How Blazers & Kevin Pritchard Lucked into Andre Miller

It only took two aborted signing efforts, but Portland GM's Kevin Pritchard's third move was actually the best for the Trail Blazers. Andre Miller does several things for the Blazers: He gives them a 'true' NBA point guard, it moves Steve Blake to a backup role which he is more naturally suited and most importantly it removes some of the pressure off of Brandon Roy. The Blazers went into this off-season needing to upgrade at point guard badly so it was curious to see them make a huge offer to free-agent Hedo Turkoglu, essentially a small-forward and then try to pry Paul Millsap from the Jazz, paying him starters-money to basically backup Aldridge and Oden. So in many ways signing Miller should have been looked at as option number one, but instead was the third choice and Blazer fans should be happy it worked out like this.

Saying that Kevin Pritchard bungled his way this off season might be harsh, but at the very least he showed he didn't have a handle on what was needed and the type of player they should add to the squad. Turkoglu's newest contract is the latest example of the phenomena many GM's around the league fall-victim to, a veteran player in his free-agency year plays a little better than he ever had, make a run through the playoffs and vault their stock to way above what it should be. Hedo is exactly that and he has really got to be counting his lucky stars, that aligned perfectly for him.

Just why did Kevin Pritchard decide to go after Hedo and offer him the kingly-sum of $10 million a year, for five years? Here is a player that does much of the same things that the Blazers two-best players do, Brandon Roy & LaMarcus Aldridge, except those two do it better. Travis Outlaw is a more athletic version of Hedo that maybe doesn't hit quite as many shots.

So was small-forward a need? If one looks at the Blazers roster, one quickly can identify point guard and Greg Oden's health as two weak-spots on the team so the fact that Hedo was sought-after is mystifying. If one looks at the money the Blazers would have tied up to Turkoglu and possibly meaning that it would lessen the chance of re-signing Aldridge & Roy to long-term deals, it is crazy. Besides, if one is looking to sign a jump-shooting forward like Hedo, normally that is to spread the floor and allow a dominant big-man to have more room to operate, the Blazers don't have that in Oden who is a defensive specialist, but lacks offensive ability at this point in his career.

The Millsap signing is a little more understandable given the Blazers need for a backup at Power-Forward/Center. A lineup that at times could feature Roy, Aldridge, Millsap and Oden at the floor at once would have looked nice, but really the Blazers were looking to pay Paul Millsap star-type money, and although he has potential to one day be a star, he's definitely not there yet.

Millsap is a player that has started less than half an NBA season during his career and the Blazers are looking to hand him a reported $10 million a year contract? If anything signing Millsap to an offer-sheet that the Jazz later matched will turn out to hurt actually hurt the Jazz at least in the near-time by probably forcing them to trade Carlos Boozer. I think the Jazz simply didn't want to see Millsap succeed after Sloan and their organization built him up the past three years, especially for a division rival.

I wonder how Aldridge and Roy are looking at this whole situation, both their contracts are coming up for renewals and there are reports of snags in terms of money and years with them. Both of them will be seeing the money the team was ready to dish out to lesser free-agents and if anything will be looking for the Blazers to show as much or more interest, which means money, in them.

This leaves the question of just why Kevin Pritchard didn't go after the player that was probably the best-fit into the Blazers, that being Lamar Odom? Simply put, fans have got to ask does Kevin Pritchard not possess the combination of smarts and guts that make some GM's in all of sports succeed where all too many fail?

Lamar was never looked at, never mentioned as a possibility by the Blazers, one quick thought might be that he did have a drug problem, while with the Clippers and the Blazers organization is trying to move beyond their 'JailBlazers' reputation.

If we dismiss this as a single instance and go by what Lamar could bring the Blazers, his size, unselfishness, rebounding skill, ball-control ability, passing, versatility and the fact he could right in and handle everything from center to small forward he would bring several missing elements to the Blazers.

In general, aggressive general managers go after other-teams free-agents even if they don't 'think' they have a shot. Pritchard went after the easier-fish in Hedo, but not the bigger one. Look at what has happened with the Lakers negotiations with Lamar Odom and how that has hit snags and dragged on, this happens quite a bit in the NBA and all sports and sometimes players start to look at other teams and for other deals, so although it probably looked to Kevin Pritchard on July 1st, that the Blazers didn't have a shot with Lamar, by the time Hedo turned down the Blazers offer Lamar was still there and Pritchard continued to look away. One has got to think that had the Blazers pursued Odom and simply offered him the same contract they were looking to give Hedo Turkoglu, of rumored $10 mill a year for five years, he probably would have been a Blazer right now.

I think most would consider Lamar a better, more versatile player than Hedo Turkoglu or Paul Millsap so it just leaves one guessing why. If anything one can think that Kevin Pritchard never had a thought-out plan-B and had a hard time coming up with one after plan-A failed.

All told though I believe most Blazers' fans have got to be breathing a sigh of relief that not only did ill-fitting Hedo turn down the Blazers offer but the Jazz matched Paul Millsap's overpaid offer-sheet too. So, although the Kevin Pritchard arguably bungled his options this off-season, Blazer fans have got to be pleased that they and feeling lucky a talented guy like Andre Miller fell through the cracks, mostly due to the NBA's deteriorating economic conditions.

I guess it is possible for a GM to learn from his mistakes and Blazers' fans have got to hope that Pritchard gets better, at least more aggressive about making backup plans and reaching out towards possibly 'unattainable' free-agents who might just be there long-after most thought they would be.