FREE AGENCY 2024

[Norm2953]

I find it fascinating to see how different clubs are navigating the apron for the Miami board is discussing
Caleb Martin turning down their $65/5 offers for Philly's $32/4 offer.

From Portland's POV, they are under the tax line and if were a contending team, they would have room to
maneuver for there literally is nobody on the roster whom they have to plan for an extension. Not likely
they will have a discussion this summer with Ayton/Simons and a potential extension with Sharpe at this
point is not a priority.

Dang I wonder why caleb would take half, doesn't seem super smart

I find that report a little suspect...
Martin at $8m is about right.
Martin at $13m feels overpaid.

Is there a legitimate source of the Miami offer?

That was the offer according to the Miami board.

They think theoretically, he could be in line for another payday at age 32 for he'd have to opt into
the final year of his Miami contract to get $65 Million/5

In any event its weird when a player opts out from a destination city

[tester551]

I know it's not exciting - but there are a couple decent 2-way contract prospects that just got renounced:

I'd love for Portland to pick up Amari Bailey https://nbadraftroom.com/p/amari-bailey/ and Dominick Barlow

[GEE]

Teams who want to win are choosing where to settle on the apron.

The Celtics chose to keep their championship together for their payroll is $5 million above the second
apron and will be $16 million above the following season. The Nuggets chose to avoid the second
apron when they let KCP walk.

It does appear the league moving forward will place a premium on finding good young players on
rookie contracts which is why I hated Portland punting on their second round picks. I don't mind
the Deni trade for he's a solid young player on a great contract but I think Portland will miss Brogdon's
steady play and could have used Tyler Kolek, who might have played a Dave Twardzik role on next
years team.

We need minutes for scoot and sharpe and as good of a vet as brogdon was he hindered their development as does simons.

I just don't see things this way at all, and continue to be baffled by the OCD-level of DESIRE to trade our best young player. I also think that Brogden's Veteran experience likely had a very positive effect on Scoot and Simons' development, but the time has now come for those two, along with Sharpe, to show the NBA the New-Era Blazers. Minutes are of no concern to me... Simple math: PG(48)+SG(48) minutes equal 96 minutes. Divide that by 3 and you have 32 mpg for Simons, Scoot and Sharpe.

We are locked and loaded at the 3 with Grant, Deni and Camara. We have the option of going small with both Grant and Deni on the floor together. Personally, I can't wait to see it. And we also have Thybulle, AS-NEEDED at the 2 and 3.

The Bigs continue to be a work in progress, but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction. If TL returns healed (HUGE "If"), we should have a really solid group for this season with Ayton, TL, Walker, Reath and Clingan.

As for FREE-AGENCY, I think that we are waiting to see how the current cast of characters play out and will wait til the Trade Deadline. At that time, if we find ourselves surprisingly competetive with playoff potential (quite possible IMO), we may look at the free-agency market and become buyers to add some finishing touches, but I kinda doubt we do anything then either.

And finally... In regards to the coming draft... BOOZER is MY guy!

RIP CITY Bitches! I think we could make a whole hell of a lot of noise THIS YEAR, and can't wait for the season to start

[BlazersBroncos]

Teams who want to win are choosing where to settle on the apron.

The Celtics chose to keep their championship together for their payroll is $5 million above the second
apron and will be $16 million above the following season. The Nuggets chose to avoid the second
apron when they let KCP walk.

It does appear the league moving forward will place a premium on finding good young players on
rookie contracts which is why I hated Portland punting on their second round picks. I don't mind
the Deni trade for he's a solid young player on a great contract but I think Portland will miss Brogdon's
steady play and could have used Tyler Kolek, who might have played a Dave Twardzik role on next
years team.

We need minutes for scoot and sharpe and as good of a vet as brogdon was he hindered their development as does simons.

I just don't see things this way at all, and continue to be baffled by the OCD-level of DESIRE to trade our best young player. I also think that Brogden's Veteran experience likely had a very positive effect on Scoot and Simons' development, but the time has now come for those two, along with Sharpe, to show the NBA the New-Era Blazers. Minutes are of no concern to me... Simple math: PG(48)+SG(48) minutes equal 96 minutes. Divide that by 3 and you have 32 mpg for Simons, Scoot and Sharpe.

We are locked and loaded at the 3 with Grant, Deni and Camara. We have the option of going small with both Grant and Deni on the floor together. Personally, I can't wait to see it. And we also have Thybulle, AS-NEEDED at the 2 and 3.

The Bigs continue to be a work in progress, but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction. If TL returns healed (HUGE "If"), we should have a really solid group for this season with Ayton, TL, Walker, Reath and Clingan.

As for FREE-AGENCY, I think that we are waiting to see how the current cast of characters play out and will wait til the Trade Deadline. At that time, if we find ourselves surprisingly competetive with playoff potential (quite possible IMO), we may look at the free-agency market and become buyers to add some finishing touches, but I kinda doubt we do anything then either.

And finally... In regards to the coming draft... BOOZER is MY guy!

RIP CITY Bitches! I think we could make a whole hell of a lot of noise THIS YEAR, and can't wait for the season to start

What teams in the West do you think we have the potential to be better than? I assume by making noise you think we can become a playoff team. I think the only team thats clearly going to be worse is Utah.

[Pattycakes]

We need minutes for scoot and sharpe and as good of a vet as brogdon was he hindered their development as does simons.

I just don't see things this way at all, and continue to be baffled by the OCD-level of DESIRE to trade our best young player. I also think that Brogden's Veteran experience likely had a very positive effect on Scoot and Simons' development, but the time has now come for those two, along with Sharpe, to show the NBA the New-Era Blazers. Minutes are of no concern to me... Simple math: PG(48)+SG(48) minutes equal 96 minutes. Divide that by 3 and you have 32 mpg for Simons, Scoot and Sharpe.

We are locked and loaded at the 3 with Grant, Deni and Camara. We have the option of going small with both Grant and Deni on the floor together. Personally, I can't wait to see it. And we also have Thybulle, AS-NEEDED at the 2 and 3.

The Bigs continue to be a work in progress, but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction. If TL returns healed (HUGE "If"), we should have a really solid group for this season with Ayton, TL, Walker, Reath and Clingan.

As for FREE-AGENCY, I think that we are waiting to see how the current cast of characters play out and will wait til the Trade Deadline. At that time, if we find ourselves surprisingly competetive with playoff potential (quite possible IMO), we may look at the free-agency market and become buyers to add some finishing touches, but I kinda doubt we do anything then either.

And finally... In regards to the coming draft... BOOZER is MY guy!

RIP CITY Bitches! I think we could make a whole hell of a lot of noise THIS YEAR, and can't wait for the season to start

What teams in the West do you think we have the potential to be better than? I assume by making noise you think we can become a playoff team. I think the only team thats clearly going to be worse is Utah.

The way I look at it is essentially the same as last year but much more obvious:

The Blazers “could” try to win a lot more games than I think they will next year. I think we easily lost 10+ games to injuries/tanking last year (imo more but that’s conservative enough).

Therefore with an off-season of more development/and major plus roster additions… you’d think we could reasonably field a much more complete roster this year with everyone healthy (esp if they want to try to grab a play in spot).

I understand there’s a lot of residual gloom around rip city but realistically we have the roster right now to compete. Esp if we keep Simons and/or Jerami. On a purely depth level.. everyone is playable currently on our team from 1-5 all the way through the backups.

[BlazersBroncos]

I just don't see things this way at all, and continue to be baffled by the OCD-level of DESIRE to trade our best young player. I also think that Brogden's Veteran experience likely had a very positive effect on Scoot and Simons' development, but the time has now come for those two, along with Sharpe, to show the NBA the New-Era Blazers. Minutes are of no concern to me... Simple math: PG(48)+SG(48) minutes equal 96 minutes. Divide that by 3 and you have 32 mpg for Simons, Scoot and Sharpe.

We are locked and loaded at the 3 with Grant, Deni and Camara. We have the option of going small with both Grant and Deni on the floor together. Personally, I can't wait to see it. And we also have Thybulle, AS-NEEDED at the 2 and 3.

The Bigs continue to be a work in progress, but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction. If TL returns healed (HUGE "If"), we should have a really solid group for this season with Ayton, TL, Walker, Reath and Clingan.

As for FREE-AGENCY, I think that we are waiting to see how the current cast of characters play out and will wait til the Trade Deadline. At that time, if we find ourselves surprisingly competetive with playoff potential (quite possible IMO), we may look at the free-agency market and become buyers to add some finishing touches, but I kinda doubt we do anything then either.

And finally... In regards to the coming draft... BOOZER is MY guy!

RIP CITY Bitches! I think we could make a whole hell of a lot of noise THIS YEAR, and can't wait for the season to start

What teams in the West do you think we have the potential to be better than? I assume by making noise you think we can become a playoff team. I think the only team thats clearly going to be worse is Utah.

The way I look at it is essentially the same as last year but much more obvious:

The Blazers “could” try to win a lot more games than I think they will next year. I think we easily lost 10+ games to injuries/tanking last year (imo more but that’s conservative enough).

Therefore with an off-season of more development/and major plus roster additions… you’d think we could reasonably field a much more complete roster this year with everyone healthy (esp if they want to try to grab a play in spot).

I understand there’s a lot of residual gloom around rip city but realistically we have the roster right now to compete. Esp if we keep Simons and/or Jerami. On a purely depth level.. everyone is playable currently on our team from 1-5 all the way through the backups.

Ya but what teams, on paper, do you think we are better than? Again, I can only safely say Utah.

SAS sucked last season but Wemby is generational and they improved around the edges as well.
MEM sucked but they didnt have Ja all season - a elite player who should, with Edey, get them back into the swing of playoff contention.
GSW isnt a contender but I have a hard time betting against a Curry led team being worse than us.

HOU is a team that is a coin flip as to whether we might be better than or not. Only one I see, then its UTA likely tanking. Otherwise I think all teams in the West are clearly better than us.

[Norm2953]

The West is going to be tough this season and while Portland could be better, a lot of things
would have to go right before they can think about a play in playoff spot.

Portland with Deni playing in the Batum role of secondary ball handler, could be Portland's
best SF since Nic left in 2015. Should be more consistent than Nic but nowhere near the
athlete.

Think about the player Portland needs to play next to Deni/Donovan. If both Scoot and Sharpe
continue to struggle and athletic guard with length would make sense. Enough question marks
prior to fall camp to put Portland into the lottery for a fourth season.

Portland doesn't need to "win" the lottery for the upcoming draft should yield multiple players
who could really help Portland. Portland will continue to get better as some of the teams in the
west begin to show their age (LAL, Phoenix, GSW)

[JasonStern]

Portland with Deni playing in the Batum role of secondary ball handler, could be Portland's
best SF since Nic left in 2015.

That's a given. Not really saying much when Aminu or Harkless are the two you need to beat out.

[Norm2953]

Portland with Deni playing in the Batum role of secondary ball handler, could be Portland's
best SF since Nic left in 2015.

That's a given. Not really saying much when Aminu or Harkless are the two you need to beat out.

Of course but it took Portland 9 seasons to replace Batum.

Deni should be a solid addition, signed long term on a great contract. Add him to Clingan who won't be asked
to do anything more than he did at UConn, Portland should be better. Not enough to be really competitive for
they don't know if either Scoot or Sharpe will make major progress next season but better enough to be at
least somewhat competitive in more games.

Lots of guards in next years draft if they miss out on Flagg.

[JRoy]

Portland with Deni playing in the Batum role of secondary ball handler, could be Portland's
best SF since Nic left in 2015.

That's a given. Not really saying much when Aminu or Harkless are the two you need to beat out.

Don’t forget Hezonja.

[Norm2953]

Teams who want to win are choosing where to settle on the apron.

The Celtics chose to keep their championship together for their payroll is $5 million above the second
apron and will be $16 million above the following season. The Nuggets chose to avoid the second
apron when they let KCP walk.

It does appear the league moving forward will place a premium on finding good young players on
rookie contracts which is why I hated Portland punting on their second round picks. I don't mind
the Deni trade for he's a solid young player on a great contract but I think Portland will miss Brogdon's
steady play and could have used Tyler Kolek, who might have played a Dave Twardzik role on next
years team.

We need minutes for scoot and sharpe and as good of a vet as brogdon was he hindered their development as does simons.

I just don't see things this way at all, and continue to be baffled by the OCD-level of DESIRE to trade our best young player. I also think that Brogden's Veteran experience likely had a very positive effect on Scoot and Simons' development, but the time has now come for those two, along with Sharpe, to show the NBA the New-Era Blazers. Minutes are of no concern to me... Simple math: PG(48)+SG(48) minutes equal 96 minutes. Divide that by 3 and you have 32 mpg for Simons, Scoot and Sharpe.

We are locked and loaded at the 3 with Grant, Deni and Camara. We have the option of going small with both Grant and Deni on the floor together. Personally, I can't wait to see it. And we also have Thybulle, AS-NEEDED at the 2 and 3.

The Bigs continue to be a work in progress, but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction. If TL returns healed (HUGE "If"), we should have a really solid group for this season with Ayton, TL, Walker, Reath and Clingan.

As for FREE-AGENCY, I think that we are waiting to see how the current cast of characters play out and will wait til the Trade Deadline. At that time, if we find ourselves surprisingly competetive with playoff potential (quite possible IMO), we may look at the free-agency market and become buyers to add some finishing touches, but I kinda doubt we do anything then either.

And finally... In regards to the coming draft... BOOZER is MY guy!

RIP CITY Bitches! I think we could make a whole hell of a lot of noise THIS YEAR, and can't wait for the season to start

Boozer is in the 2026 draft.

I like the 2026 draft for the Blazers. Lots of guards in the 2025 draft

[JasonStern]

Portland with Deni playing in the Batum role of secondary ball handler, could be Portland's
best SF since Nic left in 2015.

That's a given. Not really saying much when Aminu or Harkless are the two you need to beat out.

Don’t forget Hezonja.

Why would you do that? Finally got over the pain of watching him play NBA tier basketball, and you make me relapse.

[JRoy]

That's a given. Not really saying much when Aminu or Harkless are the two you need to beat out.

Don’t forget Hezonja.

Why would you do that? Finally got over the pain of watching him play NBA tier basketball, and you make me relapse.

Life is pain and Hezonja is a reminder of that cruel fact.

[dckingsfan]

Wow, very quiet on the trade rumor mill... I am fascinated by the move that makes the dominoes fall.

[tester551]

Wow, very quiet on the trade rumor mill... I am fascinated by the move that makes the dominoes fall.

I don't think there are any dominoes lined up.

The NBA rosters are largely set until close to the trade deadline.
There will be some minimum contracts to be signed - but doubt there will be many fireworks.

[BlazersBroncos]

Wow, very quiet on the trade rumor mill... I am fascinated by the move that makes the dominoes fall.

I don't think there are any dominoes lined up.

The NBA rosters are largely set until close to the trade deadline.
There will be some minimum contracts to be signed - but doubt there will be many fireworks.

This.

I think our roster is set unfortunately.

[Norm2953]

Mediocre free agent market but it was no surprise Portland sat out this FA market

[dckingsfan]

Wow, very quiet on the trade rumor mill... I am fascinated by the move that makes the dominoes fall.

I don't think there are any dominoes lined up.

The NBA rosters are largely set until close to the trade deadline.
There will be some minimum contracts to be signed - but doubt there will be many fireworks.

This.

I think our roster is set unfortunately.

What do you think the depth chart will look like?

[BlazersBroncos]

I don't think there are any dominoes lined up.

The NBA rosters are largely set until close to the trade deadline.
There will be some minimum contracts to be signed - but doubt there will be many fireworks.

This.

I think our roster is set unfortunately.

What do you think the depth chart will look like?

This isnt what I would do, but what I think the FO will roll with -

G - Scoot Henderson / Anfernee Simons / Dalano Banton
G - Anfernee Smons / Shadeon Sharpe / Dalano Banton
F - Deni Avdija / Matisse Thybulle / Kris Murray / Rayan Rupert
F - Jerami Grant / Jabari Walker JR / Duop Reath
C - DeAndre Ayton / Robert Williams III / Donovan Clingan

[JRoy]

What teams in the West do you think we have the potential to be better than? I assume by making noise you think we can become a playoff team. I think the only team thats clearly going to be worse is Utah.

The way I look at it is essentially the same as last year but much more obvious:

The Blazers “could” try to win a lot more games than I think they will next year. I think we easily lost 10+ games to injuries/tanking last year (imo more but that’s conservative enough).

Therefore with an off-season of more development/and major plus roster additions… you’d think we could reasonably field a much more complete roster this year with everyone healthy (esp if they want to try to grab a play in spot).

I understand there’s a lot of residual gloom around rip city but realistically we have the roster right now to compete. Esp if we keep Simons and/or Jerami. On a purely depth level.. everyone is playable currently on our team from 1-5 all the way through the backups.

Ya but what teams, on paper, do you think we are better than? Again, I can only safely say Utah.

SAS sucked last season but Wemby is generational and they improved around the edges as well.
MEM sucked but they didnt have Ja all season - a elite player who should, with Edey, get them back into the swing of playoff contention.
GSW isnt a contender but I have a hard time betting against a Curry led team being worse than us.

HOU is a team that is a coin flip as to whether we might be better than or not. Only one I see, then its UTA likely tanking. Otherwise I think all teams in the West are clearly better than us.

UTA has much better coaching.

I would not be surprised to see UTA have a better record than POR.