I think so too. I would think any of those 3 would be fairly easy to trade, since they are on reasonable contracts, not too long, and are not bad players. We'd probably only get a 2nd round pick though. Maybe we can get a young prospect that hasn't panned out (like Vonleh).
Scorer's mentality; insane athleticism; youth. Lavine has all of these over Crabbe. Remember, he was the 3rd option behind KAT and Wiggins, and Crabbe was basically the second option most of the time he was on the floor. Yet Crabbe took nearly 50% fewer shots per 36 than Lavine. He's simply not aggressive enough to carry a team's offense. Possibly because he can't create any offense for himself. I stand by my statement. Each asset given by Minnesota is better than any asset we were willing to offer for Butler. It wasn't close.
I lived in Chicago and followed that debacle of a front office for years. Let me tell you now, there is a -1408% chance they take on that Turner contract, even if you gave them a potential lottery pick.
Timberwolves still won't make the playoffs. Wiggins, Rubio, and Dieng are all average to below average NBA starters. That also have little good depth and they don't have a single good 3pt shooter on the entire team. Not worried.
I feel like Thaddeus Young is a guy that could make sense to grab given his skillset/our timeline IF we can offload a not so great contract. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ycyc9g58 I wish we could get in on facilitating LMA to Indiana and George to SAS (this one is probably too complicated to be feasible)
I agree with this, Minn didn't solve their late game issues with Butler. They'll have to hope for internal growth with that... Well and Thibbs will need to learn forcing Wiggins to go 1 on 5 isn't a high % play call.
With a glut of bigs I think Neil can take a risk on a prospect who probably could use a change of scenery. Before he came to Portland Mo Harkless was racking up DNPs in Orlando. With Swanigan and Collins I think Vonleh will be moved. He's probably the most movable piece we have oufside the core. My idea: To Orlando: Noah Vonleh | Tim Quarterman (for cap purposes) To Portland: Mario Hezonja
Wiggins averages 23 ppg with a 16.5 PER. He's a solid starter. Rubio almost averaged a double double last year, with a 16.8 PER. They may be better than you think
I don't think Portland can realistically think about getting players in return, they need to dump salary. They're going to have to give Nurkic a huge deal next year. They really need to find a way to get rid of Crabbe or Turner. I expect Ed Davis and Aminu to be delt in cap dump moves.
Meyers (3 yrs @ 30M) and Ed Davis (1 yr @ 6M) saves us 16mil this year. I see an inclusion of these guys whenever a FA or future pick may come here.
At this time, I do not see any realistic trades. There maybe an opportunity to make a fair trade at the deadline, however, I would be OK sticking with this roster for the entire season. So what if PA has to pay luxury tax for this season. Let’s take a look at what we have. My guess is, we make the playoffs, and our entire roster will have one more season of experience. Many of our players will improve their skills, and raise their trade value for the next off season. The next draft will be the next reasonable time to make a splash with a consolidation trade. I’m not saying we should pass up a no-brainer trade. What I am saying is, do not make a trade that will cost the team trade assets, just to get below the LT. And I do not believe we are overstocked with bigs as some have mentioned. Bigs appear to get injured more often. Plus we have bigs just entering the development stage, and the results are un-known. We should have enough bigs to get by this season. But do not rush out to trade several of them. Again, next off-season will be a better time to consider trading bigs, and dumping salary. Fan patience and hard work by the players should be the mindset for this season. This sport is not a video game with instant results.
Everyone keeps saying the Blazers need to dump salary, I want to adjust that idea to being Shave salary. What does that mean? It means getting shorter contracts back here and there. Crabbe has 3 years left on his contract we need to get back avguy who has 2. Same for Turner or Meyers. But even better we need Crabbe to have a productive year and boost his trade value relevant to contract value. Same for Meyers. As much as people complain about the contracts we wouldn't have been better off without those guys they all contributed to us getting into the playoffs and we wouldn't have had cap space after Turner to fill out the roster as productively... even though we did overpay for Crabbe.
However, Wiggins averages that much because of volume shooting with meh efficiency, and he's not a good rebounder, passer, and he's a very bad defender. I could name at least 15 PGs better than Rubio. This might make them a 40 win team, but that's it IMO
Timberwolves are close to having the cap space to go after Lowry or Paul... something to keep an eye on.
I don't see why you think either Harkless or Aminu will go. They are the only medium size players we have with versatility to guard different positions. (I consider Turner to be more guard-sized). We didn't draft anyone to replace them. So, unless we could find a trade that brings someone back who is their size and can do what they do better, I don't see why we would trade them.
Seriously, you think Allen Crabbe is better than Zach LaVine????? Crabbe may be THE most 1-dimensional player in the entire NBA, and one of the most overpaid. Crabbe does one thing, and only one thing well - catch and shoot wide open 3-pointers. He cannot create his own shot and he cannot create for others. He's a horrible rebounder for his size and was the worst defender on a bad defensive team. LaVine is 3 years younger, FAR cheaper ($3.2 million vs. $18.5 million), can create his own shot and finish at the rim and can create for others. His 2FG% was actually higher than Crabbe's and he gets too the FT line more. He can beat people off the dribble and Crabbe can't. The one, any only thing Crabbe does better is catch and shoot wide open 3-pointers. LaVine's 3FG% is well above league average and he's not afraid to shoot a 3 with a defender within the same zip code. Crabbe was assisted on 97% of his 3FGs and 77.5% of his 2FGs. He is reliant on others to create shots for him. LaVine was assisted on 80.8% of his 3FGs and 46.6% of his 2FGs. He can, and does create his own shot. Crabbe cannot. LaVine's AST% was 12.6, Crabbe's was 6.1. LaVine can create for others. Crabbe cannot. Trading Butler signifies that the Bulls are in full on rebuild mold. Rebuilding around a multifaceted 22-year old that makes $3.2 million makes a hell of a lot more sense than rebuilding around a 1-dimensional 25-year old that makes $18.5 million. BNM
