I included Vonleh for a couple of reasons.
1. Moving his contract in the deal put the Blazers below the luxury tax line
2. He's going to be a RFA after this year, and unless he's made huge strides, I doubt that the Blazers re-sign him at this point
3. Getting the reigning 6th man of the year, and a starting SF on a playoff team is going to take a little more than Harkless, especially when some of Harkless' value is offset by the inclusion of Meyers Leonard.
Getting Gordon and Ariza for Harkless and Vonleh is a pretty solid deal, when you add in the fact that it rids the Blazers of Leonard.
Ya, I think the time to move Vonleh is now. We just drafted two guys capable of playing PF and with our cap situation, and the impending contract of Nurkic, it just doesn't make sense to pay Noah. If he can be included to make a nice deal go through, I would pull the trigger.
I hate the idea of dealing Harkless, but Harkless / Leonard / Vonleh for Gordon and Ariza is a pretty sweet deal. We would absolutely need meaningful minutes from Swanigan or Collins at PF if the deal went through though.
PG - Damian Lillard (32mpg) / CJ McCollum (16mpg)
SG - CJ McCollum (16mpg) / Eric Gordon (30mpg) / Evan Turner (2mpg)
SF - Trevor Ariza (28mpg) / Evan Turner (20mpg)
PF - Al-Fariq Aminu (28mpg) / Caleb Swanigan (20mpg)
C - Jusuf Nurkic (28mpg) / Ed Davis or Zach Collins (20mpg)
That is a really nice team with top 3 3PT shooting and improved defense IMO. Again, a lot hinges on Caleb being ready for 18-20mpg, and offensively I think he certainly is. Ariza can play some small-ball PF too.
Moving Harkless, who is young and likely to improve, really hurts though. We can replicate his production and defense through Ariza, but I don't see us affirding to resign Trevor and I wouldn't even want to at his likely price and age.
I would prefer to deal Myers Leonard, Noah Vonleh and a R1 for Gordon and just keep Harkless. We would have to use that r1 on a future SF anyways if we dealt Mo.
