This lengthy article was written by Grantland during January 2015, but it is a good read. The Unassuming, Unknown Superstar Status of Al Horford Some key points:
Interesting that the players that you recommend be traded due to duplication are our two free agent signings from last summer, and that the ones that are better players worth keeping are players we traded for. Makes one slightly concerned about the value of this summer's cap space.
Yeah, as much as I like Olshey I've not been impressed with his Free Agent selections. It's his biggest weakness, IMO. Monroe and Kanter have been his best targets! I'm much more hopeful that trades will propel us forward. That's partially why I think it's imperative that we re-sign Meyers and Crabbe - at the very least they will be useful in future trades.
In a perfect world, we sign a center and trade for a power forward. Signing a center, whether it's Horford or Whiteside or Howard, should free up Plumlee or Davis (depending on who you want to keep) for a trade. I would look at potentially dealing Plumlee/Aminu and possibly Vonleh for a power forward. Example: Sign Whiteside Trade Plumlee/Vonleh/Cleveland 1st for Millsap. Re-sign Crabbe. Re-sign Harkless Re-sign Leonard. Dame/??? CJ/Crabbe Aminu/Harkless Millsap/Davis Whiteside/Leonard
Excuse me? He signed Aminu and Davis for bargain contracts, and both of those players were key components in our season. Aminu had a pretty damn good postseason. I thought his free agents from last year were exemplary, considering what he had to work with.
Ideally we want a center with size and skill, but since those guys are few and far between, I think I would chose the center with more skill over the center with more size. Horford to me has the most all around skill. There would be very few circumstances where he could not be on the floor at either C or PF. He seems like the safest bet. But realistically I would say the odds of getting either Whiteside, Howard, or Horford are all less than 50%. (And forget about Drummond) Sure give it a shot, but I am still thinking we should consider a combination of two players for the same amount of money and go after someone like Mozgov (size) and Evan Turner. (wing with ball handling skills)
Please don't take this as combative, I like discussion and promise I won't bash you for having a different opinion, unlike others, but who, in your opinion, should he have gone after that he didn't?
Okay, come on now. IT's been said over and over and over that Portland cant attract Free Agents,, but now all of a sudden that's on NO? He did great with his bargain signings last year. Would you be more impressed if he totally overpaid to get an allstar in here and spend all our cap sapce ona guy that isnt the right fit? Cant have it both ways. Either blame the city and our location or blame NO, but not both.
Whiteside has had left knee surgery in 2011 and now a right MCL injury. As Blazer fans do we really want a center on our roster with injury history?
There's a reason they are on bargain contracts - they were signed from the Bargain Bin. Also, it's possible to separate a player's contributions from a player's salary - it's not like the points they score are worth more because we're paying them less. I like Davis a lot - he's a typical Portland hero. But he's just not that good. Aminu is worse - he gives the appearance of working hard, but usually you get one step forward, two steps back with him. He was surprisingly good in the GSW series, and had one good game in the LAC series. Not enough to overlook his lack of any discernible skill or his propensity for stupid mistakes. Neither player should be considered a long-term piece - cash in on those bargain contracts before they lose their value.
Cuban doled out a 70 mil contract for Wessy last year. We got both Aminu and Davis combined for that amount. Ya the Neil FA comment is off base. Edit: Wes' contract is 70(!) mil, not 64. Wow
I honestly don't remember who past free agents were. But throughout his tenure I've felt like his drafting and trading have been far better than his signings - so my answer would probably be that he should focus on improving the team through trades, rather than free agency - there's more than one way to use cap space. Going back I remember: Hibbert - I thought it was a bad idea to offer him a MAX contract, but I understood the move. Hawes - I thought it was just a bad idea, period. Kaman - I liked it, but he was the back-up plan to Hawes. Dorell Wright - Bad player. Mo Williams - Pretty decent signing. Terry Stotts - I don't remember who the candidates were, but I'm pretty sure we passed on Joerger. I remember liking one or two candidates a lot more than Terry...but admittedly my opinions were based off of what I had read, and not what I had seen.
The ability to acquire rotation caliber players on reasonable contracts is how good GM's build contenders. It's why we're able to have max money to throw at a key guy this summer. The points might not be worth more, but those contributions wouldn't even exist without them. Do you remember how bad our bench was? Luke Babbitt and Nolan Smith. Neil has been slowly building our bench and adding pieces. We had one of our best bench units in 15 years. That's all possible because he's picking up guys on bargain contracts.
Well, yeah - not all his trades have been stellar! That was a bad one, but I believe it's the lone exception.
I think some team is going to end up with big buyer's regret signing Meyers. You can look at his stats and convince yourself that he's worth a lot of money in an expanded role....but that's the thing, you can't extrapolate out his numbers because he's so limited. Horford might be the best FA out there outside James/Durant. We could have a 9 man rotation, splitting their minutes up pretty evenly, and allow us to play high energy basketball. Lillard/Roberts CJ/Crabbe Harkless/Aminu Horford/Davis Plumlee
