey on my roster, I looked at my financials. If I matched Threatt, I would have about $1 million in cap room, so I could bring in another player. If I let him go, I would have... about $1.5 million in cap room. My internal projections on UFAs suggested that the Lakers would lose Whatley... and the team with the closest cap space to me had almost $2 million in cap space... meaning it didn't matter whether or not I matched Sedale, because the number of teams that could outbid me on a Free Agent would be exactly the same. Seeing that it made no difference whether I kept him or let him walk, I decided to keep him. Then, of course, the Lakers decided to trade away Lister, and it turned out that had I let Threatt go, I would have been able to outbid the Lakers. But whatever, that's only one team.

"So, let's discuss the elephant in the room. Our off-season was pretty unexciting, but we did make one move that kicked up a LOT of discussion when we offered a Free Agent tender to Jim Petersen. I recognized that I'm going to have to pay some of my key pieces a lot more going forward, but I had more cap space than I needed this season, and knowing that descending contracts were possible in the software (and that I'd offered them before but never gotten a player to accept one), I put out a contract that I thought was probably a bit of an overpay this season but would become something a little more fair the next season (and might be a bit of an underpay in the final year). I assume I offered him more total money than anyone else, but I obviously surprised people with the offer's structure. Not sure what the fallout from that will be; this is not a tactic I think will work very often.

"I had some other moves brewing, but nothing came to fruition (THANKS, INDIANA!), so the off-season ended with a wet fart noise for us. At least until Training Camp, when Worthy showed after missing the playoffs last year he wants to kick butt and take names this year. But really, the only substantial change this year will be 'Bailey out, Newman in.' We just have to try to stay healthy this year and hope to make some playoff noise. We intend to continue to be around the fringes of contention. We haven't been able to get the players to be dominant, but we had better continue to be consistently excellent.

"All right, that's enough talking from me. You all can speak now."

[greepleairport]

Has Jim Petersen made any comments since the PBSL world exploded with question marks regarding his contract? Does he still like the deal?

That's more of a general question. This one is more pointed:

Drunk GM Greepleairport here, when are you going to get the Frye out of my division?! I'm sick of you dancing at the top of it goddammit! Why is our division always so hard?! It's because of YOU, wig! YOU!!!! ARGGHHHHHH, get out!!!

[WigNosy]

Has Jim Petersen made any comments since the PBSL world exploded with question marks regarding his contract? Does he still like the deal?

I think he finds the whole thing hilarious. "Why wouldn't I want more money upfront?"

Drunk GM Greepleairport here, when are you going to get the Frye out of my division?! I'm sick of you dancing at the top of it goddammit! Why is our division always so hard?! It's because of YOU, wig! YOU!!!! ARGGHHHHHH, get out!!!

I'll be happy to trade divisions with the Bucks any time.

[tbone963]

It was unfortunate we got robbed of what this team could've accomplished last season. You said it yourself that losing Bailey in the offseason stung but you were able to get back a young prospect in Newman. How much are you relying on Newman to step up and run the second unit? Do you imagine a scenario later in the season of having him start some games?

[WigNosy]

It was unfortunate we got robbed of what this team could've accomplished last season. You said it yourself that losing Bailey in the offseason stung but you were able to get back a young prospect in Newman. How much are you relying on Newman to step up and run the second unit? Do you imagine a scenario later in the season of having him start some games?

I think we're going to start off by throwing him into the fire to see if he can hang with the starting unit as I think he has the potential to give us the luxury of playing a recent Finals MVP, Kelly Tripucka, off the bench - I feel Kelly versus other teams' bench players gives us a bigger advantage than Newman against other teams' bench players.