Game 70: Portland vs Memphis 7:00pm Chargetv and KUNP

[JasonStern]

Who are you letting go from the roster? They have to let at least one guy go to fit their 1st round pick, unless they idiotically end up giving it to CHI.

Reath is a 4th string center and a pretty meh one at that, why not give that spot to a younger\developmental player, rather than a 29yr old end of bench player?

Walker is an RFA, I guess they could let him go? he will be 23

They have a club option on Rupert that they could decline, he will be 21

Banton is a UFA, he will be 26, it is known that I could care less if he is retained.

Actually? I could care less if any of those 4 are retained, maybe keep Rupert, as he was always a long term play and he is only 21 still, but the other 3? Why? MEM grabbed guys like Huff and Pippen Jr and they have shown more than any of POR end of bench players ever have.

4th string center on a good team. The Blazers are not a good team.

I'm sure I'm missing something here. Next season, the Blazers have:

Ayton
Grant
Simons
Deni
Timelord
Thybulle
Scoot
Clingan
Sharpe
Murray
Camara
Rupert

That's 12. Add a 1st and that's 13. Even add a second round pick or retain Walker, and you're at 14.

Now, this does get complicated if the Blazers want to make a move in free agency. Obviously, you scout the market. But, with a payroll of $167M before we even draft a player and the 2026 salary cap having a ton of flexibility, I'm not sure it is in the Blazers best move to make any high dollar signing. And if you can make a move - ideally, getting out of Grant's contract - that further expands how things play out.

But I like Reath, and haven't seen anything to indicate why he isn't worthy of that Ime Udoka role.

[JasonStern]

I can take or leave any of the 8-15 on this roster.

Are there 7 keepers on the roster?

Scoot, Sharpe, Camara, Avdija, Clingan

Who else

On full MLE contracts, Simons/Ayton/Grant.
On tax payer MLE contracts, Thybulle/Timelord.
The problem isn't acquiring NBA tier players. The problem is by paying them above their on-court value, you hinder the ability to utilize the remaining cap space to make other talent acquisitions.

[Walton1one]

Who are you letting go from the roster? They have to let at least one guy go to fit their 1st round pick, unless they idiotically end up giving it to CHI.

Reath is a 4th string center and a pretty meh one at that, why not give that spot to a younger\developmental player, rather than a 29yr old end of bench player?

Walker is an RFA, I guess they could let him go? he will be 23

They have a club option on Rupert that they could decline, he will be 21

Banton is a UFA, he will be 26, it is known that I could care less if he is retained.

Actually? I could care less if any of those 4 are retained, maybe keep Rupert, as he was always a long term play and he is only 21 still, but the other 3? Why? MEM grabbed guys like Huff and Pippen Jr and they have shown more than any of POR end of bench players ever have.

4th string center on a good team. The Blazers are not a good team.

I'm sure I'm missing something here. Next season, the Blazers have:

Ayton
Grant
Simons
Deni
Timelord
Thybulle
Scoot
Clingan
Sharpe
Murray
Camara
Rupert

That's 12. Add a 1st and that's 13. Even add a second round pick or retain Walker, and you're at 14.

Now, this does get complicated if the Blazers want to make a move in free agency. Obviously, you scout the market. But, with a payroll of $167M before we even draft a player and the 2026 salary cap having a ton of flexibility, I'm not sure it is in the Blazers best move to make any high dollar signing. And if you can make a move - ideally, getting out of Grant's contract - that further expands how things play out.

But I like Reath, and haven't seen anything to indicate why he isn't worthy of that Ime Udoka role.

You are missing Walker, Reath & Banton.

If you value Reath over Walker\Banton or even Rupert, that is an understandable opinion, but I don't really see the need for a 29yr old fringe NBA player, but with Williams out (again) maybe they hold onto him?

FYI, he is under contract next season (NG), so POR could pick up the option ($2.2mil) and then next year when he is 30, let him walk

Personally I would rather see POR get a 2nd round pick in the draft this year and go after one of the many young bigs who could be available, lots of intriguing players.

Banton is UFA, so he seems the most likely to let walk? Walker is RFA and Rupert has a team option, but he is really young still and this team is not close enough to competing to be stressing over the 15th spot on the roster, so IMO better to hold onto him than let him go for some middling\EOB vet.

There are other avenues of course, lopsided trades, offloading Murray for a 2nd, etc...