The super Melo to Portland thread + The Big Blockbuster

gross.

 

It didn't work because Wes tore his frickin achilles and Afflalo hurt his shoulder.

https://www.blazersedge.com/2015/4/9/8381175/arron-afflalo-injured-portland-trail-blazers

 

I thought it was an amazing deal at the time (you can go check), because I was high on Nurk. But when you hear Olshey talk about the deal, it certainly didn't seem like he thought Nurkic would contribute so soon.

 

He was bad even before he hurt his shoulder. 8.2 PER in his 25 games with us BEFORE he hurt his shoulder.

Not to mention we had CJ at the time who the team *supposedly* believed in, but apparently not enough to fully commit the backup SG position to.

 

Shocker, a guy that was brought in to be a backup wasn't able to immediately produce halfway through the season and after 50 days on the team.

 

OR

Team had a better player waiting in the wings but didn't trust him - poor decision making/judgment

Team thought a player would play at a certain level but didn't - poor decision making/judgment

Team gave a better player that they thought was a worse player in the trade for supposed better player - poor decision making/judgment

Team felt like they needed to add a 1st round pick on top - poor decision making/judgment

I'm not gonna argue the Afflalo trade any further. It was an awful trade by all accounts only slightly (and very slightly) made better when you look at context. But it still sucked ass. If you still want to argue that it was a good move be my guest.

 

In France they still breakdance to celebrate victory.

 

That is a great break dance freeze. I honestly didn't know Nico was a b-boy.

Press play on the video (one of my favorite Electro tracks) and stare at Nico's amazing freeze.

 

You beat me dammit.

 

I didn't know Nick was a break dancer. Cool!

 

Dammit I step out to do my job for 10 minutes....

 

Dammit!!!!

 

It's not because Afflalo got hurt, it's because he wasn't very good, he's still not good, we lost a better asset in Barton and a 1st round pick to boot.

 

Leonard is a non-factor. He didn't even get playing time when we resorted to playing Aminu and Vonleh at center. So this deal would basically be Harkless for Anderson. Same exact salary in as out. Harkless is a solid player, but he's not an impact player. Anderson would be a high impact player for our offense. Think about all the open 3 pt looks Aminu gets...imagine a good 3pt shooter getting those, it would really help the team.

 

He had an 11.7 PER before the trade in Denver. Still well below 'average'.
Afflalo just was never that good of an NBA player. He was always hyped to be a better player than he actually was.

 

I agree with what Ryan can do on this team. He is a major upgrade as far as production is considered. (Offensively speaking) the problem is his freakin salary. Is NO sure there isn't a better deal somewhere else? How many times have we read that this deal was all but done. This trade thread started July 6th for Nurkic (God) sake.

 

But are we for sure that Anderson would be the return?

 

Nobody knows what the return would be, but all indications are that Anderson is in the deal. If New York would take Anderson the deal would be done already. So he's either going to Portland or a 4th team.

 

Leonard and Harkless have 3 years left at a combined 60 million. Same exact amount as Anderson. And since Leonard is a net negative who will not sniff the rotation (barring an amazing resugence), salary is really not a factor here.

We can still make other moves to reduce salary, such as trading Ed Davis to Boston or dumping Crabbe on Brooklyn.