Shams: Jrue for Simons

[MasterIchiro]

For Boston, it restores function for an offense that will have to survive the season without Tatum. Then the contract expires aligned with Tatum's return. Easy to see Brad's justification. Jrue is tailing off on that side of the ball.

Blazers look serious, committing big longterm dollars to a vet who boasts 2 rings. Jrue - Camara - Avdija - Grant - Clingan. That is far from a pushover defense. They will hold the line and raise the level of play of Scoot and Sharpe so that they develop fully on that end.

I felt the Blazers 2nd half run was definitely for real. They field a nice balance of vets and youth on both sides of the ball.

The Bulls fans should be happy about this trade. The Blazers 1st they own just moved closer towards conveying, similar to the Pistons 1st the Knicks traded to the Wolves in the KAT deal.

[Mavrelous]

Simons + the 2 2nds for Sexton...
Clears another 6M is salary, for a lesser athlete but more versatile player.

[Walton1one]

TBD if 2nd half for POR was real, they (POR mgmt) sure believe it, but that does not make it so. Beating teams that were blatantly tanking, missing key players or barely losing to playoff teams w/o key players in their lineup is hardly inspiring

Jrue does not lift the tide enough for POR to make them anything more than playoff\in fodder

Acquiring him to move him = ok

Acquiring him to keep = stupid

[R-DAWG]

At the end of the day, teams don’t want to spend 5+ years being irrelevant. Portland is picking in the lottery for the 4th straight year and they aren’t exactly loaded with franchise changing talent. And Simons wasn’t in their long term plans.

Portlands books are pretty clean long term, and I think they see an opportunity to (a) make the play-in and (b) use Jrue is a culture setter.

I can’t say I love it for them, but I get it.

I actually like this move a lot for Boston. But I’m a Simons fan. I think he pairs nicely in the backcourt with White and I can see him agreeing to a reasonable extension going forward.

[cl2117]

Didn't have this on my bingo card. Like it for Boston, questionable for Portland.

The NBA is so championship or bust (all American sports really are) so while I see a ton of benefits for the Blazers with Jrue's addition from his on court impact (his decline is overstated) and in the locker room (quite possibly the best teammate/mentor you could have), it feels like they're putting a bit of a ceiling on themselves. He's going to elevate them but not enough to make waves in the West but maybe enough to lose them some ping pong balls. If this was the English Premiership this would be an amazing move. Fork over some cash for an ageing but still really good veteran championship player and get more out of your team than you realistically should. But in the NBA the middle is the enemy and I think this puts the Blazers on that trajectory.

All that being said, I wish that this type of move from Portland was more acceptable. Teams get crapped on too often for trying to be good when they don't have a path to being the best. Progressive development should be applauded but I guess that's a slippery slope to "treadmill" so I get why it's almost a trap, but things would be more fun if it wasn't such an all or nothing proposition all the time.

For the C's I'm good with it. If we keep Simons he should at least have a chance to put up some gaudy numbers in a system that encourages launching 3's. Hopefully he gets bullied into at least trying to play some defense to go with it. If we're a lotto team, maybe we can trade him for some deadweight expirings and a few more 2nds from a team trying to make a jump or beset with injuries. If not, his expiring deal should be a little easier to get off this season and bring back smaller deals for worse players, or just completely drop away next year.

Don't think either of these teams are done, so wouldn't be surprised if either/both players end up in alternate locations when the dust settles.

[MasterIchiro]

Does Boston run Brown at the 3?

White - Simons - Brown?

Pritchard remains 6th man?

[hugepatsfan]

Looks like step one of the reset plan, exchanging long term salary for expirings while getting under the 2nd apron. This move brings them closer to dipping under the tax next offseason. Brown should be next.

As of right now, assuming they draft and sign #28 and #32 picks to multi year deals, they are at $176,768,557 in salary for next year. That's approximately $29,918,443 below the projected tax line and with 10 players signed.

White / Pritchard
Brown
Hauser / Scheierman / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ #28 and #32 picks, whoever they are

Obviously looks incomplete but $29.9M left to spend is a lot. Not saying a shuffle the deck move can't make sense, but this doesn't put them "closer to dipping under the tax next offseason".... they blew right through that barrier already in one move.

[BK_2020]

Looks like step one of the reset plan, exchanging long term salary for expirings while getting under the 2nd apron. This move brings them closer to dipping under the tax next offseason. Brown should be next.

As of right now, assuming they draft and sign #28 and #32 picks to multi year deals, they are at $176,768,557 in salary for next year. That's approximately $29,918,443 below the projected tax line and with 10 players signed.

White / Pritchard
Brown
Hauser / Scheierman / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ #28 and #32 picks, whoever they are

Obviously looks incomplete but $29.9M left to spend is a lot. Not saying a shuffle the deck move can't make sense, but this doesn't put them "closer to dipping under the tax next offseason".... they blew right through that barrier already in one move.

It's a step in the right direction, for sure, but can't stand pat and go into 26-27 with a roster that has Brown penciled in at 2 and Queta in the starting lineup. They'll have to add at a minimum 4 quality rotation players, including a starting PG and a starting C.

[hugepatsfan]

Looks like step one of the reset plan, exchanging long term salary for expirings while getting under the 2nd apron. This move brings them closer to dipping under the tax next offseason. Brown should be next.

As of right now, assuming they draft and sign #28 and #32 picks to multi year deals, they are at $176,768,557 in salary for next year. That's approximately $29,918,443 below the projected tax line and with 10 players signed.

White / Pritchard
Brown
Hauser / Scheierman / Walsh
Tatum
Queta
+ #28 and #32 picks, whoever they are

Obviously looks incomplete but $29.9M left to spend is a lot. Not saying a shuffle the deck move can't make sense, but this doesn't put them "closer to dipping under the tax next offseason".... they blew right through that barrier already in one move.

It's a step in the right direction, for sure, but can't stand pat and go into 26-27 with a roster that has Brown penciled in at 2 and Queta in the starting lineup. They'll have to add at a minimum 4 quality rotation players, including a starting PG and a starting C.

Oh yeah certainly work to do there. How good #28 and #32 look could be a huge factor though. Also gotta factor in any potential development from Scheierman, who did look solid to end last year. And since you're so down on the team with Brown as a first option, have to factor in as well that the 2026 1st rounder they'd be adding to above should be a decent draft slot as well and thus someone you could expect to be an immediate rotation piece. And then they'd have the full MLE and bi-annual exception to use on free agents as well, and a path to playing time on a team with Tatum/Brown/White would probably project to be one of the more attractive places to sign for guys looking at those exceptions as their salary.

[brackdan70]

Jrue is 3/104.4, Simons is 1/27.7. I thought Boston would want to save more this year, but getting off the old Jrue years is a win, I’d guess.

About 5 million in savings this year.
And complete off the following years. 26/27 is the big year with an opportunity to get off the tax and now it’s realized

[wegotthabeet]

I love this for POR on the court. The talking Jrue being in decline is so grossly overstated. He’s still awesome.

That being said, they still suck as a team in the ultra competitive west and now have both Jrue and Grant on the books long term. Just feels like a terrible direction for them.

On the Boston end, seems like a great first step. Simons is a decent expiring player and they got some 2nds. Celtics now need to clear about $19.3M to duck the 2nd apron, but the deals of Simons/Porzingis both look very movable to shed incremental salary and Hauser seems very “dumpable”. They seem well on their way to resolving their financial issues without giving up any future 1sts unless maybe if they want to go ultra aggressive and duck the tax altogether.

Oh okay so they’re still above the 2nd apron after this move.

I guess they will follow this up with a salary dump to either Brooklyn or Detroit.

If it were me I’d get under the 2nd apron. Then make an offer for Flagg and tank for AJ.

[brackdan70]

Does Boston run Brown at the 3?

White - Simons - Brown?

Pritchard remains 6th man?

Brown has been at the 3 for two years. I assume so.

[brackdan70]

Anyone have a solid idea on why Portland did this? Can’t be willing to pay this much just for a Scoot mentor right?

JRue is a really good player and they are looking to take the next step.
Jrues “decline” and “bad” contract have been really overstated here.
This is solid for both teams imo.

[andalusian]

Portland did it because they didn't want to lose an asset and didn't want to extend Simons, they want to give the offense to Shae and Deni and they wanted to remove the worst defender in the team by far.

They will now have a Rockets like move with FVV, a championship veteran PG with good defense on a team with big, athletic wings and a defense first coach.

Jrue will likely be moved if Scoot breaks out or will be a large expiring to combine with Portland's dame trade draft assets to move for a star in 2028

[brackdan70]

He is paid 110/3, he will put real limitations on their cap, add to that his age and risk of implosion, makes this gamble extremely risky and unnecessary.
If they become PO team because of Jrue I'll eat crow, I expected them to be the same as last year.

Sure, there's risk. But, there is upside. Jrue is just a really good player. And a lot of it isn't necessarily relying on athleticism. I don't know who else you get that can better help that team learn how to win for Simons and a couple seconds. The money is what it is. He'll start, set a tone every day and just make things so much easier on the other guys.

If he declines and becomes overpaid, so be it, you probably have good picks at that point and an expiring (or expiring and a half at the 27 deadline) for a trade.

I think his decline should be the likely outcome, it has already started, he'll be good next year, but after that, betting on ages 37 and 38 is not good business.
They'll be paying ~40% of the cap on 2 players that will likely be non-contributors in a year, they had no reason to do this IMO.

He’ll be 35 next year, 36 and 37 for the last two years. He won’t turn 38 while playing under this contract unless the Blazers are in the finals and it’s a long series.

[Mavrelous]

Sure, there's risk. But, there is upside. Jrue is just a really good player. And a lot of it isn't necessarily relying on athleticism. I don't know who else you get that can better help that team learn how to win for Simons and a couple seconds. The money is what it is. He'll start, set a tone every day and just make things so much easier on the other guys.

If he declines and becomes overpaid, so be it, you probably have good picks at that point and an expiring (or expiring and a half at the 27 deadline) for a trade.

I think his decline should be the likely outcome, it has already started, he'll be good next year, but after that, betting on ages 37 and 38 is not good business.
They'll be paying ~40% of the cap on 2 players that will likely be non-contributors in a year, they had no reason to do this IMO.

He’ll be 35 next year, 36 and 37 for the last two years. He won’t turn 38 while playing under this contract unless the Blazers are in the finals and it’s a long series.

He's already 35, but you're right 36 and 37 are his last years, next year will still be considered 35.

[cl2117]

Read on Twitter

Instead of looking at Derozan could Miami be interested in Simons instead? Three way deal with either of Brooklyn or Atlanta where Duncan Robinson gets eaten/waived by one of those two and Boston takes nothing back. Miami pays the freight to offload the $9.8m guaranteed on Duncan's deal.

MIA: Simons
BKN: Robsinon, value from MIA
BOS: fake 2nd

Puts the Celtics in striking distance of ducking the tax completely. Miami takes a flyer on a scorer for the price of clearing cap space. Brooklyn or Atlanta sell their space and can waive Robinson and save the money (Brooklyn could sell the $10m in cap space they free up again for more value).

Could even lump in a KP deal as any of that trio of teams (ATL/MIA/BKN) could potentially be a landing spot depending on the price.

[BK_2020]

Simons is like a much worse Herro. I don't see the point for Miami.

[Blazinaway]

Simons is like a much worse Herro. I don't see the point for Miami.

Simons is a turnstyle on D and often a black hole on offense, yes he can get hot and is a good shooter but his D is just so bad

[cl2117]

Simons is like a much worse Herro. I don't see the point for Miami.

Well if they're considering Derozan, I'd take Simons over him easily.