Portland - 2016 Offseason

[Wizenheimer]

Personally I prefer crabbe at the same price due to his 3 point shooting ability & defense

what defense? Harkless is a much, much better defender then Crabbe

Crabbe was an underrated perimeter defender. Haven't looked at advanced statistics though to be honest.

who is underrating him and how?

look at some of the team numbers:

defensive rating:

Ed Davis 104
Mason Plumlee 104
Cliff Alexander 107
Noah Vonleh 107
Al-Farouq Aminu 107
Maurice Harkless 108
Tim Frazier 109
Meyers Leonard 109
Gerald Henderson 109
Chris Kaman 110
Allen Crabbe 110
Damian Lillard 110
C.J. McCollum 110

this is a team-centric stat more then an individual one. Portland's team rating was 108. Harkless matched the team rating, Crabbe was 2 points worse

Defensive Win Shares:

1 Mason Plumlee 2.7
2 Ed Davis 2.3
3 Al-Farouq Aminu 2.3
6 Maurice Harkless 1.3
7 Allen Crabbe 1.2

raw win shares are cumulative stats. Crabbe played 2105 minutes while Harkless played 1457. The fact that Harkless topped Crabbe in def win shares only playing 2/3 the minutes is kind of revealing

Defensive Box Plus/Minus:

1 Mason Plumlee 3.0
2 Ed Davis 2.5
3 Al-Farouq Aminu 0.7
4 Maurice Harkless 0.2
7 Meyers Leonard -1.0
8 Allen Crabbe -1.1

then there are the league-wide DRPM stats. Harkless finished 36th among 81 SF's with a DRPM of -0.02. Crabbe finished 84th among 96 SG's with a DRPM of -2.58

the only thing I've seen Crabbe do well defensively is that he does get his hands in passing lanes. He deflects some balls and gets some steals, but Harkless actually averaged more steals/36 and had a higher steal rate. Harkless also more then tripled Crabbe's blocked shot rate, but that's to be expected

I mentioned this yesterday in another thread, but in the Golden State series, in game 1, the Blazers tried to guard Klay Thompson with CJ and Crabbe. The result was Klay scored 37 point and had 5 assists. After that game, the Blazers put Harkless on Thompson and tried to hide Cj & Crabbe on less dynamic scorers

I can understand if you prefer Crabbe because of 3-point shooting. But defensively, it's all Harkless

[monopoman]

I would have been blown away if he wouldn't take a meeting with the Blazers, with the public tweets between Whiteside, McCollum and Lillard early in June.

[Waynearchetype]

anybody else concerned about this:

we know Olshey runs a very tight ship...no leaks

But Players and their agents don't run tight ships, at all, and neither do many other teams. Yet, we've heard almost nothing about Portland meeting with players and agents. No rumors. Does that mean the Blazers haven't even got out on the dance floor yet?

For a hot minute between this post and ESPNs article that the Blazers have a meeting with Whiteside. I've never been so anxious for free agency, even though i'm fully prepared for disappointment.

[Wizenheimer]

I would have been blown away if he wouldn't take a meeting with the Blazers, with the public tweets between Whiteside, McCollum and Lillard early in June.

I'm really struggling to get twitter-literate....when I read some of those tweets, I couldn't tell who was saying what to whom. Way to many @'s for me to follow

[DusterBuster]

Michael Wallace of ESPN just posted a story about Miami, and said that Whiteside will be meeting with Dallas, LA, and Portland in the initial hours of free agency.

Quoting this from the other thread. Thought it should be in here too.

Here is the excerpt from that story

Riley recently met with Whiteside to set the course for free agency, but the NBA's leading shot-blocker has lined up sessions with the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers in the initial hours of free agency. Keeping Whiteside remains among the top goals for the Heat, but Riley is also prepared to pursue secondary options among a group of available centers that include Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Al Jefferson, Bismack Biyombo and Roy Hibbert.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16643274/miami-heat-pitch-free-agents-focus-chris-bosh-erik-spoelstra

This is good news so far. Being only 1 of 4 teams he's considering is great.

He seems to have a great relationship with CJ and Dame, which is a leg up over the likes of Dallas. Not to mention that team is majorly in flux. Word out of Memphis is they're pretty confident in keeping Conley like they were with keeping Gasol. If they miss out on him, then lose Parsons... what is Whiteside going to? An aging Dirk, a hobbled Wes Matthews and a washed up Deron Williams?

If he signs with LA, then he's clearly more about attention than winning since he'll be wasting his prime years while they try to put together a roster over the next 3 years. At that point, good luck to him.

Really, at the end of the day this could come down to a two team race with Portland and Miami and then we can see if Dame and CJ can pull those strings. If Whiteside is a "business man", Dame is an excellent example of how you can be wildly successful with endorsements and marketing yourself in a small market like Portland.

[Jsun947]

Crabbe isn't a bad player. He isn't a great player. But he does have a very small cap hold which accounts for 5x-8xs less than a replacement caliber player would cost in free agency. If we plan on using all of our cap space that's immensely valuable.

If we are able to get Whiteside I'd be fine with offering Parsons a max contract as well and finishing the roster off with Leuer.

Lillard/CJ can hold down 90% of the point guard minutes
CJ/Crabbe can hold down 100% of the SG minutes
Parsons/Aminu/Crabbe can hold down 100%of the SF minutes
Parsons/Leuer/Aminu can hold down 100% of the PF minutes
Whiteside/Plumlee/Leuer can hold down 100% of the center minutes

That's a 8 player rotation + a vet PG we can bring it would make it 9.

[DusterBuster]

Not that it really matters, but Quick is anticipating Portland striking out on a big FA and Olshey repeating his last few years with making value signings.

[Fitz303]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/748585635968131072[/tweet]

Well that kinda sucks

[Dame Lizard]

anybody else concerned about this:

we know Olshey runs a very tight ship...no leaks

But Players and their agents don't run tight ships, at all, and neither do many other teams. Yet, we've heard almost nothing about Portland meeting with players and agents. No rumors. Does that mean the Blazers haven't even got out on the dance floor yet?

For a hot minute between this post and ESPNs article that the Blazers have a meeting with Whiteside. I've never been so anxious for free agency, even though i'm fully prepared for disappointment.

Agreed!

Come on Hassan, let's do this!

[DusterBuster]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/748585635968131072[/tweet]

Well that kinda sucks

Woj with the wet blanket bomb for Portland. I seriously don't understand what he sees in Dallas, but whatever. If that's what he wants, that's what he wants. Move onto Dwight then.

[Downtown]

Strike one?

[DusterBuster]

Mark Cuban must be an amazing **** salesman.

[Dame Lizard]

I would have been blown away if he wouldn't take a meeting with the Blazers, with the public tweets between Whiteside, McCollum and Lillard early in June.

I'm really struggling to get twitter-literate....when I read some of those tweets, I couldn't tell who was saying what to whom. Way to many @'s for me to follow

You're not alone there Wiz, you're not alone there.

[Blazinaway]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/748585635968131072[/tweet]

Well that kinda sucks

we're not done but does not look good, oh well

[Dame Lizard]

Damn that sucks.

I was just about to say, if Portland signed Hassan Whiteside I'd officially shut up about that RHJ trade . Our performance last year would have been the reason he considered us, and Plumlee would make a great back-up centre for next year whilst he's on the final year of his rookie deal.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/748585635968131072[/tweet]

Well that kinda sucks

Woj with the wet blanket bomb for Portland. I seriously don't understand what he sees in Dallas, but whatever. If that's what he wants, that's what he wants. Move onto Dwight then.

Agreed. I do not get how the Mavericks figure to constantly be a key destination consideration for max contract FAs, Their team is really uninspiring, but they keep being successful somehow. Cuban must be doing a good job.

Dirk has been their engine of success, and it's clear as day that he's in the process of riding off in the sunset, career wise.

[DusterBuster]

Damn that sucks.

I was just about to say, if Portland signed Hassan Whiteside I'd officially shut up about that RHJ trade . Our performance last year would have been the reason he considered us, and Plumlee would make a great back-up centre for next year whilst he's on the final year of his rookie deal.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA/status/748585635968131072[/tweet]

Well that kinda sucks

Woj with the wet blanket bomb for Portland. I seriously don't understand what he sees in Dallas, but whatever. If that's what he wants, that's what he wants. Move onto Dwight then.

Agreed. I do not get how the Mavericks figure to constantly be a key destination consideration for max contract FAs, Their team is really uninspiring, but they keep being successful somehow. Cuban must be doing a good job.

Dirk has been their engine of success, and it's clear as day that he's in the process of riding off in the sunset, career wise.

Yeah, that roster in Dallas has done nothing for awhile. They've been stuck as a 1st round exit team ever since their championship year and don't really show any signs of getting out of that.

Cuban must just be a world class salesman.

[Beeboywhoo]

this is some bull ****.... we still better have our "meeting" tomorrow morning, DALLAS?! Whiteside must really be "a business man who happens to play basketball" narrowed it down to the 2 states with no income tax. Good for him

Enjoy kicking it out to wes matthews and ray felton

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Well it would have been nice to score a big name FA center in his prime, but who knows, maybe its a blessing in disguise ala Hibbert and Turk when Whiteside falls off a cliff after getting paid? If he's focused on Florida and Texas, it means he's all about the $$ anyways.

[The Sebastian Express]

I had a dream this morning about free agency.

Mike Rice died but was cloned. He was still in his 70s. DusterBuster, in his infinite wisdom and in the dream-reality, somehow acquired status of GM or at least GM powers. And offered Mike Rice 21 million per year to sign with the team.

So if this all ends up going poorly, you know who to blame.

DusterBuster.

[DusterBuster]

I had a dream this morning about free agency.

Mike Rice died but was cloned. He was still in his 70s. DusterBuster, in his infinite wisdom and in the dream-reality, somehow acquired status of GM or at least GM powers. And offered Mike Rice 21 million per year to sign with the team.

So if this all ends up going poorly, you know who to blame.

DusterBuster.

Cloned Mike Rice as the teams starting C, you'll all be thanking me for that deal and wishing we would have given him more when Portland has their 2nd championship after he averages 20pts/10rebs/4blks and 3 gin and tonics.