Epicurus wrote:Extend Vonleh asap. Get him cheap now. After next season he will be far more expensive. He has evolved into a top notch role player (using "role" here to discriminate from "scorer"). He gives gritty and versatile defense and contested rebounding, with some opportunistic scoring. He was a good midrange to three point line shooter in college and shows a fluid shooting motion. So with his good work ethic, I suspect he will work hard this offseason to apply it better to the pros. Lillard, McCollum, and Nurc are the scorers, good role players should not be shunned.
Huh, I was just thinking about this a few minutes ago and then stumbled upon your post. I wonder if there's a number the Blazers could get to that would tempt Noah. He's gotta believe he hasn't yet shown what he can do, which would give him an incentive to wait until summer '18 to get paid. But locking down that guaranteed money has its own appeal, since his opportunities to stuff the stat sheet will remain limited in Portland and the really big dollars may never come his way.
So, what's a "cheap" extension that is also too much for Vonleh to resist? 4 years, $40 million, like Harkless and Leonard got? It's risky, but I could probably go for that. It's not hard to imagine him earning that deal just by being a consistent version of what he's already doing, let alone if he finds his shot or otherwise develops offensively.
On the other hand, I am not sure there isn't a handful of guys also reasonably suited for this role in the upcoming draft and among the free agent leftovers every year. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush... unless you can have both birds in the push for half the price of the one in your hand. This isn't meant to sell Noah short, rather to remember that plenty of very good role players go ignored or undervalued in the draft and free agency all the time. Of course, a team needs more than one or even two competent bigs, so if the Blazers can retain Vonleh for a nice price and still go out and benefit from market inefficiencies, all the better.
