Blazers options with Eric Bledsoe

[Brandon-Clyde]

I honestly wouldn't mind doing a trade of Bledsoe, Winslow, and a 2nd for Kevin Love or Gordon Hayward. We still need a better backup C. Luckily Bamba, Whiteside, dieng, and I believe favors are available

Bamba just re-signed with Orlando for two seasons.
I would like Dieng or Whiteside as a backup. Also would consider Enes Freedom. None are ideal but all three have skills that the team can use.

[Wizenheimer]

Bledsoe is nearly impossible for Portland to trade now

in order to take advantage of his 19M salary for the purposes of trading, Portland would have to guarantee his contract. BUT, Portland is hard-capped because of the inadvisable Payton so they can't guarantee his contract. They might be able to guarantee a little more than the 3.9M contractual guarantee, but not enough to make a difference

meanwhile, the team accepting Bledsoe in trade has to accept him as a 19.3M contract (they can waive him after and save 15.4M). They either need cap-space sufficient to absorb the 19M, a TPE that large, or arrange for a 3rd team to get involved

so, about the only possibility for Bledsoe being traded is a multi-team trade where somehow, Bledsoe's 19 salary can grease the wheels. And that seems very unlikely

the only other possibility is that Portland and Detroit have an agreement that if the Blazers can't find an out for Bledsoe's contract, the Pistons would take Bledsoe instead of Grant being absorbed into Portland's big TPE (which would explain why the trade hasn't been completed yet). But I have a hard time believing the Pistons would agree to that without Portland sending more assets Detroit's way. Besides that, the TPE would end up wasted anyway because Portland is hard-capped.

[Jsun947]

Bledsoe is nearly impossible for Portland to trade now

in order to take advantage of his 19M salary for the purposes of trading, Portland would have to guarantee his contract. BUT, Portland is hard-capped because of the inadvisable Payton so they can't guarantee his contract. They might be able to guarantee a little more than the 3.9M contractual guarantee, but not enough to make a difference

meanwhile, the team accepting Bledsoe in trade has to accept him as a 19.3M contract (they can waive him after and save 15.4M). They either need cap-space sufficient to absorb the 19M, a TPE that large, or arrange for a 3rd team to get involved

so, about the only possibility for Bledsoe being traded is a multi-team trade where somehow, Bledsoe's 19 salary can grease the wheels. And that seems very unlikely

the only other possibility is that Portland and Detroit have an agreement that if the Blazers can't find an out for Bledsoe's contract, the Pistons would take Bledsoe instead of Grant being absorbed into Portland's big TPE (which would explain why the trade hasn't been completed yet). But I have a hard time believing the Pistons would agree to that without Portland sending more assets Detroit's way. Besides that, the TPE would end up wasted anyway because Portland is hard-capped.

Even if we traded Bledsoe we’re only taking about a savings of 1.3 mil per season for three years. Moving mountains to do that isn’t practical. If he’s traded into a team with cap space who is just going to waive him we might be able to do it with cash and/or a second round pick but again, it doesn’t mean much to us as far as a grand plan goes.

[Case2012]

What if we just Kept Bledsoe?
Dame/ Bledsoe
Simons/ GP
Hart/ Nas
Grant/ Winslow
Nurk/ Eubanks

Bledsoe has cratered offensively but isn’t he considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the league? I really doubt Keon and Sharpe are going to get minutes this year anyways.

[Goldbum]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

That's a really big swing. Could whiff, but if he comes in ready to go that roster would have a real punchers chance.
Dame/GP2
Ant/Sharpe/Keon
Grant/Didi/Walker/Winslow
Simmons/Watford/GB3
Nurkic/Eubanks (Simmons)

[BlazersBroncos]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

That's a really big swing. Could whiff, but if he comes in ready to go that roster would have a real punchers chance.
Dame/GP2
Ant/Sharpe/Keon
Grant/Didi/Walker/Winslow
Simmons/Watford/GB3
Nurkic/Eubanks (Simmons)

I think BRK would want more, potentially much more, for Ben. He is the only above average talent on the roster that isn’t vocally trying to get off the roster.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

That's a really big swing. Could whiff, but if he comes in ready to go that roster would have a real punchers chance.
Dame/GP2
Ant/Sharpe/Keon
Grant/Didi/Walker/Winslow
Simmons/Watford/GB3
Nurkic/Eubanks (Simmons)

I think BRK would want more, potentially much more, for Ben. He is the only above average talent on the roster that isn’t vocally trying to get off the roster.

I think Brooklyn's thinking would be to make it possible to trade for someone like Donovan Mitchell or Bam Adebayo in a Durant trade since Simmons is under a designated rookie extension which prevents Brooklyn from trading for any other player under a similar contract.

[Wizenheimer]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

can't be done. Simmons salary is 35.5M. because the Blazers are hard-capped by the ill-advised Payton signing, they'd need to trade at least 34M in salary in order to have room, under the apron, to sign 2 players in order to offset a 3 for 1 trade and get back to the minimum roster of 14

Hart (13M) + Little (4.1M) + Bledsoe (3.9M) = 21M. Portland is 13M short. And no, the Blazers can't trade Bledsoe at 19.3M BECAUSE they are hard-capped. They could guarantee more than his 3.9M...probably as much as 7M, but that still leaves them 10M short

potential lost opportunities like this are why it is so confounding that Portland significantly throttled their own flexibility by being hard-capped for a player like Payton. It makes almost no sense at all

[Goldbum]

We should sign Roby. Always liked him, he could flourish under Billups

[RTG HD]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

can't be done. Simmons salary is 35.5M. because the Blazers are hard-capped by the ill-advised Payton signing, they'd need to trade at least 34M in salary in order to have room, under the apron, to sign 2 players in order to offset a 3 for 1 trade and get back to the minimum roster of 14

Hart (13M) + Little (4.1M) + Bledsoe (3.9M) = 21M. Portland is 13M short. And no, the Blazers can't trade Bledsoe at 19.3M BECAUSE they are hard-capped. They could guarantee more than his 3.9M...probably as much as 7M, but that still leaves them 10M short

potential lost opportunities like this are why it is so confounding that Portland significantly throttled their own flexibility by being hard-capped for a player like Payton. It makes almost no sense at all

I am confused about the Payton signing too but are they hard-capped right now or hard capped after the Grant trade is final?

[spree8]

Bledsoe & Sharpe for Randle & 23' Mavs 1st

[Dame Lizard]

Bledsoe & Sharpe for Randle & 23' Mavs 1st

Did you forget to mention + 2 more unprotected 1sts?

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Bledsoe + Hart + Nas + 2nd round pick
4
Ben Simmons

can't be done. Simmons salary is 35.5M. because the Blazers are hard-capped by the ill-advised Payton signing, they'd need to trade at least 34M in salary in order to have room, under the apron, to sign 2 players in order to offset a 3 for 1 trade and get back to the minimum roster of 14

Hart (13M) + Little (4.1M) + Bledsoe (3.9M) = 21M. Portland is 13M short. And no, the Blazers can't trade Bledsoe at 19.3M BECAUSE they are hard-capped. They could guarantee more than his 3.9M...probably as much as 7M, but that still leaves them 10M short

potential lost opportunities like this are why it is so confounding that Portland significantly throttled their own flexibility by being hard-capped for a player like Payton. It makes almost no sense at all

I am confused about the Payton signing too but are they hard-capped right now or hard capped after the Grant trade is final?

We used the full MLE so we cannot go above the apron this year.

[spree8]

Bledsoe & Sharpe for Randle & 23' Mavs 1st

Did you forget to mention + 2 more unprotected 1sts?

Unprotected 1st’s? That’s nuts. This is a high school player who sat on the bench at Kentucky. Maybe one more protected 1st, but that’s it.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Bledsoe & Sharpe for Randle & 23' Mavs 1st

Did you forget to mention + 2 more unprotected 1sts?

Unprotected 1st’s? That’s nuts. This is a high school player who sat on the bench at Kentucky. Maybe one more protected 1st, but that’s it.

Randle is a negative contract that would require a first to dump and the 23 Mav's pick is likely late first so at best a neutral package while Sharpe is a recent( as in this year) mid lotto pick. So yes two more firsts would be appropriate.

[spree8]

Did you forget to mention + 2 more unprotected 1sts?

Unprotected 1st’s? That’s nuts. This is a high school player who sat on the bench at Kentucky. Maybe one more protected 1st, but that’s it.

Randle is a negative contract that would require a first to dump and the 23 Mav's pick is likely late first so at best a neutral package while Sharpe is a recent( as in this year) mid lotto pick. So yes two more firsts would be appropriate.

25m for Randle with the new CBA on the horizon and the cap jumping to 124m, is not a negative contract. He’s one of 3 players to average 20/10/5 this past season. He was an All-Star, MIP, & All-NBA Team the year before. Getting out of the NY market, fanbase, and media machine would do wonders for him, especially under a coach like Billups and next to a superstar like Dame. Objectively, I would certainly do this if I’m Portland.

Dame/Simons/Jerami/Julius/Nurkic with Hart as 6th man is a playoff team imo.

At most, I’d think meeting halfway is fair.. two more 1st’s but not unprotected. The 23’ protected 1st’s from Detroit & Washington in addition to the 23’ Dallas 1st is a very good offer.

[Norm2953]

It would be absurd to add another ball dominant player to Portland for that would make Nurk
into a fifth option on offense.

Anyone who watched Kentucky's practices last year could see Sharpe was the best player. Why
he didn't play is unclear but Portland is set up well for the inevitable rebuild after Dame gets
traded for the 2023 draft is just loaded with talented big wings that Portland has needed since
2015 and has the next franchise player in the French big Victor.

[Dame Lizard]

Unprotected 1st’s? That’s nuts. This is a high school player who sat on the bench at Kentucky. Maybe one more protected 1st, but that’s it.

Randle is a negative contract that would require a first to dump and the 23 Mav's pick is likely late first so at best a neutral package while Sharpe is a recent( as in this year) mid lotto pick. So yes two more firsts would be appropriate.

25m for Randle with the new CBA on the horizon and the cap jumping to 124m, is not a negative contract. He’s one of 3 players to average 20/10/5 this past season. He was an All-Star, MIP, & All-NBA Team the year before. Getting out of the NY market, fanbase, and media machine would do wonders for him, especially under a coach like Billups and next to a superstar like Dame. Objectively, I would certainly do this if I’m Portland.

Dame/Simons/Jerami/Julius/Nurkic with Hart as 6th man is a playoff team imo.

At most, I’d think meeting halfway is fair.. two more 1st’s but not unprotected. The 23’ protected 1st’s from Detroit & Washington in addition to the 23’ Dallas 1st is a very good offer.

+2 more protected firsts is definitely more fair. I would accept that value wise (although remain unconvinced about how that lineup looks defensively).

I was being slightly facetious by mentioning unprotected, but also wanted to express my view that Randle does not have much trade value.

[DusterBuster]

The most boring option here is most likely. Blazers waive him for the tax savings.

[DusterBuster]

Bledsoe & Sharpe for Randle & 23' Mavs 1st

I’d be more than happy to roll the dice with Sharpe. Kids got plenty of hype behind I’m that it would be a disservice not to see what he can do. If the Knicks want to dump Randle for Bledsoe and some other filler player(s), w/e, otherwise I think the Blazers would be much better off seeing what Shaedon can do.