Blazers still can make this work

On Sports

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Jul 21, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

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It’s ironic that the Blazers have offered too much for Paul Millsap, a promising young restricted free agent who could wind up as the most highly compensated backup power forward in the league.

Millsap stands to make between $32 million and $36 million in four years, including $10.3 million up front with a $5.6 million signing bonus — the latter a tactic rarely used in NBA negotiations.

Portland management and coaches really like Millsap, who could solidify the front line and provide some needed toughness and rebounding strength. Pritchard and assistant GM Tom Penn devised a plan they hoped would be too expensive for Utah to match.

Word out of Salt Lake City suggests that, even so, the Jazz will match Portland’s offer and retain Millsap. If that happens, the Blazers lose out on a nice player, but it would be anything but disastrous. Portland retains all of the most important pieces of a team that won 54 games last year as one of the youngest in the league. The Blazers return four key rookies, and typically, an NBA player’s greatest improvement comes from his first to second year in the league.

The guess here is if Millsap stays with Utah, Portland would add only minor parts and go into camp with a status quo roster and most, if not all, of its $7.7 million in salary-cap space.

The cap room could be held until the trade deadline in February, when cash-strapped teams may be looking to unload major players with large salaries. The cap and luxury tax are projected to drop again next summer; team presidents and CFOs will be looking ahead to that.

Under that scenario, fire-sale opportunities could exist. Does anybody doubt that Paul Allen would be willing to pay for a player his GM or coaching staff covets?

The recent yahoo.com report, by the way, suggesting there is a “wedge” between Pritchard and coach Nate McMillan, is baloney. Pritchard doesn’t agree with every bit of McMillan basketball philosophy, but that’s typical in a GM-coach relationship.

Pritchard has basically allowed McMillan to run the team the way he sees fit, and there is a mutual respect that has worked well for the two so far.

As for contract negotiations, talks are ongoing between Pritchard and the agents of Roy (Bob Myers) and LaMarcus Aldridge (Thad Fousher). I’ll be surprised if both extensions don’t get done before the Oct. 31 deadline.

“If there are two kids in the world I want to take care of, they’re Brandon and LaMarcus,” Pritchard says.

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