JJ Hickson ?s

[TBpup]

Every talks about how poor of a defender JJ Hickson is....and admittedly he is not great. However, he is not a good defender at CENTER where he has been playing out of position all season. If he were playing his natural PF position, he might be quite solid. He would not be so outsized and so much shorter than his opposition every night and he is very mobile, a banger and has good hops to block a shot or two.

At 24, he is still learning and as a real PF, is more PF than LaMarcus by a long shot. He's certainly not as skilled but much more of a power player.

[cucad8]

Every talks about how poor of a defender JJ Hickson is....and admittedly he is not great. However, he is not a good defender at CENTER where he has been playing out of position all season. If he were playing his natural PF position, he might be quite solid. He would not be so outsized and so much shorter than his opposition every night and he is very mobile, a banger and has good hops to block a shot or two.

At 24, he is still learning and as a real PF, is more PF than LaMarcus by a long shot. He's certainly not as skilled but much more of a power player.

It's really not an issue of covering PFs or covering Cs. It's not an accurate way of looking at it. He'd benefit more from covering the opponent's second best big versus their best, which is what most teams tend to do Have their offensive big float, and their other big as the defender.

[GreenRiddler]

Check JJ's twitter for a laugh....

https://twitter.com/Hickson21

[sisibilio]

Somebody confirm the details of Hickson contract for me. If he gets traded this season, he loses his Bird rights, correct?

Correct. That's why he has the right to veto any trade involving him.

[Butter]

Somebody confirm the details of Hickson contract for me. If he gets traded this season, he loses his Bird rights, correct?

Correct. That's why he has the right to veto any trade involving him.

Right, I got that part. The main question was if the Blazers can do a sign and trade since they'll have his Bird Rights.

[Wizenheimer]

Somebody confirm the details of Hickson contract for me. If he gets traded this season, he loses his Bird rights, correct?

Correct. That's why he has the right to veto any trade involving him.

Right, I got that part. The main question was if the Blazers can do a sign and trade since they'll have his Bird Rights.

yes...Portland will hold his bird rights and do a sign & trade using them

furthermore, Portland could even renounce his bird rights to clear cap-space and still do a S&T after

[JasonStern]

I like hickson, but I like him in the same way I liked outlaw. I was really hoping the blazers could lock outlaw up at $3 million/season, and despite his poor performance since his last contract, I could honestly see him keeping up his portland level performance in portland. but, outlaw got paid, and the blazers were smart to walk away. that's where I fear retaining hickson. if portland can retain him for MLE level money, that's a win. but it only takes one colangelo thinking he's the perfect compliment to bargnani to completely upset the value of keeping hickson versus keeping cap space flexibility.

although, I was wrong about aldridge's contract, and to a lesser extent so far, batum's. but I was right about turkoglu.

[Butter]

yes...Portland will hold his bird rights and do a sign & trade using them

furthermore, Portland could even renounce his bird rights to clear cap-space and still do a S&T after

This makes the most sense to me. HIckson has played admirably this year, but I just don't see a future with the Blazers. They need a legit center who can play above average interior defense and rebound the ball. Someone who can truly impact interior play. The Blazers do not have enough $$$ to keep Hickson and fill that roll IMHO.

But using him as a S/T may be a really good way to get another player who is currently under contract that another team wants to swap out. Unlike the Hibbert fiasco, the Blazers could just target a 2nd string center who's capable of starting.