.png&w=244&h=193&zc=1 "By the numbers: A quick look at the Grizzlies")
Spurs growing impatient with Blazers?
The Portland Trail Blazers are looking for their next GM and San Antonio Spurs' Dennis Lindsey is on
their radar. However, the process is taking a bit too long and according to oregonlive.com, San Antonio is losing patience.
The whisper now is that San Antonio, which granted Portland permission to interview Lindsey, is growing impatient with the process and will soon close that window.
Aside from Lindsey, former Golden State general manager Chris Mullin, and Oklahoma City's Troy Weaver have drawn interest from Portland.
However, will Lindsey take the job? He has a great position with the Spurs, a well-respected franchise in the NBA, and works with one of the best around, R.C. Buford.
Portland is a mess right now. Their front-office has been like a revolving door. Former Spurs' scout Kevin Pritchard was unceremoniously given the boot, and Rich Cho was shown the door. That doesn't boost any confidence for any person in the running for the vacant GM spot.
Not to mention the team will have to make a decision about Greg Oden, who signed a 1-year qualifying offer, after this season. Also, what do they do with Brandon Roy? If they want cap relief, he will have to be moved.
So with the way Portland has treated two of their past GMs and their roster questions, maybe Lindsey is better off staying with San Antonio or continue to listen to Toronto's overtures.
@LaurelT2 : I don't know the ins and outs of Canzano, I am just a fan, but you don't have to know to much to figure out the Bald Face Truth, is just the "Truth " the way he sees it and the source is his face in the mirror when shaving :>).
I would consider the 'whisper' questionable...canzano makes stuff up sometimes, I think he might just think he has power to put pressure on the blazers...and inventing a source would not be a first.
As for the decisions pending they depend on the new CBA and not much can be done until there is a deal. Roy might well go in an amnesty clause.Or Camby.
Roy is not quite the risk it seems unless there is a low hard cap. The Blazers have an independent insurance policy covering his knees for any games missed not covered by the NBA group policy and the premium was compensated for with the non guaranteed portion of the final year of his contract.
Oden can likey be kept for a lot less than the qualifying offer, a contract provision which might well not even exist in the new CBA.
One sample...In Feb 2005 he had in his blog what the blazers 'must do' after the Blazers were finished the season but before July first with NVE's contract. Like trade him and get something good in return, and the other team could exercise the team option. The idea was get something instead of the blazers using the team option to dump salary.
I told Canzano in an email exchange what he was pushing for was against the CBA. The Blazers could exercise the option, but they could not trade a player who could become a free agent with an ending contract in that time frame.
Canzano told me that John Nash (the GM) had told him this was right and other GMs had confirmed it. I am like...gee, the GMs do not know the basic CBA rules?
Well Nash had a public email address and I asked him. He of course had said no such thing. Nash said there was no team option, Nick's contract was not guaranteed the next year. They traded NVE after July 1st. Nash said in that email which I just dug up:"His blog is incorrect. Van Exel is under contract for 2005-06 but it is non guaranteed so he can be traded and cut with no obligation to the team that cuts him. As you may have heard, we don't think Canzano is always right."
That was not the last time in my arguments he claimed people said stuff I knew they would not...
I suggested that Paul Allen needed to buy the Oregonian and hire some better reporters...Nash liked it...
Another time when I challenged him about his blog he claimed the newspaper's lawyers had told him he was right about how he was reading a team contract on Miles discipline. You did not need to be a lawyer to figure out fine money being returned from escrow (for good behavior) was not the blazers "paying Miles twice". I might still have that email exchange. I finally got though and instead of retracting his bashing of the team all day he merely changed the entry.
I think sometimes Canzano's unnamed sources are his face in the mirror when he was shaving that morning... =)
