Zombie How much should the Blazers offer Gerald Henderson?

You have to pay a good player to have a good team....we have plenty of cap space and he's a good player. He's already got a feel for the offense...

 

Sure, but you're talking about paying Gerald "starter money" to come off the bench. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that he could start for at least a few teams in the league, so that means a higher price tag. It's not going to be cheap to keep this bench together.

 

Andre Iguodala got starters money to come off the bench for Golden State...having a great bench means not scrimping salary and hiring 2nd or 3rd string quality bench players. We have Davis and Aminu now on affordable deals..I think cap wise we're ahead of the curve..and part of the curve is having guys with chemistry who grow with the team. The constant revolving door for roster spots is for lottery teams.

 

Crabbe fits the window better, but he is missing that swagger that CJ and Hendo possess. Honestly I think that's the attribute that's holding him back. To be a really good two guard in the NBA, you HAVE to have confidence. I've just never really gotten that vibe from him. He doesn't have that attitude like he can score on anyone. That concerns me.

 

His Cap hold is 9 MIL or thereabouts if I am remembering it correctly.

 

I like Crabbe at SF. He is long enough to fill that 3+D role. Obviously it depends on who they think they can get in free agency, but lets assume for a second they don't get anyone new. If that happens I would not mind keeping both Henderson and Crabbe. They are two different types of players, yet both are versatile enough to play SG/SF.

I know Crabbe has slumped a little since his hot start, but it is part of the process IMO. Teams made adjustments on him and now he needs to counter. If I recall, they say Crabbe has an excellent work ethic, so that gives me more confidence he will take the next step.

I do go back and forth on whether to keep both Crabbe and Henderson or both Harkless and Aminu? All 4 can play 2 positions. But I don't think you can ever have enough shooters. So I have to lean towards keeping Crabbe/Henderson

So who do you put with Crabbe at SF? Aminu or Harkless? Aminu is longer and can back up the PF position a little more often.
So as much as I hate losing Harkless, I think he is once again the odd man out.

If Portland does add a big time SF in free agency, and I had to pick between Crabbe or Henderson .....I would try not to duplicate their strengths. For example if we signed Durant or Parsons, I would keep the slasher Henderson. If we signed DeRosan....... I would keep the 3 pt shooting Crabbe.

 

That all makes a lot of sense.

 

We re-sign Henderson because Crabbe is headed to Sactown in the Boogie deal.....

 

... Because he's older.

Crabbe and Hendo fill the same role, though I like Crabbe backing up/taking over for Aminu. At the moment, I would move Aminu, Plumlee, and Harkless to get the most amazing guy I could get at PF, and start Crabbe/Davis next year. But that could change tomorrow.

 

Henderson is not 3-D. He's also a dribbler and an inside scrapper. If McCollum goes down for a season, Henderson, not Crabbe, is good enough to start for a season.

The cause is that Henderson's an excellent dribbler and Crabbe isn't.

 

Yes, these guys all can slide between positions, but they don't all have the same overlap. I see it as:

Henderson: SG only (by only, I mean SF only in rare situational match-ups)
Crabbe: SG / SF
Harkless: SF / PF
Aminu: SF / PF

Henderson and Crabbe are the best of the bunch. Between Aminu and Harkless I think Aminu has trade value, and Harkless can be retained for cheap - so for me it's an easy decision to trade Aminu and re-sign Harkless (for less than Aminu's current contract?). Harkless also has more raw talent than Aminu, and therefore has the potential to be a much better player...all he needs is a consistent role to develop consistency. Heck - he doesn't even need to be consistent to be better than Aminu, because Aminu is wildly inconsistent.

It will definitely be interesting to see what changes we make this summer. I have a feeling that Olshey really likes Aminu, but hopefully he sees him for who he is because starting SF is our biggest need, IMO.

 

Here's a position PT breakdown this season as per bbref.

Henderson: 83% SG, 17% SF
Crabbe: 53% SG, 47% SF, 1% PF
Harkless: 3% SG, 79% SF, 18% PF
Aminu: 68% SF, 32% PF

 

I agree there is not much overlap as they all do different things well.

I like Henderson and Crabbe as they are the most well rounded in terms of offense/defense.
But Aminu is so versatile defensively I would hate to lose him. With a 7'3 1/4" wingspan (and 9'. 1/2" standing reach) he is ideal to have coming off your bench. And I like Harkless' energy, but how do you keep him happy with so few minutes?

Again this is all based on us not signing a free agent SF who would start, which is a strong possibility, but I think you keep keep Henderson and Crabbe if you can.
Maybe you keep all 4........ injuries do happen.

 

Very solid post here. Agree completely.
The biggest hole in this lineup in my opinion is Harkless, followed by Vonleh.

 

Iman Shumpert money would be fair.