Portland's Off-Season Has Officially Arrived

[jeffhardyfan52]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

I think rather shoot myself

[Wizenheimer]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

Hood will be a free agent so the TPE can't be used on him. Anderson's salary is way over what the TPE is. Not an option

I'm highly skeptical that TPE will be used just to add salary. That would only make Portland's tax situation worse, and it's already bad. Maybe in some complex multi-team trade that TPE(s) could be used...even that seems a tough needle to thread though

if PA didn't give a damn about paying a 200M in tax over the next couple of years, I like the idea of #24 for either Kenneth Faried/Wilson Chandler + #14. Not sure Denver would consider it even though the rumor is they are willing to use that 14 to offload salary

[Brandon-Clyde]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

Ryan Anderson's salary is too large for either trade exception. I like the suggested trade of Kenneth Faried and 14 for 24. I would then use either Harkless or Aminu + Swanigan+14 to move up another 3-4 spots to go after either Kevin Knox or Miles Bridges. Could also use the smaller exception to absorb some small salary to help the move up

[DusterBuster]

The more I think about it the more I can really see Love in Portland this summer after LeBron leaves Cleveland. Even after LeBron leaves and if they were to get instant salary saving for Love, I think they're capped out for at least 2 more seasons with JR, TT, Hill and Clarkson. I don't really see any path for them getting cap relief until 19/20. That means they won't be as adverse to taking on Evan Turner or Meyers Leonard as those guys expire the same time time as all their other big contracts. So I think they wouldn't balk at those guys being included in a deal as salary filler for a Love trade. I also think Portland's 2019 FRP could be fairly attractive to the Cavs because of the range of positions it could end up at depending how the west plays out (and I just don't think they'll be shopping Love pre-draft because they won't know what LeBron is doing - most likely).

I'm most likely just talking myself into it given how the Cavs season has ended, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

[plyrically]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

Hood will be a free agent so the TPE can't be used on him. Anderson's salary is way over what the TPE is. Not an option

I forgot you can’t package the TPE with a player.

However I meant that we could acquire Hood in a S&T.

[DusterBuster]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

Hood will be a free agent so the TPE can't be used on him. Anderson's salary is way over what the TPE is. Not an option

I forgot you can’t package the TPE with a player.

However I meant that we could acquire Hood in a S&T.

The Hood situation will be interesting. I suspect he'll be back with Cleveland on the QO unless someone gives him an ungodly contract, which is probably unlikely after how he finished out the year and how few teams have money. Cleveland probably wants to keep him, but at a reasonable price, Hood will a) want more than a reasonable price, and b) probably has zero desire to stay in Cleveland. So my guess is once he finds RFA to be a dry well, he probably just takes the QO.

Regardless, can't really see a path to the Blazers ending up with him. Not sure Portland would want to surrender anything but cap space to get Hood and I think the Cavs likely match anything thats 13mil or below for him. I don't know if Portland can sign a player using their TPE as pseudo-cap space (I don't think they can), so if the Blazers were to somehow sign him to an offer sheet at the MLE or for their Crabbe-TPE, I still think Hood would still end up back in Cleveland. I would guess the Cavs aren't letting him walk unless it's a deal of 15mil or above and I just can't see any team offering him that.

[DusterBuster]

Zach Lowe mentioned the Cavs will look to see what Love and the #8 pick will get them to convince LeBron to stay. Could tell if that was speculation or sources information from the article, but it sounded fairly specific.

I wonder if CJ for Love and the 8 is something both sides would do? I can see the the Cavs seriously considering that. CJ works for them regardless of if LeBron stays and he would be a fairly big swing for them keeping LeBron. Bron wants another playmaker and while fans here are tired of CJ, he's still pretty highly valued by those around the league. Plus CJ is a hometown kid who may put some butts in seats if Bron does leave. Love aint doing that and the 8 pick is a gamble. Then you have to wonder if Portland would do it.

[Dame Lizard]

Read on Twitter

typical Olshey butt-covering...he blamed the playoff debacle of a lack of experience rather then a lack of talent and a broken roster. Other than Rondo, I think the Blazers had more experience then the Pel's

How is that butt-covering? Whether it's lack of talent or experience, it's his responsibility, and he has taken ownership of that, even indicating that he made a mistake not pushing for more immediate help at the trade deadline.

The narrative is getting old.

I'd have to agree Khazim to a certain extent regarding Olshey taking some responsibility, but until he stops being stubborn about Lillard and CJ working as a duo, I'll still not like his aporoach.

Obviously he can't come out and say "I want to trade CJ" as that'll do absolutely no good, but I'd like to think he's not attached to him.

[Dame Lizard]

typical Olshey butt-covering...he blamed the playoff debacle of a lack of experience rather then a lack of talent and a broken roster. Other than Rondo, I think the Blazers had more experience then the Pel's

How is that butt-covering? Whether it's lack of talent or experience, it's his responsibility, and he has taken ownership of that, even indicating that he made a mistake not pushing for more immediate help at the trade deadline.

it's butt-covering because it's a false deflection. Portland's problem wasn't a lack of experience...it's problem was a lack of talent and a mismatched roster that is poorly built for the playoffs

at the start of that playoff series, total career playoff games:

Anthony Davis 4
Jrue Holiday 21
Nikola Mirotic 17
Darius Miller 0
E'Twaun Moore 12
Ian Clark 32
Solomon Hill 8


Damian Lillard 31
CJ McCollum 26
Al-Farouq Aminu 20
Evan Turner 44
Mo Harkless 15
Ed Davis 26
Jusuf Nurkic 1
Jach Collins 0

the only outlier was Rajon Rondo with 96. Other than him, the experience advantage belonged to Portland. Using experience was just a lame excuse for other issues

I'll tell you another reason it was bull$ht. For 3 years now, Olshey has been yakking up the fact that Portland was one of the youngest teams in the league. He's been calling that a virtue and using is as a cudgel against "impatient" and "short-sighted" critics. It's been one of his go-to ploys. We've all seen him use it repeatedly. What happened? if youth was such an asset why suddenly was Portland's problem "inexperience". Either he was full of it then, or he's full of it now. Another possibility is he was full of it then and now....consistency

I always thought the "youngest team in the league" jargon was hilarious.

When Layman, Leonard and Connaughton etc bring that average down, it doesn't count for much.

[Dame Lizard]

Zach Lowe mentioned the Cavs will look to see what Love and the #8 pick will get them to convince LeBron to stay. Could tell if that was speculation or sources information from the article, but it sounded fairly specific.

I wonder if CJ for Love and the 8 is something both sides would do? I can see the the Cavs seriously considering that. CJ works for them regardless of if LeBron stays and he would be a fairly big swing for them keeping LeBron. Bron wants another playmaker and while fans here are tired of CJ, he's still pretty highly valued by those around the league. Plus CJ is a hometown kid who may put some butts in seats if Bron does leave. Love aint doing that and the 8 pick is a gamble. Then you have to wonder if Portland would do it.

If I'm in the Cavs, I wouldn't trade anything more than Love for CJ.

CJ is great on a team like Philly, where he adds that 3rd piece, but for a team like Cleveland who would probably pursue a full rebuild if Lebron leaves, CJ is a bit wasted imo.

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[DusterBuster]

Zach Lowe mentioned the Cavs will look to see what Love and the #8 pick will get them to convince LeBron to stay. Could tell if that was speculation or sources information from the article, but it sounded fairly specific.

I wonder if CJ for Love and the 8 is something both sides would do? I can see the the Cavs seriously considering that. CJ works for them regardless of if LeBron stays and he would be a fairly big swing for them keeping LeBron. Bron wants another playmaker and while fans here are tired of CJ, he's still pretty highly valued by those around the league. Plus CJ is a hometown kid who may put some butts in seats if Bron does leave. Love aint doing that and the 8 pick is a gamble. Then you have to wonder if Portland would do it.

If I'm in the Cavs, I wouldn't trade anything more than Love for CJ.

CJ is great on a team like Philly, where he adds that 3rd piece, but for a team like Cleveland who would probably pursue a full rebuild if Lebron leaves, CJ is a bit wasted imo.

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I know Blazers fan are down on CJ, but that view is not shared by a majority of those in the league. No one talks as down on CJ as Blazer fans here do. Guarantee if you took a read of unbiased fans, no one would think it crazy for the Cavs to add in more on top of Love to get CJ. Maybe some disagreement about the 8th, but still...

[Wizenheimer]

I'm thinking the Blazers will use the trade exception to absorb a role player/borderline starter.. Ryan Anderson and Rondey Hood come to mind.. Probably keep the pick unless we package it to move up to around low-lotto range

Hood will be a free agent so the TPE can't be used on him. Anderson's salary is way over what the TPE is. Not an option

I forgot you can’t package the TPE with a player.

However I meant that we could acquire Hood in a S&T.

I guess that's a possibility, but like DB said, there's no reason for Cleveland to do that unless Portland adds incentive and I'd bet some future protected 2nd wouldn't be enough. So then, what really is the incentive for Portland? I'm not sure what the attraction for Hood is. He's a good enough shooter but at this point, it's possible Harkless is a better one. Hood does not rebound or pass well. He would add length to Portland's back court, but his defense is extremely suspect. This last season, he ranked 106th of 108 SG's in DRPM. He looks like another one-trick pony, although I have noticed his athleticism before. Honestly, if the Blazers were looking at Cleveland to use their TPE, they might be better served going after Korver than Hood. If Cleveland blows it up, they might want to hold on to Hood but may be inclined to dump Korver and the 2 years left on his deal

for that matter, just ignoring the tax implications and looking for uses of those TPE's, I'd look at teams that might be in the salary-clearing frame of mind in order to chase after players like Lebron and Paul George...or just teams wanting to get below the tax line.

in the east:

* I'm sure Philly would dump Bayless for nothing but there's nothing in that for Portland; maybe if Philly was willing to add a future pick. If the Celtics make a move it will be on the trade front and their assets would be directly chasing Lebron. Toronto might be looking to clear salary and CJ Miles would likely be available but he's a weaker version of Hood

* Milwaukee would love to dump Dellavadova...yuck; and maybe Tony Snell, but he's another one-dimensional player, and he has a hefty contract. Washington might dump Markieff Morris to get under the tax

* NY may be willing to dump Courtney Lee and he's be a good fit in the Stotts offense. If Kanter opts out and they dumped Lee they'd have over 30M in cap-space. But Lee is paid at 12.5M/year for the next 2 seasons. Portland could probably get some Linsanity from Brooklyn for nothin

in the west:

* Houston's Eric Gordon fits into the Crabbe TPE almost perfectly. So would PJ Tucker (but my guess is Houston holds onto him enthusiastically)

* The Warriors are facing another major tax bill; maybe they'd be willing to dump Shaun Livingston. OKC has tax issues; would they be willing to dump Andre Roberson? The Pelicans would send Portland bouquets for a hundred years if the Blazers took Solomon Hill off their hands. If Rudy Gay opts in, the Blazers might be able to 'steal' him from the Spurs

* the Lakers might have big plans this summer but I can't see any use for Portland's TPE's there. By the way, I was surprised to see that Channing Frye is 35 years old. Time flies.

* I'm sure Memphis would like to dump players but that desire may be focused on the aging trio of Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Chandler Parsons. Those 3 will be paid 81M/year over the next 2 seasons and have missed 195 games games over the last 2 seasons...holy crap!

to me, it's just not an appealing list, and when you factor back in the tax implications, I just can't see anything appealing for the Blazers. There are no difference makers available that I can see, and the only needle movement would be from red to extremely red. Sure, that Denver trade is appealing and the rumors make it plausible. Other then that? Without intending to re-ignite the Olshey debate, one this he has been masterful at is lurking around the discount bin and picking up bargains. He's been johnny-on-the-spot in those scenarios. Maybe he can hang around the periphery of one of these big trades that might happen this summer and offer the TPE's as grease for the wheels of a major trade and pick up an asset or three. But PA would have to be OK with bumping his tax bill, probably significantly

[Waynearchetype]

I know Blazers fan are down on CJ, but that view is not shared by a majority of those in the league. No one talks as down on CJ as Blazer fans here do. Guarantee if you took a read of unbiased fans, no one would think it crazy for the Cavs to add in more on top of Love to get CJ. Maybe some disagreement about the 8th, but still...

I don't think we are down on CJs talent so much as CJs fit, that is why we usually ask the moon for him while recognizing we'd like to move him.

I look at it similarly to how Curry and Monta got broken up. Monta was still a good player at the time, but the fit alongside Curry wasn't good. I don't think CJ/Dame is as incompatible as those two as Monta wasn't a good fit for an evolving 3pt focused NBA, but when CJ and Dame are both on the floor it often feels like either one is going to run some iso play and our offense stagnates.

In addition to that, there is the current NBA landscape of trying to match super teams in strength... That is why CJ trades usually involve picks or young players as there is feint hope of a gamble for a superstar in the draft, which seems like a better path than the status quo which is extremely unlikely to produce a championship.

I think that last part really sets this forum apart from others though. If you go to /r/ripcity or blazersedge a lot of the conversation is generally around fandom of the Blazers, while the conversation here is generally about how we can improve and ultimately compete for a ring. As such, the tone is a lot more pessimistic (and ultimately realistic).

[Waynearchetype]

This is assuming Allen doesn't care about tax... unlikely but...
DEN: Faried, 14
PDX: TPE, 24

Based on Woj: Nuggets pursued Kenneth Faried trade, could use 14th pick to shed salary

[Wizenheimer]

This is assuming Allen doesn't care about tax... unlikely but...
DEN: Faried, 14
PDX: TPE, 24

Based on Woj: Nuggets pursued Kenneth Faried trade, could use 14th pick to shed salary

yeah...that's been talked about a bit and if you go by the Denver rumors seems plausible

to me, the interesting thing about this deal is that the CBA says tax is calculated at the end of a team's regular season. Making that trade would technically put Portland 12M over the tax line this year, but if I'm reading the CBA right, Portland would avoid tax this year. But it's entirely possible I'm missing a provision that would interpret the trade differently

[DusterBuster]

This is assuming Allen doesn't care about tax... unlikely but...
DEN: Faried, 14
PDX: TPE, 24

Based on Woj: Nuggets pursued Kenneth Faried trade, could use 14th pick to shed salary

That's probably the best use of the TPE I've seen thus far. Would the Nuggets be that desperate to dump the last year of Faried? Or does he have two years left, feels like that guy signed his contract a decade ago and it's always got multiple years left.

[Waynearchetype]

yeah...that's been talked about a bit and if you go by the Denver rumors seems plausible

to me, the interesting thing about this deal is that the CBA says tax is calculated at the end of a team's regular season. Making that trade would technically put Portland 12M over the tax line this year, but if I'm reading the CBA right, Portland would avoid tax this year. But it's entirely possible I'm missing a provision that would interpret the trade differently

Interesting bit about the CBA. I'm not even sure Blazers would need to include the 24 depending on how desperate Denver is (which given the Woj mention seems pretty desperate). It is weird though, on the surface I look at Faried PER and think that would be a steal. But other metrics like VORP and BPM say he is worse than Evan Turner.

[Waynearchetype]

This is assuming Allen doesn't care about tax... unlikely but...
DEN: Faried, 14
PDX: TPE, 24

Based on Woj: Nuggets pursued Kenneth Faried trade, could use 14th pick to shed salary

That's probably the best use of the TPE I've seen thus far. Would the Nuggets be that desperate to dump the last year of Faried? Or does he have two years left, feels like that guy signed his contract a decade ago and it's always got multiple years left.

I wouldn't really believe it if it didn't come from Woj, and even then I'm taking it with a grain of salt. But Denver has shown a willingness to part with picks more readily. They could also sign a 10~million FA this summer if they dump Faried. The following year they'll be locked up in cap hell for a while Jokic/Millsap/Harris/Plumlee.

[Wizenheimer]

yeah...that's been talked about a bit and if you go by the Denver rumors seems plausible

to me, the interesting thing about this deal is that the CBA says tax is calculated at the end of a team's regular season. Making that trade would technically put Portland 12M over the tax line this year, but if I'm reading the CBA right, Portland would avoid tax this year. But it's entirely possible I'm missing a provision that would interpret the trade differently

Interesting bit about the CBA. I'm not even sure Blazers would need to include the 24 depending on how desperate Denver is (which given the Woj mention seems pretty desperate). It is weird though, on the surface I look at Faried PER and think that would be a steal. But other metrics like VORP and BPM say he is worse than Evan Turner.

he only played in 32 games this season and I don't see that he was injured. He was just out of the rotation or in the doghouse. In that kind of circumstance a lot of those stats are probably heavily skewed.

I'm really not sure why Denver would be so desperate to dump Faried. He'll be an expiring contract, and even with the 14th pick the Nuggets will be 10M below the tax line with only Will Barton to worry about as a free agent. And simply moving him won't give the Nuggets any significant cap-space....maybe 5-7M.

Maybe they know Chandler is going to opt-out? Then they could have 17-20M in space if they renounced Barton

[Waynearchetype]

he only played in 32 games this season and I don't see that he was injured. He was just out of the rotation or in the doghouse. In that kind of circumstance a lot of those stats are probably heavily skewed.

I'm really not sure why Denver would be so desperate to dump Faried. He'll be an expiring contract, and even with the 14th pick the Nuggets will be 10M below the tax line with only Will Barton to worry about as a free agent. And simply moving him won't give the Nuggets any significant cap-space....maybe 5-7M.

Maybe they know Chandler is going to opt-out? Then they could have 17-20M in space if they renounced Barton

I could see that. Problem is, I can't see who they would target with that space. Aaron Gordon? Jabari Parker? They could try shoving those two back at SF. Zach Lavine might be a good fit.


Simpler answer might be they're feeling Bulls cheap.