Preseason: Portland vs Denver 6:00pm

[Fitz303]

Didn't see the game, but this comment... Yikes! I would stay far, far away from Griffin. Saw some with a podcast on youtube suggesting something similar, getting us another star in Griffin. Just laughable.

I really don't understand this. Griffin was tremendous last season. If we pay a depreciated price, which we should based on his injury history, it would be a great move. What other player in this league that is reasonable available could improve this team as much as Blake? There really isn't anyone. Blake, (big gap) then Gallo, (big gap) then Love are the possibly available guys that could help this team take a jump into LAC tier. Arguable LMA can be included as well, but I don't see Pops blowing it up so close to retirement.

Griffin was very good last year, but was just about done come playoff time. He limped through 2 out of Detroit's 4 playoff games, but there's no way he would have been able to make a deep playoff run that the Blazers would have needed him for, as his knees were toast. He's an extremely high paid, oft-injured, 30 year old PF who is a coin flip at best to be able to help your team come playoff time. That's what you're willing to give up young talent like Collins or Simons for? No thanks.

As for other players who could help the team out. I continue to go back to Otto Porter (over Gallo as well). He's 26 years old, is big enough to play the 3 or 4, is reliable (save for last year's shoulder strain, which was more of a tanking move), middle of the road in usage, plus defender, and can shoot. That's the type of player that Portland should be looking to surround Dame and CJ with, while hoping for long term success

[BlazersBroncos]

Griffin was very good last year, but was just about done come playoff time. He limped through 2 out of Detroit's 4 playoff games, but there's no way he would have been able to make a deep playoff run that the Blazers would have needed him for, as his knees were toast. He's an extremely high paid, oft-injured, 30 year old PF who is a coin flip at best to be able to help your team come playoff time. That's what you're willing to give up young talent like Collins or Simons for? No thanks.

I agree if the cost is Zach of Simons. But I would deal quite a bit for him (Little + 2 FRP's). My recent idea was:

Hassan Whiteside + Kent Bazemore + Nassir Little + Gary Trent Jr + 2 Lightly Protected FRP's for Blake Griffin + Tony Snell

I think limiting the minutes Blake plays is huge, and that's another of the many reasons dealing Zach for him would be foolish. We could pull the below rotation off during the regular season and save Blake for the playoffs:

PF - Blake Griffin (26) / Zach Collins (16) / Anthony Tolliver (6)
C - Jusuf Nurkic (24) / Zach Collins (10) / Skal Labissiere or Pau Gasol (14)

As for other players who could help the team out. I continue to go back to Otto Porter (over Gallo as well). He's 26 years old, is big enough to play the 3 or 4, is reliable (save for last year's shoulder strain, which was more of a tanking move), middle of the road in usage, plus defender, and can shoot. That's the type of player that Portland should be looking to surround Dame and CJ with, while hoping for long term success

I would love Porter, but I think CHI is less likely to sell than DET. They have PO aspirations and see Otto as their veteran leader. They really, really like him in Chicago especially at a front office level.

Real talk, end of the day Gallo likely is the best option if we want to make a move to bring a legitimate near-all-star type player to PDX.

[Wizenheimer]

As for other players who could help the team out. I continue to go back to Otto Porter (over Gallo as well). He's 26 years old, is big enough to play the 3 or 4, is reliable (save for last year's shoulder strain, which was more of a tanking move), middle of the road in usage, plus defender, and can shoot. That's the type of player that Portland should be looking to surround Dame and CJ with, while hoping for long term success

I don't think Portland can afford Porter long term after the Dame/CJ extensions. And if Portland, for instance, trades Whiteside for Porter and he opts in, the Blazers would be deep into the tax next season. I don't think it was a coincidence that Portland traded 3 expiring contracts for 2 expiring contracts. Those contracts of Whiteside and Bazemore may very well have more value to Portland as expiring contracts than what they can be traded for

Real talk, end of the day Gallo likely is the best option if we want to make a move to bring a legitimate near-all-star type player to PDX.

may be true, and he has an expiring contract so that's component of leverage that neither team would have. Not sure what a good deal for Gallo would look like though, and he sure wouldn't improve Portland's defense

[BlazersBroncos]

may be true, and he has an expiring contract so that's component of leverage that neither team would have. Not sure what a good deal for Gallo would look like though, and he sure wouldn't improve Portland's defense

I would imagine one of the big EC's and a protected 2020 FRP would do the trick. The real issue is, would the team rather lose a defensive wing or a defensive center in a deal for Gallo?

[Fitz303]

As for other players who could help the team out. I continue to go back to Otto Porter (over Gallo as well). He's 26 years old, is big enough to play the 3 or 4, is reliable (save for last year's shoulder strain, which was more of a tanking move), middle of the road in usage, plus defender, and can shoot. That's the type of player that Portland should be looking to surround Dame and CJ with, while hoping for long term success

I don't think Portland can afford Porter long term after the Dame/CJ extensions. And if Portland, for instance, trades Whiteside for Porter and he opts in, the Blazers would be deep into the tax next season. I don't think it was a coincidence that Portland traded 3 expiring contracts for 2 expiring contracts. Those contracts of Whiteside and Bazemore may very well have more value to Portland as expiring contracts than what they can be traded for

Possibly. I guess it depends on what you think the cap is going to be next year. I don't know that I totally buy the sky is falling rhetoric regarding the cap consequences of China (but I've been wrong before).

This is based on quite a few assumptions, however, if you go by the current projection of a luxury cap of 141 Million, they could certainly stay below that next year. Lets go with the thought that they trade only Whiteside's contract along with a couple of picks (maybe include Skal). Hood has a good year and opts out of his 2nd year. Hezonja opts out of his contract. That leaves Lillard, McCollum, Porter, Nurkic, Collins, Simons, Little, and Trent Jr under contract for next season. The total salary for those 8 players is $118.6 Million. That gives Portland 22 Million to fill 6 roster spots, with Bazemore's full bird rights, and Hoods early bird rights. I'd imagine after this season, Portland chooses between one of Hood or Bazemore, and gives them something closer to the MLE (10 Million per).

Portland just filled out 3 roster spots this season with Hezonja, Tolliver, and Gasol for 6.8 Million I don't think it's out of the question to see them do something similar next season, as well as pick up a 2nd rd pick cheap. With all of this in mind, you've got 9 players at about 128.6 million, with 12 million in space before the tax, and 5 roster spots to fill with minimum deals. I don't think that's out of the question. Long term it would depend on what Porter demands as a FA and possibly whether Simons could take CJs place as a cheaper option at SG. Allowing Portland to shed CJs contract for some lesser salary and assets.

[GreenRiddler]

Mario looks like the real deal. His ballhandling is better than Batum. If he can consistently hit his 3 point-shot he could be our starting F of the future.

[Wizenheimer]

Possibly. I guess it depends on what you think the cap is going to be next year. I don't know that I totally buy the sky is falling rhetoric regarding the cap consequences of China (but I've been wrong before).

This is based on quite a few assumptions, however, if you go by the current projection of a luxury cap of 141 Million, they could certainly stay below that next year..

that was the projection before the China controversy

some GM's are reportedly anticipating a 10-15% drop in the cap/tax lines. That may be a worse case scenario, but a middle ground would be a 5-7% drop. That would set the tax line around 125M rather than 141M. Big difference

Blazers have over 91M in guaranteed and dead salary, and that's for only 7 players. If you assume the Blazers have a wink-n-nod informal agreement with Hood to give him the max they can next year, that's 10M, putting Portland at 101M, with 8 players. If Porter opts-in, Portland would be 4M over the tax line with just 9 players (and they'd only be 3M under the line if the cap doesn't move). And that doesn't include Bazemore, Hezonja, or Skal (assuming it's Whiteside for Porter), and two of the guaranteed players are Trent and Little and who knows how much they'd help. Portland could be 13-20M over the tax line just to hit the league minimum, and that could leave them with a pretty iffy bench

worse is it would be the 3rd straight season over the tax line putting the Blazers in repeater tax if they are over the line the next season when the Dame/CJ extensions kick in and those 2 alone are hogging 2/3rd's of the cap

this isn't really sky-is-falling scenario. A 125M tax line is only a 5% drop. I doubt it gets that bad, but for sure everything could stay static and even then, the Blazers are in a bit of a box.

[GEE]

Let's be clear... Collins isn't going anywhere... Period! This notion that we should look for a "3rd star" is a little ridiculous to me, but if Olshey wants to push in the chips, for a run on this years title, I'd be trying to see what it would take to bring LA12 back to the city of roses.

Whiteside / Little / 4 FRPs

I'd do that in a heartbeat, and considering the Spurs have no chance at the title, and may not even make the playoffs, surely they would at least consider it. If I was Olshey, I'd put it on the table for the Spurs.

[BlazersBroncos]

Whiteside / Little / 4 FRPs

Jesus. You think LMA is worth that?

But don't want to deal assets for Griffin? I am higher on Blake than LMA by quite a bit and still wouldn't do that even for Blake. That's putting near AD / PG evaluation on LMA and he isn't close to their levels.

I would likely deal Whiteside + Little + 2 FRP's for either Blake or LMA, but the pick protection would have to be higher for LMA. One thing that scares me away is that he is basically a Center at this point, albeit moving Hassan means we need someone to backup Nurkic. I also like the idea of keeping Nurkic to around 26mpg even when healthy, his body just seems to ding up easily with all that size.

[d-train]

The Blazers are only as good as Lillard and CJ. The same is true of any team. Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, Nuggets, Sixers, and Bucks are all are as good their top 1-2 players. The addition of a 3rd star player is useful if the star player fills complementary needs. A 3rd star doesn't enhance a team's star power unless he makes the team's stars better with additional complementary skills.

The Blazers almost lost to Nuggets and lost to Warriors because of rebounding weakness. The number 1 complementary skill the Blazers need is rebounding. The next biggest problem Blazers had was challenging shots at the basket. After rebounding and protecting the basket, Blazers have the same laundry list of needs every team has. I would say shooting, ball hawking defense, team defense, play making, versatile perimeter defense, and ball handling are skills a championship contender needs.

Blazers couldn't address their top 2 primary needs any better than with Whiteside, Collins, and Nurkic. Additionally, Nurkic also adds some play making and low post scoring, Whiteside adds low post scoring, and Collins adds play making and shooting. Bazemore adds ball hawking defense, defensive versatility, shooting, and ball handling. IMO, Blake, LMA, Love, Gallo, or Porter don't fill the holes as well as the 4 key players we already have. Our 1st need is rebounding and Blake, LMA, or Love in place of Whiteside or Nurkic weakens our rebounding and basket protection. Gallo or Porter weakens our ball hawking defense, defensive versatility, and ball handling. Additionally, Porter weakens our play making.

In a vacuum some of those players might be better than our complementary players. But, we are trying to build a championship team. We need complementary players that fill our weaknesses and make our primary players better.

[GEE]

If we are trying to win it this year, then yes, I do think LA, an 8 time all-star, 20/10 veteran is worth that package. I have yet to be impressed with Whiteside, Little's a rookie and won't contribute much in the next 2 years, and the FRPs aren't that valuable to a win now team. And to be clear, it is close to what got AD to the Lakers, but actually quite a bit less. It would give us an 10 man rotation of:

Dame / Simons
CJ / Baze
Hood / Mario
Collins / Skal
Aldridge / Nurkic

I think that's as good as any team in the league

[d-train]

If we are trying to win it this year, then yes, I do think LA, an 8 time all-star, 20/10 veteran is worth that package. I have yet to be impressed with Whiteside, Little's a rookie and won't contribute much in the next 2 years, and the FRPs aren't that valuable to a win now team. And to be clear, it is close to what got AD to the Lakers, but actually quite a bit less. It would give us an 10 man rotation of:

Dame / Simons
CJ / Baze
Hood / Mario
Collins / Skal
Aldridge / Nurkic

I think that's as good as any team in the league

I disagree. With Aldridge as Blazers center, Blazers will lose to the first great rebounding team we face in the playoffs. It could be the 1st round. There is nothing Aldridge does that is as valuable as getting the ball for Lillard and CJ. Additionally, Whiteside will defend the basket better than Aldridge. Even if your trade was corrected for reality, meaning Spurs would trade Aldridge plus additional valuable assets for Whiteside, rather than Blazers kicking in assets. It's still a bad idea because it relies on the health of Nurkic to give it any chance of improving our team.

I'm all for Blazers making a run for a championship. I think that is what we are doing. However, if plan A is to win a championship, you better have a great plan B. Plan A is likely going to fail. I don't like degrading plan B to do nothing that helps plan A.

[Norm2953]

No question Portland after extending Dame/CJ hs no business adding another big contract unless
its for less years. Team payroll over $150 Million in 2019-20 likely says they need to use those
expiring contracts to get payroll under control.

[Norm2953]

Portland would be nuts to offer SA that package for LA is a descending player and Portland has been waiting
(patiently) for Collins to fully emerge. If he does, Portland will have to think about extending him just like'
Toronto did with Siakum.

I would look into LA at a reasonable price but certainly not 4 FRP