Ifeaanyi Festus Ezeli is in town and preparing to interview w Blazers

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

 

I hope he's in shape. People in this forum are penciling him as a starter while he only averaged about 17 mpg last season and 14 mpg since he came into the NBA.

 

Portland needs a defensive center, is one of the few teams left that needs a big man and that also has cap space. I wonder where he would be if there were more options?

 

He WANTS that money. We can give him the most of it.

 

Elezi believe he can fit in and the big one is he believe he can get starter min.

 

Hope he signs with you guys and stays healthy. You'll like him, I always did. If his knees hold up, he's definitely starter quality and is worth the money, realtively speaking.

 

Not crazy about him unless the price is right. In four years in the league, he has already missed a full season, and has not played in more than 46 regular season games the last two years. Can he be a guy you count on to stay healthy? Seems unlikely.

 

I agree that's important. (For example: Whiteside didn't want to be here; therefore, I'm glad he's not.)

I understand Ezeli is also considered a good teammate. Honestly, our team culture should not tolerate anyone who isn't.

 

I don't think it was a matter of Whiteside not wanting to be here. I'm sure he would have gladly signed here if we offered the most money. Whiteside wanted a max contract from the Heat, and he used the Mavs as leverage. I think Neil knew this so he didn't waste any time on him.

 

The way I look at is that the Blazers are going to have to take some serious gambles if they want to alter their fortunes. That's going to mean high-risk, high-reward moves that could have catastrophic consequences. The pipeline of young talent has been mostly cut off the last couple of years minus first-round picks and we just don't have enough star power to have any realistic hope of competing with the likes of Golden State, et al.

I think Ezeli blossoming into a 30+ minutes a night player who tilts the court is pretty remote (given injury history and the paucity of minutes he's played in the league). That said, while there might only be a 5% chance (probably less) of him becoming that guy we need, there's still a chance.

I'm much more on board with gambling on a guy like this than I was with throwing obscene amounts of money at a washed up guy like Pau.

Roll them bones.

 

Unlikely, but probably a gamble the Blazers should take.

Look at this way, he could be a total and complete bust and the Blazers would still be in the same position they are now with respect to even sniffing a title, but if by some near act of god this guy blossoms into a difference maker and a few other things break right, the Blazers might be in a position to take advantage of another Curry knee injury or Durant foot surgery in a couple of years.

 

These two tweets from July 4th are interesting -


If the Blazers hold firm on not renouncing any of the rights to our RFAs, then we could only offer Ezeli around $7M 1st year, $30M over 4 years.

I wonder if we're waiting to find out if Crabbe, Harkless or Leonard will receive any crazy offers. If they do, then at that point Olshey would have an easier decision.

 

This is certainly a "high-risk" move, but I don't see the "high-reward" to counterbalance it. Especially if we're parting ways with Harkless and/or Meyers.

I didn't have high hopes for Free Agency, but somehow Neil seems to be turning what should have been mediocre into something awful.

 

At this point, I'd like to keep ALL of the players plus add Ezeli. That would bump my offseason grade to at least a B+ pending what they do with Plumlee.

 

If Meyers really is going to take the Qualifying Offer I'd say that's a pretty strong signal he's gone next summer anyway. Viewed through that prism, you might as well renounce him and take a chance on a guy that can actually play when healthy.

I ask myself one question. Of these four players who is the most likely to turn into a true difference maker? If Ezeli can stay healthy I think he'd get my vote, with Harkless a close second.

 

Yeah, Meyers is definitely the one I would cut loose, I don't want to lose the other 2.

 

Riffin' off of "The French Connection" sounds tough AND relatively speaking... MUCH tougher AND WILL fight!

 

The "reward potential" with Ezeli is potentially the best defensive center in the league, a strong rebounder, a guy who can finish on the pick-and-roll and post up and score over defenders who are shorter or weaker than him.

To be clear, that isn't what he is now, except the rebounding part. He might be the best defensive center but you'd have to believe small sample size rate stats to believe that right now. He showed good finishing ability until his injury and then tailed off the rest of the year (a big issue for the Warriors in the playoffs was that Ezeli was no longer a reliable finisher).

The risk is both that he misses big chunks of the season, or even the playoffs, with injury and that he can't sustain his defensive rate stats when playing bigger minutes.

This isn't a sucker's bet, since his top-end potential is extremely valuable (a stronger DeAndre Jordan with better rim protection and less lob finishes), but there is a lot of uncertainty and risk.

 

If all things were equal and the Warriors were forced to choose between Bogut and Ezeli, two sources expressed belief the team would prefer Ezeli, who was cheaper last season but almost certainly won’t be next season.

http://www.csnbayarea.com/warriors/sources-warriors-frustration-bogut-could-lead-trade

 

Precisely. To me there is no risk, because it's almost a fait accompli that the the Warriors are about to go on a two or three year steamrolling tour around the association (with the caveat that injuries can happen). Doing nothing or just keeping our own FAs isn't going to make this Blazers team into a contender. If by some miracle Ezeli turns into "that guy" then maybe we at least get a puncher's chance.