WCS/Cassipi for Aminu?

[Blazinaway]

there is a thread on the trade board where this was brought up,WCS appears out of favor in Sac and they are looking for a guy like Aminu. WCS has his warts but is young and could develop into a solid defensive presence. Also he's cheap for the next 3 years and with Plumlee due for a big payday, Ezeli seemingly another Blazer C with knee issues and Meyers being Meyers the Blazers do need a future C. We could try to trade for Noel but he's due a large payday as well, whaddya think of WCS?

[Downtown]

I've mentioned WCS before but I don't know if Sacramento is ready to give him up for Aminu. I doubt it. Cassipi, if the rumour is true, hasn't even spoke to coach Dave Joerger so I imagine he's easily available.

But WCS would be worth a chance just for his defensive potential.

[Wizenheimer]

there is a thread on the trade board where this was brought up,WCS appears out of favor in Sac and they are looking for a guy like Aminu. WCS has his warts but is young and could develop into a solid defensive presence. Also he's cheap for the next 3 years and with Plumlee due for a big payday, Ezeli seemingly another Blazer C with knee issues and Meyers being Meyers the Blazers do need a future C. We could try to trade for Noel but he's due a large payday as well, whaddya think of WCS?

the first thing is to look at what the Blazers would be losing. Right now, Portland is sucking at PF. They tried to guard Kevin Love last night with Plumlee, but he's a C who doesn't have the lateral quickness and foot-speed to stay with a PF like Love. Davis is slower than Plumlee. Harkless it too light. Meyers is absolutely hopeless on the perimeter defensively. Vonleh is simply not progressing. They even tried Turner at PF... Aminu is the only player Portland has that might be able to guard those perimeter PF's and still be able to matchup with the size inside

also...Plumlee, Meyers, Davis, Ezeli, and then WCS. Not sure that Portland needs that 5th C

then, in a 2 for 1 trade, the Blazers would have to waive a player first. Who should it be, Connaughton or Quarterman?

Right now, IMO, Portland would be giving up the best player in this deal. And it's not close, so there's that

so, who is WCS? the first thing is see is his rebounding rate this season is 8.6%; that 5.3 rebounds/36 and that's pathetic for a 7 footer. He posted a better mark last year at 13.5%, but that's relative; while it's better than his mark this year, it's still weak..Aminu is higher at 13.7%. Portland is getting killed on the boards this year and I'm disinclined to add a big into the rotation who isn't going to shore up rebounding

how about his defense? This season, he's 8th on the Kings in defensive winshares and 6th in defensive box plus/minus. Last season, when he played more, he was 6th in defensive win shares and 3rd in defensive box plus/minus...a little better. He's played too few minutes this year for his on/off marks to mean anything. Last year, opposing teams shot better and had a higher offensive rating when he was on the floor than off. But he played on the Kings so that was probably pretty common for Sac. players

and DRPM tracks 67 NBA C's:

65 JaVale McGee -0.43
66 Willie Cauley-Stein -0.81
67 Karl-Anthony Towns -0.99

66th out of 67

and they combine offensive and defensive RPM for those 67 C's:

65 Willie Cauley-Stein -2.83
66 Boris Diaw -2.85
67 Bismack Biyombo -3.16

whether or not you put much stock in those numbers, they still aren't very reassuring.

personally, my hunch is it's not the case that WCS is just being misused on a dysfunctional team. I think he was overrated on draft day and the Kings, as they often do, blew the pick

[zzaj]

While I do think that Aminu is probably the prime candidate to be traded on this team, I don't think that WCS is or ever will be a very good player and wouldn't be worth it. It'd basically be like trading Aminu for Joel Freeland.

[Fitz303]

Yeah I just don't see WCS being the difference maker that this team needs. I'd much rather go after Noel, and figure out the salary situation next offseason.

[DusterBuster]

So Portland goes all in on Davis or Leonard starting at PF and decide to make the logjam at the wings even worse? That fixes something?....

I'm totally not tracking why this make sense...

EDIT: For some reason I was under the impression WCS was a SG/SF when I made this post.

[Norm2953]

Lot's of guys are the outs for SAC but I do wonder how WCS would fit in the Stotts system but
I'd do the deal with an eye towards next season when Plumlee is allowed to walk.

[Downtown]

Maybe I'm just grasping at straws looking for a defensive minded big man and WCS isn't the right person but even when he was playing this season Aminu looked like he took a step back having to play full-time power forward. Even though he played great during the playoffs with Harkless at small forward maybe he's not cut out for power forward on a permanent basis.

[Downtown]

But to be fair to Aminu he's not the only ones taking a step backwards. Plumlee and Davis haven't been rebounding stalwarts either.

Guys like Leonard and Vonleh I never expected much from anyways. At least Vonleh can grab a tough rebound in limited minutes even if does struggle to score.

[zzaj]

Maybe I'm just grasping at straws looking for a defensive minded big man and WCS isn't the right person but even when he was playing this season Aminu looked like he took a step back having to play full-time power forward. Even though he played great during the playoffs with Harkless at small forward maybe he's not cut out for power forward on a permanent basis.

I think it's important to remember that Harkless and Aminu are the same height and weight. Aminu has about a 3 inch length advantage, which is signficant when guarding PFs. Neither will be very effective defending bigger athletic players.

Of anyone, I think Noah Vonleh is about the only player on the roster with the weight/athletic potential to match up against PFs. But Vonleh is the same height as both Harkless and Aminu with only about an inch advantage in wingspan over Aminu, but a shorter standing reach. Noah has also not shown the quickness needed to defend athletic, mobile PFs.

[DusterBuster]

personally, my hunch is it's not the case that WCS is just being misused on a dysfunctional team. I think he was overrated on draft day and the Kings, as they often do, blew the pick

Kings truly are the GOAT when it comes to blowing lottery picks. Since Cousins, here are the lottery picks from the Kings over the past 6 years:

2011: Jimmer Ferdette @ 10 (via trade down from 7 to 10)
2012: Thomas Robinson @ 5
2013: Ben McLemore @ 6
2014: Nik Stauskas @ 8
2015: Willie Cauley-Stein @ 6
2016: Marquese Chriss @ 8

6 years, 6 top ten picks and they haven't just managed to not draft a star with those 6 picks, they've barely even managed to draft a serviceable/reliable rotation player. Fredette is already out of the league and in China, TRob isn't far behind him being that he's on his 11 millionth team in 5 years. McLemore has steadily seen his minutes go down ever year he's been in the league so far and has gone from starter to the bench. Stauskas was traded after only 1 season and is working as a backup for one of the leagues worst teams. WCS can't even get to 15mpg and is already wanting out and then the book is still out on Chriss, but can't say there's much reason to be optimistic.

That may be the worst draft history of any team I can remember. Where they've been picking it's never a sure lock, but it's also not THAT hard to at least pick up starter quality, if not star quality, players.

Also, surprised to see KAT so low on the DRPM.

[Masterfully]

personally, my hunch is it's not the case that WCS is just being misused on a dysfunctional team. I think he was overrated on draft day and the Kings, as they often do, blew the pick

Kings truly are the GOAT when it comes to blowing lottery picks. Since Cousins, here are the lottery picks from the Kings over the past 6 years:

2011: Jimmer Ferdette @ 10 (via trade down from 7 to 10)
2012: Thomas Robinson @ 5
2013: Ben McLemore @ 6
2014: Nik Stauskas @ 8
2015: Willie Cauley-Stein @ 6
2016: Marquese Chriss @ 8

6 years, 6 top ten picks and they haven't just managed to not draft a star with those 6 picks, they've barely even managed to draft a serviceable/reliable rotation player. Fredette is already out of the league and in China, TRob isn't far behind him being that he's on his 11 millionth team in 5 years. McLemore has steadily seen his minutes go down ever year he's been in the league so far and has gone from starter to the bench. Stauskas was traded after only 1 season and is working as a backup for one of the leagues worst teams. WCS can't even get to 15mpg and is already wanting out and then the book is still out on Chriss, but can't say there's much reason to be optimistic.

That may be the worst draft history of any team I can remember. Where they've been picking it's never a sure lock, but it's also not THAT hard to at least pick up starter quality, if not star quality, players.

Also, surprised to see KAT so low on the DRPM.

They traded Chriss for 2 rookie centers. Skal Labissiere and Georgios Papagiannis.

I lke your WCS trade for the same reason someone might cast a protest vote. I don't like Aminu's game or the way the team is playing. It would rock the boat. Rock the boat in a good way? I don't know,

[KF10]

Just for the sake of (shamelessly) posting WCS' highlights, here are a couple of vids of WCS against the Blazers:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

I'm not saying these vids should be an "be all, end all" thing but me personally, I always like to see highlights of opposing players against my favorite team - it kinda does give me a more of a feel on what he can do.

Although, the first vid was real solid outing by WCS, imo.

[Fitz303]

Honestly, the most I'd give up for WCS is Crabbe (though I'd much rather give up Turner and/or Leonard than Crabbe). Even then, I'm hesitant. But Crabbe and Connaughton for WCS, Casspi, and Tolliver (salary match) works. Cuts some long term salary, and we take another flyer on an underachieving big (because we don't have enough of those already). That's about as much as I'd be willing to gamble on WCS becoming a solid player.

[Goldbum]

I would make that deal in a heart beat.

[Soulyss]

I would not give up a starter for WCS. He's simply not proven he's worth that.