GP2?

[BNM]

It'll be interesting to see him play but remember he's one of the players who can get traded starting
on December 15 and he could be traded if there are not enough minutes for him.

There will be plenty of minutes for the best on ball defender POR has had in decades.

Payton only averaged 17.6 MPG for GSW last season (16.9 PG in the playoffs), yet was a key contributor for them. POR currently has 3 of the top 20 players in the league in MPG. That includes Ant (36.8), Jerami (36.3) and Josh (35.2), but does not include Dame (35.1 because he hasn't played enough games to qualify.

It's a LONG regular season. We really don't want to have four of our starters in the top 20 in the league in MPG. Get all of those guys down to around 33 - 34 MPG and give Payton most of the 15.3 MPG that was going to Nassir Little and maybe a couple minutes per game off of Shaedon's playing time - especially during the final month of the season when the Blazers will be both trying to avoid the play in and possibly competing for HCA.

I know Sharpe is a very exciting player and love that he's averaging almost 20 MPG, but if the goal is to win as many games as possible and be positioned for the playoffs, the choice of PT between Sharpe and Payton is an easy one.

If anyone gets squeezed out it will be Nassir Little, not Gary Payton II. Little can't be traded until July 1, 2023, but that doesn't mean he can't be bumped down in the rotation to make room for Payton's defense.

[Norm2953]

Let's just wait and see what type of player he is after getting paid. The skeptic in me always wonders
after Marcus Camby after getting paid, stopped rebounding and playing defense.

[BlazersBroncos]

It'll be interesting to see him play but remember he's one of the players who can get traded starting
on December 15 and he could be traded if there are not enough minutes for him.

There will be plenty of minutes for the best on ball defender POR has had in decades.

Payton only averaged 17.6 MPG for GSW last season (16.9 PG in the playoffs), yet was a key contributor for them. POR currently has 3 of the top 20 players in the league in MPG. That includes Ant (36.8), Jerami (36.3) and Josh (35.2), but does not include Dame (35.1 because he hasn't played enough games to qualify.

It's a LONG regular season. We really don't want to have four of our starters in the top 20 in the league in MPG. Get all of those guys down to around 33 - 34 MPG and give Payton most of the 15.3 MPG that was going to Nassir Little and maybe a couple minutes per game off of Shaedon's playing time - especially during the final month of the season when the Blazers will be both trying to avoid the play in and possibly competing for HCA.

I know Sharpe is a very exciting player and love that he's averaging almost 20 MPG, but if the goal is to win as many games as possible and be positioned for the playoffs, the choice of PT between Sharpe and Payton is an easy one.

If anyone gets squeezed out it will be Nassir Little, not Gary Payton II. Little can't be traded until July 1, 2023, but that doesn't mean he can't be bumped down in the rotation to make room for Payton's defense.

I would remove Watford from the rotation and look for something like -

G - Damian Lillard (34) / Anfernee Simons (14)
G - Anfernee Simons (20) / Gary Payton II (18) / Shadeon Sharpe (10)
F - Josh Hart (32) / Shadeon Sharpe (10) / Nas Little (6)
F - Jerami Grant (34) / Justice Winslow (10) / Nas Little (4)
C - Jusuf Nurkic (26) / Drew Eubanks (18) / Justice Winslow (4)

Something like that, lots of guys deserving time though.

[DusterBuster]

Apparently participated in practice today, no word yet as to when he might play

I think Shams said aiming to make debut this week or next.

A week away from being a week away.

Yep.

Only 4 more games left since the Shams report... not holding my breath we're seeing him play any games in 2022 at this point.

[JasonStern]

Out against Charlotte, but Festus is supposedly a week away from playing.

Remember this the next time you slander Dame for missing a game when he plays injured for extended periods of time.

[Goldbum]

I truly believe GP2 is the guy who unlocks this trade season in Portland.
I like a couple of possibilities once the Mitten gets on the court.
Hart+Brown
4
Reddish + Hartenstein + 2nd
Or
Hart + Eubanks
4
Wiseman + PBJ
Or
Hart + Brown
4
Bamba+Okeke
Or
Keon+GB3
4
Mark Williams
Flame away, but any of those deals raise our ceiling while lowering our floor. Type of deal made with an eye toward next year

[Case2012]

All of those trades make us worse.

I’m predicting a season ending surgery announced in the next few weeks.

[GEE]

I'd trade GP2-weeks for Mark Williams in a hot tick, and it would make our team way better. Too late on him though... he just had a fairly huge game, recording a double-double. Think we could of had him, but I think it will be near impossible now. Same thing with Simmons. Snooze, you lose.

I feel like this team is at a cross-road, and has been there for about a year now. Not really committing to one direction or the other. Not sure what this team wants to accomplish, and feel that tanking is even still on the table.

F'N VULCANS!!!

[Goldbum]

All of those trades make us worse.

I’m predicting a season ending surgery announced in the next few weeks.

Disagree vehemently with you on this.
Duplication, size concerns ect make those logical. I respect your opinion but this take lacks reasoning and is a little short sighted especially considering where we are at and Josh's contract. Perfect world our back court is 100% 2 of Hart/Dame and Ant on the court together but then what about Sharpe and Keon. He's small for a 3, Grant is small for a 4 and Ant is smallish at the 2. This creates real strategic disadvantages. Let's say hypothetically the Blazers like Okeke who's a combo forward(not a great shooter but neither is Josh at the rate and pace he's shooting), we would be bigger match up better and no longer have to worry about what Josh is going to cost. Now add a LONG backup Center who can shoot the 3 and guys like Winslow and Trendon become more effective bench players... lots more to unpack but we both have opinions that we value enough to post on a Blazer's forum.

[Blazinaway]

Looks like it's all "mental" at this point

quote from Chauncey pregame:

ON GARY PAYTON II’S STATUS:

“Yeah I mean my conversations with Gary are obviously between him and I. He's working his behind off to get back, he's close, very close. Medically, we’ve and he’s done everything that he can do. I always tell people a lot of times likenobody really understands like when you have an injury, you have surgery, there’s not just a physical component that you have to get over, there’s a mental component as well. You don’t want to get hurt again, you don’t want to reinjure yourself, and I think that that’s kind of where it is with G is like, he's just trying to get over that. He's played hurt for so long in his career that he wants to be healthy so he can be himself out there. That’s kind of where it's at.”

[m0ng0]

Looks like it's all "mental" at this point

quote from Chauncey pregame:

ON GARY PAYTON II’S STATUS:

“Yeah I mean my conversations with Gary are obviously between him and I. He's working his behind off to get back, he's close, very close. Medically, we’ve and he’s done everything that he can do. I always tell people a lot of times likenobody really understands like when you have an injury, you have surgery, there’s not just a physical component that you have to get over, there’s a mental component as well. You don’t want to get hurt again, you don’t want to reinjure yourself, and I think that that’s kind of where it is with G is like, he's just trying to get over that. He's played hurt for so long in his career that he wants to be healthy so he can be himself out there. That’s kind of where it's at.”

See the very first post, Jason Quick talked about it being mental only in November.

[aussieblazer]

He's been listed as available for tomorrow.

[Case2012]

I'd trade GP2-weeks for Mark Williams in a hot tick, and it would make our team way better. Too late on him though... he just had a fairly huge game, recording a double-double. Think we could of had him, but I think it will be near impossible now. Same thing with Simmons. Snooze, you lose.

I feel like this team is at a cross-road, and has been there for about a year now. Not really committing to one direction or the other. Not sure what this team wants to accomplish, and feel that tanking is even still on the table.

Yeah, Keon and gb3 for Williams is a no brainer but the other ones I think make us worse.

F'N VULCANS!!!

[Case2012]

A lot of fans have been turning on Gary online (including me), so I think he's been kind of shamed into finally returning because it's been just ridiculous how long it's taken after getting a surgery almost 6 months ago. I'm glad he's finally returning, hopefully it makes a difference because our defense went from 6th to 23rd.

[ebott]

Good move coming back against a team actively trying to lose. Even if he comes out real rusty there's little chance of us losing. Sure would have sucked if he came back in the GSW game and people blamed him for the loss.

[monopoman]

Good move coming back against a team actively trying to lose. Even if he comes out real rusty there's little chance of us losing. Sure would have sucked if he came back in the GSW game and people blamed him for the loss.

Almost every player coming back from injury has some issues playing at a high level right off. It's far easier to look good 10+ games after they come back then the first game from a long injury. To be fair any evaluation for him has to be tempered a bit until he gets a time to get into game shape.

Ask any NBA player and they say the only way to get into game shape is typically play NBA games.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Saw on the news last night that GP2 is not listed on the injury report for tonight's game. Hmm

[HoopsFanAZ]

When GP had a brief stint in Portland, I hoped he would stick. Didn’t happen.
Now that he’s worked and developed, and Golden State figured out what works, I’ve looked forward to seeing GP.
No criticism or doubts or anything else once his surgery was made known … first I remember of it was a comment made by Little.

Soon enough we get to see GP and get this team evaluated before the February trade deadline (minus any improvement of Little) — one of the most important parts of this season.

[Case2012]

Bullying GP. On twitter appears to have worked. Liked what I saw from him tonight, hard to imagine what took him so long based on the way he looked and the fact his surgery was in July but I’m glad he’s back. Really thought we had an Ezeli 2.0 for a while.

[aussieblazer]

Hes injured again....
Questionable for the wolves game with an ankle sprain