Blazer Rumors Roundup 2022

[DusterBuster]

My god that trade is so bad for Dallas. Makes our LAC deal look like the trade of the century

Considering Porzinga's injury history there may be something we don't know.

I think they just got tired of him. Never knowing when he will be out and he was off and on good for them.

But yeah, this return sucks. Salaries were a wash with what they got back, so no saving and they just turned one sometime good player into two always mediocre to bad players.

[PDXKnight]

Well assuming nothing goes down in a minute i’m glad we didn’t add jerami grant, that guy is bad news as he wants way more than he’s worth. I like the prospect of josh hart next to dame if we keep lillard. Hart is taller and can play the 3 well imo (he played pf in no) and all around i’d say he’s about the equivalent to grant impact wise due to harts defensive prowess and on a much better contract. I almost think we could flip hart for another first if we go nuclear especially if he seizes this opportunity to get some burn

[HoopsFanAZ]

2nd rounder? No. Top 5 protected pick from a good team? Yes. Nurkic is a good center. Both ends. Points, rebounds, assists. On the right side of 30. He's worth keeping but it is about the price.

And I agree the conversation starts with Lillard. And to some degree Simons. It's all about the forwards (and has been, IMHO) since LMA left and Batum/Matthews were goners. Little is a hope, still, but the looking like THE answer. A younger Ingles would be just fine by me. CJ and/or Powell was -- I had hoped -- part of fixing the forward problem in trade. Nope. Looking forward to good luck and the NBA draft.

I don't even know what you're trying to say here to be honest.

Little looks okay... but the guy has that Zach Collins/Justice Winslow thing going where he's flashing at times... but spends like 50% of his time in the league off the court being injured or sick. I wouldn't put ANY faith in Little at this point to be a long-term contributor. He's been unavailable for a massive portion of games to this point in his career.

No matter how you slice it.. Keeping Nurk is effectively disastrous. His cap hold is over $18M. That's a huge amount that alone prevents lopsided trades and anything of value from happening for Portland in FA. He doesn't offer Portland flexibility in the offseason... he restricts it. Because bringing him back is effectively settling for mediocrity as his cap hold restricts the ability of Portland to bring in good players. To me, renouncing his rights is pretty much an automatic if this team wants to make moves to be good next year. Hence why keeping him through the deadline is foolish.

Nurk's cap hold is too much, as you say, for FA shopping, taking back more in an uneven trade for picks, etc. In other words, if he can be signed for about what he makes now EARLY in free agency, that's about his worth as a center. He's good, but few centers are worth the the BIG bucks or even $18 million. Waiting to sign him with that cap hold lingering is counterproductive. Where we disagree (or may) is about keeping him at all (or as compared to similarly priced centers).

I've read plenty of comments praising Little's growth and ... and I'm not drinking the warm cool-aid because few people think he is headed for an all star game at this point. He's gotten better and I have no idea what his ceiling will be. His growth in skills has already surpassed Collins, and his time on court MUST gain stability. He may be a keeper but not yet.

Ultimately, I also agree that Nurkic needs to be a goner unless a major acquisition somehow arrives SOON. Soon, it will be about youth and uneven trades and picks. I have decreasing hope regarding Lillard remaining even though it appears he okay with the plan being put into effect.

[DusterBuster]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

[Dzon Dilindzer]

were gonna have two 1st round picks

something tells me there will be more deals at the draft night

there was no need to rush, were not competing this season, so it doesnt matter really

[HoopsFanAZ]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

Oh. Yeah. It's 3 p.m. Eastern. Rats.

[The Sebastian Express]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

I know not everyone will agree but with Harden off the market..

I think we should make some real big ass toxic front-loaded offers to DeAndre Ayton and Miles Bridges and either force those owners to pay or blink and say goodbye.

Or even Mitchell Robinson.

[Roy The Natural]

were gonna have two 1st round picks

something tells me there will be more deals at the draft night

there was no need to rush, were not competing this season, so it doesnt matter really

There was really good reason to move Nurk. I don't think bringing him back is likely at all. He hurts flexibility in the offseason. I don't think there's really any chance he doesn't end up renounced one way or another.

He may be worth somewhere around $10M/yr with his injury history and risk. However, he can't be worth that to the Blazers. His cap hold is pretty huge and is going to kill any chance of doing meaningful maneuvering for established players. He's getting renounced. Either the Blazers find a big fish and renounce Nurkic's rights... or they look to trade Lillard for young stuff/picks when they fail to acquire a big fish... and renounc Nurkic's rights because it's time for a multiyear tankville.

I just can't envision a scenario where it makes sense to keep Nurkic. I guess maybe if he resigns early for that $10M range he could be an okay keep. However, I don't see any chance of him doing that.

[DusterBuster]

were gonna MIGHT have two 1st round picks

something tells me there will be more deals at the draft night

there was no need to rush, were not competing this season, so it doesnt matter really

You're right though, at this point, just ride out the season and any major moves here on our will be around the draft or right after.

Then we'll be able to really judge if this plan was a success or a failure.

On with the tank!

[Norm2953]

One would suspect Portland/Nurk will have extension talks prior to the end of the season that are
designed to either lower that cap hold number or to make a decision on his future in Portland. One
would think Portland would get something done if their was mutual interest in getting something done
for come day 1 of free agency, Portland will be ready to make some moves.

It'll be interesting to see what Portland does this summer with Dame for in the remaining games left
in the season, Simons if he finishes strong will be entrenched in the starting lineup and the moves then
will be how to build the team around him as opposed to Dame.

[Roy The Natural]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

I know not everyone will agree but with Harden off the market..

I think we should make some real big ass toxic front-loaded offers to DeAndre Ayton and Miles Bridges and either force those owners to pay or blink and say goodbye.

Or even Mitchell Robinson.

I think we should just rip the band-aid off and trade Dame in the offseason. I don't think this "retool" has any shot at all of working out. Not enough assets were acquired in the offloading of huge portions of the roster and in order to make something valuable happen in the offseason you're likely going to have to remove another 2 good players in Nurkic and Hart for essentially nothing.

As usual, it feels to me like the Blazers are a rudderless franchise that can't decide which way they want to go... and so essentially will be in some horrible no man's land again next year.

[Norm2953]

Well, Enes Freedom (Kanter) has been waived by the Rockets after he got traded by the Celtics.

Does Portland sign him to be the backup center?

[DusterBuster]

Well, Enes Freedom (Kanter) has been waived by the Rockets after he got traded by the Celtics.

Does Portland sign him to be the backup center?

Please god no.

He's probably busy signing a new contract to host the lead-in show for Tucker Carlson on Fox News right now anyway.

[The Sebastian Express]

Well, Enes Freedom (Kanter) has been waived by the Rockets after he got traded by the Celtics.

Does Portland sign him to be the backup center?

My money right now is him signing with the Sixers, who have no real bigman depth.

And that is going to be hilarious if it happens because every single east team will hunt him in the playoffs. The guard lineup in the east playoff teams is sick and they will EAT.

[The Sebastian Express]

I would love for us to offer a contract to Moses Brown though to give him run and see if there's a chance he could develop. I was surprised to see how many teams have moved on from him after his big showing in OKC i think it was a couple years ago.

[Wizenheimer]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

I know not everyone will agree but with Harden off the market..

I think we should make some real big ass toxic front-loaded offers to DeAndre Ayton and Miles Bridges and either force those owners to pay or blink and say goodbye.

Or even Mitchell Robinson.

I've looked at the Blazer cap next year from several angles. In order to make a max offer, even for the 25% rookie extension, the Blazers would have to renounce Nurkic & the two TPE's, and maybe even Simons. And risk that the other team would match

[Wizenheimer]

after seeing 4 or 5 teams land 1st round picks for players arguably worse than Powell & RoCo, Cronin's trade to the ZClips looks even worse than it did a few hours ago....and I didn't think that was possible

[The Sebastian Express]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

I know not everyone will agree but with Harden off the market..

I think we should make some real big ass toxic front-loaded offers to DeAndre Ayton and Miles Bridges and either force those owners to pay or blink and say goodbye.

Or even Mitchell Robinson.

I've looked at the Blazer cap next year from several angles. In order to make a max offer, even for the 25% rookie extension, the Blazers would have to renounce Nurkic & the two TPE's, and maybe even Simons. And risk that the other team would match

I'm okay with that (Except Simons, but I thought we should have traded Simons before the deadline here today to sell high on him).

[DusterBuster]

Looks like Portland escaped the Grant overpay trade. Where do they go from here now

I know not everyone will agree but with Harden off the market..

I think we should make some real big ass toxic front-loaded offers to DeAndre Ayton and Miles Bridges and either force those owners to pay or blink and say goodbye.

Or even Mitchell Robinson.

I've looked at the Blazer cap next year from several angles. In order to make a max offer, even for the 25% rookie extension, the Blazers would have to renounce Nurkic & the two TPE's, and maybe even Simons. And risk that the other team would match

Are we sure about that with RFA's? Don't they only have to make those renouncements when the deal is about to be finalized (the other team hasn't matched). The Blazers would obviously have to be prepared to renounce all those players should the other team not match, but I'm not sure they have to renounce them just for the initial offer sheet that goes to the team holding the players rights. Would be curious to know the CBA rules for that timelines.

[HoopsFanAZ]

I just can't envision a scenario where it makes sense to keep Nurkic. I guess maybe if he resigns early for that $10M range he could be an okay keep. However, I don't see any chance of him doing that.

When it gets down to it ... I agree. I like Nurkic. Mostly. But not that much. With Simons vs. Nurkic as 2nd most important, there's more hope. The scenarios and limitations you've laid out regarding Nurkic? Reasonable IMHO.

I'm not against the rip-it-off group when it comes to a tank/rebuild/strip it down and build from scratch. Not against ...
I would rather see just a major rebuild on the fly. Suffering might be over sooner. Living in AZ for many years, it's been many years of sucktastic teams for the Suns ... which I don't mind that much, but it sucks for the locals.