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I don't see what Little has to do with not being a Stotts fan.. I doubt if any coach with a Bubble team that needed to win to get into playoffs plays Little. He is a rookie project, at best. Problem with Mario is who will be on the court for his allotted stint. On some possessions even whole stints he is a net contributor. On others, he should have to pay admission to be near an NBA court.

personally...I have been complementary of the job Whiteside has done for Portland this season. He's easily been their best defender and rebounder (which isn't saying much), and except for Dame has been the most impactful Blazer.

but I'm leaning toward not re-signing him unless it's for a small salary and short contract...as in 1 or 2 years at 8-9M/year. Even then, maybe the main reason for re-signing him is to have an expiring contract to add to Ariza's. Portland needs trade assets. Of course, the other main reason would be if the Blazers don't have a lot of confidence in Nurkic staying healthy, and there are good reasons why they might not

I would think in this free agent market, Whiteside would struggle to get any meaningful free agent
offers for even a $9 million contract might be above the MLE after the tax line is released to the
teams. One would think Portland would be his choice if he had to take a deal similar to what Enes
Kanter got

Does Gabriel miss some assignments...Yes he does. He's also spent the least amount of time with the team and even the NBA considering he was a two way contract that got converted. However what I see is a player with plus instincts, a fantastic motor, nose for the ball, and a length quickness combination that effectively shrinks the court. I dont see him as a backup center but a backup PF when Collins rotates to Center giving us two bigs who guard in space and one who's a plus rebounder. What short clips of defensive plays dont show is the way the offense reacts to him. The kids head is one swivel and he shrinks passing and driving lanes. Play him for 18 minutes a game while Collins rotates to center and we can snuff out a lot of these teams having season best 3pt games against us. Gabriel also has legit chops as a floor spreader and is getting there as an interior finisher.

Man, I really wish I had as much faith in Gabriel as some of you guys. A twitchy 3/D spreader from the PF spot would be a godsend, but I just cant bank on him. He has always had tools but also always had issues producing. A guy with his athleticism should get more than 5ppg/5rpg in college even if sleepwalking. I just dont think the instincts are there, and dont know if I would bank on them ever developing.

BlazersBroncos wrote:Man, I really wish I had as much faith in Gabriel as some of you guys. A twitchy 3/D spreader from the PF spot would be a godsend, but I just cant bank on him. He has always had tools but also always had issues producing. A guy with his athleticism should get more than 5ppg/5rpg in college even if sleepwalking. I just dont think the instincts are there, and dont know if I would bank on them ever developing.

I think I agree with you on Gabriel. But I also haven't seen enough of him to project what he MIGHT do or become. He was a good pickup for end of the bench and a few minutes. This offseason will be really interesting with HWEC and the team option on Ariza and the pick and ...

Get to work, NeO.

his offseason will be really interesting with HWEC

I would be absolutely astonished if Hassan had any sort of S&T market. It would be one of the most surprising offseason developments in years.

BlazersBroncos wrote:Man, I really wish I had as much faith in Gabriel as some of you guys. A twitchy 3/D spreader from the PF spot would be a godsend, but I just cant bank on him. He has always had tools but also always had issues producing. A guy with his athleticism should get more than 5ppg/5rpg in college even if sleepwalking. I just dont think the instincts are there, and dont know if I would bank on them ever developing.

We've seen some very good NBA players who underproduced in college. Skal is another example of a guy who was a total bust in college but a really nice NBA backup (also my #1 target to replace Hassan if he's healthy and word is that he is). Gabriel was the #17 overall recruit from his class. He never had plays ran for him and was routinely charged with guarding one of the other teams better perimeter players. He also seriously lacked strength but appears to have put on a good 15lbs of muscle in Portland. We've seen guys with tools really put it together before. Nice Batum comes to mind as he seemed like a guy destined to head back to France after an embarrassing summer league. Coaching, system and leadership matter. I see it here. These could be rosegarden colored glasses but I would buy stock in Wenyen today if I could. I expect a near Trent level of year over year improvement. Maybe I'm crazy

Having empathy is like putting yourself in someone else's shoes, right? I think he was having a really good year with us, and we wouldn't be playing basketball games now, if it wasn't for him. I can understand his being upset, having had his minutes cut down to near nothing simply because Terry loves playing 3 guards at once. He has done nothing wrong since landing here, much to the contrary in fact. I think having both Nurkic & Hassan splitting the duties at C is a luxury, and one of them should be on the court at all times. Even seeing a couple minutes here and there with twin towers, with The Beast at the 4 is also something that Terry should dabble with, but not likely to happen.

As for Collins and Gabriel, they will never be big offensive stars under Stotts, because that would mean taking shots away from Dame, CJ, GTJ & Melo. IMO Collins should never be played as a C, for at least another couple years, and should grow into that position naturally with age, like Duncan did. People are waking up to Gabriel and seeing what I said when the trade went down... he wasn't just a throw in / salary match, but rather a target of Olshey's. Way too early, but I can see a Siakam like game in him, and he seems to contribute nicely already, when given a chance. He's also strong; just take a look at the shoulders on this kid. Lastly 6 ppg at Kentucky means squat.

NEXT YEAR:
Dame/CJ?/Hood/Collins/Nurkic
Simons/GTJ/Melo/Gabriel/Whiteside

RIO/Little/?/?/?

If there is a sign and trade deal for Hassan... great.. I just seriously doubt there will be one out there that is interesting to the Blazers.

Way too early, but I can see a Siakam like game in him, and he seems to contribute nicely already, when given a chance. He's also strong; just take a look at the shoulders on this kid. Lastly 6 ppg at Kentucky means squat.

I am not sure if there is a single player in NBA history that went from under 10ppg in college, to under 3ppg in the NBA, to a Pascal Siakam level star. Its just not going to happen. If Gabriel can develop into a Finney Smith, that would be a coup. If he became an all star multi faceted two way stud like Siakam, it would be possibly the most unlikely rags-to-riches story in NBA history.

Pascal was a 20ppg guy in college who was a rotation player by age 23. His jump from rotation guy to all-star is seen as one of the more unlikely developments in recent NBA history. Gabriel making a jump from bubble roster player to Pascal level would make the Siakam story look like nothing lol. Its just not going to happen.

I have no expectations of him becoming better than Siakam, but perhaps he can become better than Collins?

I have no expectations of him becoming better than Siakam, but perhaps he can become better than Collins?

I think Zach has much more upside and his production has been better since college. He isnt nearly as bad as some are saying lately.

I think DFS should be the hope for Gabriel. Finney was a low tier rotation guy at 23 so Gabriel is a bit behind but both are underachievers who didnt do much in college, have nice movement skills and in theory should be good 3/D undersized PF's.

Now, DFS was much better in college and as I said was a rotation guy by 23 but Gabriel has more bounce IMO. Again, if Gabriel could give us a DFS type small ball 3/D PF that would be huge. It would allow Zach to be a in-name type starter at PF (playing like 8mpg there) while also being the primary backup C and we would still have some minutes for Melo to be a scoring sub.

GEE wrote: People are waking up to Gabriel and seeing what I said when the trade went down... he wasn't just a throw in / salary match, but rather a target of Olshey's. Way too early, but I can see a Siakam like game in him, and he seems to contribute nicely already, when given a chance. He's also strong; just take a look at the shoulders on this kid. Lastly 6 ppg at Kentucky means squat.

I believe Olshey's target is more obvious. I believe the Blazers saved millions in taxes without hurting the team by making that trade. Gabriel is a good prospect. It's really hard to know which prospects are going to become actual players. It's never really obvious until after it happens. I bet Olshey is willing to take credit if it does workout as you hope.

I will give credit where credit is due, Hassan came up big for us last night, played well and hard, problem is his effort level night in and night out - way to many lazy efforts IMO