Portland - 2016 Offseason

[DusterBuster]

Blazers are notoriously quiet under Olshey. Not nearly as many leaks as there was under KP.

[Wizenheimer]

Blazers are notoriously quiet under Olshey. Not nearly as many leaks as there was under KP.

I think that the leaks under KP were actually coming from KP rather then the people under him. A lot of those leaks made KP look like he was active and smart. My hunch is that he was the 'source' of a lot of Blazer rumors

I don't think Olshey acts as a source for any inside story, although he probably does play the games of deflection and distraction that are everywhere this time of year. Smoke & mirrors. It's probably not wise to believe anything you hear till the moratorium starts. Maybe things Woj says, but he doesn't bat a thousand either

It's going to be a hectic moratorium. It's only 5 days long this year. July 6 could be crazy

[DusterBuster]

I thought they moved the moratorium down to only 3 days now.

[cucad8]

I thought they moved the moratorium down to only 3 days now.

I think that was just the RFA wait time on offer sheets.

[DusterBuster]

I thought they moved the moratorium down to only 3 days now.

I think that was just the RFA wait time on offer sheets.

Oh yeah, that's right. Nice catch.

[mactrapper10]

Sorry, not sure how to embed:

https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/status/747156300656705536

Hassan may be looking to be more of a possibility.

[Norm2953]

The Heat board seems to think he will re-sign with Miami unless he goes to the GSW.

The Warriors are in an interesting pickle with their RFA. Ezeli and Barnes had a terrible
championship series but their board seems to think their generally solid play during the
season will still get them offers that the Warriors would be loathe to match if they have
hopes for Whiteside or Durant. I'll bet some GM's will adopt a spoiling RFA offer strategy
ala NO in 2015 with Kantner to mess with other teams.

[mactrapper10]

The Heat board seems to think he will re-sign with Miami unless he goes to the GSW.

The Warriors are in an interesting pickle with their RFA. Ezeli and Barnes had a terrible
championship series but their board seems to think their generally solid play during the
season will still get them offers that the Warriors would be loathe to match if they have
hopes for Whiteside or Durant. I'll bet some GM's will adopt a spoiling RFA offer strategy
ala NO in 2015 with Kantner to mess with other teams.

I don't think he is going to be going back to Miami. They don't have his bird rights and will have to use capspace in order to bring him back. If he is looking to make a decision immediately, that doesn't bode well for Miami, because they are looking to add pieces and committing a max or near max to Whiteside on July 1 means they are out of the running on whoever else they may want/need. Also, Wade would have to take less in order bring him back if they go that route. I don't know if he will be coming here, but going to back to Miami is pretty tricky.

[GreenRiddler]

With that said I don't know why people think Dallas is a contender to get anyone. They have been churning FAs for awhile now, Ellis, Deron, Tyson and Parsons come to mind. They haven't done anything noteworthy since 2011 and there future looks bleaker every year. Not to mention they gave Wes that big contract and he doesn't even look like a starter.

[DusterBuster]

The Heat board seems to think he will re-sign with Miami unless he goes to the GSW.

The Warriors are in an interesting pickle with their RFA. Ezeli and Barnes had a terrible
championship series but their board seems to think their generally solid play during the
season will still get them offers that the Warriors would be loathe to match if they have
hopes for Whiteside or Durant. I'll bet some GM's will adopt a spoiling RFA offer strategy
ala NO in 2015 with Kantner to mess with other teams.

The Heat board is hardly where to go for honest unbiased opinion. They're going to get KD and LeBron and Whiteside all this summer if you ask the Heat RealGM board. So yeah, ignore that. Now, if Portland gets Hassan, who knows.... But yeah, lets ignore whatever the Heat Board says. That's not the place to go for honest and unbiased opinion. Hell, I tried to ask for a simple salary breakdown and got run off that board...

[DusterBuster]

With that said I don't know why people think Dallas is a contender to get anyone. They have been churning FAs for awhile now, Ellis, Deron, Tyson and Parsons come to mind. They haven't done anything noteworthy since 2011 and there future looks bleaker every year. Not to mention they gave Wes that big contract and he doesn't even look like a starter.

Man, I'm shocked so many on the GB think Dallas can sign so many big names. It ain't 2006 anymore. It's not even 2011. Dirk is almost 40 at this point, Dallas even with Dirk is barely a playoff team. That team needs a proper rebuild and they're never gonna get one as far as they keep Dirk a part of the team. I was talking to some Mav fans on the GB, they assure me that they're willing to do a proper rebuild and send Dirk somewhere else if they can't get any "big name" FA this summer.

That team has been in need of a proper rebuild for 3 years now, but they keep trying to be relevant for Dirk because he refuses to be a part of a rebuild. At this point, they can't keep worrying about Dirk. As awesome as it would be to see Dirk retire a Mav, they need to start thinking about the franchise over the player. I think their summer depends on Conley. If they get him, I think getting Whiteside is a good possibility. If they don't, then I think they seriously rebuild and we may see Dirk a GSW next season.

[DusterBuster]

Jeez, yeah I wouldn't be super hopeful as a Heat fan with these comments straight from Hassan....

“I really don’t think it’s about loyalty. It’s about the best situation for myself” Whiteside said, as reported by Tim MacMahon.

Hassan Whiteside was asked if he will stay in Miami. After a long pause he responded: “We’ll see”.

[Jsun947]

I hope GSW gets Durant, then Dirk, Duncan, Ginobili, Williams, etc all sign there for the vet min.

Just to watch the look on Lebron's face would be fun.

[The Sebastian Express]

https://twitter.com/haralabob has a good breakdown of why I don't like Whiteside.

Also I'd rather LeBron win over the Warriors any given day. They've become far more insufferable than he has outside of the Heat trio announcement of not one, not two, etc.

[zzaj]

https://twitter.com/haralabob has a good breakdown of why I don't like Whiteside.

I tend to agree that there are enough red flags with Whiteside that to land him in FA is not as big a home run as some are making it out to be. Would it be the biggest "name" FA signing in a long time? Absolutely. Will it make the Blazers better on Defense? Probably in certain situations overall. On offense? Probably slightly...remember, he almost never passes the ball (less than half an assist in 30 mpg). If he is 2nd or 3rd option he is going to have a pretty large Black Hole potential. And that is completely disregarding injury concerns.

So much in the NBA is about "fit" and a player's natural style in a particular system with other particular players. The Blazers would be gambling on Hassan being a great fit with Lillard/CJ/Aminu/Harkless in order to make progress as a team. Whiteside is 27. He's established a long list of bad habits that probably aren't going to get much better at this point. IMO, Plumlee has a higher BBIQ than Whiteside. Plumlee plays better team defense, is better at boxing out and is less jumpy.

And FWIW, his comments about "loyalty" and "I'm a business man that plays basketball" show an immaturity that belies his age and should be a pretty big red flag...especially to a team like PDX that need things like "loyalty" in order to keep FAs.

On the bright side, Whiteside's not that good at PnR defense. Stotts' version of ICE is perfect for the way Whiteside plays. I can imagine he'd avg around 15/11/4 blocks in Portland.

[Billy]

Whiteside certainly has a unique feel to him.

On one hand, you can look at some of the gaudy per 36 stats and drool that Portland is even in the conversation.

Then, you realize you're a Blazer fan and something is up

In reality, this summer has to be one of the highest pressure off-season's in Trail Blazer history. Trying to avoid the hyperbole there, but you've got a super-star in Lillard who might have just had the first year of his prime this past season and could easily go down with the majority of team records if he stays healthy and with the team. You'd hate to see that talent on a treadmill team.

So do you take a risk for Whiteside? As mentioned earlier, some of the stats are jaw-dropping. If you could take last years team and add a (potential) top 5 center to the mix--what does that do? On the other hand, a lot of Portland's success stems directly from the culture that has been implemented. If D-Wade and Bosh had difficulty reigning in some things, would Lillard or CJ be any better? You can argue that in a multitude of directions.

Another interesting caveat is the "the Blazers don't sign high quality FA's" that is so ingrained into FA lore that ESPN et al just drop that one-liner into FA stories to sum them up. When Olshey was brought in, there was a fair amount made about his ability to get into the room with guys that were out of his team's league. Thus far that hasn't panned out. Will Olshey feel pressure for his own personal legacy to be the one to finally dispel the FA stigma around Portland, and is Whiteside the guy to do it? For right or wrong, that is an interesting element. Not necessarily saying he would or could... just food for thought.

Lastly, there is still that nasty "p" word floating around. A max (or near max) deal is a helluva lot of money to spend on that word--especially in a league that is moving more and more away from the traditional center.

[GreenRiddler]

Yeah I had some reservations about Whiteside too that I posted in the thread about him. Kinda similar to Dwight in that respect. However no FA is without risk. No one is a for sure fit.

I think the FO is gonna do their due diligence, they made it a priority to avoid low character players. I don't think Whiteside would be that bad here. The heat have always been a hot bed for problems cause frankly the city of Miami is one where you can get yourself in some trouble. Gerald Green's yelling in the lobby while most likely being intoxicated last season comes to mind. Plus having guys like Green, Beasley and Amare tell me the heat don't care too much about that, so it doesn't set a great example for the young players like Whiteside.

As for basketball fit wise, he does somethings you don't like. For example going out of his way to block a shot while leaving his man. Then again Plumlee does the same thing, at a higher rate but with much less results.

The way I look at it we would be a better team defensively with Whiteside, and he would be a major upgrade no question about it. With a chance of also being better on offense if he fits in well. His max is not that bad at all clocking in at 22 per year.

We are pretty desperate for a upgrade at center, so I am gonna hope the Heat reports that they don't think he is worth a max are true, cause then we only have to compete with LA and Dal for his services. With Dame CJ, a storied season of locker room chemistry (lots of players like Hendo said this was the most fun they ever had) and a playoff series win, we'd have more to impress him with then any of those 2.

He's a jump for joy signing.

[Waynearchetype]

Just dropping this off:

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I'm torn on Whiteside as well. I've seen stats that show he doesn't actually help the team that much, indicating that his defensive stats come at some cost, seems to get himself out of position chasing stats, though that could just be a "contract year" type mentality. Which brings up another concern, it's kind of a flash-in-the-pan type year for him without much proof he can sustain it - especially once he secures that big paycheck. Combined with the current trend away from big men, its worrisome to hand him a max contract since he is strictly a C.

On the other hand, Portland needs to take a chance to get ahead if they commit to Lillard and CJ. We need that defensive center, and maybe once Whiteside gets paid he will stop chasing stats and focus on good defense. I wonder if he will have a big offensive impact, as neither Lillard nor CJ seem very good at feeding bigs in the paint (better at kicking it out to the perimeter) but that could be partially a lack of quality bigs and a coaches philosophy that focuses on outside offense.

All-in-all, I think we gotta go for it just to make a splash. Its an overpay that may come back to bite us, but there's something to be said for making a big move and now is the time to make it. If we kicked a big FA move down the road one more year, we would be costing ourselves assets and time. If its possible to get Whiteside, we may not have another opportunity at a top-notch big man in his prime.

[Beeboywhoo]

Should the blazes just find their center of the future in the 2017 draft? Thinking way ahead, we obviously wont have a good pick, but trading into mid lottery 11-16 there is an abundance, and best C's who start to fall in that range.