BlazersBroncos wrote:If we cut Ariza to save money, we absolutely should go after Harkless in FA. He would be a godsend, and a Hood / Hark rotation at SF would be a good ying / yang IMO. Then we could potentially use our FRP on a true backup PG rather than have to draft by need.
Mo's DBPM of 1.7 the last two years in Portland would be nearly a full point higher than our best guy from this season. He fills a HUGE need. The below would be a simple, affordable offseason: Harkless for a portion of MLE, Melo for the other portion, resign Hassan to a 10M/1 deal, draft a competent PG, draft a C to groom as Nurkic backup, run it back with better defense hopefully:
G - Damian Lillard / FRP / Anfernee Simons
G - CJ McCollum / Gary Trent Jr / Anfernee Simons
F - Mo Harkless / Rodney Hood / Nassir Little
F - Zach Collins / Carmelo Anthony / Weynen Gabriel
C - Jusuf Nurkic / Hassan Whiteside / SRP
Simple and affordable.
Agreed about it being cheap...I don't think that small of a move helps the Blazers in what will be a killer Western conference next year. Lakers, Clips, OKC, Rockets, Denver will likely still be good. And young teams like Phoenix, Jazz, Mavs, Spurs, Grizz, and New Orleans will be better with continuity. Kings even showed some life this season. And lets not forget about a healthy Golden State team...there could literally be 14 really good teams in the West next year.
I also think people are expecting too much from Hood. He was a good 3pt shooter, decent mid range shooter with elevation, and average defender before one of the most destructive injuries in basketball. I think it's reasonable to hope that his 3pt shooting is the one thing he will be able to contribute next season. And even that--I'm more inclined to think he'll regress back to his 7 season average of 37% than stay anywhere close to his last season mark of 49%.
