Blazers Pretty Pedestrian Presser

[kucoach7]

GM Kevin U. Coach VII:
So last season I had a plan to bring in some solid perimeter defense. We executed a nice trade for Raja Bell and had a deal in place to bring in Andre Miller but it required us to move some valuable assets. However at the last moment we received an offer that would allow us to unload Olowokandi's and Starbury's contracts, keep all young assets and picks, and bring Shaq back. We really needed to sell off the surplus jerseys we had from his last tenure here so we opted for mediocrity instead of trying to compete. Of course, the first the first time in a long time that we owned our first round pick we made the playoffs.

This offseason we were moderately happy to draft Tiago Splitter, who we think will be an okay player (75 strength and jumping as a rookie though!). Unfortunately he experienced only modest improvements during camp. We brought in Jeff Foster, who is a passable big man. We'll pair him them with another humdrum forward, Drew Gooden, to hold down the post. Jason Terry joined the team on a tolerable deal. He'll be a fairly standard point guard for us. Bell will continue to fulfill his roll as an uninspired 3 and D shooting guard with Girecek and Dunleavy serving as middling 6th and 7th men. I'll pause my attempt to use every synonym for mediocre to say that Caron Butler is turning into a BEAST. He had another great camp and is becoming the well-rounded-jack-of-all-trades-poor-man's-Ron-Artest we thought he could become when we traded Dirk for him.

[Reopens thesaurus]

That brings us to where we are now. We have a decent number of fairly young moderately good players on okay deals. We expect to be a pretty mediocre team somewhere in the 7-10 range, as usual.

[RPF]

where do you see the Trailblazers in the race for the west this season?

[NOLa.]

Are there any plans on selling off any of your players to stockpile more draft picks? Or, any plans on acquiring veterans to get to the playoffs?

Sent via Morse code

[78#]

You have alot of solid players around Butler, but how difficult is it finding that 2nd and 3rd star to go with him? Right now who will your go-to-guy after Butler?

[IamQuailman]

Jeff Foster is extremely underrated by the league. His defense and rebounding are up their with some of the best centers we have now. How excited were you to snag him in FA?

[kucoach7]

where do you see the Trailblazers in the race for the west this season?

I think we'll be where we've been since our one contender year back in 2001, right on the fringe of the playoffs. Whether we make it to the post season or not will probably be a measure of how far our team chemistry can carry us.

[kucoach7]

Are there any plans on selling off any of your players to stockpile more draft picks? Or, any plans on acquiring veterans to get to the playoffs?

Sent via Morse code

This season we're content on mediocrity but next season we could pull a mini reboot in preparation for the core four's last season on contract.

[kucoach7]

You have alot of solid players around Butler, but how difficult is it finding that 2nd and 3rd star to go with him? Right now who will your go-to-guy after Butler?

Jason Terry is definitely the number two guy but, yeah, after that it gets fuzzy. Maybe we'll bring in a third gun during the season.

[kucoach7]

Jeff Foster is extremely underrated by the league. His defense and rebounding are up their with some of the best centers we have now. How excited were you to snag him in FA?

We only submitted four bids during round one of UFA two for $3M on centers and two for $10M on point guards so we could stay under the cap and sign one more backup. It worked out perfectly so we were pumped. We have absolutely loved what Foster as been doing in Phoenix. He is a guy that brings a lot of grit and intangibles and we think he'll be a great anchor for us down low.

[WigNosy]

Who do you see as the leader on this team?

[kucoach7]

Who do you see as the leader on this team?

Caron and Gooden are the leaders on this team. They've been here the longest and everyone knows they are committed to bringing a championship caliber team to Portland. I'm interested to see how Jeff Foster's veteran leadership fits in. He's a guy that is really respected in the locker room.

[TrayWithAnA]

I think this is a fun question and a chance for others to get creative. So pardon if repetitive...

Do you have any special giveaways on the docket this season? There are only so many times we as fans can receive a white tshirt with the local ambulance chaser's logo on the back. How do you plan on mixing it up for your fanbase?


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[kucoach7]

I think this is a fun question and a chance for others to get creative. So pardon if repetitive...

Do you have any special giveaways on the docket this season? There are only so many times we as fans can receive a white tshirt with the local ambulance chaser's logo on the back. How do you plan on mixing it up for your fanbase?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In conjunction with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro we will be handing out Jason Terry-Jet Transformers to the first 5000 fans on November 5th and don't forget to pick up the summer blockbuster, Transformers on DVD.

[Xist2Inspire]

I think this is a fun question and a chance for others to get creative. So pardon if repetitive...

Do you have any special giveaways on the docket this season? There are only so many times we as fans can receive a white tshirt with the local ambulance chaser's logo on the back. How do you plan on mixing it up for your fanbase?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In conjunction with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro we will be handing out Jason Terry-Jet Transformers to the first 5000 fans on November 5th and don't forget to pick up the summer blockbuster, Transformers on DVD.

Random Reporter:THIS IS AWESOME *clap clap clap clap clap* THIS IS AWESOME

Anyway, let's go back to Tiago Splitter, who has some potential but is super rare. How soon do you expect him to make his way into the rotation? And if he's in the mix for this season, how much are you looking for him to contribute?