Official (Woj) Portland keeps on spending CJ extension

[basketballwacko2]

I'm not any more pleased about our turner and crabbe signings than the crowd but I do think our lack of flexibility is being drastically overstated here. There are a lot of centers in this league right now. It's just not hard for me to see a crabbe+plumlee+pick for a starting center. Also if harkless is brought back he'd pretty much be a 4 for us so that doesn't add to our expensive backcourt/wing. I get why people are critical of our overall money situation but I do think it's rushing to judgement before seeing if steps can continue to be made and regardless of crabbe/ET, this had to be done. CJ is absolutely worth every penny, if you don't think that it's because you don't know him at all. Getting him locked in without any options or trade kicker is actually a great deal.

I like the Crabbe signing still. Guy has a skill, and fits alongside either of Portland's main guards.

I really dislike the Turner signing. The whole idea that you need another ball handler only works if the other ball handler is better than the guys you want to replace in that role. I would *much* rather have McCollum initiating than Turner. So Turner is either being paid based off being a backup sf with a versatile skill set you don't need that much, or as a 3rd string pg (cause I sneak McCollum over to backup pg in my rotations).

Oh yeah I agree with you on Turner the money they gave him is insane. The McCollum money is wack! The Crabbe money is wack!

[damecurry]

I'm not any more pleased about our turner and crabbe signings than the crowd but I do think our lack of flexibility is being drastically overstated here. There are a lot of centers in this league right now. It's just not hard for me to see a crabbe+plumlee+pick for a starting center. Also if harkless is brought back he'd pretty much be a 4 for us so that doesn't add to our expensive backcourt/wing. I get why people are critical of our overall money situation but I do think it's rushing to judgement before seeing if steps can continue to be made and regardless of crabbe/ET, this had to be done. CJ is absolutely worth every penny, if you don't think that it's because you don't know him at all. Getting him locked in without any options or trade kicker is actually a great deal.

I like the Crabbe signing still. Guy has a skill, and fits alongside either of Portland's main guards.

I really dislike the Turner signing. The whole idea that you need another ball handler only works if the other ball handler is better than the guys you want to replace in that role. I would *much* rather have McCollum initiating than Turner. So Turner is either being paid based off being a backup sf with a versatile skill set you don't need that much, or as a 3rd string pg (cause I sneak McCollum over to backup pg in my rotations).

Oh yeah I agree with you on Turner the money they gave him is insane. The McCollum money is wack! The Crabbe money is wack!

the mccollum money is perfectly reasonable.

[HartfordWhalers]

I like the Crabbe signing still. Guy has a skill, and fits alongside either of Portland's main guards.

I really dislike the Turner signing. The whole idea that you need another ball handler only works if the other ball handler is better than the guys you want to replace in that role. I would *much* rather have McCollum initiating than Turner. So Turner is either being paid based off being a backup sf with a versatile skill set you don't need that much, or as a 3rd string pg (cause I sneak McCollum over to backup pg in my rotations).

Oh yeah I agree with you on Turner the money they gave him is insane. The McCollum money is wack! The Crabbe money is wack!

the mccollum money is perfectly reasonable.

Crabbe is fine too.

I keep bouncing around a Crabbe for Timothe Luwawu trade idea, but if Luwawu looks like a guy mocked as a late lotto pick it will be too much come December, and if he looks like a 3rd string marginal 1st rounder it will be too little (even with the contract difference).

[basketballwacko2]

the mccollum money is perfectly reasonable.

Well that will remain to be seen. He had a good season, but $26.5 million is super star money.

[ThatBoyNick]

Yeah not a fan of what they did this summer.

They spent their cap like they just won a ring.

Personaly I would have prefered a route moew like this

Sign Ezeli + only one of (Crabbe, Turner or Harkless), kept Fraizer, let Leonard walk, kept McCollum restricted for next summer with his low cap hold, and signed vets with one year deals to fill the rest of roster/spend minimum cap.

That would have kept them MUCH more flexible next off season and IMO they wouldn't of had a much worse roster this year either.

[BlazersFan2015]

Players dont come to Portland via FA. I dont understand how this isnt realized by people on here.

A few years back, with arguably the most promising young trio in the NBA (Roy/LMA/Oden), they were able to attract all of Andre Miller. That should have been the signal to Blazers fans that this city just wont bring the big names. But it wasn't, and we tried to do it again, and it failed again.

Flexibility is worthless if you cant attract players, and we cant. We lost the flexibility to absorb a big contract. So what. Those types of deals are few and far between. We were not slated to have cap space next season to begin with as a CJ extension was inevitable and Lillard's cap # is set to balloon, so we locked up our assets, all of whom are under 24. Turner projects as a great compliment and allows CJ and Lillard to play off ball more, and you can bet this team is going to use tons and tons of screens next year to try and recreate a poor mans GS-Trio (Curry/Steph/Green). Ezeli was a huge bargain, but is a question mark health wise. Crabble was a huge overpay because he really only has one above-average trait, but he is a young, locked up SG with a deadeye 3 in a league that has a deficiency and demand for just that type of guy.

The options were sign the guys we have, roll out a fun, playoff caliber team that wont contend with GS or blow it up with a Hinkie type rebuild. Other than the fact that Paul Allen is staunchley against tanking, the PDX fanbase would riot at the idea of throwing games away, especially when any tank would require the jettison of Lillard, the heart and soul of the team and arguably the city.

No team other than GS or CLE is going to truly compete for 2-3 years. Portland has a fun, young, talented team with good, young assets locked up for a while that should be a familiar sight in the 2nd round for years and could challenge for WCF if the mix bakes well, but wont even sniff a Ship'. Regardless, they can develop into the perennial 2nd tier team behind GS if all goes well and then we can re-evaluate in a few seasons.

[DusterBuster]

the mccollum money is perfectly reasonable.

Well that will remain to be seen. He had a good season, but $26.5 million is super star money.

Not anymore. The days of max contracts only being for superstars is so far gone it's not even funny.

[DusterBuster]

Yeah not a fan of what they did this summer.

They spent their cap like they just won a ring.

Personaly I would have prefered a route moew like this

Sign Ezeli + only one of (Crabbe, Turner or Harkless), kept Fraizer, let Leonard walk, kept McCollum restricted for next summer with his low cap hold, and signed vets with one year deals to fill the rest of roster/spend minimum cap.

That would have kept them MUCH more flexible next off season and IMO they wouldn't of had a much worse roster this year either.

So you would have kept together a team that has a legit shot at a Top 4 seed this year, and instead gotten objectively worse to where they'd be fighting for a 7th/8th/9th seed and either barely make the playoffs or miss them and get a very late lottery pick.....

Makes sense.

[damecurry]

Yeah not a fan of what they did this summer.

They spent their cap like they just won a ring.

Personaly I would have prefered a route moew like this

Sign Ezeli + only one of (Crabbe, Turner or Harkless), kept Fraizer, let Leonard walk, kept McCollum restricted for next summer with his low cap hold, and signed vets with one year deals to fill the rest of roster/spend minimum cap.

That would have kept them MUCH more flexible next off season and IMO they wouldn't of had a much worse roster this year either.

So you would have kept together a team that has a legit shot at a Top 4 seed this year, and instead gotten objectively worse to where they'd be fighting for a 7th/8th/9th seed and either barely make the playoffs or miss them and get a very late lottery pick.....

Makes sense.

This is an extremely short-sighted response. We're not winning a ring this year, so he's talking about maintaining flexibility to try to add a true star next to dame/cj in next years loaded FA class. It's not an absurd suggestion and acting like it is just makes our fan base seem ignorant and/or narrow-minded.
That said, the general objection has merit. If we made those moves we would be more of a fringe playoff team than fighting for HCA, which is fine in a vacuum, but it would hurt our FA chances which would be the whole point of making those moves. Portland is neither a prime location nor a storied franchise, our only real argument to get FAs is come join our solid young crew, if we just missed the playoffs or 8th seed that's not as compelling a case as many other teams could make. I mean we couldn't even get Parsons this year after getting to the 2nd round, what makes you think that flexibility would pay off? Don't get me wrong I hate the ET signing and feel like we definitely could have maintained flexibility better, but really that's the only unreasonable signing. Crabbe's a ton of money but if he continues improving he's worth it. Leonard, Harkless are perfectly reasonable contracts and CJ is worth the max. Could we have played it a little differently/better? Sure. Would it have mattered much in the end? I doubt it.

[DusterBuster]

Yeah not a fan of what they did this summer.

They spent their cap like they just won a ring.

Personaly I would have prefered a route moew like this

Sign Ezeli + only one of (Crabbe, Turner or Harkless), kept Fraizer, let Leonard walk, kept McCollum restricted for next summer with his low cap hold, and signed vets with one year deals to fill the rest of roster/spend minimum cap.

That would have kept them MUCH more flexible next off season and IMO they wouldn't of had a much worse roster this year either.

So you would have kept together a team that has a legit shot at a Top 4 seed this year, and instead gotten objectively worse to where they'd be fighting for a 7th/8th/9th seed and either barely make the playoffs or miss them and get a very late lottery pick.....

Makes sense.

This is an extremely short-sighted response. We're not winning a ring this year, so he's talking about maintaining flexibility to try to add a true star next to dame/cj in next years loaded FA class. It's not an absurd suggestion and acting like it is just makes our fan base seem ignorant and/or narrow-minded.
That said, the general objection has merit. If we made those moves we would be more of a fringe playoff team than fighting for HCA, which is fine in a vacuum, but it would hurt our FA chances which would be the whole point of making those moves. Portland is neither a prime location nor a storied franchise, our only real argument to get FAs is come join our solid young crew, if we just missed the playoffs or 8th seed that's not as compelling a case as many other teams could make. I mean we couldn't even get Parsons this year after getting to the 2nd round, what makes you think that flexibility would pay off? Don't get me wrong I hate the ET signing and feel like we definitely could have maintained flexibility better, but really that's the only unreasonable signing. Crabbe's a ton of money but if he continues improving he's worth it. Leonard, Harkless are perfectly reasonable contracts and CJ is worth the max. Could we have played it a little differently/better? Sure. Would it have mattered much in the end? I doubt it.

I don't think you understood what I said. You said my view was short-sighted and aignorant/narrow-minded, yet then you just spent a full paragraph echoing everything I've said in repsonse to critics of the Blazers offseason who keep offering this vague notion of "flexibility" being a better course than keeping the team together.

I'm, like you, still waiting for someone to prove to me how this notion of "flexibility" was going to be better and how they now have less of it.

[damecurry]

So you would have kept together a team that has a legit shot at a Top 4 seed this year, and instead gotten objectively worse to where they'd be fighting for a 7th/8th/9th seed and either barely make the playoffs or miss them and get a very late lottery pick.....

Makes sense.

This is an extremely short-sighted response. We're not winning a ring this year, so he's talking about maintaining flexibility to try to add a true star next to dame/cj in next years loaded FA class. It's not an absurd suggestion and acting like it is just makes our fan base seem ignorant and/or narrow-minded.
That said, the general objection has merit. If we made those moves we would be more of a fringe playoff team than fighting for HCA, which is fine in a vacuum, but it would hurt our FA chances which would be the whole point of making those moves. Portland is neither a prime location nor a storied franchise, our only real argument to get FAs is come join our solid young crew, if we just missed the playoffs or 8th seed that's not as compelling a case as many other teams could make. I mean we couldn't even get Parsons this year after getting to the 2nd round, what makes you think that flexibility would pay off? Don't get me wrong I hate the ET signing and feel like we definitely could have maintained flexibility better, but really that's the only unreasonable signing. Crabbe's a ton of money but if he continues improving he's worth it. Leonard, Harkless are perfectly reasonable contracts and CJ is worth the max. Could we have played it a little differently/better? Sure. Would it have mattered much in the end? I doubt it.

I don't think you understood what I said. You said my view was short-sighted and aignorant/narrow-minded, yet then you just spent a full paragraph echoing everything I've said in repsonse to critics of the Blazers offseason who keep offering this vague notion of "flexibility" being a better course than keeping the team together.

I'm, like you, still waiting for someone to prove to me how this notion of "flexibility" was going to be better and how they now have less of it.

I meant your tone and the way you went about making your point, rather than the content of what you posted. To just dismissively imply it's absurd to execute a plan to maintain flexibility for a much stronger FA class next year rather than overpaying mediocre guys this year is unfair and makes us look bad imo. I don't agree with that plan but it's not a crazy, stupid idea. But you're right to demand a more comprehensive explanation of how/why that plan would have benefitted us because no one has provided that answer adequately. Flexibility is nice but meaningless if you can't take advantage of it.