RYAN GOMES!!!!

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I am never going to understand the affection for the players who rode this franchise into the 24-win abyss.

C'mon, coach...you're a better observer of the game than that.

We had quite a few talented players, but they were role players with only PP as a "star."  Of course, Paul is not very good at passing out of double teams, and he was double teamed pretty often before Ray and KG showed up, so we lost a lot of games.  That doesn't mean that some of those role players can't be role players on a very good, or even championship, team.

Do you think Gomes would be an upgrade over Scal and Shelden?  I surely think so.  I wouldn't throw the MLE at him, but if my full MLE targets fell through, I'd give him a portion (half or less).

Gomes plays no defense. His offense isn't exceptional. He isn't worth a cent over the minimum to this team, except as filler. As long as Garnett and Pierce, and potentially Allen, are here, we're trying to win, not collect binkys.

Yo, Coach, keep up.  Gomes outgrew his binkie two years ago.

He also has been playing plenty of minutes at the 3, and has a very good spot-up 3pt shot, can play pick/pop well, and is a good, hard-working positional defender that can force an opponent to help.  Unfortunately, he was on a team where the help was not always where it was supposed to be, and on a team that didn't stress defense.  He was asked to do more than he could (like, start and score).

He's not a star, and that's okay.  We need stars, true, but we need guys like Gomes, too.  [wow...almost poetry there...]

[Jon]

I am never going to understand the affection for the players who rode this franchise into the 24-win abyss.

C'mon, coach...you're a better observer of the game than that.

We had quite a few talented players, but they were role players with only PP as a "star."  Of course, Paul is not very good at passing out of double teams, and he was double teamed pretty often before Ray and KG showed up, so we lost a lot of games.  That doesn't mean that some of those role players can't be role players on a very good, or even championship, team.

Do you think Gomes would be an upgrade over Scal and Shelden?  I surely think so.  I wouldn't throw the MLE at him, but if my full MLE targets fell through, I'd give him a portion (half or less).

Gomes plays no defense. His offense isn't exceptional. He isn't worth a cent over the minimum to this team, except as filler. As long as Garnett and Pierce, and potentially Allen, are here, we're trying to win, not collect binkys.

This is exactly right.  He does almost everything OK, but nothing well.  As the 5th wing he'd be OK, but he's not what we need. 

[Cman]

Why would the Blazers release gomes with three years and almost 15 million left on his contract?  That's nuts.  As is typical of the terrible oregonian their poor reporting suggests that the Blazers can somehow get out of the contract if he doesn't show up by Tuesday.  That's ridiculous.  Hoopshype has no option on this contract either.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/blazers_plan_to_release_ryan_g.html

 I guess the blazers can just eat the contract...Paul Allen is certainly rich enough but it seems like bad business to me.

Here's a good site for salary info:
http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/timberwolves.jsp

(some trouble loading today, though).

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I am never going to understand the affection for the players who rode this franchise into the 24-win abyss.

C'mon, coach...you're a better observer of the game than that.

We had quite a few talented players, but they were role players with only PP as a "star."  Of course, Paul is not very good at passing out of double teams, and he was double teamed pretty often before Ray and KG showed up, so we lost a lot of games.  That doesn't mean that some of those role players can't be role players on a very good, or even championship, team.

Do you think Gomes would be an upgrade over Scal and Shelden?  I surely think so.  I wouldn't throw the MLE at him, but if my full MLE targets fell through, I'd give him a portion (half or less).

Gomes plays no defense. His offense isn't exceptional. He isn't worth a cent over the minimum to this team, except as filler. As long as Garnett and Pierce, and potentially Allen, are here, we're trying to win, not collect binkys.

This is exactly right.  He does almost everything OK, but nothing well.  As the 5th wing he'd be OK, but he's not what we need. 

That's the thing-I think he could be a 4th wing AND a 5th big?  There's some value in having guys like that, especially if other guys snub the C's for the MLE (Miller wants more years, Outlaw goes elsewhere).

[Jon]

I am never going to understand the affection for the players who rode this franchise into the 24-win abyss.

C'mon, coach...you're a better observer of the game than that.

We had quite a few talented players, but they were role players with only PP as a "star."  Of course, Paul is not very good at passing out of double teams, and he was double teamed pretty often before Ray and KG showed up, so we lost a lot of games.  That doesn't mean that some of those role players can't be role players on a very good, or even championship, team.

Do you think Gomes would be an upgrade over Scal and Shelden?  I surely think so.  I wouldn't throw the MLE at him, but if my full MLE targets fell through, I'd give him a portion (half or less).

Gomes plays no defense. His offense isn't exceptional. He isn't worth a cent over the minimum to this team, except as filler. As long as Garnett and Pierce, and potentially Allen, are here, we're trying to win, not collect binkys.

This is exactly right.  He does almost everything OK, but nothing well.  As the 5th wing he'd be OK, but he's not what we need. 

That's the thing-I think he could be a 4th wing AND a 5th big?  There's some value in having guys like that, especially if other guys snub the C's for the MLE (Miller wants more years, Outlaw goes elsewhere).

That's true.  I was thinking if TA stayed Gomes would be pretty pointless.  However, if we don't take back TA, Gomes would make an OK 4th wing. 

I'd still prefer TA though if we got a Mike Miller.  His defense would be more of an asset. 

[CoachBo]

Since Tony appears to realize that his only value is as a stopper, I would agree, as I would on Miller.

Gomes is a dime a dozen in the league. We're going to need contributors, and he does nothing exceptionally well.

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Since Tony appears to realize that his only value is as a stopper, I would agree, as I would on Miller.

Gomes is a dime a dozen in the league. We're going to need contributors, and he does nothing exceptionally well.

I think that's Gomes' asset:  He does nothing exceptionally poorly, either.  He's good, not great.  Fine.  Put him on the court with a few great players, and he'll look "better than good" in however many minutes the team needs him to play.

Put TA on the court for more than 15 minutes, and we are increasingly likely to see a fan in the 3rd row catch one or more of his passes.  Sure, he's an upper-tier defender, but there are TWO parts to the game, and he's a flat-out liability on offense.  That means he should be a situational player, not a regular 20+ minute guy.  If he has to step into the starting lineup, we're going to have to make some serious adjustments.

Put Gomes on the court, and there's no "Bad Ryan" to worry about.  He'll take, and make, open shots when defenders cheat off of him.  He has enough size to force defenders around him-in the direction he gives them to take-right into the help.  He can do that in 10 minutes, 20, 30, or none-whatever the team needs, and he has the character to not get p---ed if his minutes fluctuate.

So he's not a 6th or 7th man, but would be a solid 8th or 9th rotation player on just about any team, IMO.  I'm pretty sure there is room on our empty roster for him, taking Scal or Finley's spot, perhaps Shelden's, and will be better than all three.

[ForexPirate]

Why can't we just pick him up on waivers and assume his contract?  Then we wouldn't have to touch our MLE.   Or isn't that allowed?

[CoachBo]

I remove my objection if Gomes will play for the vet minimum.

A dime more and I want no part of him. And paying him a cent of any limited exception is insane.

[cornbreadsmart]

He's the last guy you'll see dive for a loose ball.

[FallGuy]

Is there any chance anyone wants this ho-hum tweener back for any reason beyond nostalgia?

People went nuts when Ainge "wasted" a late second round pick on a tweener. But they want him to spend part of the mid-level on a guy who doesn't fulfill a need?

Color me confused.

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Why can't we just pick him up on waivers and assume his contract?  Then we wouldn't have to touch our MLE.   Or isn't that allowed?

55. What are waivers?
It's a temporary status for players who are released by their team. A player released between August 15th and the end of the regular season stays on waivers for 48 hours. A player released at any other time stays on waivers for seven days. During the waiver period other teams may claim a waived player. If more than one team tries to claim the player, the team with the worst record gets him. If a player on waivers is claimed, the new team acquires his existing contract and pays the remainder of his salary. There is also a fee of $1,000, payable to the league office, for claiming a waived player.

A team can claim a waived player only if one of the following is true:

•The team is far enough under the salary cap to fit the player's entire salary.
•The team has a Disabled Player exception for at least the player's salary (see question number 19).
•The team has a Traded Player exception for at least the player's salary (see question number 71).
•The player's contract is for one or two seasons and he is paid the minimum salary.

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q55

I guess not...

[gpap]

No thanks! I still can't understand why everyone here is so obsessed with Ryan Gomes.

I take that back actually. I'd take him as a bench player if he did very, very little to tie up the money we need to get a viable big man like Shaq, Haywood, Chandler and/or Brad Miller.

Other than that, no thanks.