Portland - 2016 Offseason

[Downtown]

unfortunately (a little), that will probably jack up the re-signing price os guys like Harkless and Crabbe

I'm still in the camp that says if they have to choose between the two I would keep Harkless.

[Downtown]

I'm also in the camp that says we should tread carefully with Monroe. Since he's a short term contract it might be worth considering since the guy is very talented on individual offence but if taking on his sizeable contract means it puts the Blazers out of contention for anyone else that may be good, or hurts them in re-signing their own free agents that they might want to keep, then that's a negative and perhaps it would be better to look elsewhere.

I suppose that says I'm on the fence with him.

[Run PDX]

If you haven't listened to Casey Hodahl's podcast yet, you should. He made a very interesting point, which I really agree with:

Portland is not in a position where they should sign a player who doesn't want to commit to living in Portland, and playing up to Portland's standards. We shouldn't try to force a player to act like he wants to be here, or force him to be something he's not.

Hodahl basically said that we aren't in that "window" yet where we NEED to sign a player who is going to change the future of this roster, and who might not be that type of player who buys into the community and the team mentality. And, I agree.

I think Portland should stick to keeping our core together, while also adding players who fit into the age range and identity of the franchise to this point.

Names that I like include:

Jordan Clarkson
Evan Fournier
Matthew Dellavadova
Kent Bazemore
Harrison Barnes
Ryan Anderson
Terrence Jones
Festus Ezeli
Hassan Whiteside

Of course, if they don't want to be here, or don't want to buy into the team approach, then I'd be fine with Portland avoiding them as welll... But, I think they could all fit our roster and they could all bring something interesting to our rotation.
If we could add one or two of those players, and keep Crabbe and Harkless (or even Crabbe and Leonard, or Harkless and Leonard) then I think we would have a solid group going forward.

[Jsun947]

Monroe and Drummond were a disaster together in Detroit.

I dont know why you would think it would be better to play him with Davis or Plumlee, especially on our team.

To me Monroe is fine if you use him the way OKC uses Kanter. He's there for some offense in the 2nd unit and that's about it.

I'd refrain from using our cap to add that type of player, especially when it's not cheap and he's on a short term deal before the cap gets much much bigger.

I'd much much rather be paying Ed Davis 7 mil per than Monroe whatever the hell its going to cost when the cap is 108 million...

[Jsun947]

Jordan Clarkson
Evan Fournier
Matthew Dellavadova
Kent Bazemore
Harrison Barnes
Ryan Anderson
Terrence Jones
Festus Ezeli
Hassan Whiteside

Clarksons, Fournier, Dellavadova, Barnes, and Ezeli are restricted.

That leaves Bazemore, Anderson, Jones, and Whiteside. I get Anderson and Whiteside but I don't understand any of the love for Jones. He was horrendously bad this year. He is one of the worst defenders at his position and wasn't able to shoot for ****.

[Norm2953]

As I've written before, I think Kent Bazemore from the Hawks should be a target for Portland
for he's come a long ways from his days with the GSW and Knicks and while not likely the
offensive threat Crabbe is, is a much better perimeter defender than anyone currently on
the roster.

[Wizenheimer]

If you haven't listened to Casey Hodahl's podcast yet, you should. He made a very interesting point, which I really agree with:

Portland is not in a position where they should sign a player who doesn't want to commit to living in Portland, and playing up to Portland's standards. We shouldn't try to force a player to act like he wants to be here, or force him to be something he's not.

Hodahl basically said that we aren't in that "window" yet where we NEED to sign a player who is going to change the future of this roster, and who might not be that type of player who buys into the community and the team mentality. And, I agree..

I heard that podcast too, and I don't agree at all with that argument. It seems kind of disjointed. I'd also like to know how Portland could foce a player to sign that "didn't want to be here". Mind control I guess

and I'm not sure the Blazers filter prospective players by if they will live year round in Portland? Thats sure seemed to be what Hodahl was saying as, IIRC, he said that in the context of Dame and CJ liveing here year round. Brandon Roy didn't. Aldridge didn't. Clyde Drexler didn't; Buck Williams didn't. Pretty sure Terry Porter didn't till after he retired. Pryzbilla didn't. Andre Miller didn't. Batum didn't. I'm not even sure Wesley Matthews lived in Portland 12 months a year. That just seems an argument that ignores the reality of drawing players from all over the map

but I think the main thing Hodahl ignores is that this summer is almost certainly the last summer for a long time that the Blazers will have cap-space. Further, there's no guarantee at all that Portland will have the same positive momentum and perceived value behind their players, coaches, and chemistry as they do right now. And looming in the immediate background behind all the supposed momentum is the simple history of Portland's failures in free agency. Strike while the iron is hot

without cap-space, how is Portland supposed to upgrade talent? They won't be able to do it with the MLE or other exceptions. Those exceptions are locked and won't be increasing at the same rate the cap will. That's already specified by the CBA:

2013-14 - $5.150 million - 58 million cap (8.9% of cap)
2014-15 - $5.305 million - 63 million cap (8.4% of cap)
2015-16 - $5.464 million - 70 million cap (7.8% of cap)
2016-17 - $5.628 million - 92 million cap (6.1% of cap)
2017-18 - $5.797 million - 108 million cap (5.4% of cap)
2018-19 - $5.971 million - 103 million cap (5.8% of cap)

can't change that without voiding the current CBA

the only reason Portland was as good this season as they were is because the Blazers were able to add Aminu, Davis, & Harkless using cap-space. The last times Portland has used exceptions, they landed Mo Williams, Chris Kaman, & Steve Blake, and some of that came after Spenser Hawes spurned the Blazers because some other team was offering the same exception. It's hard enough to upgrade using cap-space. It's even harder to upgrade using the MLE. And if it's hard to upgrade using the MLE when it's 8.4% of the cap, it might be impossible when it's 5.4%

I think Hodahl's position completely ignores that the windows teams have for roster upgrades can be short. They aren't perpetually as open, season after season. Without cap-space, teams can't offer good free agents and they can't make unbalanced trades. And if the Blazers are hovering in the 5-8 seed territory, they won't have high draft picks.

Obviously Portland doesn't want to make a bad signing. But if they waste this summer and allow that cap-space to just melt away from inertia, they seriously risk climbing up on a treadmill

[Butter]

The Blazers would really benefit from a stronger interior defensive presence and hopefully at least a threat to score on the inside. I like what Harkless and Amino did this year, they really gutted it out. But I'd really like to see them get a legit PF or C.

[GreenRiddler]

One thing is for sure, I don't think we'll be talking with Demar, this was the first year he scored efficiently in the regular season and it was surprisingly in a contract year. The more you watch the guy play the more you dislike his game. No 3 point shot, shoots below average on the most inefficient shot in basketball(Midrange and takes a lot), no floater game. Only good at the rim,which can be taken away. Not to mention he doesn't try on defense at all.

Somebody is going to pay him though, cause they won't care about postseason runs, just wanna add that pickup to their front office resume. The raptors made the Conf Finals for the first time, so they'll probably reward him with a 5 year deal even though he played like garbage in 90% of their games and got benched in the 4th a lot.


Anyway I hope we bring back Crabbe even if we have to pay him 11-12mill/yr. Might not seem valuable, but he is our 6th man, and the diff between having a good bench or a bad one. Until we get a starting PF and Center we can't afford to have a bad bench. Hendo IMO didn't do a whole lot this postseason run and is kinda pushing it age wot worth paying. I doubt Harkless gets a lot of offers, I think we can get a steal of a contract on him. The real question IMO is Meyers, I have no idea what he'll get and what the Blazers' level of interest is. The guy can shoot close to 40% from 3. Probably would have if not for the injuries early in the year, I think he shot 40% his last 3 months. Does so on a high volume, is aware on the offensive end as a passer(even if he doesn't show it in the boxscore) and doesn't force things. On defense he takes bad 'I give up' fouls, but is a solid low post defender on big centers. He is our 2nd best rim protecting big after Ed Davis and is a feast or famine defensive rebounder. I wish we had him when GS was trapping and leaving Ed and Mase open from 12-16 feet, he would'v'e knocked those down without a doubt. Gonna be interesting to see if they want him back, I think he'll get offers just cause of his 3 point shooting, height and age. If we miss out on Whiteside Howard Horford and other big name 4/5s than I can see us signing a risk/reward guy like Hibbert/Noah for rim protection and matching Meyers.

Mostly cause I think NeO saw how much having no PnR threat did to Dame's efficiency in the post season. We gotta keep Meyers or find threat like Horford, can't leave Dame on an island like that again, he relies on the PnR almost more than any other player in the NBA.

As far as passing, I think we have some improvement to make, I can see CJ continuing to get better, but we could use a guy like Evan Turner to not only pass but handle the rock and be solid as a decision maker to run Dame off the ball more. Also just having good continuity will lead to better passing in the future. This post season run is gonna pay off from that stand point.

[Wizenheimer]

Meyers is not good at defense. He's the worst Portland big defensively and that shows in every ranking of Portland's defensive players. Defensive rating, defensive win shares, defensive box plus/minus. Davis, Plumlee, and Vonleh are all much better then him. Much better

DRPM tracks defensive numbers too.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM

they track 100 NBA PF's. Out of 100 PF's, Meyers ranks 95th. only 5 are worse

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/3/sort/DRPM/position/6

and if Meyers was ranked as a center, out of 78 NBA centers, Meyers would rank 78th. The worst C. And do so by a significant gap. Even Enes Kanter is better. Maybe that's why Olshey offered Kanter...he was looking for a defensive upgrade over Meyers...

put that in perspective...out of 177 NBA big men, only 5 have worse DRPM's then Meyers; and of those 5, three of them, Jabari Parker, Derrick Williams, & Terrance Jones, look more like they are tweeners then stretch-4's.

[Butter]

I'm kind of intrigued by Joakim Noah to compete with Plumee. Noah is definitely on the downside of his career, but between the two of them, he shouldn't be expected to play big minutes. He'd definitely help keep Portland weird.

Could Olshey bring in Noah at a decreased rate and a max player?

[Wizenheimer]

I'm kind of intrigued by Joakim Noah to compete with Plumee. Noah is definitely on the downside of his career, but between the two of them, he shouldn't be expected to play big minutes. He'd definitely help keep Portland weird.

Could Olshey bring in Noah at a decreased rate and a max player?

if Portland renounces Meyers, they'd have about 33 million in cap-space. A max player at the lowest tier (0-6 years in league) would get around 21 million in 1st year salary, leaving 12 million. So yeah, theoretically it might work. Might be difficult to swing though. Maybe Chandler Parsons and Noah I suppose...something like that

[Andre 2999]

-Give me Whiteside/Drummond/Dwight and Kent Bazemore in Free Agency.
-Get something of value for Crabbe/Plumlee, I like Darren Collison.
-Get a 2nd round pick to draft Thon Maker.

PG: Lillard/Collison/McCollum
SG: McCollum/Collison/Bazemore
SF: Bazemore/Aminu/Harkless
PF: Aminu/Davis/Vonleh/Maker
C: Whiteside/Davis/Maker/Vonleh

[Butter]

I'm kind of intrigued by Joakim Noah to compete with Plumee. Noah is definitely on the downside of his career, but between the two of them, he shouldn't be expected to play big minutes. He'd definitely help keep Portland weird.

Could Olshey bring in Noah at a decreased rate and a max player?

if Portland renounces Meyers, they'd have about 33 million in cap-space. A max player at the lowest tier (0-6 years in league) would get around 21 million in 1st year salary, leaving 12 million. So yeah, theoretically it might work. Might be difficult to swing though. Maybe Chandler Parsons and Noah I suppose...something like that

Noah seems like he's a win now piece, if NeO thinks he's got enough left to contribute. Now that I think about it, if Leonard can't beat out an aging vet, it's definitely time to move on.

[Norm2953]

It'll be interesting to see how NO views this team for remember its likely NO expected like
everyone else this team would be in the lottery and he'd be in position to draft someone
like Poeltl for his need at center.

Let's see if his vision for next year believes one player would allow this team to really
compete in the playoffs next season. If one had to guess, its likely NO will make
incremental changes to the roster, going after players who he thinks are better than
the guys he has now but not the max contract players.

[zzaj]

Curious...

If Memphis decides to rebuild (and I have no idea if they actually will) would you guys be interested in something like:

Marc Gasol + somebody (tony allen maybe?)

for

CJ, Aminu, Plumlee

Just spit balling, and obviously that is a lot to give up and it would hinge upon the healing of Gasol's Navicular bone. (I seem to remember that they have about an 75-80% success rate if you go slow). With some resigning and smaller FAs the team wouldn't look that bad...maybe try and add Leuer, Bazemore and someone like Sessions to the mix as FAs?

Lillard/Sessions
Henderson/Crabbe/ (Allen?)
Bazemore/Harkless
Leuer/Davis/Vonleh
Gasol/Davis

Another interesting thing about this scenario is that the Blazers would be avoiding the CJ/Plumlee contract issue next offseason.

[Fitz303]

Curious...

If Memphis decides to rebuild (and I have no idea if they actually will) would you guys be interested in something like:

Marc Gasol + somebody (tony allen maybe?)

for

CJ, Aminu, Plumlee

Just spit balling, and obviously that is a lot to give up and it would hinge upon the healing of Gasol's Navicular bone. (I seem to remember that they have about an 75-80% success rate if you go slow). With some resigning and smaller FAs the team wouldn't look that bad...maybe try and add Leuer, Bazemore and someone like Sessions to the mix as FAs?

Lillard/Sessions
Henderson/Crabbe/ (Allen?)
Bazemore/Harkless
Leuer/Davis/Vonleh
Gasol/Davis

Another interesting thing about this scenario is that the Blazers would be avoiding the CJ/Plumlee contract issue next offseason.

I'd love Gasol, but I wouldnt' give up CJ. If I'm going to give up CJ, I'd want to go with a younger prospect.

[acidfrehley]

This Memphis trade makes no sense.

Give up one future all star and two good role players for an aging Gasol its completely against what we've been doing.

[Jsun947]

Curious...

If Memphis decides to rebuild (and I have no idea if they actually will) would you guys be interested in something like:

Marc Gasol + somebody (tony allen maybe?)

for

CJ, Aminu, Plumlee

Just spit balling, and obviously that is a lot to give up and it would hinge upon the healing of Gasol's Navicular bone. (I seem to remember that they have about an 75-80% success rate if you go slow). With some resigning and smaller FAs the team wouldn't look that bad...maybe try and add Leuer, Bazemore and someone like Sessions to the mix as FAs?

Lillard/Sessions
Henderson/Crabbe/ (Allen?)
Bazemore/Harkless
Leuer/Davis/Vonleh
Gasol/Davis

Another interesting thing about this scenario is that the Blazers would be avoiding the CJ/Plumlee contract issue next offseason.

The only part of this I like is John Leuer!!!! Seriously though, If we wanted Gasol I'd rather just sign Pau and keep CJ

[DaVoiceMaster]

As I've written before, I think Kent Bazemore from the Hawks should be a target for Portland
for he's come a long ways from his days with the GSW and Knicks and while not likely the
offensive threat Crabbe is, is a much better perimeter defender than anyone currently on
the roster.

I've thought Bazemore should have been a target for the Blazers when he was with the Warriors. Was ticked off he went to the Lakers.

Going off the list of names mentioned previously, do you prefer... Barnes or Anderson? I'm assuming you cannot add both?