Wheels after Work: Kop going back?

Post #21 » by **Mr Odd** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:30 pm

Wheels is giving his best guess.
Nothing is set in stone yet!!

listerine · Post #22 » by **listerine** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:03 pm

I bet a lot of this decision is based on Townsend's work with Sergio this summer. If Koponen is not brought on board, then I take it as a vote of confidence from management that Sergio will have a turn-around year. After all, having a 4th string point guard in Koponen would be a little gratuitous. It's too bad because I liked him.

tisbee · Post #23 » by **tisbee** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:06 pm

My understanding from before draft Batum had to come over this yr otherwise he had a deal that would lock him up for 4 yrs in Europe w/a crazy-hi buyout.

GOBlazers · Post #24 » by **GOBlazers** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:07 pm

I'm disappointed that PKop won't be joining our roster. I knew he wouldn't ever get time so long as we had 4 PGs above him, but I thought he deserved the spot. I don't understand the decision to choose Batum over Kope. At this point, we need to hope he only signs a 4 year deal in Europe. He stays for 3 and we buy out his last year (if we even need him as a backup 3 years down the road)

Luckily for us, PK has expressed repeatedly how it is his DREAM to play in the NBA. Those comments remind me of Rudy, so I still think it is likely that he could play with us down the road (if needed).

Post #25 » by **Charcoal Filtered** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:32 pm

At the guard spots, we already have Rudy, Bayless, Blake, and Roy. There may not be minutes available for Sergio, let alone Kopo. I loved his development over last year, but no way he sees the floor this year in the NBA. Let him play a couple more years overseas and sign him with the MLE.

blzrfan · Post #26 » by **blzrfan** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:08 pm

Koponen's play during summer league was not that great. It was just ok. Nothing really stood out about him. I wasn't really that impressed with his play and I'm certainly not concerned about him blowing up in Europe. He didn't stand out as a prospect and the Blazers already have 3 PG ahead of him. The best case scenario would be for him to sign a 2-4 year contract with a reasonable buyout and develop his game.

Batum is the 3rd Small Forward on the Blazers. I think he'll be a good practice player for Outlaw and Webster to go against since his defense is far ahead of his offense.

I think Pritchard is keeping the roster spot open in case of injuries or if solid veteran player is suddenly available.

GOBlazers · Post #27 » by **GOBlazers** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:36 pm

Charcoal Filtered wrote:At the guard spots, we already have Rudy, Bayless, Blake, and Roy. There may not be minutes available for Sergio, let alone Kopo. I loved his development over last year, but no way he sees the floor this year in the NBA. Let him play a couple more years overseas and sign him with the MLE.

I believe the MLE is only for signing FAs when a team is over the salary cap. We already own the rights to PK. We took him in the first round, so he will get the appropriate rookie scale salary. Just like Rudy is getting (except PK will get less for being drafted 30th)

Walton'sBeard! · Post #28 » by **Walton'sBeard!** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:30 pm

I think some of you are putting waaaayy too much weight on a couple SL games. I would bet that management values a SL perfromance about the same as an intrasquad practice performance. The truth is that we the fans really don't know much about Batum or PetKo. I think KP has earned my trust on this decision.

Goodbye Petteri, I never knew you.

a_sensei · Post #29 » by **a_sensei** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:26 am

Walton'sBeard! wrote:I think some of you are putting waaaayy too much weight on a couple SL games. I would bet that management values a SL perfromance about the same as an intrasquad practice performance. The truth is that we the fans really don't know much about Batum or PetKo. I think KP has earned my trust on this decision.

Goodbye Petteri, I never knew you.

Have to agree with you on this. I really enjoyed watching him play (I only watched the first three games). Hopefully we will get to know Mr. Koppenen in the future but it looks questionable right now. He wasn't going to crack the rotation so it definitely won't effect my excitement for the upcoming year.

Butter · Post #30 » by **Butter** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:52 am

The question bouncing in Pritchard's mind is whether Koponen _ with two years of seasoning in the Blazers' system _ would be better than Blazers starter Steve Blake in three years.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/07/batum_signs_with_blazers_one_r.html

That is an interesting question. Blake is a very solid backup. On this uber young team, I personally place a lot of value on veteran influence on the team, but I have a hard time believing that Koponen won't exceed Blake long term due to his dribble penetration ability.

Village Idiot · Post #31 » by **Village Idiot** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:22 am

GOBlazers wrote:
Charcoal Filtered wrote:At the guard spots, we already have Rudy, Bayless, Blake, and Roy. There may not be minutes available for Sergio, let alone Kopo. I loved his development over last year, but no way he sees the floor this year in the NBA. Let him play a couple more years overseas and sign him with the MLE.

I believe the MLE is only for signing FAs when a team is over the salary cap. We already own the rights to PK. We took him in the first round, so he will get the appropriate rookie scale salary. Just like Rudy is getting (except PK will get less for being drafted 30th)

See my previous post in this thread for the explanation to how PK can sign for the MLE.

tisbee · Post #32 » by **tisbee** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:52 am

The Blazers have to be discussing among themselves is if Koponen or Bayless will be the future PG.
From the teams point of view having Koponen mature in Europe for a couple of yrs while they evaluate Bayless is darn near perfect. Plus Koponen in Europe gives the Blazers a "free" First Rd pick to include in a trade. To completely make up an example,say around the trade deadline the Blazers decided to go after Mike Miller(just an example) and were trading Raef L's expiring contract for Miller and Carney. To trump other team's offer of expiring contracts and a First,Portland can offer a First AND the rights to Koponen-in effect 2 Firsts.

BigSkyBlazerFan · Post #33 » by **BigSkyBlazerFan** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:10 am

Butter wrote:I just don't see what the Blazers are going to be able to add with a 15th player? A veteran, maybe. Why not just sign Peterri and let him play in the D-league?

Yeah we lost the chance to nab a great kid for the roster this year but hopefully a vet will show up and contribute. But I did want Peterri.

PacificBlazer · Post #34 » by **PacificBlazer** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:14 am

I wonder if this is KP's first mistake. Kopo really wanted to make the roster and could end up in Europe for much longer than 2 years now. I have a feeling that KP just thinks Bayless is the man (and he is probably right) and would rather keep that other roster spot open in case he decides we need a veteran. Either way it will be interesting to see how it plays out and I got to have faith in KP's decisions.

see4miles · Post #35 » by **see4miles** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:14 am

Guys. I don't understand the doom and gloom. You've all signed contracts before right? You can change it if you want, especially if you are in demand.

Here's what will happen:

Real madrid offer him a contract saying two million euros per season for 5 years and a 4 million euro buy-out.

Peterri says no I think that is silly. How about the same figures but make the buyout 500,000 euros.

Real madrid say no. Barcelona having 'overheard' this agree to this and he signs. Barcelona get a good player even for one season. The Blazers get him next season or the one after that.

The most importnat thing for Petteri is to play in the NBA. if he gets to the NBA his fame, endorsements and everything increase 100000000000000000000000000000000000000%

It's why luol Deng only wants to play in the NBA. he could be listening to European offers but if he plays in Europe the shoes companies' money dries up and his chances of becoming famous in Britain outside hoops fans dies forever.

Any contract Peterri signs will enable him to get to the NBA as quickly and as cheaply as possible. In suspect he won't sign with Joel Freeland's team.

bradthey · Post #36 » by **bradthey** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:46 pm

Isn't it time Paul Allen bought a team in Europe?

He could then sign Peterri for a good deal with something crazy low like a $20.00 buyout.

He could also name the team the "Yachts"

GOBlazers · Post #37 » by **GOBlazers** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:08 pm

These buyouts are so foreign to me. Do NBA teams do this too with their players? Or is there no need, because near all players would rather be in the NBA. (except for Childress)

TomJoad · Post #38 » by **TomJoad** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:16 pm

see4miles wrote:Guys. I don't understand the doom and gloom. You've all signed contracts before right? You can change it if you want, especially if you are in demand.

Here's what will happen:

Real madrid offer him a contract saying two million euros per season for 5 years and a 4 million euro buy-out.

Peterri says no I think that is silly. How about the same figures but make the buyout 500,000 euros.

Real madrid say no. Barcelona having 'overheard' this agree to this and he signs. Barcelona get a good player even for one season. The Blazers get him next season or the one after that.

The most importnat thing for Petteri is to play in the NBA. if he gets to the NBA his fame, endorsements and everything increase 100000000000000000000000000000000000000%

It's why luol Deng only wants to play in the NBA. he could be listening to European offers but if he plays in Europe the shoes companies' money dries up and his chances of becoming famous in Britain outside hoops fans dies forever.

Any contract Peterri signs will enable him to get to the NBA as quickly and as cheaply as possible. In suspect he won't sign with Joel Freeland's team.

I think you're putting too much weight in Petteri Koponen as player right now. He is not going to command 2 million euro to play in the EL. Heck, no young player is earning that in Europe, right?
In europe there is no 4-5 year contracts.

If he truly wants to play in the NBA, I'm pretty sure his agent would include a not-so-crazy NBA buyout . In fact, in most cases the buyout is very low. You're clearly making too much of this issue regarding Petsku. He could sign for a decent team (not finnish league level team) but not great, develop and go to Portland without buyout after one year.

zzaj · Post #39 » by **zzaj** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:26 pm

Well my understanding of it was that it WAS going to probably be a 4-5 year deal. And the buyout was going to be significant.

If there are ways to get Petteri with the MLE and the buyout isn't too heinous, than stashing him on a good level Euro team is close to ideal. Hopefully that is what plays out.

Thinking about it, IMO the finnisher is just a notch below someone like Jose Calderon and could very easily develop into a better player than the spaniard.

I personally don't think KP is going to just bring in a vet for that 15th spot. I think he wants the flexibility to be able to take back more players than he gives out in a trade.

Zyme · Post #40 » by **Zyme** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:37 pm

zzaj wrote:Well my understanding of it was that it WAS going to probably be a 4-5 year deal. And the buyout was going to be significant.

If there are ways to get Petteri with the MLE and the buyout isn't too heinous, than stashing him on a good level Euro team is close to ideal. Hopefully that is what plays out.

Thinking about it, IMO the finnisher is just a notch below someone like Jose Calderon and could very easily develop into a better player than the spaniard.

I personally don't think KP is going to just bring in a vet for that 15th spot. I think he wants the flexibility to be able to take back more players than he gives out in a trade.

from wiki
"The CBA allows teams to sign their 1st-round draft choices to rookie "scale" contracts even if their payroll exceeds the cap."

Because he was a 1st round pick, if he does come here, he would be able come in over the cap or no, given a roster spot.