Woj: Blazers plan is to pursue high end talent “now”.

[HopelessKnick]

My thoughts pretty much...

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The problem with this is that with the loss of Powell and CJ the Blazers downgraded so much in talent it is hard to imagine them being able to make it up via trade and on top vastly improve.

I mean… where exactly were the Blazes with those guys? They were lottery bound and terrible fits for Billups coaching sooo, yeah, they lost talent moving those guys for cap, but those guys also weren’t getting the Blazers very far on the roster anyway.

That's true. I do like the Blazers plan---get as high a draft pick as possible and see what is possible at draft day. May work out.

Generally speaking I like wholehearted moves....the Blazers did the right thing in acknowledging that this season is lost and instead of CJ and Powell winning them meaningless games and have them end up with the 10th pick, they are now likely among the top 3 worst teams the rest of the way and gonna end up with a top 5 pick. That pick will hold a lot of value on draft day and the chances of moving up from there are pretty high. I wish the Knicks did the same.

You only wonder if Powell could of have netted you guys a late first rounder as well...seems like he was traded very cheaply...and it feels like NOLA could have been talked into surrendering a Bucks' FRP as well.

[DusterBuster]

The problem with this is that with the loss of Powell and CJ the Blazers downgraded so much in talent it is hard to imagine them being able to make it up via trade and on top vastly improve.

I mean… where exactly were the Blazes with those guys? They were lottery bound and terrible fits for Billups coaching sooo, yeah, they lost talent moving those guys for cap, but those guys also weren’t getting the Blazers very far on the roster anyway.

That's true. I do like the Blazers plan---get as high a draft pick as possible and see what is possible at draft day. May work out.

Generally speaking I like wholehearted moves....the Blazers did the right thing in acknowledging that this season is lost and instead of CJ and Powell winning them meaningless games and have them end up with the 10th pick, they are now likely among the top 3 worst teams the rest of the way and gonna end up with a top 5 pick. That pick will hold a lot of value on draft day and the chances of moving up from there are pretty high. I wish the Knicks did the same.

You only wonder if Powell could of have netted you guys a late first rounder as well...seems like he was traded very cheaply...and it feels like NOLA could have been talked into surrendering a Bucks' FRP as well.

Yeah, I’ve said I think the Blazers missed opportunity for more draft capital in these deals. Not being able to get a first for Powell AND Covington was pretty inexcusable imo. Some local media guys claim no one wanted Powell’s contract, but we’ve heard reports contrary to that too (same, but to a lesser extent for CJ too), so who knows…. At the very least I think the Blazers missed out not making Powell and Covington separate deals. They could have accomplished the same goals they were going for not just throwing RoCo in for nothing to LAC.

CJ at least brought back maybe a good FRP? Still should have brought back two imo, but at least a little better. Overall, it was clear the goal here was cap management above all else. Considering Cronin was Olshey’s cap guru before getting the GM job, this probably shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. He probably values good cap management more than draft capital.

Overall, I appreciate the clearing of the deck in short order that Cronin has done. This is probably the hardest intentional roster reset I’ve seen the Blazers do since 03 after moving Bonzi and Rasheed.

We’ll see if it pans out or not… This is the most flexibility the team has seen in the Dame Lillard era, which is fun to finally have, but yeah, going to be a long wait til August when this roster will be more / finalized and we will see if Cronin was able to really spin this thing into gold or not.

[DusterBuster]

Sure is looking like the Harden Simmons swap will go down today. So anyone still holding out Simmons hope can probably cross that one off.

It’s looking likely the Blazers get Grant… then spend cap on Simons, resigning Nurk, drafting one or two lottery picks and then whatever FAs they can still sign with left over money…

Hoping I’m wrong, but probably the most realistic. I know Dame likes Grant and all, but I’m guessing if that’s the roster, that’s not exactly the “high end” talent Dame was hoping to play with…

[GOBlazers]

That's about all we can reasonably hope for, unless we wait til the off-season to trade, and other star players become available instead of Grant.

Dame / Ant / Nas / Grant / Nurk

Hart and Winslow off the bench.

[DusterBuster]

That's about all we can reasonably hope for, unless we wait til the off-season to trade, and other star players become available instead of Grant.

Dame / Ant / Nas / Grant / Nurk

Hart and Winslow off the bench.

Out of respect for Dame, the Blazers should trade him before the 22/23 season kicks off if that’s the roster we are gonna roll out.

That roster ain’t winning **** if that’s the “plan”.

[GOBlazers]

I don't think he'll be traded until he requests a trade. But he seems content being a Blazer for now. Surely Dame has a good relationship with ownership and he's aware of the teams direction. Dame and Grant won the gold over the summer and Dame is rumored to want to bring him to Portland.

[DusterBuster]

I don't think he'll be traded until he requests a trade. But he seems content being a Blazer for now. Surely Dame has a good relationship with ownership and he's aware of the teams direction. Dame and Grant won the gold over the summer and Dame is rumored to want to bring him to Portland.

Oh, I know he won’t be traded… I’m just saying the team should because that resulting roster isn’t much better than what the team has been rolling out for the last few years.

Dame and Nurk - same ol same ol. Ant is a younger CJ, so no real change there. So the only two changes are Nas and Grant? I mean… i guess upgrades over Powell/RoCo, Aminu/Harkless? But not enough to really do anything of substance, so the team is still just spinning it’s wheels and all these moves will have been for pretty little change.

[Case2012]

I don't think he'll be traded until he requests a trade. But he seems content being a Blazer for now. Surely Dame has a good relationship with ownership and he's aware of the teams direction. Dame and Grant won the gold over the summer and Dame is rumored to want to bring him to Portland.

Oh, I know he won’t be traded… I’m just saying the team should because that resulting roster isn’t much better than what the team has been rolling out for the last few years.

Dame and Nurk - same ol same ol. Ant is a younger CJ, so no real change there. So the only two changes are Nas and Grant? I mean… i guess upgrades over Powell/RoCo, Aminu/Harkless? But not enough to really do anything of substance, so the team is still just spinning it’s wheels and all these moves will have been for pretty little change.

Agreed but you keep forgetting to mention the 2 potential lottery picks.

[GOBlazers]

Yeah, Dame might never win it all in Portland. A lot of great players never won a ring. Hopefully Cronin wows us all. I am glad that we are making big changes, though, bc the status quo hasn't been working. Admittedly though, most or our playoff losses were to the Warriors and Lakers.

[DusterBuster]

I don't think he'll be traded until he requests a trade. But he seems content being a Blazer for now. Surely Dame has a good relationship with ownership and he's aware of the teams direction. Dame and Grant won the gold over the summer and Dame is rumored to want to bring him to Portland.

Oh, I know he won’t be traded… I’m just saying the team should because that resulting roster isn’t much better than what the team has been rolling out for the last few years.

Dame and Nurk - same ol same ol. Ant is a younger CJ, so no real change there. So the only two changes are Nas and Grant? I mean… i guess upgrades over Powell/RoCo, Aminu/Harkless? But not enough to really do anything of substance, so the team is still just spinning it’s wheels and all these moves will have been for pretty little change.

Agreed but you keep forgetting to mention the 2 potential lottery picks.

And that is fair... we'll have to see what those become... or if Portland even gets 2 of them.

That said, Portland likely needs their own pick to end up Top 4 to get a real difference-maker for them in Year 1.

[DusterBuster]

Yeah, Dame might never win it all in Portland. A lot of great players never won a ring. Hopefully Cronin wows us all. I am glad that we are making big changes, though, bc the status quo hasn't been working. Admittedly though, most or our playoff losses were to the Warriors and Lakers.

I'm glad changes are in the works too, I just hope they're going to be significant enough changes and not just shuffling the decks for more of the same... so far it looks like that's where we are headed... Dynamic but undersized and bad defensive backcourt (Dame and Ant), solid but unspectacular forwards (Grant and Nas) and Nurk lol.

[Sinobas]

If we're going to pay a lot for Simons, our best bet might be to trade Damian for a younger complimentary player. Maybe that's Simmons, who can play any other position but center.

Because we know how this scenario is likely to play out. Portland won't land anyone significant in free agency, and odds are very much against us drafting a player with a high immediate impact...it just doesn't happen very often. The fact that we have the opportunity to get someone like Simmons is also a rarity. Usually you don't get much when superstars want out.

[Sinobas]

If they do trade Dame, may as well trade Nurk as well because he won't come back without him. You can get Simmons and Thybulle and a couple of 1st round picks.

[soobias]

If they do trade Dame, may as well trade Nurk as well because he won't come back without him. You can get Simmons and Thybulle and a couple of 1st round picks.

some might not be on board with this move but i am lol. and if simmons wants out at the end of the year i'de flip him for more picks and young talent. and have even more cap flexibility.

[Wizenheimer]

Damian Lillard $42,492,492
Josh Hart $12,960,000 (non-guaranteed)
Justise Winslow $4,097,561
Keon Johnson $2,681,040
Nassir Little $4,171,548
Didi Louzada $1,876,222
Greg Brown III $1,563,518
Andrew Nicholson $2,844,429

Jusuf Nurkic $18,000,000 (cap-hold)
Anfernee Simons $11,816,454 (cap-hold)
CJ Elleby $1,966,970 (cap-hold)
Ben McLemore $1,766,970 (cap-hold)

Portland 2022 1st round pick $6,000,000 (estimate)
New Orleans 2022 1st round pick $4,000,000 (estimate)

Clippers trade TPE 7.3M
Pelicans trade TPE 20.8M

if you're keeping track that's about 144 million. The salary cap is projected to be 121M. So the Blazers are 23M OVER the cap yet people are talking about cap-space?

now, they could take about 76M off of that 144M and get down to 68M in guarantees. 4 roster charges put it at 72M. So then, 49M in cap-space. But in order to do that they's have to renounce Nuurkic, Simons, Hart, Elleby, McLemore, and the two TPE's. Can you think of anything more stupid? And by the way, I didn't add the 3.9M guaranteed to Bledsoe to that number. If you add that, the Blazers are at 148M. But in effect at 121M because the TPE's won't count against the cap or tax once the season starts. Which is good because the tax threshold will likely fall in the 147-149M range with a 121m cap

I also didn't count Dennis Smith, but he would be a vet minimum, if re-signed

Blazers will not have cap-space next summer unless they make some drastic roster changes before the off-season

It would be great if the Blazers could re-sign both Nurkic and Simons for the approximate 30M of their cap-holds. I don't know if it will happen. Detroit will have over 20M in space and the rumor is they covet Nurkic. There aren't very many teams with over 15M in space. Unfortunately OKC is one of them and I would not be surprised if they are looking for payback for the way Olshey deliberately messed with their cap/tax situation with his toxic max offer to Kanter

I think Blazers will be in the lottery so they'll have their own pick. Unfortunately, I think the Pels will at least make the play-in so it's unclear if Portland will have a 2nd pick

Portland HAS to hold onto those TPE's. But because of them, the Blazer may have to be cautious and not exceed the tax-MLE so they won't risk being hard-capped

[DusterBuster]

If they do trade Dame, may as well trade Nurk as well because he won't come back without him. You can get Simmons and Thybulle and a couple of 1st round picks.

The Sixers are refusing to trade Thybulle, Maxey or any firsts on top of Simmons. Blazers would probably only get back Simmons and Curry or something along those lines for Dame from Morey right now.

[soobias]

i was going off of woj or someone say PDX will have around 60m for high end talent.
i dont put all the pieces together, just like to see the puzzle done llol

[wjun15]

If they do trade Dame, may as well trade Nurk as well because he won't come back without him. You can get Simmons and Thybulle and a couple of 1st round picks.

The Sixers are refusing to trade Thybulle, Maxey or any firsts on top of Simmons. Blazers would probably only get back Simmons and Curry or something along those lines for Dame from Morey right now.

too late. Simmons to bkn

[DusterBuster]

If they do trade Dame, may as well trade Nurk as well because he won't come back without him. You can get Simmons and Thybulle and a couple of 1st round picks.

The Sixers are refusing to trade Thybulle, Maxey or any firsts on top of Simmons. Blazers would probably only get back Simmons and Curry or something along those lines for Dame from Morey right now.

too late. Simmons to bkn

Good, happy to see all the thirsty Sixer fans done with trying to tell the Blazers why they should move Dame for Simmons.

[wjun15]

there's no one we can get that will get us to compete in the near future. jerami grant, a non contract yr nurk, and a weak bench ain't cutting it. just blow this up.