og15 wrote:DusterBuster wrote:Why did the Clippers move Norm Powell for nothing again?
I'll never understand why that dude continues to get moved by every team he's on for like a bag of chips.
Toronto moved him for Gary Trent Jr and Rodney Hood. Hood was pretty much broken down by that point and was salary filler, it was basically a swap of Trent for Norm. Trent was somewhat up-and-coming on his rookie deal still, proven shooter but had no real other skills outside of that... which ended up being the book on him forever and he's been a vet min to half-MLE guy ever since.
Portland moved him and Covington to Clippers for essentially just broken down expiring salary filler guys and a 2nd round pick. So pure and utter salary dump by the Blazers with nothing of consequence in return.
Than Clippers move him to the Heat for a player in John Collins who literally every team immediately wants off the roster as soon as he puts on their jersey (Atlanta and Utah).
All the while, Powell just continues to put up +20ppg seasons whenever he's a starter. Does this dude have some weird odor that makes the lockerrooms stink or something... what's the deal?
As you mentioned, Powell was traded for John Collins and a 2nd, John Collins gives the team an athletic bigger forward that allows them to not have to play Kawhi at the 4 as much as they were being forced to.
Powell is 32, 33 in May. His contract expires. The Clippers don't want large contracts (unless it's a guy they can build with) beyond the 26-27 season as they are aiming to have flexibility in order to do some sort of rebuilding with their low draft pick situation. Powell is not a future building block player at 33. Even at 28 and 4 years younger, neither is Collins, but Powell is much better and Powell will demand and be capable of getting much more money in free agency. Collins can still be signed for much cheaper and certainly shorter than Powell if they want to keep him as a role player.
Beal was supposed to provide part of the scoring lost by Powell, while Collins then gives them that bigger forward to help Kawhi. So you lose Powell, but gain Beal, Collins and less Kawhi guarding 4's. Things don't always work out, but there's nothing special about them keeping Powell. He would be playing great, but there would be no plan to re-sign him, and they would just ride out the year with him and then goodbye for nothing.
I was more opining on why no one seems to want to keep Powell or why his value is perpetually in the toilet. Toronto didn't want to pay for his new contract, Portland was willing to do the resigning, but quickly wanted out of it, than when he's at his career best, the Clippers - as you bring out - want absolutely nothing to do with resigning him.
He's just had a bit of a baffling career.
Get ready to learn Chinese buddy... #YangBang
