If you trade one of your best players, you should expect to downgrade at that position. The gain would come at the position for the player you picked up. It's just nice not to be left with nothing at shooting guard. Not to mention McCollum was pretty lightly regarded at one time too. That doesn't mean Crabbe will also blow up--most likely he won't--but he still has some pre-prime potential left and he can shoot. Shooting is always important for spacing the floor.
Crabbe's defense is average at best, and CJs offense is in another stratosphere than Crabbes'. And CJ is a great character guy and Cousins is at the other end of the spectrum, not to mention he's a volume shooter that is less efficient than Aldridge.
You mean other than the fact he can actually pull up and shoot a jumper "off the dribble". Which sadly most NBA players can't do effectively.
Because we might want to retain some guys down the road but can't because we're pushing up against the luxury tax threshold.
I imagine Harkless will be signed to something similar to Meyers. We are really going all in with this team. Dame / Napier CJ / Crabbe / Pat / Montero Turner / Harkless / Layman Aminu / Davis / Vonleh Plumlee / Ezeli / Leonard There's a big boom potential with this team.
We play in Portland, Oregon. You have to do whatever it takes to retain your own assets and you have to overpay to get free agents to sign here. We should be feel very lucky that Paul Allen is our owner and has opened up his wallet for this roster. There was no way we were going to have cap room next summer regardless of Crabbe, or Meyers and Moe for that matter, so luxury tax really means nothing if your owner is willing to pay.
If the team is contending the luxury tax won't matter to Allen. Olshey and McGowan has stated this many times.
Lillard (36) / Turner (12) McCollum (35) / Crabbe (13) Turner (16) / Crabbe (15) / Harkless (17) ET and Crabbe getting 28min a game. That's enough of a role to pay them their respective contacts
Can someone refresh my memory on the substitution patterns with Dame and CJ? When do they usually come out in th first quarter? If I remember correctly I think Dame plays almost the entire first and sits the last two and a few into the second. With that being the case I think Turner comes off the bench for Dame or CJ so we have two ball handlers in at all times. Crabbe or Harkless would start to provide 4 three point shooters and allow space for whatever big man (Plumlee or Festus) to PNR to the basket.
Unlikely. It wasn't a certainty that the Blazers would match. No one would sign a player to a contract they themselves consider ridiculous, because they may well end up paying it.
Yeah, but we'll only have to let go of one guy to not pay much Luxury Tax at all. That makes Crabbe's contract #s obsolete.
Crabbe's contract is the only one that is somewhat difficult to trade. We have options. So what if we are stuck with him? He's good. Paul Allen is not going to lose someone who is better just because of the Luxury tax. CJ is not going anywhere.....except in some fantasy trade. And that would not suck either.
@Denny Crane - I gotta say, my mind has changed on this over the past few days. I see the bigger picture now, let this team play together and grow. That sticker shock got to me, but I'm happy with matching. In Neil I trust.
