Nurkic - what to do?

[ungin_74]

I mean, all we have to go off are his own words and by them there is no indication that he is unhappy in Portland or wants to jump ship for an easy path to a ring. Again, he has shown consistently to be a Dirk like superstar who loves the city, org and his teammates to the point of putting those factors above taking a shortcut to a ring.

He may request a trade near the end of his contract, but even then I doubt it. He understands that legacy isn't just global or national but local, and he is going to be the most beloved Blazer all time should he play out his current deal, if not already. I think the only chance he leaves Portland is as a FA once his deal runs out. He will be 35 then, likely still a high level player, and at that age his local legacy in PDX would not be hindered in the least if he goes off for an easy ring.

Easy Ring.... if Butler, Embiid, BI or Joker, or kawhi were to sign with us and it resulted in a championship, would you consider them ring chasers?

leonard got a ring in 2019, he wanted a trade, do you consider it ring chasing that he wanted out and wanted a better opportunity?

i guess im tying to figure out how to define ring chasing

Dame being my fav player, i think he is a competitor but i think some of us may be [____] in thinking dame has no issues continually bringing knives to a gun battle.. and if he cant get guns to be on equal footing in portland, at some point dont you think he will push to switch teams.. ..

i dont know what he thinks or if he will leave....just speculating

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/damian-lillard-loyalty-over-everything

Every Blazer fan should be aware of this article, it does a good job explaining his thinking:

I’m saying, you think you know how deep this goes, but you have no idea. When I say that I will never, ever switch up on the city of Portland, I mean what I say. When I say that I will never, ever switch up on this organization, I mean what I say.

They might switch up on me. That’s business. That’s basketball. But I will never switch up on the city. I don’t want it easy. I’m drawn to the struggle. When I came here, we hadn’t won a playoff series since 2000. You had so many injuries to franchise guys like Brandon Roy and Greg Oden over the years, and it’s so tough to come back from that. Even going way back, you had All-Stars like Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton who didn’t choose to end their careers as a Blazer.

Well, I’m going to be that. I’m going to carry that. I’m going to bring a ring to this city or go down swinging.

...But I will never switch up on the city...

amazing,,,even peter switched up on jesus...ppl can and do change their mind..happens in business/life all the time

i will continue enjoy watching him play and celebrate when he pulls the trigger and moves on, or portland trades him for better options...he is a great player they are a solid org

[ungin_74]

as great as Dame is,,, may be its time to consider moving on from him...
blow up the roster, get some picks and rebuild.. send dame to the heat, dragic to sixers and in return we get simmons plus pics,,
Simmons becomes our tank commander while CJ gets the opportunity to develop into a #1.....
for years we have been a mid level team... where are we going and whats the plan to get there bc if its a chip, this roster even with a healthy Nurkic, CJ and Dame aint it

Plan A is to win with the players we have. Plan B is to add the best player from a team with no realistic chance to win. Plan C is to develop young inexpensive talent because most of our money goes to our best 2 players. Plan D is to block the noise from the naysayers. Plan E is to double down on plans A, B, C, and D. There is no plan F, it's bad luck.

so plan B it is..and the probability of that occurring is....

thanks for sharing

[d-train]

as great as Dame is,,, may be its time to consider moving on from him...
blow up the roster, get some picks and rebuild.. send dame to the heat, dragic to sixers and in return we get simmons plus pics,,
Simmons becomes our tank commander while CJ gets the opportunity to develop into a #1.....
for years we have been a mid level team... where are we going and whats the plan to get there bc if its a chip, this roster even with a healthy Nurkic, CJ and Dame aint it

Plan A is to win with the players we have. Plan B is to add the best player from a team with no realistic chance to win. Plan C is to develop young inexpensive talent because most of our money goes to our best 2 players. Plan D is to block the noise from the naysayers. Plan E is to double down on plans A, B, C, and D. There is no plan F, it's bad luck.

so plan B it is..and the probability of that occurring is....

thanks for sharing

10x better than the odds Blazers trade Lillard while he is still a top 12 player.

[JasonStern]

Any thoughts if Portland/SA could get together on a LA trade back to Portland? LA as I mentioned earlier
is the only big Portland has had that had a long productive career.

Aldridge makes $24M, so Portland would realistically have to trade either CJ or Hood+Collins+(1 of Nurkić/Covington/Jones). I can't see Portland doing either. That said, I could see Portland making a run at Aldridge in free agency next off-season if San Antonio misses the playoffs.

There was an article saying Houston wants 3 second round picks for PJ Tucker. I might offer some type of offer surrounding Collins and Little (maybe include a second?) for Tucker. He can play backup center until Nurkic comes back, then he can play backup PF (or center if you sit Kanter) after that.

Tucker is 35, expiring, and on the decline. If anything, a "Collins+Little for Tucker" should have a 2nd round pick coming back to us.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Any thoughts if Portland/SA could get together on a LA trade back to Portland? LA as I mentioned earlier
is the only big Portland has had that had a long productive career.

Aldridge makes $24M, so Portland would realistically have to trade either CJ or Hood+Collins+(1 of Nurkić/Covington/Jones). I can't see Portland doing either. That said, I could see Portland making a run at Aldridge in free agency next off-season if San Antonio misses the playoffs.

There was an article saying Houston wants 3 second round picks for PJ Tucker. I might offer some type of offer surrounding Collins and Little (maybe include a second?) for Tucker. He can play backup center until Nurkic comes back, then he can play backup PF (or center if you sit Kanter) after that.

Tucker is 35, expiring, and on the decline. If anything, a "Collins+Little for Tucker" should have a 2nd round pick coming back to us.

Tucker would be the best player off the bench for the Blazers, even at 35 and declining. He's shooting 45% from 3. He can guard multiple positions, which would help on the switches. Losing CJ now, I don't know that I would bother trying to do anything now though.

[ungin_74]

Plan A is to win with the players we have. Plan B is to add the best player from a team with no realistic chance to win. Plan C is to develop young inexpensive talent because most of our money goes to our best 2 players. Plan D is to block the noise from the naysayers. Plan E is to double down on plans A, B, C, and D. There is no plan F, it's bad luck.

so plan B it is..and the probability of that occurring is....

thanks for sharing

10x better than the odds Blazers trade Lillard while he is still a top 12 player.

Nurk and CJ are out...i guess were are still on plan B, while March 25 (trading deadline) is 2 months away

[d-train]

so plan B it is..and the probability of that occurring is....

thanks for sharing

10x better than the odds Blazers trade Lillard while he is still a top 12 player.

Nurk and CJ are out...i guess were are still on plan B, while March 25 (trading deadline) is 2 months away

No, we are on plan A. We don't need any trade. Olshey does only trades we win. We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player. Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.

[DaVoiceMaster]

The Blazers don't have many players available to trade currently. Need to wait until February 6th when Melo, Giles, and DJJ become available and March 3rd when Hood becomes available. Come March 3rd, the Blazers could do something with:

Covington - $10M
DJJ - $10M
Hood - $10M
Collins - $5.5M
Kanter - $5M
Simons - $2.5M
Little - $2.5M
Trent Jr - $2M
Elleby - $0.6M
Melo - $1.8M
Giles - $1.8M

That's roughly $51M or $52M available for trade.

[BlazersBroncos]

I dont think we can recoup fair value for RoCo considering what we gave up for him. I would be surprised if he was on the block.

I wonder if CHI would finally part with OPJ. Hood + DJJ + Collins works for OPJ and Chandler Hutchinson. Then CHI only needs to cut Fleicio to make roster space.

G - Damian Lillard / CJ McCollum
G - CJ McCollum / Gary Trent Jr / CJ Elleby
F - Otto Porter Jr / Gary Trent Jr / Chandler Hutchinson
F - Robert Covington / Carmelo Anthony / Nassir Little
C - Jusuf Nurkic / Enes Kanter / Harry Giles

DJJ gives us some highlights, and Hood seems to be slowly coming along, and Zach might have future potential. But OPJ is a really good defender who can shoot 40% from 3. He makes the right passes and rebounds well for a SF. He is just a much more complete player than any of those guys.

[d-train]

The Blazers don't have many players available to trade currently. Need to wait until February 6th when Melo, Giles, and DJJ become available and March 3rd when Hood becomes available. Come March 3rd, the Blazers could do something with:

Covington - $10M
DJJ - $10M
Hood - $10M
Collins - $5.5M
Kanter - $5M
Simons - $2.5M
Little - $2.5M
Trent Jr - $2M
Elleby - $0.6M
Melo - $1.8M
Giles - $1.8M

That's roughly $51M or $52M available for trade.

You need to have 14 players under contract. So, if you add a $35M contract by trading the 7 players on your list getting more than minimum, you need to fill out your team with 7 more minimum contracts.

[d-train]

Raptors waived Len. Blazers could try to sign him to an exhibit 10 contract. I would rather they didn't, but Blazers can get bodies if they want. I would prefer taking Porter from Cavs for a traded player exception. I'm not sure I would even want that, but I rather Porter than Len.

[BlazersBroncos]

Raptors waived Len. Blazers could try to sign him to an exhibit 10 contract. I would rather they didn't, but Blazers can get bodies if they want. I would prefer taking Porter from Cavs for a traded player exception. I'm not sure I would even want that, but I rather Porter than Len.

I would much rather grab Len on a 10 day as an emergency big (I would still rotate Kanter, Giles and RoCo at C) than take on a guaranteed Porter. I am very wary of his emotional maturity. He has been immature and troublesome since his college days. Reading up on him he lost his father to violent crime at a young age and I think that clearly has impacted him in a very negative way mentally. Until he gets personal help I think he wont achieve much on the floor. I hope for the best for him, but would rather not be the team to roll the dice.

That being said, guys like Dame, CJ, Nurkic, Kanter and Melo have some really great leadership skills and seem to truly care about their teammates. We could have the structure to get him on track. Now I am talking myself into it lol

[DaVoiceMaster]

The Blazers don't have many players available to trade currently. Need to wait until February 6th when Melo, Giles, and DJJ become available and March 3rd when Hood becomes available. Come March 3rd, the Blazers could do something with:

Covington - $10M
DJJ - $10M
Hood - $10M
Collins - $5.5M
Kanter - $5M
Simons - $2.5M
Little - $2.5M
Trent Jr - $2M
Elleby - $0.6M
Melo - $1.8M
Giles - $1.8M

That's roughly $51M or $52M available for trade.

You need to have 14 players under contract. So, if you add a $35M contract by trading the 7 players on your list getting more than minimum, you need to fill out your team with 7 more minimum contracts.

Hahaha, I didn't mean to insinuate we would trade them all for 1 player.

[ungin_74]

10x better than the odds Blazers trade Lillard while he is still a top 12 player.

Nurk and CJ are out...i guess were are still on plan B, while March 25 (trading deadline) is 2 months away

No, we are on plan A. We don't need any trade. Olshey does only trades we win. We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player. Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.

we are still on plan A with key players out?..ok

We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player.
seems like Portland may soon be that team: an injury riddled team with a great player..

Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.
agree, will wait to see how this plays out..

[d-train]

Raptors waived Len. Blazers could try to sign him to an exhibit 10 contract. I would rather they didn't, but Blazers can get bodies if they want. I would prefer taking Porter from Cavs for a traded player exception. I'm not sure I would even want that, but I rather Porter than Len.

I would much rather grab Len on a 10 day as an emergency big (I would still rotate Kanter, Giles and RoCo at C) than take on a guaranteed Porter. I am very wary of his emotional maturity. He has been immature and troublesome since his college days. Reading up on him he lost his father to violent crime at a young age and I think that clearly has impacted him in a very negative way mentally. Until he gets personal help I think he wont achieve much on the floor. I hope for the best for him, but would rather not be the team to roll the dice.

That being said, guys like Dame, CJ, Nurkic, Kanter and Melo have some really great leadership skills and seem to truly care about their teammates. We could have the structure to get him on track. Now I am talking myself into it lol

Len is a stiff. Porter is at least a talented project.

Rockets paid a 2nd round pick for the honor of taking over a 2-year guaranteed contract. Len is barely in the league on a minimum contract. It's probably not even guaranteed.

[d-train]

Nurk and CJ are out...i guess were are still on plan B, while March 25 (trading deadline) is 2 months away

No, we are on plan A. We don't need any trade. Olshey does only trades we win. We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player. Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.

we are still on plan A with key players out?..ok

We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player.
seems like Portland may soon be that team: an injury riddled team with a great player..

Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.
agree, will wait to see how this plays out..

Hold your breathe while you're waiting.

[ungin_74]

No, we are on plan A. We don't need any trade. Olshey does only trades we win. We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player. Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.

we are still on plan A with key players out?..ok

We can wait until a team is ready to trade a better player for a worse player.
seems like Portland may soon be that team: an injury riddled team with a great player..

Opportunities are rare, but they happen often enough.
agree, will wait to see how this plays out..

Hold your breathe while you're waiting.

i am.
...Gasp...
..even after last nights game
..another L..
..im still hoooo...

trade dame, tank, start the rebuild.. its time to pivot

[d-train]

I'm open to trading Hood, Giles, and/or DJJ for a big good on the defensive end. Problem is nobody trades a big that is good.

I'm not down on Kanter. He is playing very well. We need another option better than Giles.

PJ Tucker isn't tall but he's big. I would trade Hood for Tucker.

[GEE]

I'm open to trading Hood, Giles, and/or DJJ for a big good on the defensive end. Problem is nobody trades a big that is good.

I'm not down on Kanter. He is playing very well. We need another option better than Giles.

PJ Tucker isn't tall but he's big. I would trade Hood for Tucker.

Giles seems solid to me, but considering he only got an absurd 15 minutes with both Nurkic and Collins out, and Melo lighting it up for 38 minutes shooting 3-15(0-4), Giles may not be the problem.

[d-train]

I'm open to trading Hood, Giles, and/or DJJ for a big good on the defensive end. Problem is nobody trades a big that is good.

I'm not down on Kanter. He is playing very well. We need another option better than Giles.

PJ Tucker isn't tall but he's big. I would trade Hood for Tucker.

Giles seems solid to me, but considering he only got an absurd 15 minutes with both Nurkic and Collins out, and Melo lighting it up for 38 minutes shooting 3-15(0-4), Giles may not be the problem.

Giles isn't the problem, but he's not the answer. I didn't like his play in 15 minutes or his last game against OKC. I was fine with Melo, except I would prefer if he was shooting better. I think Melo's legs are showing more age than last year. I wish Giles played defense as well as Melo.