Trade Thread

[DaVoiceMaster]

He hasn't played SF since 16/17 and even then it was a 2-1 split b/t SF and PF.

[/quote]

Not true. Melo started at SF this season against the Lakers for about 90 seconds until Skal got injured.

[BlazersBroncos]

Somewhat random but concerning a potential trade target: Aldridge is unexpectently hitting 44% of his 3PT shots on 2.7 attempts per game.

Since coming back from an injury in early DEC, he is 36/76 for 47% on 4.2 3PT per game.

If this is even remotely sustainable, my interest in him as a trade target increases substantially.

Its worth noting that in that same timeframe he has managed 8.6rpg, so he is shooting outside more often and also rebounding better than his season average.

Its unfortunate that Pops wont want a rebuild package (Hassan + Little?) in return. A 3PT shooting LMA would be great for this team.

[d-train]

If Blazers can find a taker for Hood in exchange for cap room, this could be enough to get Blazers under the tax this year provided Nurkic doesn't hit his incentive. I'm not sure what his incentive is, but since he's missed half the year maybe he doesn't hit it.

[BlazersBroncos]

If Blazers can find a taker for Hood in exchange for cap room, this could be enough to get Blazers under the tax this year

This is tricky, as Hood needs to agree to any deal. I don't think it looks good to ask an injured guy, who has waxed poetic about this city and the locker room, to accept a trade to some trash team in order to save money.

On another note, this is my most recent pipe dream:

PDX TRADES - Hassan Whiteside + Mario Herzonja
PDX RECEIVES - Gordon Hayward + Willie Cauley-Stein

BOS TRADES - Gordon Hayward + Vincent Poirier + 2020 MIL FRP
BOS RECEIVES - Hassan Whiteside + Alec Burks

GSW TRADES - Willie Cauley-Stein + Alec Burks
GSW RECEIVES - Mario Hezonja + Vincent Poirier + 2020 MIL FRP

We shut down Hayward and use WCS as a stopgap until Nurkic / Skal are back. Next season, resign Melo + Skal and draft a combo guard who can actually run an offense. I like Killian Hayes, a crafty international player. Don't cut Ariza and roll with:

G - Damian Lillard (32) / Anfernee Simons (6) / Killian Hayes (8)
G - CJ McCollum (32) / Anfernee Simons (14)
F - Gordon Hayward (24) / Trevor Ariza (24)
F - Zach Collins (20) / Carmelo Anthony (22) / Gordon Hayward (6)
C - Jusuf Nurkic (28) / Skal Labissiere (12) / Zach Collins (8)

IR - Rodney Hood
Deep Bench - Gary Trent Jr GF, Nassir Little F, Jaylen Hoard F, Moses Brown C

[d-train]

I think we have a good thing going with Melo at a reasonable price. As much as I like Hayward, I doubt the economics work. Only Paul Allen would consider a payroll that big.

[Showdown]

Trading Whiteside, Hezonja and Simons for Covington and Dieng or proposal that i find on internet because they are around 22 milions in contracts - Whiteside, Hezonja, Little and FRP for Oubre , Kaminsky and Saric .

[BlazersBroncos]

Trading Whiteside, Hezonja and Simons for Covington and Dieng or proposal that i find on internet because they are around 22 milions in contracts - Whiteside, Hezonja, Little and FRP for Oubre , Kaminsky and Saric .

The second trade isn't good IMO. Oubre is overrated and plays freelance most of the time, Saric is an impending FA and Kaminsky is trash.

I would think about the first deal. We would need to get a bit more value back IMO. Maybe they add the 2020 SRP (35-40 range likely). I am a bit more inclined to move Simons because I am enamored with Josh Green as our 1st round pick, a true two way SG who can contribute to the game when not scoring, unlike Simons. Then again, Simons offensive potential is pretty securely still in the 20ppg range despite some stinker games recently.

Hard to walk away from Simons, but we need to push some chips in to keep the main man happy. RoCo and Dieng are both winning pieces. Dieng especially is tremendously underrated.

[zzaj]

Trading Whiteside, Hezonja and Simons for Covington and Dieng or proposal that i find on internet because they are around 22 milions in contracts - Whiteside, Hezonja, Little and FRP for Oubre , Kaminsky and Saric .

The second trade isn't good IMO. Oubre is overrated and plays freelance most of the time, Saric is an impending FA and Kaminsky is trash.

I would think about the first deal. We would need to get a bit more value back IMO. Maybe they add the 2020 SRP (35-40 range likely). I am a bit more inclined to move Simons because I am enamored with Josh Green as our 1st round pick, a true two way SG who can contribute to the game when not scoring, unlike Simons. Then again, Simons offensive potential is pretty securely still in the 20ppg range despite some stinker games recently.

Hard to walk away from Simons, but we need to push some chips in to keep the main man happy. RoCo and Dieng are both winning pieces. Dieng especially is tremendously underrated.

Oh man, I'd do that second trade in a heartbeat. Granted, I don't think Little is going to amount to much and I don't think Mario is going to be in the NBA much longer. Oubre is actually a pretty good defender and is on a good contact until after next year. With bird rights that's a much more tradeable contract than anything the Blazers would be giving up. Plus, he's loads more talented than anybody the Blazers could trot out at SF next year. He's good as a bailout option on broken plays (we all know how much we see of that in Blazer land) and is a pretty good catch and shooter as well. Kaminsky is injured and could be out a long while (stress fracture in his knee) and Saric would likely be gone after his rookie contract.

Lillard
CJ
Oubre
Collins
Nurkic

Could be a pretty good starting 5.

The FRP might be a sticking point with me, however. It would depend on where it falls. Even still, It's unlikely the Blazers will get a player that is as good as Oubre with a FRP.

[BlazersBroncos]

^ Saric's rookie contract ends after this season. So we are trading Little and a FRP for Oubre. I just don't think he is worth that. He is putting up fools gold stats on a bad team. Once you look deeper, you see the reality of him as a chucker and off-script gambler who isn't that good at defense (OBPM -0.3 / DBPM 0.0 / VORP 0.6 / WS48 .100).

Take into account his knucklehead character and I am good without him, especially at the cost of essentially two FRP's.

[B0naf1d3]

Getting under the Tax (or getting close for another move like Vonleh....Swanigan/Gabriel + cash) trade ideas:

Blazers: Whiteside + Hood
Bulls: Porterjr

Blazers: Whiteside + Hood + Trentjr + pick?
Wolves: Covington + Dieng

Blazers: Whiteside + Hood
Pelicans: Favors + Moore

Blazers: Whiteside + Hood + protected FRP
Spurs: Aldridge + Metu

Blazers: Whiteside + Trentjr
Knicks: Randle + Ntilikina

Blazers: Whiteside + Trentjr + protected FRP
Suns: T. Johnson + Bridges

Blazers: Whiteside + Hood + trentjr OR Whitesde + Hezonja
Kings: Barnes + Holmes OR Barnes

Just a quick run through of some options. Don't like them all, obviously, and some are probably unrealistic. Not even sure Hood is available. But by the time the deadline comes around, Nurkic could be back, and Collins isn't far behind him. Whiteside has been fine filling in, but making a trade to solidify the roster for next year is the strategy i'm thinking. Any of these moves make sense/possible to make to you guys?

[d-train]

I'm surprised the great play of Melo is being dismissed. Oubre is an expensive downgrade. Even Covington is a downgrade. Our SF position is covered nicely by Melo, Ariza, Hood, Little, and Hoard. It's not a position of need unless there is an upgrade. The only upgrade we can afford is a drafted steal, unlikely to happen. We are lucky we got a free agent steal.

[d-train]

Hayward is an upgrade. Porter is not an upgrade.

[zzaj]

^ Saric's rookie contract ends after this season. So we are trading Little and a FRP for Oubre. I just don't think he is worth that. He is putting up fools gold stats on a bad team. Once you look deeper, you see the reality of him as a chucker and off-script gambler who isn't that good at defense (OBPM -0.3 / DBPM 0.0 / VORP 0.6 / WS48 .100).

Take into account his knucklehead character and I am good without him, especially at the cost of essentially two FRP's.

Completely fair assessment...although I'm not sure I'd use OBPM, VORP, and WS48 as my goto defensive metrics. I don't know anything about his "knucklehead character", so I can't speak to that.

IMO, the realistic chances are pretty small that Little or somebody the Blazers get with a FRP are going to amount to the player that Oubre is. Then again, I'd be cautious giving up the FRP as I mentioned.

The main thing is Oubre's more valuable as a trade piece than anything from Portland's side in that trade. He's 24, averaging 18/6.5 and he's getting 15.6M and 14.3M this year and next year respectively. I'm thinking that's going to hold a fair amount of value toward a Blazer upgrade. If anything, it'd punt the "trade Whiteside" option for another year, and with a much more manageable contract.

[zzaj]

I'm surprised the great play of Melo is being dismissed. Oubre is an expensive downgrade. Even Covington is a downgrade. Our SF position is covered nicely by Melo, Ariza, Hood, Little, and Hoard. It's not a position of need unless there is an upgrade. The only upgrade we can afford is a drafted steal, unlikely to happen. We are lucky we got a free agent steal.

1) Melo hasn't played SF in 4 years.

2) We don't know if Ariza "is" anything, because he hasn't suited up for the team yet.

3) Hood is coming off a career altering (hopefully not ending) injury. He was an 11/4 guy with a 115 defensive rating before rupturing his achilles tendon...we can probably expect those numbers to come down in subsequent seasons.

4) Little is fine as a 3rd, energy off the bench guy. Hoard has a long way to go to prove he can contribute to wins as an NBA player (even though he's my favorite prospect on the team). Neither are going to hit a 3pt shot.

[DusterBuster]

Hayward is an upgrade. Porter is not an upgrade.

Hayward is washed. No opinion on Porter, just commenting about Hayward.

[zzaj]

Hayward is an upgrade. Porter is not an upgrade.

Hayward is washed. No opinion on Porter, just commenting about Hayward.

Hayward is averaging 16/6/4 over 18 PER...shooting over 50% from 2pt and 36% from 3, and trending upward. We must have different definitions of what "washed" means.

[d-train]

I'm surprised the great play of Melo is being dismissed. Oubre is an expensive downgrade. Even Covington is a downgrade. Our SF position is covered nicely by Melo, Ariza, Hood, Little, and Hoard. It's not a position of need unless there is an upgrade. The only upgrade we can afford is a drafted steal, unlikely to happen. We are lucky we got a free agent steal.

1) Melo hasn't played SF in 4 years.

Melo is a SF because he has a SF's skillset. He plays like a SF. A team can play as many SF's as they want. You can put Melo in the game and call him a PF. It doesn't make him a PF, he's a SF. The Jazz starts 2 SF's. Several teams start 2 SF's. You can argue that Melo can't defend other SF's, but you would be wrong. Defense is a challenge for Melo, but he can defend any SF as well as either of Jazz's SF's. There are a many SF's besides Melo that can't defend the quickest SF's 1-on-1 well. Larry Bird was so slow that McHale often had to guard SF's. Smart competitive veterans like Melo know how to overcome their weaknesses.

[zzaj]

I'm surprised the great play of Melo is being dismissed. Oubre is an expensive downgrade. Even Covington is a downgrade. Our SF position is covered nicely by Melo, Ariza, Hood, Little, and Hoard. It's not a position of need unless there is an upgrade. The only upgrade we can afford is a drafted steal, unlikely to happen. We are lucky we got a free agent steal.

1) Melo hasn't played SF in 4 years.

Melo is a SF because he has a SF's skillset. He plays like a SF. A team can play as many SF's as they want. You can put Melo in the game and call him a PF. It doesn't make him a PF, he's a SF. The Jazz starts 2 SF's. Several teams start 2 SF's. You can argue that Melo can't defend other SF's, but you would be wrong. Defense is a challenge for Melo, but he can defend any SF as well as either of Jazz's SF's. There are a many SF's besides Melo that can't defend the quickest SF's 1-on-1 well. Larry Bird was so slow that McHale often had to guard SF's. Smart competitive veterans like Melo know how to overcome their weaknesses.

This line of rationale is so flawed I'm not going to spend the time making the bullet points.

You think Melo will be on the team next year and that he can be part of the "nice" rotation of Melo, Ariza, Little and Hoard at the SF position. Got it.

[Norm2953]

Melo is likely gone after this season for at 35, he likely will want to sign with a playoff contender.

More power to him if he ends up in LA for he's earned a chance at chasing a ring.

[d-train]

1) Melo hasn't played SF in 4 years.

Melo is a SF because he has a SF's skillset. He plays like a SF. A team can play as many SF's as they want. You can put Melo in the game and call him a PF. It doesn't make him a PF, he's a SF. The Jazz starts 2 SF's. Several teams start 2 SF's. You can argue that Melo can't defend other SF's, but you would be wrong. Defense is a challenge for Melo, but he can defend any SF as well as either of Jazz's SF's. There are a many SF's besides Melo that can't defend the quickest SF's 1-on-1 well. Larry Bird was so slow that McHale often had to guard SF's. Smart competitive veterans like Melo know how to overcome their weaknesses.

This line of rationale is so flawed I'm not going to spend the time making the bullet points.

You think Melo will be on the team next year and that he can be part of the "nice" rotation of Melo, Ariza, Little and Hoard at the SF position. Got it.

Olshey is nuts if he doesn't do everything in his power to resign Melo to be our starting SF next year next to Collins. Who knows what Melo will do? I do believe he will resign with Blazers, but I have no way of knowing this. I certainly have no opinion on who will be our backup SF's next year. I'll wait to see which players Olshey adds to the team.