FanHouse KevinPritchard

Blazers boss Kevin Pritchard hasn't received a ton of good press this summer, so consider this some make-up dap. One of Portland's second-round picks, Jeff Pendergraph of Arizona State, had been practicing in Rip City last week when he seriously injured his hip, requiring surgery. At the time, the Blazers and Pendergraph's agent had been negotiating a contract. (Second-round picks don't have a salary scale.) The surgery will sit Pendergraph for 10-12 weeks.

But Pritchard did the right thing, and signed Pendergraph anyway -- even though he won't play much (as the fourth big behind LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden) once he is healthy. The team obviously likes Pendergraph's game (this is a franchise that doesn't waste draft picks), but it's a pretty big leap of faith to ink the kid after he goes under the knife with medical clearance months away. It puts into perspective the perilous position of unsigned draft picks, who are expected to practice with the team and get into game shape without any real financial commitment. And as we all know, injuries unfortunately happen. Let's hope more teams take the high road shown here by Pritchard (and previously by Billy King in Philadelphia, who made a similar deal with Willie Green).

On this episode of the Young And The Cap Flexible...

In our last episode, we clued you into a potential deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas to Utah, among other moving pieces. The deal was refuted by several sources, but ESPN's sticking to their guns that the deal is on the table, but has hit a snag.

That snag? The Blazers insistence on keeping a phenomenal young player so that they can ... not play him?

According to Stein and Ford (the newest cast members of Dragnet), the snag is Jerryd Bayless.

This week, as the (tongue-in-cheek) "golden aura" around Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard continues to dissipate, Jason Quick of The Oregonian reportS that contract negotiations with early extension candidates Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge have stalled.

With Aldridge, it's understandable. Quick reports the team wanted to give LMA a $10 million annual salary. Toronto extending Andrea Bargnani at that rate fudged those plans. But Roy ... what on Earth does Portland need to negotiate with Roy about? He's a maximum salary player, no doubt, and Pritchard should sign up for whatever contract length Roy requests -- three years a la LeBron, or the full five. There should be nothing to stall things because Pritchard should be nodding his head during the entire negotiation period.

Jason Quick of the The Oregonian reports Portland bosses Kevin Pritchard and Tom Penn made a play for Orlando free agent Hedo Turkoglu early Wednesday morning, just as Orlando's other major free agent -- Marcin Gortat -- was getting flowers from the Rockets. Two Western contenders pilfering the Kings of the East, how quaint.

Portland is one of two teams (outside of Orlando) that makes perfect sense for Turkoglu from all angles. While the Blazers have a nice collection of small forwards, none offer the ball-handling skill that a team with shooter Steve Blake at point guard requires. Further, though Brandon Roy has shown to be a good leader, there's a real lack of veteran guardianship on the roster. As they say, Hedo has been there, done that.

Let me never doubt Kevin Pritchard's slapping skills, but Portland really tossed a curve into their leapfrog gambit by selecting fairly underhyped Spanish forward Victor Claver with the No. 22 pick. Claver has made it clear he won't be in the NBA for at least one more year, perhaps two. And there had been talk his agent had been pushing to be made a second-round pick, where the rookie salary scale doesn't apply.

But the Blazers seem to know Western Europe pretty well, so I'll trust their judgment. Pitt stud DeJuan Blair and Israeli dynamo Omri Casspi were both there for the taking at with Portland's pick; Casspi went one pick later to Sacramento, who Portland leapfrogged a day earlier. Portland had given Dallas two second round picks to exchange the Blazers' No. 24 pick for the Mavericks' No. 22. Dallas ended up taking B.J. Mullens (another lottery projected player) with No. 24.

ESPN.com reports the Blazers have agreed to give Dallas the No. 24 pick, the No. 56 pick and a 2010 second round choice to move up ... two spots, to No. 22. The Kings sit at No. 23. I think it's safe to say Kevin Pritchard has his eye on a player he thinks Sacramento also covets. I wouldn't be surprised if said player was Israeli forward Omri Casspi, who had a marvelous workout in Sactown a few weeks ago.

This would be trivial if Pritchard didn't pull the same move last season. The Kings picked No. 12 last June, with the Blazers at No. 14. Coveting Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless -- who had been reported to be at the top of Sacramento's wish list -- Pritchard worked up a swap with Indiana to move up to No. 11. The silver lining for Kings fans is that Bayless barely got off the bench while Jason Thompson shone.

Blazers "capologist" Tom Penn became the third top candidate to leave Minnesota at the altar today. According to Ric Bucher, Penn took a better title, a bigger paycheck and a hearty backslap from Paul Allen to stay in Home Sweet PDX. The Wolves' search continues anew. Mascot Crunch is currently testing Shelden Williams' spelling skills.

To be brutally honest, these last two snubs in Minneapolis have been downright insulting. Randy Pfund will end up as an assistant general manager, assistant coach or lead scout somewhere when he likely could have had Minnesota's top job. Penn is one of numerous cooks in Kevin Pritchard's kitchen -- and this is a young Kevin Pritchard, who isn't likely going anywhere any time soon. Penn would rather stay there than deal with Glen Taylor and (potentially) Kevin McHale. (Publicly, Penn cites the comfort level with the Blazers. I didn't hear anything about a comfort level until Portland put on a "full court press," though.)

Another day, another cannonball lobbed at Portland. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! supplies it again, revealing that before threatening to sue any team that signed Darius Miles the Blazers attempted to claim the forward off waivers.

Had Portland been successful, the team would have been on the hook for the rest of his league minimum salary for 2008-09. But the benefit would come in stashing Miles on the bench and keeping him from Games 9 and 10, games that would (err, will) halve Portland's summer cap space.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "It amazes me how quickly the question 'Who is the best player in the NBA?' has been rendered moot." -- The Painted Area.

* "(Bleep) that guy, he's walking around rubbing everyone's nose in the deals he's made and even with all those lottery players his team is still not in the playoffs." -- The Oregonian, via TSB.

* "[Gerald] Wallace's true talent is much more valuable to the team than [Boris] Diaw's. What scares me about this little brushup is that Larry Brown probably has never understood that because he doesn't like Wallace's style, and this is just a preliminary indication that Brown wants to move him." -- Rufus on Fire.

* Ridiculously interesting "heat maps" from Obsessionism, photos of a young Mark Cuban squeezing some dames, and when good logos go bad.

On Friday night, news slipped that Memphis signed Darius Miles to a 10-day contract which goes into effect today, giving the Grizzlies three opportunities to get Miles some run. This would not be notable if the Blazers hadn't threatened to sue any team that signed Miles for the purpose of damaging Portland's salary cap standing.

Clearly, no team really had much to fear once the NBA put out its statement Friday morning telling the league any franchise was free to sign Miles.

The Blazers stuck to their guns before Memphis signed D, even in the face of a grievance from the players union.