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to make a splash in trades or free agency if management is unwilling to trade Dame-CJ-Nurk? Their young players have minimal value and they don’t have any real or substantial expiring contracts. Do the Blazers just wait another 4 years until these big contracts expire and start over?

I wonder how much sa would want for lamarcus. Ariza + hood + 2020 first for lma would interest me but I’m not breaking the bank for someone they signed away from us

Oden2 wrote:I wonder how much sa would want for lamarcus. Ariza + hood + 2020 first for lma would interest me but I’m not breaking the bank for someone they signed away from us

Salaries don't match. Need to add Little and Simons.

Malapropism wrote:

Oden2 wrote:I wonder how much sa would want for lamarcus. Ariza + hood + 2020 first for lma would interest me but I’m not breaking the bank for someone they signed away from us

Salaries don't match. Need to add Little and Simons.

Isn’t there a rule in the cba that allows salaries + 125 percent to make it match or something along those lines?

Management definitely should go for broke. Collins and Little haven't shown they are NBA caliber players and with Lillard and McCollums contracts there is no way we can be competitive 4 years from now.

Oden2 wrote:

Malapropism wrote:

Oden2 wrote:I wonder how much sa would want for lamarcus. Ariza + hood + 2020 first for lma would interest me but I’m not breaking the bank for someone they signed away from us

Salaries don't match. Need to add Little and Simons.

Isn’t there a rule in the cba that allows salaries + 125 percent to make it match or something along those lines?

Isn't there more to it than just that? I was thinking it had something to do with where the team was with regards to the salary cap this year and/or last year? I am certainly no expert though so I might have just made that up.

Aldridge makes $26 million next year. Ariza $12.8 and Hood $5.7 aren't close. Even if you traded the pick after you signed them (I dunno what the waiting period would be for that), it's still not quite enough. Maybe the Blazers would have to cave and toss in Hezonja to make it happen!!!

Running the numbers on contracts to get LMA doesn't look good for next year unless it included CJ, which doesn't make much sense for either side. Adding a 1/2 price, one-year deal on Whiteside with Ariza and SERIOUS sweeteners at the trade deadline is possible but seriously unlikely. LMA as a free agent (full MLE) to finish out his career is more likely next summer (which isn't really likely, I suppose).

Portland like a lot of teams is going to have to wait for the NBA to announce where the cap and tax line
will be as well as whether there will be any cap smoothing or perhaps a one time amnesty to help teams
through no fault of their own avoid paying taxes. NBA teams have to plan for the likelihood of NBA arenas
opening at least at the start to less than capacity crowds which will greatly reduce team revenues.

Can't believe people want LMA back. He's softer than butter, need someone who can rebound.

DaVoiceMaster wrote:

Oden2 wrote:

Malapropism wrote:Salaries don't match. Need to add Little and Simons.

Isn’t there a rule in the cba that allows salaries + 125 percent to make it match or something along those lines?

Isn't there more to it than just that? I was thinking it had something to do with where the team was with regards to the salary cap this year and/or last year? I am certainly no expert though so I might have just made that up.

Aldridge makes $26 million next year. Ariza $12.8 and Hood $5.7 aren't close. Even if you traded the pick after you signed them (I dunno what the waiting period would be for that), it's still not quite enough. Maybe the Blazers would have to cave and toss in Hezonja to make it happen!!!

That is a cost we cannot afford!

There is no way to trade for Aldridge that makes sense without trading one of our top 4 paid players. I mean maybe trading every young player we have gets you close enough to that $26 million, but no way Blazers do that. If we would have traded Whiteside for an expiring contract of say $15-20ish million then we could maybe find an agreeable deal for both sides.

kumquat wrote:Can't believe people want LMA back. He's softer than butter, need someone who can rebound.

He's injured, old and making $25 million. If he were making $10 million I can see the interest but we can't squander assets and cap space on him.

Just some trade ideas:

Collins-Little-16th for Markannen

CJ-Nurkic for KP-Boban-Jackson

CJ-Nurkic-Ariza for Embiid-Harris or Horford

Dame for Simmons-Thybulle

Blazers20 wrote:Just some trade ideas:
Collins-Little-16th for Markannen
CJ-Nurkic for KP-Boban-Jackson
CJ-Nurkic-Ariza for Embiid-Harris or Horford
Dame for Simmons-Thybulle

1. Markannen chatter had the Bulls nearing having to pay $$$ in his 2nd contract and wary of it. Collins + Little (enough?) [I'd like Nurkic, Markannen and Collins to play together.]
2. For KP-Boban-Jackson? High cost and KP must stay healthy. Not sure. There's serious value in KP. Players would fit.
3. Embiid and Harris or Horford? Yes. I like Nurkic a lot. Embiid with Dame would be serious gravity wells.
4. For Simmons and Thybulle? I like Thybulle from college. Haven't watched him in the pros. Simmons D is better ... I saw him as a fake defender not that long ago. Big gestures but illusion. He's a talent. Nope. Lillard (IMHO) has moved into "untouchable" with a lower case "u" for trade purposes. Not an absolute but close enough for practicality's sake.

I guess we get to see how much Olshey "loves" his own players ... again.

nobody knows what the "wiggle room" will be yet. Could be there won't be any

the big thing to keep in mind is that the owners insisted on extending the option to declare 'force-majeure' until after the bubble season is complete. This would allow the owners to cancel the current CBA, and a lot of people think that's just what the owners will do, especially if the predictions of a 20-30 million drop in the salary cap appear to be holding true at the completion of this season

as for Portland wiggling, it will just be more of the same BS. That's basically the GM wiggling around rearranging the lower part of the rotation....as he's done every off-season. Brace yourselves for more solutions like Hezonja and Tolliver and Bazemore and Stauskas and Vonleh and Napier. Brace yourself for Hood to not be the player he was. Brace yourself for more aging options like Melo and Ariza. For more average, or much worse, role players to fill up the lower end of the rotation while Portland's real issues reside at the top of the rotation, and with management & coaching

Coaching? God couldn't produce much with what you describe on the roster. Imagine Godfather 1 or 2 with the cast of Saved by the Bell.

Wizenheimer wrote:nobody knows what the "wiggle room" will be yet. Could be there won't be any

the big thing to keep in mind is that the owners insisted on extending the option to declare 'force-majeure' until after the bubble season is complete. This would allow the owners to cancel the current CBA, and a lot of people think that's just what the owners will do, especially if the predictions of a 20-30 million drop in the salary cap appear to be holding true at the completion of this season

as for Portland wiggling, it will just be more of the same BS. That's basically the GM wiggling around rearranging the lower part of the rotation....as he's done every off-season. Brace yourselves for more solutions like Hezonja and Tolliver and Bazemore and Stauskas and Vonleh and Napier. Brace yourself for Hood to not be the player he was. Brace yourself for more aging options like Melo and Ariza. For more average, or much worse, role players to fill up the lower end of the rotation while Portland's real issues reside at the top of the rotation, and with management & coaching

I do think the MLE is going to be a good contract in the COVID impacted market assuming there is a market

It might be informative to speculate what force-majeure is for the NBA and perhaps the rest of the sports world. One
would think MLB would be the prime candidate given the state of relations with MLB and its players. The NBA and NFL
have better relations so hopefully it won't happen

I can only imagine what owners must be feeling about their sports teams. TV money is nice, but the financial hit from not having butts in seats, and the loss of sales from concessions and swag, must be massive. I feel kinda bad for those poor billionaires.

This Covid-CRAP hasn't just gone away, and with flu season right around the corner, it could get really bad, really fast. Owners, I imagine must be worried, especially in the smaller markets. I fear the solution, at least in the NBA, will be found somewhere in Nevada, and by the looks of our most recent officiating of games, I'd 'wager' they may have already found the solution.

Blazers20 wrote:to make a splash in trades or free agency if management is unwilling to trade Dame-CJ-Nurk? Their young players have minimal value and they don’t have any real or substantial expiring contracts. Do the Blazers just wait another 4 years until these big contracts expire and start over?

After Blazers waive Ariza, Hood picks up his option, and Hezonja declines his, Blazers will have 9 players at a cost of $100M including the 16th pick. So, we have 5 roster spots and $20M to spend, assuming a $120M luxury tax threshold and we stretch Ariza's buyout. We have no cap room, but we have the full MLE, full BAE, $7.1M TPE, $2.34M TPE, a 2nd round pick, and bird rights to re-sign Hasson, which is a tremendous amount of flexibility. Most teams are either over the luxury tax threshold or up against it. $20M and plenty of exceptions to use (the $20M) is a very good position for Blazers.

The only veterans I forsee Blazers pursuing are Melo, maybe Hasson, and the best player we can get with our full MLE. These 3 players alone will take up most of the $20M we have to spend. We should do well because it's a very good offseason to have a full MLE and a $7.1M TPE in case we decide to replace Hasson.

Our prospects of surpassing Lakers and Clippers aren't good, but we are well positioned to compete against the rest of the league. I believe Blazers should prioritize stockpiling good young players. This talk of mortgaging our future to surround Lillard with veterans is nonsense. The only way to change our nearterm fortunes is by adding a player better than Lillard. It isn't going to happen. The smart thing to do is to stockpile young talent and enough veterans to have a good lineup when everyone is healthy. We can be competitive, but we are a longshot to be a top contender.