Pritchard: Blazers are being 'selective'

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Jul 9, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (7 Reader comments)

JONATHAN HOUSE / THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE

Trail Blazer point guard Jerryd Bayless (left) and fellow summer-league player David Padgett work out Thursday during the first official practice for the Portland squad that will compete this month in Las Vegas.

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If there is a sense of panic with in the Trail Blazers organization, it didn’t appear that way Thursday at the team’s training facility in Tualatin.

Assistant coaches ran rookie training camp as the club prepares for next week’s participation at the Las Vegas Summer League. Coach Nate McMillan observed, then met with prospects and coaches afterward.

Kevin Pritchard, wearing an untucked golf shirt and shorts, hopped around the premises, spent plenty of time with the media and — in my view — Portland’s energetic general manager didn’t look uptight at all.

Not that the early summer has gone the way the Blazers had envisioned.

Hedo Turkoglu’s decision to have his wife spend her winters in Toronto was a blast of north-of-the-border frigid water in the kisser to Pritchard and the Blazer organization.

That she didn’t choose accompany her husband on his recruiting trip to Portland was a red flag to Blazer brass, but there still was the feeling that Turkoglu would be romanced well enough, the mission would be accomplished.

The money — $3 million more than Portland offered — was incidental. The chance to be a part of Toronto’s storied Turkish community, and to live in a cosmopolitan Canadian city, proved too enticing for the Turkoglus.

It was a win for Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo, but it also may be a blessing in disguise for the Blazers. Turkoglu needs the ball in his hands a lot to be effective, and I’m not sure how much ball time would be available with the presence of Brandon Roy.

The pricetag was steep for a very good player but a 30-year-old, zero-time all-star set to enter the downside of his career. Turkoglu may have saved the Blazers from themselves.

Even with Chris Bosh and Turkoglu, the Raptors will be fortunate to make the playoffs next season. In the end, it was clear that being part of a team with championship potential wasn’t all that important.

“If it isn’t right for him, it isn’t right for us,” Pritchard said, while admitting to deep disappointment at Turkoglu’s snub. “We’re after players who are about winning, about being successful and being unselfish. It didn’t fit, and I’d rather know now than later.”

Pritchard didn’t look worse for wear Thursday. Maybe the Zen meditation recommended by Phil Jackson worked wonders, but Portland’s GM doesn’t need an escort to steer him away from the nearest bridge.

Don’t be concerned with reports of disharmony because the contract extensions with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge haven’t gotten done yet. Almost always, those things take a little time. The Blazers weren’t going to start with their best offer. If the sticking point with Roy is a fifth year of guaranteed maximum money, the sides aren’t that far apart.

As for Aldridge, the five-year, $50-million extension those rascal Raptors bestowed on Andrea Bargnani ups the ante for the Blazers, for sure. But Portland won’t have to give a max deal to Aldridge, who fully understands that.

“Brandon and LaMarcus are absolutely critical to what we’re doing forward, and they’re going to be here a long time,” Pritchard assured the media. “We’re having amicable talks with their agents. We all value Brandon and LaMarcus so much, we’ll do everything we can to come to a solution. Whether it’s this week or next week, I don’t know, but it’s so important to us and to them.”

With Turkoglu in the rear mirror, the Blazers have turned their sights to a short list of perhaps a half-dozen players, including Utah forward Paul Millsap, a restricted free agent whom Pritchard has coveted for some time. The Blazers hope they can structure a contract proposal steep enough that the Jazz — already above the luxury-tax level — can’t afford.

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