Game 16: Portland vs Milwaukee 5:00pm SNW/TNT

[d-train]

The hardest part of watching the game was listening to Chris Webber badmouth the Blazers. F that guy.

[d-train]

I'm interested to see if we'll be better with Whiteside out. He's been a massive disappointment. I knew his numbers were fools gold but not to this degree. I wonder if he even understands to concept of hustle.

It didn't help our rebounding but we did play better. Our bad play isn't Whiteside's fault. Lillard, CJ, Simons, and Bazemore are most responsible for the team being out of sync. I'm not worried. This team is going to put it all together and win games.

[monopoman]

It's crazy how McCollum can have a 37 and 10 night and nobody mentions it. But God forbid he has a bad night.

I liked what I saw while short handed. We really just had bad luck with the new roster coming together at the wrong time. If we get healthy and don't start Toliver or Rio at pf again we can turn this ship around.

It is a bit frustrating that I think if you look at CJ's stats without Lillard they are about 2-3 times better it's mostly why I want him to get a shot on his own team I think Lillard+CJ while effective at times does limit both in some regards.

[Village Idiot]

I'm interested to see if we'll be better with Whiteside out. He's been a massive disappointment. I knew his numbers were fools gold but not to this degree. I wonder if he even understands to concept of hustle.

It didn't help our rebounding but we did play better. Our bad play isn't Whiteside's fault. Lillard, CJ, Simons, and Bazemore are most responsible for the team being out of sync. I'm not worried. This team is going to put it all together and win games.

I disagree and this game only cements my feelings. Whiteside is the king of empty stats. Time to bring start Skal and bring Whiteside off the bench.

Watch on YouTube

[Dame Lizard]

I'm interested to see if we'll be better with Whiteside out. He's been a massive disappointment. I knew his numbers were fools gold but not to this degree. I wonder if he even understands to concept of hustle.

he definitely has his flaws, but I think he's getting scape-goated a lot for Portland's performance. Look at how the team has been performing:

PER (15.0 is average):

Damian Lillard 25.9
Hassan Whiteside 23.4
CJ McCollum 14.3
Skal Labissière 14.2
Anfernee Simons 13.4
Rodney Hood 12.0
Nassir Little 9.3
Kent Bazemore 9.0
Mario Hezonja 8.2
Anthony Tolliver 4.9

TS:

Hassan Whiteside .630
Damian Lillard .612
Rodney Hood .607
Skal Labissière .558
Anfernee Simons .558
CJ McCollum .498
Kent Bazemore .480
Mario Hezonja .470
Anthony Tolliver .404

FT Rate:

Damian Lillard .398
Hassan Whiteside .364
Skal Labissière .323
Anthony Tolliver .268
Mario Hezonja .266
Nassir Little .233
Kent Bazemore .213
Anfernee Simons .199
Rodney Hood .175
CJ McCollum .107

rebound rate:

Hassan Whiteside 21.5
Skal Labissière 14.7
Mario Hezonja 13.3
Nassir Little 13.0
Anthony Tolliver 10.0
Kent Bazemore 9.3
Damian Lillard 6.5
CJ McCollum 6.1
Rodney Hood 5.9
Anfernee Simons 4.1

winshares/48:

Damian Lillard .223
Hassan Whiteside .187
Skal Labissière .082
Rodney Hood .078
Anfernee Simons .068
Nassir Little .033
CJ McCollum .030
Mario Hezonja .025
Kent Bazemore .008
Anthony Tolliver -0.023

box plus/minus:

Damian Lillard 6.0
Hassan Whiteside 0.7
Skal Labissière 0.0
Rodney Hood -0.8
Kent Bazemore -2.0
CJ McCollum -2.3
Anfernee Simons -2.5
Mario Hezonja -3.3
Nassir Little -3.5
Anthony Tolliver -4.2

again, Whiteside has flaws, but if they were so bad as to render him a hollow-impact player, no way would he be 1st or 2nd in all those categories. He's not the reason the Blazers are 5-10, or at least not the main reason. Pretty easy to see which player has been massively underperfoming his norms

bottom line:

* last season, 6 Blazers had a PER over 15.0; this season, only 2 players do.

* last season, 10 players had a winshare/48 over .100; this season, only the same 2 do, and the lowest of the two has a mark more than twice that of the next guy

* last season, 9 players had a positive box plus/minus; this season, again, only the same 2 do

and Whiteside is one of the two. He's not the problem

I agree Wiz.

Whiteside has been reasonably good this year. And on a relative basis, he's been even better compared to our team as a whole....

[BlazersBroncos]

I think we need to keep Hassan in the rotation purely based on his rebounding numbers, but on offense Skal is a much better fit. They should split time at center. Labissiere certainly should enjoy more than the 16mpg he currently averages.

Hassan is just about as bad a fit for a Stotts offense as one could imagine. And he is a lazy, block chasing defender (Which is all the more frustrating because he has the talent to be absolutely elite on that side) but he is a tremendous rebounder on a team that simply cant rebound.

At this point its pretty clear that the PF and C rotations should be a full timeshare:

PF - Carmelo Anthony 24mpg / Nassir Little 24mpg
C - Hassan Whiteside 24mpg / Skal Labissiere 24mpg

If nothing else, its exciting to think of this team when healthy. Nurkic / Skal moving forward as our long term C combo sounds really nice, albeit a talent hungry team may see potential in Skal and throw him bucks this summer.

For all the chicken little'ing that we have taken part in, myself included, this may be the best group of young Blazers that I can remember since the early Roy years. Anfernee Simons (20), Zach Collins (22), Nassir Little (19), Skal Labissiere (23), Gary Trent Jr (21) and to a much lesser extent Moses Brown (20) and Jaylen Hoard (20). Portland low-key is in the middle of a youth movement whether we expected one or not. Its time to give these kids more consistent playing time at the expense of all Tolliver and Mario's minutes and to a lesser extent Hassan, Kent and Rodney. Even Melo shouldn't be seeing 27mpg, that's too much at his age IMO.

I am more optimistic after this loss than I have been since very early in the season. It seems 1-2 young guns step up each game, and we need that.

[BlazersBroncos]

Also, I don't see the Crash Wallace comparisons as apt for Little. Crash was skinnier and a true 10/10 athlete, averaging a few seasons of 3.5-4 combined steals/blocks. I don't see Little as coming close to that mark. He is more of an 8.5/10 athlete.

His best comparison IMO is Ruben Patterson with great character and a 3PT shot. And I love that. The energy, rebounding, bigger-than-listed-size post play. Getting a 3PT ranged Patterson late in R1 is a coup.

Honestly, I think Patterson was more active and had a better motor than Crash, or nearly any other Blazer post 2000. Little has a motor that we have lacked for years. Cant believe how NBA ready he has proven. I was super low on him coming out, and it looks like I was very much wrong.

[Fitz303]

Feeling good about things this morning. Hot take prediction: Blazers go 10-5 over the next 15 games, and go into Christmas day with a 15-16 record. Hold close enough to the playoffs to keep the ship afloat until Nurk comes back sometime in January. Whiteside (maybe Bazemore) gets traded at the deadline for some sort of upgrade, and the Blazers make a late season surge to get into the bottom 4 of the playoffs, while playing some of the best basketball in the league.

Times are tough, but they're gonna be alright. This team will make the playoffs, and by then (healthy Nurk, healthy Collins, and maybe a trade piece), they'll be one of the scariest teams in the NBA

[Epicurus]

The Blazers need to find out if Hood can maintain his shooting efficiency with more shots (or is the present shooting efficiency is related to only taking a few shots).

[Wizenheimer]

It's crazy how McCollum can have a 37 and 10 night and nobody mentions it. But God forbid he has a bad night.

I liked what I saw while short handed. We really just had bad luck with the new roster coming together at the wrong time. If we get healthy and don't start Toliver or Rio at pf again we can turn this ship around.

It is a bit frustrating that I think if you look at CJ's stats without Lillard they are about 2-3 times better it's mostly why I want him to get a shot on his own team I think Lillard+CJ while effective at times does limit both in some regards.

2-3 times better? he averages 60 & 11?.... ....I want CJ to get his chance on another team too, but not because I think Portland is holding him back. Kind of the opposite actually

* since the 2015-16 season when the Dame/CJ pairing started, when Dame has missed games due to injury and CJ was the lead (not the last 1 or 2 games of a season when one or both are resting), the Blazers are 11-12

* meanwhile, when CJ has missed games and Dame was the lead, the Blazers are 11-3

in other words, a .478 winning percentage without Dame vs a .786 winning percentage without CJ. We're having a debate about Whiteside and hollow stats. Maybe it should be about CJ and hollow stats. And before anybody says it, yes, considering that the Blazers have played 379 games over that time-frame, both examples should have some legitimate sample-size skepticism attached

but I'm only half joking about CJ and hollow stats

look at winshares/48 over that time frame:

2015-16

Ed Davis .192
Damian Lillard .165
Mason Plumlee .140
CJ McCollum .104
Allen Crabbe .098
Maurice Harkless .096

2016-17

Damian Lillard .185
Mason Plumlee .147
CJ McCollum .131 (by far CJ's best year that he's never come close to matching...outlier)
Jusuf Nurkić .116
Ed Davis .104
Maurice Harkless .091

2017-18:

Damian Lillard .227
Meyers Leonard .200
Ed Davis .164
Maurice Harkless .123
Noah Vonleh .117
Jusuf Nurkić .108
CJ McCollum .108
Shabazz Napier .101

2018-19

Damian Lillard .205
Enes Kanter .196
Jusuf Nurkić .189
Meyers Leonard .164
Al-Farouq Aminu .121
Maurice Harkless .114
CJ McCollum .114
Jake Layman .111
Zach Collins .104

2019-20

Damian Lillard .213
Hassan Whiteside .179
Skal Labissière .115
Rodney Hood .083
Nassir Little .059
Anfernee Simons .051
Zach Collins .047
CJ McCollum .039
Mario Hezonja .018
Kent Bazemore -0.004
Anthony Tolliver -0.028

you'd see the same pattern if you were gauging for box plus/minus or real plus minus

CJ gets all-star opportunity; he uses an all-star share of Portland possessions; he takes an all-star share of Portland's FG attempts; god knows he gets to dribble away a superstar share of Blazer shot-clock; and, he gets paid all-star money, now and for the next 5 years. But he doesn't have all-star efficiency or all-star impact. He'll never be the #1 or #2 option on a contending team, but that's the role Portland has given him under Olshey

so yeah, maybe Dame is holding CJ back and CJ needs another team to show his "real" stuff. But just maybe, CJ is holding Portland back and the Blazers need to move on, break-up this back-court experiment (like, try a SG who can defend instead of be a sieve), and try a different formula. And yeah, I know it won't happen with Olshey as GM, but I have a solution for that...

[Wizenheimer]

Feeling good about things this morning. Hot take prediction: Blazers go 10-5 over the next 15 games, and go into Christmas day with a 15-16 record. Hold close enough to the playoffs to keep the ship afloat until Nurk comes back sometime in January. Whiteside (maybe Bazemore) gets traded at the deadline for some sort of upgrade, and the Blazers make a late season surge to get into the bottom 4 of the playoffs, while playing some of the best basketball in the league.

Times are tough, but they're gonna be alright. This team will make the playoffs, and by then (healthy Nurk, healthy Collins, and maybe a trade piece), they'll be one of the scariest teams in the NBA

I agree they will very likely start winning more games. The schedule offers a lot of relief over the next 5-6 weeks (but gets wicked again after Christmas) I do think they will continue to lose an occasional game they shouldn't because they simply have too many inconsistent players

I'm not sure when Nurkic will come back. I still think it won't be till Feb, but maybe it could be sooner. But I have serious doubts he'll be anywhere close to the level he was at last season any time this season. It took Paul George 15 months before he began looking like his old self. And Collins won't even be re-evaluated till mid-March (according to the report). He might not even play again this season, Shoulder surgery is no picnic

and yeah, I think the Blazers will make the playoffs, probably in the 5-7 seed range. As long as Dame's health holds (and Stotts doesn't grind him into the floor) it's hard to see Portland as lottery team with a healthy Dame

as for trading Whiteside and/or Bazemore, I still think those expiring contracts may have more value to Portland than any other team. Trading either for a player without an expiring contract would just about lock Portland into the tax next season, and then they are on the edge of the repeater tax in the 1st year of Dame and CJ's shiny new deals. I'd look at other expiring contracts around the league to see if any of those players make sense. Gallo?

[d-train]

Olshey has set this team up with options to go in just about any direction.

First, we have a great roster with a strong nucleolus and bargaining chips. Although it's extremely unlikely, we can have cap room next summer. It's unlikely only because our other options are better. The potential cap room is still very important because it puts us in great bargaining position to extend Whiteside's and Bazemore's contract. It's terrible when mid level players can use the CBA to get bigger contracts because teams without cap room are locked in to resigning players or losing talent.

Alternatively, big expiring contracts can be traded. This is an unlikely option. It's unlikely because such a trade would have to bring a superstar player to make it worth the financial expense. The players discussed (Blake, Love, or Aldridge) are not worth it. We would need to get a player like Davis or KAT in order to justify the money.

We are most likely going to resign Whiteside, Bazemore, and Skal. Hood will likely accept his player option if he isn't traded. And, Blazers will add 2 veterans using MLE $9.9M and BAE $3.8M and another 1st round rookie. This is our strongest avenue and it's supported by our other options. The long term is very bright with a great mixture of veterans and young players on rookie contracts.

[JasonStern]

Hot take prediction: Blazers go 10-5 over the next 15 games

Read on Twitter

yeah...

[BlazersBroncos]

The players discussed (Blake, Love, or Aldridge) are not worth it.

So if we move an expiring contract for someone of the caliber of the above, or lower caliber, at the trade deadline I can expect that you come out vocally against the deal?

Last season you repeatedly chimed that the guys we had were all we needed and everyone would be resigned, when NO completely turned that idea on its head you flipped instantaneously and said we now had the guys we needed and everyone would be resigned. I expect if another flip takes place you will respond as last summer, saying moving the guys you formerly said were the guys we needed was necessary because we moved them for a guy we needed and now we have the team we need.

It all just gets so confusing.

[d-train]

The players discussed (Blake, Love, or Aldridge) are not worth it.

So if we move an expiring contract for someone of the caliber of the above, or lower caliber, at the trade deadline I can expect that you come out vocally against the deal?

Last season you repeatedly chimed that the guys we had were all we needed and everyone would be resigned, when NO completely turned that idea on its head you flipped instantaneously and said we now had the guys we needed and everyone would be resigned. I expect if another flip takes place you will respond as last summer, saying moving the guys you formerly said were the guys we needed was necessary because we moved them for a guy we needed and now we have the team we need.

It all just gets so confusing.

Last season I was opposed to all the crappy trade suggestions that ended with our team giving up 1st round picks and our good players for worse players. And, I did like the roster last year especially after we signed Kanter and traded for Hood. As much as I liked the roster last year, I was surprised by our playoff success without Nurkic. Even with the success, you can't ignore how much Stotts lost faith in Aminu, Harkless, and Kanter. Look at the playing time decline for those players as we progressed in the playoffs.

You are right, I like our roster and I don't believe we need to make any trades to get to where we're going. Meaning, this team is going to be as successful as Lillard and CJ make it and that isn't going to be changed by making a trade. Of course, I'm assuming nobody is going to give us Davis or KAT. Would I care if the Blazers traded for Blake, Aldridge, or Love? Of course not, it's not my money. These players don't do much for us and the additional amount they cost beginning next year is insane considering they don't make us measurably better. But hey, Jody can spend her money how she wants. Frankly, if a decision is made to spend that kind of money, I hope the money is spent better. A player like Horford would give us more for the money.

[Dame Lizard]

I think we need to keep Hassan in the rotation purely based on his rebounding numbers, but on offense Skal is a much better fit. They should split time at center. Labissiere certainly should enjoy more than the 16mpg he currently averages.

Hassan is just about as bad a fit for a Stotts offense as one could imagine. And he is a lazy, block chasing defender (Which is all the more frustrating because he has the talent to be absolutely elite on that side) but he is a tremendous rebounder on a team that simply cant rebound.

At this point its pretty clear that the PF and C rotations should be a full timeshare:

PF - Carmelo Anthony 24mpg / Nassir Little 24mpg
C - Hassan Whiteside 24mpg / Skal Labissiere 24mpg

If nothing else, its exciting to think of this team when healthy. Nurkic / Skal moving forward as our long term C combo sounds really nice, albeit a talent hungry team may see potential in Skal and throw him bucks this summer.

For all the chicken little'ing that we have taken part in, myself included, this may be the best group of young Blazers that I can remember since the early Roy years. Anfernee Simons (20), Zach Collins (22), Nassir Little (19), Skal Labissiere (23), Gary Trent Jr (21) and to a much lesser extent Moses Brown (20) and Jaylen Hoard (20). Portland low-key is in the middle of a youth movement whether we expected one or not. Its time to give these kids more consistent playing time at the expense of all Tolliver and Mario's minutes and to a lesser extent Hassan, Kent and Rodney. Even Melo shouldn't be seeing 27mpg, that's too much at his age IMO.

I am more optimistic after this loss than I have been since very early in the season. It seems 1-2 young guns step up each game, and we need that.

I agree that the caveat of this horrrid season so far has been our youth.

Between Simons and Nassir, not to mention Collins as well, Portland has a nice future. I also really like Skal.

We need to trade CJ and re-tool, it's as simple as that. I also agree with Webber's comments that we need to reduce our ISO play (particularly if CJ is traded, as he's a talented ISO player), despite it working reasonably well in recent years.

[BlazersBroncos]

We need to trade CJ and re-tool, it's as simple as that. I also agree with Webber's comments that we need to reduce our ISO play (particularly if CJ is traded, as he's a talented ISO player), despite it working reasonably well in recent years.

I wouldn't be opposed, I just don't see many good options. There are few young guys that I see as equal value and available, and the guys who have matching or near matching contracts are questionable upgrades at best (Aaron Gordon and Tobias Harris are the only ones that come to mind).

I was tremendously high on Luka coming out and wanted to deal CJ and picks to get up into that 3 slot. I cry when thinking of how good this team would be with Doncic, Damian and Nurkic.

Lauri isn't playing well so far and I am extremely high on him too but I don't think CJ would be someone Chicago has interest in, and I don't like the idea of having to pay both Zach and Lauri. And like even less the idea of letting either walk.

At this point I think you roll w/ CJ and hope to upgrade using an EC and targeting the usual suspects (Griffin, Love, Aldridge, Gallo).

I wonder how much taking on Patty Mills would help entice SAS into moving Aldridge? Whiteside + Bazemore + 2020 Lotto Protected FRP for Aldridge + Mills works.

PG - Damian Lillard / Patty Mills
SG - CJ McCollum / Anfernee Simons / Gary Trent Jr
SF - Rodney Hood / Nassir Little / Mario Herzonja
PF - Carmelo Anthony / Skal Labissiere / Anthony Tolliver
C - LaMarcus Aldridge / Jusuf Nurkic / Skal Labissiere

Then next year when Zach is back decide on resigning Melo or Skal and go from there.

[GEE]

I think we need to be a bit empathetic, and see the views from the other team's perspective when it comes to potential trades. I see K Love as a possibility, as he is on a rebuilding team, and will be old by the time the Cavs are relevant again. I also see Aldridge as a possibility, as the Spurs seem to be struggling to win currently, and if they don't start winning, may want to make a move with either or both of LA and Derozen. If we can get one of either Love or LA with Whiteside's huge expiring and whatever picks necessary, I think we should consider it. I would then be in favor of just letting Bazemore walk at the end of the season to save on our cap.

I also don't think we need to trade guys, as much as we just need to get guys healthy. If we can tread enough water to get into the playoffs, and Nurkic and Collins are healthy enough to contribute before then, we could have a 10 man rotation that could be difficult to match.

Dame / Simons
CJ / Baze
Hood / Melo
Skal / Collins
Love or LA / Nurkic

[Dame Lizard]

We need to trade CJ and re-tool, it's as simple as that. I also agree with Webber's comments that we need to reduce our ISO play (particularly if CJ is traded, as he's a talented ISO player), despite it working reasonably well in recent years.

I wouldn't be opposed, I just don't see many good options. There are few young guys that I see as equal value and available, and the guys who have matching or near matching contracts are questionable upgrades at best (Aaron Gordon and Tobias Harris are the only ones that come to mind).

I was tremendously high on Luka coming out and wanted to deal CJ and picks to get up into that 3 slot. I cry when thinking of how good this team would be with Doncic, Damian and Nurkic.

Lauri isn't playing well so far and I am extremely high on him too but I don't think CJ would be someone Chicago has interest in, and I don't like the idea of having to pay both Zach and Lauri. And like even less the idea of letting either walk.

At this point I think you roll w/ CJ and hope to upgrade using an EC and targeting the usual suspects (Griffin, Love, Aldridge, Gallo).

I wonder how much taking on Patty Mills would help entice SAS into moving Aldridge? Whiteside + Bazemore + 2020 Lotto Protected FRP for Aldridge + Mills works.

PG - Damian Lillard / Patty Mills
SG - CJ McCollum / Anfernee Simons / Gary Trent Jr
SF - Rodney Hood / Nassir Little / Mario Herzonja
PF - Carmelo Anthony / Skal Labissiere / Anthony Tolliver
C - LaMarcus Aldridge / Jusuf Nurkic / Skal Labissiere

Then next year when Zach is back decide on resigning Melo or Skal and go from there.

I agree regarding Tobias. I'd be happy making that trade.

Makes sense for both parties I feel.

[Wizenheimer]

We need to trade CJ and re-tool, it's as simple as that. I also agree with Webber's comments that we need to reduce our ISO play (particularly if CJ is traded, as he's a talented ISO player), despite it working reasonably well in recent years.

I wouldn't be opposed, I just don't see many good options. There are few young guys that I see as equal value and available, and the guys who have matching or near matching contracts are questionable upgrades at best (Aaron Gordon and Tobias Harris are the only ones that come to mind).

I was tremendously high on Luka coming out and wanted to deal CJ and picks to get up into that 3 slot. I cry when thinking of how good this team would be with Doncic, Damian and Nurkic.

Lauri isn't playing well so far and I am extremely high on him too but I don't think CJ would be someone Chicago has interest in, and I don't like the idea of having to pay both Zach and Lauri. And like even less the idea of letting either walk.

At this point I think you roll w/ CJ and hope to upgrade using an EC and targeting the usual suspects (Griffin, Love, Aldridge, Gallo).

let's dispense with that last idea first (and yeah, this all strictly my opinion).

*Trading Bazemore for Gallo or Whiteside for Aldridge isn't going to change Portland's trajectory. Right now, Bazemore is about the only perimeter player for Portland that can play consistent defense (other than Hezonja who sucks everywhere else). And Portland's biggest problem, other than defense, is rebounding; and a Whiteside for Aldridge swap is a massive downgrade in rebounding. For chrissakes, Whiteside has a defensive rebounding rate of 29.3%. Aldridge is at 15.8% and his overall rebounding rate of 11.1% is pathetic. Nas is better

I think it's pretty clear that the malarkey Olshey sold all summer: basically that Portland could sacrifice defense and rebounding in favor of offense, and be a better team is a bankrupt narrative. And frankly, Whiteside's ability to garner some 2nd chance points is one of Portland's better offensive components right now
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and adding Griffin or Love, while keeping CJ isn't going to happen either IMO. Portland, and Jody Allen, aren't going to sign up for years of repeater tax. They can't pay 110-125M a year for 4 players (Dame-CJ-Griffin/Love-Nurk) with the tax line being in the 130-140M/year range and not bust way over that line. The idea just isn't practical
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

so then, If I'm anywhere close to right, there are only a couple of options left to Portland short of tearing down and rebuilding. One is to keep doing what they have been doing essentially for 4+ years, and that's rearranging the lower part of the roster hoping for miracles. Exchanging Hood for Harkless, or Zach for Aminu, or Bazemore for Turner isn't changing anything significant. It's not going to change Portland's trajectory. Messing around with rotation players 4-9 won't move the needle. Neither will exchanging role players for role players. This season is just another argument against that hail-mary approach

if Portland wants to change their trajectory they have to look at the core. AFAIC, the core right now consists of 3 players: Dame, CJ, and Nurk. Then there are 3 players who are core-support (Simons-Zach-Little), mainly because they flash potential and are still on rookie scale contracts. And god knows Portland needs cheap contracts with the super-max for Dame and the ill-advised CJ extension bloating their payroll
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Dame is here for good. Portland needs Nurkic badly. That leaves CJ as the major asset that could be moved and potentially change the trajectory in a substantial fashion

and sometimes, the first step is an addition by subtraction move. That's what the Warriors had the balls to do when they traded Monta Ellis for Bogut. What the Pacers did when they traded Paul George for Oladipo and Sabonis (yeah, PG forced their hand). Golden State already had Monta's replacement in Klay when they made that move. The Blazers have Simons and Hood as potential replacements. A CJ for Griffin trade would offer a major change. Same with a CJ for Love or a CJ for Harris or a CJ for Otto Porter deal; or some other variation. Sure, there are risks. But there may be an even bigger risk in 5 more seasons of the Dame/CJ experiment; 5 more seasons of CJ hogging 25% of Blazer possessions; 5 more years of CJ being in the top-15 in FGA's but not cracking the top-100 in any efficiency or impact category; 5 more years of CJ dribbling away big chunks of Blazer shot clocks; 5 more years of CJ spending 25% of the Blazer salary cap; and most important of all, burning thru the rest of Dame's prime because Olshey has a love affair with CJ. That's the alternative, and I'm sure CJ fans would be delighted with that prospect

but we all know CJ is not going nowhere as long as the current GM is in place. So yeah, let's waste Whiteside's expiring contract on 34 year old Aldridge