Post Draft: 2025 Off Season Part 2- What's Next?

[DusterBuster]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

[Butter]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

That would be interesting.

I wonder who would jump to sign him?

[Dame Lizard]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

Why would we do this? Grant signed the contract, let him honour it.

The contract gets less bad as each season gets on. It'll be a valuable expiry in 2 years time. I'd rather that, than paying most of Grant's salary for him to play on another team.

[Norm2953]

It would be interesting to see how much money Jerami would give up but remember, he's got three years
left on his deal while DA was an expiring contract. DA leaving $10 million on the table deserves some props

[DusterBuster]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

Why would we do this? Grant signed the contract, let him honour it.

The contract gets less bad as each season gets on. It'll be a valuable expiry in 2 years time. I'd rather that, than paying most of Grant's salary for him to play on another team.

Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

They do it to open up space for the young guys and drop a player they really don’t need and doesn’t want to be here.

[DusterBuster]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

That would be interesting.

I wonder who would jump to sign him?

Plenty of teams in need of depth. Warriors would make a lot of sense.

[Case2012]

I'm ok with Grant as a backup, he fits with what the direction of the team in way that Simons and Ayton didn't but he wants to start and doesn't seem like he wants to be here at all and paying someone 35 million to be a backup isn't a good use of cap space.

Get him to LA and give us back Vando and Knecht, or get him to Brooklyn and give us back one of their recent draft picks. I would love to get him to Phoenix and get back Dunn somehow but I doubt they do that after gifting us Camara.

Not sure what the market is for him but if he bought in, screw it let him win 6th man. He's friends with Dame and if he comes back perhaps he'd be cooler with his role as long as we're really trying to win.

[Dame Lizard]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

Why would we do this? Grant signed the contract, let him honour it.

The contract gets less bad as each season gets on. It'll be a valuable expiry in 2 years time. I'd rather that, than paying most of Grant's salary for him to play on another team.

Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

They do it to open up space for the young guys and drop a player they really don’t need and doesn’t want to be here.

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

[Butter]

Why would we do this? Grant signed the contract, let him honour it.

The contract gets less bad as each season gets on. It'll be a valuable expiry in 2 years time. I'd rather that, than paying most of Grant's salary for him to play on another team.

Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

They do it to open up space for the young guys and drop a player they really don’t need and doesn’t want to be here.

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

Projecting the Blazers depth chart:

PG: Holiday / Scoot
SG: Sharp / FA or Rupert (?)
SF: Camara / Tice
PF: Deni / Grant
C: Clingan / Yang

From a pure basketball perspective, Grants biggest value on the court is probably instant offense off the bench. He will likely be given a green light to shoot with the second unit. Depending on signing or trading for another shooter, and Scoots development, Grant is by far the Blazers best shooter in that projected second unit.

My question is - will he actually be willing to lead the bench mob? I'm sure he'd strongly prefer to be bought out and go where he wants.

[PDXKnight]

Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

They do it to open up space for the young guys and drop a player they really don’t need and doesn’t want to be here.

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

Projecting the Blazers depth chart:

PG: Holiday / Scoot
SG: Sharp / FA or Rupert (?)
SF: Camara / Tice
PF: Deni / Grant
C: Clingan / Yang

From a pure basketball perspective, Grants biggest value on the court is probably instant offense off the bench. He will likely be given a green light to shoot with the second unit. Depending on signing or trading for another shooter, and Scoots development, Grant is by far the Blazers best shooter in that projected second unit.

My question is - will he actually be willing to lead the bench mob? I'm sure he'd strongly prefer to be bought out and go where he wants.

No i cant seem Grant liking that even though its what hes earned

[dunlop212]

> Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

Remember this guy?

https://blogs.columbian.com/blazer-banter/2014/08/01/blazer-raef-lafrentz-expiring-contract/

[Sinobas]

My top FA target would be Boucher, but a lot of teams are after him. There's really nothing else out there.

Maybe sign Ben Simmons to a 1 year really cheap deal. It would be interesting, and in line with our defensive identity.

[Sinobas]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

His salary would still count against the cap. If we streched and waived' he'd be on the books through 2030 for 15 mil.

May as well keep him as a backup, and hope he improves his trade value.

The only advantage would be if Jerami wanted out and would be willing to give up a portion of his salary.

[JRoy]

> Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

Remember this guy?

https://blogs.columbian.com/blazer-banter/2014/08/01/blazer-raef-lafrentz-expiring-contract/

RLEC

[DusterBuster]

Expiring contracts are never as valuable as we make them out to be.

They do it to open up space for the young guys and drop a player they really don’t need and doesn’t want to be here.

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

Projecting the Blazers depth chart:

PG: Holiday / Scoot
SG: Sharp / FA or Rupert (?)
SF: Camara / Tice
PF: Deni / Grant
C: Clingan / Yang

From a pure basketball perspective, Grants biggest value on the court is probably instant offense off the bench. He will likely be given a green light to shoot with the second unit. Depending on signing or trading for another shooter, and Scoots development, Grant is by far the Blazers best shooter in that projected second unit.

My question is - will he actually be willing to lead the bench mob? I'm sure he'd strongly prefer to be bought out and go where he wants.

And thatsssss my problem. I don't think he will. I think, as you said, he would much rather prefer being bought out.

He pouted and was very publicly upset at how he was used last season, Billups even admitted his system changes pushed Grant to a lesser role. Given how he reacted to... staying a starter... but being less a focal point in offense, what gives anyone here any sort of hope that Grant is going to be totally fine with being moved to the bench as a 6th man? There legit should be none, I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but seriously, that has an extreme likelihood of not flying well in the lockerroom.

On top of that, Billups has shown zero interest in benching vets, let alone vets that have the pedigree of Holiday or Grant. Grant is an olympian for team USA that won the gold in 2020. You're living in a dream world if you think Billups is going to start Sharpe at the expense of Grant going to the bench. The more likely rotation is going to be this if Grant stays on this team...

Holiday/Scoot
Camara/Sharpe
Deni/Tice
Grant/Murray
Clingan/Yang

Cronin has done a good job in getting the vets off this team we all wanted gone (in a somewhat confounding way, but the job got mostly done), the one eyesore here still holding the team back from going full proper rebuild is Grant. He is the square peg in a round hole here and imo, given all the distractions he could cause with his pouting, I think Ayton'ing him would be the best move. That contract offer should have been rescinded after Dame asked out, but you **** up and kept it, so now just do what needs to be done and get him out of here. More often than not, Cronin gets taken advantage of in trades anyway, so I'm not seeing much incentive in keeping Grant until he's a tradable asset. Addition by subtraction here is the best course of action and clear the roster so you have this going into next season as the depth chart:

Holiday/Scoot
Sharpe/Rupert
Camara/Tice
Deni/Murray
Clingan/Yang

That's what the team should be... If it were up to me, Holiday wouldn't even be there and there would be a more clear-cut veteran who can be a backup to Scoot like CP3 or bring Brogdon back who liked his time in Portland... someone along those lines so Scoot can be starting, but whatever, I can roll with Scoot learning from Jrue for a year off the bench, he's by far the best example you can have for him - I still agree with that... but this team is so close to what I've wanted them to be since 2023, which is leaning face first into Mt Youth and diving off Development Canyon.

[DusterBuster]

I wish Cronin would work a buyout with Jerami too.

His salary would still count against the cap. If we streched and waived' he'd be on the books through 2030 for 15 mil.

May as well keep him as a backup, and hope he improves his trade value.

The only advantage would be if Jerami wanted out and would be willing to give up a portion of his salary.

Who cares? Blazers are well under the tax and not a FA destination. Having his contacts on the books wont matter.

And no, we shouldn't stretch waive, that would be a terrible idea.

And I've already laid out why "keeping him as a backup" is a pipedream for internet message board fans like us, it's not going to happen. He's going to be a starter (when healthy) and you're burring your head in the sand if you think otherwise. He's going to very likely end up pushing Sharpe onto the bench once again to start the season.

There's also very little hope of him "improving his trade value". In order for him to get the touches and be featured like he needs to be for that, he will be eating touches that should be going to long-term fit players who should be taking those shots and developing as core guys.

So you either delay development ... once again ... in hopes of a player who's not happy improving his trade value, or just cut the cord and move on. Annoying to have the money on the books, but not the end of the world for a team with no massive extensions upcoming or who can ever get FA's to come here.

[dckingsfan]

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

Projecting the Blazers depth chart:

PG: Holiday / Scoot
SG: Sharp / FA or Rupert (?)
SF: Camara / Tice
PF: Deni / Grant
C: Clingan / Yang

On top of that, Billups has shown zero interest in benching vets, let alone vets that have the pedigree of Holiday or Grant. Grant is an olympian for team USA that won the gold in 2020. You're living in a dream world if you think Billups is going to start Sharpe at the expense of Grant going to the bench. The more likely rotation is going to be this if Grant stays on this team...

Holiday/Scoot
Camara/Sharpe
Deni/Tice
Grant/Murray
Clingan/Yang

I think this is both how Billups will go and how Billups should go. Maybe Cronin isn't done but he probably is...

Holiday/Scoot
Wing: Camara/Deni/Grant
Bench Wing: Sharpe/Thybulle
Clingan/Reath/Yang

Sharpe needs to play well (especially on D) to get his minutes. That is a 8 man rotation - so a bit thin. But Sharpe and Thybulle will get their minutes. The three forward rotation worked well. I trust Billups to get Grant onboard.

I am assuming RWIII is done and won't play meaningful minutes (awesome if it isn't the case).

[m0ng0]

Couldn't we just trade him for a bunch of scrubs we could just outright cut? And who is Tice? Is that some gimmick name for Thybulle? This is the last piece in the addition by subtraction formula get him gone for a bag of balls and some players we can cut or at least kinda want to be here

[Walton1one]

I would be surprised if POR CUT\stretched Grant. too many years @ too much salary and they want a somewhat clean cap next year apparently (why they bought out Ayton instead of a trade)

My only hope is they can make a neutral deal for him, players in, no picks out

Something with LAL would seem to be most logical, Rui\Knecht\Kleber (preferred) or Vincent for Grant

Then maybe POR loops in CHA to offload Knecht (I seriously doubt POR values him on this team given his sub par defense) and gets back Jeffries (Schmitz is a fan) & rights to Sion James

Something like that, getting players back, nothing crazy value wise and no picks going out

But then again, with Cronin and his bizarre level of GM moves, who knows?

I just seriously doubt that Grant is gonna be OK with coming off the bench or even starting seeing less possessions coming his way he was unhappy at the end of the season, no reason to be happy now. I guess he could commiserate with Holiday

[Butter]

I still don't see what incentive we have to keep paying most of Grant's salary for 3 years, only to not have him play.

His contract could be useful in a trade, particularly if his efficiency improves this season (last year was a very poor one for him). I really want to ditch him, but don't want us to waive him and gift him to a contender, while we aren't even close to competing.

Projecting the Blazers depth chart:

PG: Holiday / Scoot
SG: Sharp / FA or Rupert (?)
SF: Camara / Tice
PF: Deni / Grant
C: Clingan / Yang

From a pure basketball perspective, Grants biggest value on the court is probably instant offense off the bench. He will likely be given a green light to shoot with the second unit. Depending on signing or trading for another shooter, and Scoots development, Grant is by far the Blazers best shooter in that projected second unit.

My question is - will he actually be willing to lead the bench mob? I'm sure he'd strongly prefer to be bought out and go where he wants.

And thatsssss my problem. I don't think he will. I think, as you said, he would much rather prefer being bought out.

He pouted and was very publicly upset at how he was used last season, Billups even admitted his system changes pushed Grant to a lesser role. Given how he reacted to... staying a starter... but being less a focal point in offense, what gives anyone here any sort of hope that Grant is going to be totally fine with being moved to the bench as a 6th man? There legit should be none, I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but seriously, that has an extreme likelihood of not flying well in the lockerroom.

I totally see your point, but there are to bigger factors that I think will outweigh Grants pouting
1) Is Deni the PF of the future on these team? Moving Camara to SG alleviates that issue somewhat, but I think Deni is extra special when match up against other PFs.

2)How do they manage Sharpe in a contract year? Do they want to keep him coming off the bench to repress his value in the off-season, or do they want to stress test his ability to play 40 mins as one of the primary scorers on this team?

On top of that, Billups has shown zero interest in benching vets, let alone vets that have the pedigree of Holiday or Grant. Grant is an olympian for team USA that won the gold in 2020. You're living in a dream world if you think Billups is going to start Sharpe at the expense of Grant going to the bench. The more likely rotation is going to be this if Grant stays on this team...

Holiday/Scoot
Camara/Sharpe
Deni/Tice
Grant/Murray
Clingan/Yang

I hear you, but Grant's Olympian days are far behind him. In this what have you done for me lately league, I don't think Grant has a lot of juice, especially after last year.

If the Blazers are going to compete for a play-in/off slot, I believe the starting roster I proposed gives Billups his most TALENTED group.

Cronin has done a good job in getting the vets off this team we all wanted gone (in a somewhat confounding way, but the job got mostly done), the one eyesore here still holding the team back from going full proper rebuild is Grant. He is the square peg in a round hole here and imo, given all the distractions he could cause with his pouting, I think Ayton'ing him would be the best move. That contract offer should have been rescinded after Dame asked out, but you **** up and kept it, so now just do what needs to be done and get him out of here. More often than not, Cronin gets taken advantage of in trades anyway, so I'm not seeing much incentive in keeping Grant until he's a tradable asset. Addition by subtraction here is the best course of action and clear the roster so you have this going into next season as the depth chart:

Holiday/Scoot
Sharpe/Rupert
Camara/Tice
Deni/Murray
Clingan/Yang

That's what the team should be... If it were up to me, Holiday wouldn't even be there and there would be a more clear-cut veteran who can be a backup to Scoot like CP3 or bring Brogdon back who liked his time in Portland... someone along those lines so Scoot can be starting, but whatever, I can roll with Scoot learning from Jrue for a year off the bench, he's by far the best example you can have for him - I still agree with that... but this team is so close to what I've wanted them to be since 2023, which is leaning face first into Mt Youth and diving off Development Canyon.

1000% agree. Let's go Joe!