Portland's Off-Season Has Officially Arrived

[DusterBuster]

CJ and Collins for Kawhi and Danny green? Danny Green next to Dame would be ideal. And IIRC spurs were high on Collins and wanted to move up to draft him last summer. They get 20 point scorer in CJ and upside in Collins. Portland balances out the roster with a bigger SG and of course Leonard.


Nurkic
Aminu
K Leonard
Green
Lillard

Obviously Portland takes a huge gamble that Leonard re-signs and gives up Collins, who would no doubt turn into a future all star under Pop. San Antonio reloads on the fly.

I think there's next to no chance Kawhi resigns. I'd take the gamble too, but seeing the type of teams on his "wish list", it's pretty clear he's prioritizing big market over winning and I doubt that changes by the time he's a FA.

I'll admit though, seeing Kawhi even going into the "I want out" mode with San Antonio really has me questioning what the Blazers should do with Lillard. It's probably the media getting to me by beating the drum that Lillard will demand out soon, particularly Bill Simmons who's been talking like it's just a matter of time until Lillard asks out. Granted, I think most of them, again, in particularly mostly Simmons, are talking directly out of their ass, but there may be the stench of truth in that fart cloud given how it seems to happen to nearly every single big name player. Once they start getting to their late 20's, if you still can't put together a good team around them, it's just the nature of the league that players can and do move to play with other guys on their level, and usually that happens in places that aren't small markets.

I do think if the Blazers trade Lillard and Co, it's going to be a really really long rebuild. I guess my hope is that if Lillard wants out, he at least tells the team early enough in advance that they can get something for him while his value is high.

I also think I'm resigning myself to just throwing in the towel of this NBA era. If Kawhi and LeBron end up in LA with whatever else they're able to get, maybe Boogie or some bigman.... It's like, between GS, LA and Houston, there's pretty much zero shot for any other western conference team in the next 5 years....

[JasonStern]

CJ and Collins for Kawhi and Danny green?

the only way CJ and Collins lands Kawhi and Green is if the Spurs fire both Buford and Popovich and replace them with CJ's mom and Collin's mom.

[DusterBuster]

CJ and Collins for Kawhi and Danny green?

the only way CJ and Collins lands Kawhi and Green is if the Spurs fire both Buford and Popovich and replace them with CJ's mom and Collin's mom.

I agree, but as an aside, it will be REALLY interesting to see what the market is for him given his contract status. The supermax has kinda turned out to be mostly fools-gold for what the NBA has originally planned on it to be. Players at the supermax level already make so much money before they even get a supermax that sacrificing a couple mil per year really isn't the deterrent for players not to leave as the NBA and owners had planned.

So with that being said and with it being pretty clear that Kawhi has his eyes set towards a big market like LA or New York, what will the offers be from other teams around the league? Will other teams make a big run at him and play the OKC card of hoping to sway Leonard with a year in their system or will the OKC/George situation really scare teams off from taking a swing on a player with such a strong desire to play in a very specific city? I think Boston would take that swing and they have the assets to do it, but would Ainge spend every last asset he has from all his deals since the Pierce/KG to Brooklyn trade on a 1-year flight risk?

[red_power]

CJ and Collins for Kawhi and Danny green?

the only way CJ and Collins lands Kawhi and Green is if the Spurs fire both Buford and Popovich and replace them with CJ's mom and Collin's mom.

Replacing Buford with Olshey and adding Meyer$ to the Blazers package would be just enough.

But PA won't let neil go anyway.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

if theres a chance we can get him, olshey should be all over it... bring gay and draft another sf

tpe should do it, i doubt he gets more money than that, but the question is, is he willing to come here, maybe hes looking for a contender or something... regardless, do your job neil olshey!

Read on Twitter

[cucad8]

regardless, do your job neil olshey!

I mean, free agency doesn't start until July, but yeah, come on Neil! Get with it and sign guys already.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

if theres a chance we can get him, olshey should be all over it... bring gay and draft another sf

tpe should do it, i doubt he gets more money than that, but the question is, is he willing to come here, maybe hes looking for a contender or something... regardless, do your job neil olshey!

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

Well I hate to point out that Traded Player Exceptions cannot be used to sign free agents.

Now we could potentially do a S&T if the Spurs play ball but that would mean we cannot go above the apron, which would likely mean not resigning Nurkic.

Basically very improbable for us to get Gay unless he signs for the taxpayer MLE.

[Khazim]

I could potentially see him signing for the TP-MLE if it's for an extended number of years, but honestly he's likely to get a better deal elsewhere.

[B0naf1d3]

The New York/Portland trade thats been talked about (Lee + 36 for Meyers + 24) got me thinking about a couple others. Let me know what you guys think..

Sacramento: Randolph/Shumpert/Koufos + 37
Portland: Meyers + 24

Randolph/Shumpert/Koufos are all expiring after 18/19 season. So whatever player both teams agree on to get the deal done. Blazers move back 13 spots to save on Meyers last year of his contract, and Kings get another first round pick for rebuild.

Brooklyn: Carroll + 40/45
Portland: Meyers + Layman + Papa + 24

Blazers get a starting caliber rotation player on last year of deal, and add a couple 2nd's to round out the roster. Brooklyn adds another late 1st to possibly package together to move up in draft. Layman and Papa are both unguaranteed, but needed for fillers.

[Blazinaway]

sure seems quiet around the NBA just a few days before the draft, time for a little action

[Blazinaway]

sure seems quiet around the NBA just a few days before the draft, time for a little action

eerie calm/boredom continues

[Wizenheimer]

I've been camping for 6 days....so, it seems like the Kawhi situation in San Antonio has become more combustible? Did he say something in the last few days?

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I've been camping for 6 days....so, it seems like the Kawhi situation in San Antonio has become more combustible? Did he say something in the last few days?

I think it was his uncle or something. Last I heard, Pop/Buford wanted to hear these things from Kawhi directly and had not.


I really don't know what to make of the situation. I cant tell if this is just an LA media feeding frenzy that seems to happen every year or if there is fire behind this smoke. Its gone on far too long for it to be a nothing-burger but I also inherently disbelieve stories around this time of year.

[The Sebastian Express]

Just a FYI I'll be changing the title of this thread to reflect the start of free agency on the 30th after I take down the draft thread.

[Norm2953]

It's indeed time to pivot to what happens in free agency. How much money does Portland have to clear
in order to be able to offer up a full MLE in free agency?

[d-train]

No matter what happens with trades, free agency, or the draft, the biggest improvement by Blazers will come from development of Nurkic, Collins, Lillard and CJ.

[Wickzki]

So John Jenkins to our Summer League team.

[grigs]

Wilson Chandler opted in to his contract for next year. He will make $12.8M which fits perfectly into the Crabbe TPE.

It is believed that Denver needs to shed salary because it wants to resign Jokic and Barton. If that is true, either Chandler or Faried could be TPE targets.
https://www.denverstiffs.com/2018/6/22/17495502/chris-haynes-wilson-chandler-will-opt-in-to-the-final-year-of-his-contract-denver-nuggets-nba

Of the two, I prefer Chandler to play SF and some PF, but I’m not advocating for him necessarily. I’ve mainly been trying to determine which teams might want to shed contracts and have players that fit into the TPE.

What other candidates seem likely to be legit possibilities for the TPE?

[d-train]

Wilson Chandler opted in to his contract for next year. He will make $12.8M which fits perfectly into the Crabbe TPE.

It is believed that Denver needs to shed salary because it wants to resign Jokic and Barton. If that is true, either Chandler or Faried could be TPE targets.
https://www.denverstiffs.com/2018/6/22/17495502/chris-haynes-wilson-chandler-will-opt-in-to-the-final-year-of-his-contract-denver-nuggets-nba

Of the two, I prefer Chandler to play SF and some PF, but I’m not advocating for him necessarily. I’ve mainly been trying to determine which teams might want to shed contracts and have players that fit into the TPE.

What other candidates seem likely to be legit possibilities for the TPE?

Pass on Chandler and Faried. Blazers already passed on Crabbe, so we want something better than Crabbe. I don't know what the Blazers have received in offers but I bet they have turned down better deals than Chandler or Faried.

[DaVoiceMaster]

If Denver needs to shed salary to resign Jokic and Barton, just what is that worth? The Blazers could use the Crabbe TPE (if they're willing to spend money-tax) to acquire Chandler or Faried (would need to do so now before the salaries for next year count), but what would Denver have to offer up to entice the Blazers to do so?