2020 free agent targets and draft picks

d-train · Post #1101 » by **d-train** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:37 pm

Wenyen Gabriel got a 2-yr contract from Pelicans. AFAIK, Skal is still unsigned. There are not many open roster spots left. Skal's next contract might be overseas or a training camp deal.

JasonStern · Post #1102 » by **JasonStern** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:16 pm

Giles is great and all, but would have loved to bring Whiteside back if the cost was the same. Blazers can never have enough bigs to get injured.

Pattycakes · Post #1103 » by **Pattycakes** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:24 pm

JasonStern wrote:Giles is great and all, but would have loved to bring Whiteside back if the cost was the same. Blazers can never have enough bigs to get injured.

Yuck. Nobody wants a 3rd string player who thinks they're an all star.

BlazersBroncos · Post #1104 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Wed Nov 25, 2020 11:35 pm

Giles is great and all, but would have loved to bring Whiteside back if the cost was the same. Blazers can never have enough bigs to get injured.

Whiteside as a 3rd string center would bring more drama than the Kardashian family.

HoopsFanAZ · Post #1105 » by **HoopsFanAZ** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:22 am

Giles, Collins, Jones Jr., Little, GTJ, Simons, Elleby

It's not that they're world beaters. Not a host of lottery picks. But I like the mix of younger guys.
Those who develop and become core players -- cool. Those who don't hopefully get a chance with another team.
Another situation that may be better for them. Simons and Little (IMHO) are the two guys with the shortest
timeline for that decision.

JasonStern · Post #1106 » by **JasonStern** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 1:51 am

BlazersBroncos wrote:
Giles is great and all, but would have loved to bring Whiteside back if the cost was the same. Blazers can never have enough bigs to get injured.

Whiteside as a 3rd string center would bring more drama than the Kardashian family.

Worst case you cut him. Big difference between a one year minimum deal and an Andrew Nichols deal.

But if you think being an end of the bench backup 5/limited minute 4 is bad, try spending a year in Sacramento.

d-train · Post #1107 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:07 am

Does anyone know how much Whiteside's contract is?

d-train · Post #1108 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:11 am

My next question is, can Blazers and Kings do a s&t. The salaries of Whiteside and Giles don't even need to match. Blazers have unused TPE's and I'm sure Kings do as well. The reason would be to convey bird rights.

d-train · Post #1109 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 2:29 am

The Sacramento media says Whiteside contract is VME. That's a rip-off to Whiteside. He is worth more. Whiteside will be a backup for Kings. Holmes is better.

I also want to say, the issues about playing time and acceptance of reduced role, are all created by media and fans. Whiteside was great for Blazers. He played hard and played injured. The fit wasn't the greatest and he didn't have the impact I hoped for, but Whiteside gave his best effort.

Pattycakes · Post #1110 » by **Pattycakes** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 4:27 am

d-train wrote:The Sacramento media says Whiteside contract is VME. That's a rip-off to Whiteside. He is worth more. Whiteside will be a backup for Kings. Holmes is better.

I also want to say, the issues about playing time and acceptance of reduced role, are all created by media and fans. Whiteside was great for Blazers. He played hard and played injured. The fit wasn't the greatest and he didn't have the impact I hoped for, but Whiteside gave his best effort.

He was pouting his way thru the entire bubble once touches and time weren’t handed to him by default. He didn’t even look nba quality at that point. Really showed the true colors.

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #1111 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 8:22 am

d-train wrote:Wenyen Gabriel got a 2-yr contract from Pelicans. AFAIK, Skal is still unsigned. There are not many open roster spots left. Skal's next contract might be overseas or a training camp deal.

R.I.P. my dreams of a storied Portland career for Wenyen Gabriel. Glad to see him get another NBA job. He may or may not have the strength for NBA defense or the shot for NBA offense, but otherwise he shows a lot of ability and effort. I expect growing pains for the Pelicans, who'll probably lean heavily on their veterans early but find time to audition the likes of Gabriel and Thornwell as they fade from the playoff race. But, I'll be pulling for Wenyen to get a shot at regular minutes before that.

Hope Skal finds work, too. Doubt it's in Portland, but you never know.

Whether through bad luck or the subtlest flaw, the NBA chews up and spits out some tremendous talents who never get their time to shine.

Sinobas · Post #1112 » by **Sinobas** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 4:09 pm

Whiteside for the minimum? I agree that he is worth more, but I never agreed with the talking heads that said we'd re-sign him. I was hoping we'd get Kanter back. Whiteside has one of the weirded stats to perception ratios I've ever seen.

His stats make him look like an all star, but there seems to be a pretty wide consensus on those stats not reflect his true impact.

JasonStern · Post #1113 » by **JasonStern** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 6:56 pm

Given the same salary choice between being 3rd string in Portland or 2nd string in Sacramento, I'd choose Portland. But then I have been to both Portland and Sacramento.

d-train · Post #1114 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 7:19 pm

Blazers made the right choices. Kanter has better chemistry with Lillard than he did with Whiteside. Kanter is worth the extra money. And, we need more mobility from our bigs, not a third big with less mobility.

I'm excited about having a closer look at Giles. I'm optimistic the chemistry will be very good and his skillset will be a positive addition.

d-train · Post #1115 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 26, 2020 7:23 pm

Pattycakes wrote:
d-train wrote:The Sacramento media says Whiteside contract is VME. That's a rip-off to Whiteside. He is worth more. Whiteside will be a backup for Kings. Holmes is better.

I also want to say, the issues about playing time and acceptance of reduced role, are all created by media and fans. Whiteside was great for Blazers. He played hard and played injured. The fit wasn't the greatest and he didn't have the impact I hoped for, but Whiteside gave his best effort.

He was pouting his way thru the entire bubble once touches and time weren’t handed to him by default. He didn’t even look nba quality at that point. Really showed the true colors.

I didn't see it this way. Maybe I missed something. I never expected the pairing of Nurk and Whiteside on the floor together to work.

d-train · Post #1116 » by **d-train** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:29 am

Charles Barkley says Zach Collins is one of his favorite players and believes he will be a stud. I agree he will be a defensive stud. I think his offensive in the post will always be lousy.

dunlop212 · Post #1117 » by **dunlop212** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:30 pm

It is against current NBA wisdom, but I wonder how the Nurk and Turk combo will operate over a whole season. They won 80 pct of the 15 games they played together. FWIW the Nurk/Whiteside combo was 6-2 until they ran into the Lakers. Kanter was just killing 2nd string centers. Don't know what he was able to do in Boston.

BlazersBroncos · Post #1118 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 3:59 pm

It is against current NBA wisdom, but I wonder how the Nurk and Turk combo will operate over a whole season. They won 80 pct of the 15 games they played together. FWIW the Nurk/Whiteside combo was 6-2 until they ran into the Lakers. Kanter was just killing 2nd string centers. Don't know what he was able to do in Boston.

He was a great regular season backup big in Boston.

16.9mpg / 8.1ppg / 7.4rpg / 1apg / 0.7bpg / 0.4spg / .57% FG / 70% FT (1.7 FTA)
.214 WS48 / 1.8 OBPM / -0.3 DBPM / 0.9 VORP / 22.4 PER / 23.5% TRBR

He will be huge in shoring up our rebounding issues while feasting on 2nd string bigs. He also showed his best DBPM of his career last season, and I tend to think keeping his minutes down allows him to put more effort in on defense and overall gives the best result. He is going to be a great addition on the floor, in the locker room and in the community. I hope we can keep him in Portland long term as our backup big. He fits the system on offense (Underrated passer despite pedestrian numbers), sets elite screens and always produces.

The playoffs are a different story, but we can slide Zach to backup C in those scenarios.

Wizenheimer · Post #1119 » by **Wizenheimer** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:34 pm

BlazersBroncos wrote:
It is against current NBA wisdom, but I wonder how the Nurk and Turk combo will operate over a whole season. They won 80 pct of the 15 games they played together. FWIW the Nurk/Whiteside combo was 6-2 until they ran into the Lakers. Kanter was just killing 2nd string centers. Don't know what he was able to do in Boston.

He was a great regular season backup big in Boston.

16.9mpg / 8.1ppg / 7.4rpg / 1apg / 0.7bpg / 0.4spg / .57% FG / 70% FT (1.7 FTA)
.214 WS48 / 1.8 OBPM / -0.3 DBPM / 0.9 VORP / 22.4 PER / 23.5% TRBR

He will be huge in shoring up our rebounding issues while feasting on 2nd string bigs. He also showed his best DBPM of his career last season, and I tend to think keeping his minutes down allows him to put more effort in on defense and overall gives the best result. He is going to be a great addition on the floor, in the locker room and in the community. I hope we can keep him in Portland long term as our backup big. He fits the system on offense (Underrated passer despite pedestrian numbers), sets elite screens and always produces.

The playoffs are a different story, but we can slide Zach to backup C in those scenarios.

one other factor is it seemed that Dame and Kanter developed an almost immediate synergy. Dame may be the best PnR ball-handler in the league and that fits very well with Kanter's skillsets

BlazersBroncos · Post #1120 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:41 pm

one other factor is it seemed that Dame and Kanter developed an almost immediate synergy. Dame may be the best PnR ball-handler in the league and that fits very well with Kanter's skillsets

Ya, Kanter is exactly what we need in the PNR. I think his impact this year will be only slightly less so than RoCo, in the regular season at least. We like to talk about the young guys and the other new additions, but Kanter is going to be lights out for us. I am very excited about his return.