A fractured metatarsal is very painful for sure. But I think "broken foot" as used by Fox12 news is a little hyperbolic.

Let's see -- "fractured" = "broken." Metatarsal = bone in foot. I'd call that a broken foot. If we need another name for it, maybe we could go with Martell Webster.

I think I speak for all Blazer fans when I say, "D'Oh!"

Jack, he had a history of injury problems, that's why he slipped all the way to late 2nd round. He's a free pick. If he pans out, great, if he doesn't he's a second rounder.

Everything's fine.

That nasty e-mail incident over Darius Miles isn't going to hurt us in the trade market.

Oden's going to be a monster this year.

Now that Outlaw has playoff experience, he's really going to blossom.

LaMarcus won't leave, even if we don't give him the money he wants.

Everything's fine.

I wouldn't say that Jack but its hard for me to get too upset about the #56 pick in the NBA draft getting hurt.

Agreed. Blazer fans have bigger worries.

Doesn't he have another foot? What's the big deal?

The fracture doesn't bother me. What bothers me is the way the Blazers are jacking around with BRoy. I realize that the odds are high that a long term deal gets done, but why risk creating any ill will with your franchise bedrock? He is clearly a max years/max $ guy. I happened to hear a Seattle radio station interview with Roy over lunch today and he really did not sound happy about the contract issue. Why pointlessly irritate the face and future of the franchise?

I agree with Gannicott: What the @#*% are they thinking in being coy with B Roy. Show him the $$$$.

They don't want to sign him until they make their big free agent deal. Not too smart.

I doubt Patty Mills was going to make the team this year anyways, he's only 20. He is probably going to play in europe this season, as he has an Austrailian passport and it is supposedly easier for him to play overseas because of that. I will say he is an exciting player who has a good chance within a season or two to make an impact with the blazers.

Jack is right. People need to calm down about the Roy issue, Roy is going to get whatever he wants. The Blazers shouldn't sign him until they figure out what they are doing with the open cap space, which will happen in the next week sounds like...as they offered Millsap today ( http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705316159/Utah-Jazz-Trail-Blazers-offer-Millsap-4-year-deal.html )and contrary to reports I don't think the Hinrich trade is dead either.

I don't lay any great claim to being a salary cap/C.B.A. expert, but my understanding of the rules is that signing a free agent or executing a lop-sided trade will be possible before we extend Roy and Aldridge, but that we won't be able to make such signings/trades after the extensions. Thus, it makes sense to hold off on the extensions until the team makes any other moves.

What I'm not clear about is how frank the team can be with Roy & Aldridge's agents about their plans and why they're waiting to tender satisfactory offers. I understand that it would violate tampering rules to ask them to wait until they make other moves/trades.

Anyone know anything to the contrary?

I'm not a capolgist, but I don't know that BRoy's or Aldridges's contract situations have anything to do with the signing of a, at this point, mediocre free agent for too much money. My understanding is that you can pretty much pay your own players up to the max without impacting the cap issue,as long as you are willing to absorb the luxury tax. And Paul Allen should be willing to absorb whatever it takes to sign BRoy and Aldridge. As attractive as Pual Milsap may be at 9 mill a year my feeling is back off and don't overpay for an iffy free agent when there is a plethora of talent lined up for '10 and, most likely, a much nastier economic climate. Next year's Blazers will only be as good as Oden's improvement, or lack thereof, makes them. There is no free agent difference maker left.

Gannicott, I think you're probably right about signing an agent. What I think is the bigger issue is the ability to make a lop-sided trade. With cap space the team can trade a rookie scale contract + cap space for a salary of equal value. But if we use our cap space to sign our guys then we lose that option. I guess the bottom line is that the team ends up above the cap, but the variable is whether it sticks with the players it has now or parlays any of them into a different player.

I'm really glad that I'm not a GM. It seems like a really difficult to need to forecast how players will turn out, how to find complementary pieces and manage the finances. Generally speaking I've been a Pritchard booster, but I've also worried that he might over-value his existing players. I definitely wait with bated breath to see how things turn out. However, when the goal is long term success it's hard to know when the moment is appropriate to assess the team's progress(hence my ongoing unwillingness to label Oden a bust).

Extensions for Roy and Aldridge will take effect no earlier than July 1, 2010, no matter when they are signed. They have no impact on the Blazers' present cap space.