Not quite. You just can't aggregate the TPE with players in order to match salaries. We could absolutely trade a low-salary player like Swanigan or Layman for a higher salary player coming in on the TPE.
You want him to be more active? Like he was during the Summer of 2016? Given his track record, I think this is exactly the time of year we want him taking a vacation. He already turned over 27% of the roster by adding two rookies, including 1 via trade, and signing 2 free agents. He also resigned Nurk to a team friendly deal. Again, I'll take this, both short term and long term, over of Summer of 2016 like debacle. Looking over this list: 87. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist $13,000,000 87. Khris Middleton $13,000,000 89. Mason Plumlee $12,917,808 90. Wilson Chandler $12,800 91. Solomon Hill $12,763,467 92. Nikola Vucevic $12,750,000 93. Dion Waiters $12,705,000 94. Austin Rivers $12,650,000 95. Joe Ingles $12,545,455 96. Jeremy Lin $12,516,746 97. Jordan Clarkson $12,500,000 97. Nikola Mirotic $12,500,000 99. Miles Plumlee $12,400,000 99. Tyreke Evans $12,400,000 101. Courtney Lee $12,253,780 102. Kemba Walker $12,000,000 102. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope $12,000,000 104. TJ Warren $11,750,000 105. Zach Randolph $11,692,308 106. Patrick Mills $11,571,429 107. Alec Burks $11,536,515 108. Omer Asik $11,977,527 109. Kelly Olynyk $11,137,527 110. Jusuf Nurkic $11,111,111 111. Iman Shumpert $11,011,234 112. Moe Harkless $10,837,079 113. Tony Snell $10,607,143 114. Dante Exum $10,600,000 115. Meyers Leonard $10,595,506 116. John Henson $10,577,466 117. Bojan Bogdanovic $10,500,000 117. Mirza Teletovic $10,500,000 117. Terrence Ross $10,500,000 120. Robert Covington $10,464,092 121. Jon Leuer $10,002,681 122. Andre Roberson $10,000,000 122. Darren Collison $10,000,000 122. Danny Green $10,000,000 I don't see anyone who would be available for the TPE who would be an upgrade over Moe Harkless. Sure, Middleton and Covington would be significant upgrades, but you aren't getting either for a TPE. I wanted Courtney Lee in the past, but we are now plenty deep at guard and Lee doesn't have the size to be a starting SF. He could play the 3 for spot minutes in 3-guard lineups, but I'd rather just give those minutes to Trent Jr. as Lee is almost 33 and won't be hear long term, while Trent Jr. will be. So, given the choices unless Neil can pull a rabbit out of his ass and somehow land a significant upgrade, (like Middleton or Covington), I don't see any real benefit of using the TE on someone who won't make us better short term or long. BNM
Those aren’t the only players he could theoretically acquire with the TPE. There are even rookie scale guys he could’ve gone after. But that would’ve cost money. And if we’re still paying for 2016, why is he here?
Who is going to give up a rookie scale, or other cheap player, who is good enough to matter for a TPE? Seriously? Who is that dumb? So what do we have to do, include a future pick in the trade just to get a player who won't make us any better? I'd rather keep the pick. Tell me, who exactly can we get for the TPE today that would make us better, and why would their current team be willing to give them away for nothing? I suspect he's still here because he killed the Nurk trade, drafts well (guards, at least) and was able to resign Nurk to a team friendly deal. Yeah, he fucked up and overspent in 2016. So did many others. Not saying that makes it excusable, but it was a freak event when a whole shit ton of players ended up getting grotesquely overpaid. He made his bed, but he has been slowly righting his wrongs. The Nurk trade was huge. He's more talented than any free agent we have ever signed on the open market, and he got him for a lesser player we were going to let walk anyway - and that lesser player makes more per season coming off the bench for DEN than Nurk makes starting for POR. The Nurk trade and resigning wasn't just a home run, it was a walk off grand slam. He just stole two young talents in the draft, and given the organization's track record for developing guards, I'm excited about both. I'll take each and every one of of Nurk, Simons and Trent Jr. over anyone we could realistically get with the TPE. Perhaps Neil oversold the value of the Crabbe TPE, but I'd rather see him let it expire than doubling down on his past mistakes (matching the Crabbe offer sheet) in an attempt to save face. BNM
Rookie scale guys get dumped all the time. May have had to add a second rounder but that ain’t a big deal. We got Harkless for a PROTECTED second in 2076. We got Thomas Robinson like a year after he was drafted for seconds. It’s not about getting a massive upgrade. It’s about getting someone better and with more of an upside than Nik Stauskas. Olshey settled on Stauskas because he was cheap.
Even though I see them as totally differently players, Stauskas and Robinson were both SAC lottery picks that didn't live up to expectations. Multiple teams gave up on both, and Neil picked them up on the cheap. Given our team's ability to develop guards and our abject failure at developing young bigs, I think Stauskas may prove more worthwhile then TRob. If not, he was incredibly cheap and will be gone after a year. Sure, he was cheap (doesn't get much cheaper than a 1-year min contract), but he's also 6'6" and can shoot. That will allow the team more small ball, 3-guard options. I hope Trent Jr. will eventually wrestle those minute from Stauskas (the sooner the better IMHO), and if so, the 1-year contract length makes sense. But, we're talking about guys in the bottom 1/3 of the depth chart (i.e. guys who don't really matter in the grand scheme of things). Will you really be disappointed if we don't use the Crabbe TPE to shore up the end of the end of the bench? BNM
Could've been used in many ways. For instance, let's say Olshey's pursuing a Blake for Turner/Aminu/Swanigan deal, but they hedge; then we say, "Fine, we'll also take Jon Leuer's ridiculous contract into our TPE." Boom--TPE is useful. BTW, both teams would benefit from that deal--it should totally happen. But it won't.
Yep, it can be used to take back a shitty contract in exchange for a worthwhile upgrade. We just need to convince someone to take one of our even shittier contracts. BNM
This. They could’ve gotten creative with it. But that would’ve required Olshey to cut his Bahamas trip short. I want to see a commitment to winning. So far I haven’t seen that in two years, and the guy responsible for the reason why, is still here, peddling the same bullshit. Not buying it anymore.
I'm not saying that Olshey doesn't deserve blame for this too, but the guy responsible for the reason why is Paul Allen. There is a time where he would've allowed Olshey to do whatever it takes to keep a guy like Lillard happy no matter how high the payroll got. Now he doesn't even want to pay the tax. Edit: I think Allen is a good owner, for the record.
You’re right, Allen deserves blame too. But do we really want to see Olshey with financial freedom again?
Not on that list, because it goes lower, but I think Marcus Morris could be a solid add for the TPE at the 3/4 spot of the rotation. Morris makes 5.3 this season. Also, Boston is 3 million over the LT. Not a huge amount, they're a really good team, not looking at a huge tax bill. But they'll certainly jump way higher if they keep Irving next year, so similar to us last season waiting an additional year before starting that repeater clock, they can wait 1 year by moving him and ducking under. He was solid for them, so why do they do it? Depth chart for Boston: Irving/Rozier Brown/Smart Hayward/Bird Tatum/Ojeleye/Theis/Yabusele Horford/Baynes The rotation sees a LOT of mixing and matching between their wings. Tatum plays the 3, Hayward 2/3, Brown 2/3, Ojeleye and Yabusele 3/4. With enough guys to easily cover his minutes, Morris is a luxury, but enough to justify the tax? Moving Smart for the TPE moves them from 3 over to a bit over 2 under. With the tax penalty, it saves an immediate 6 million, and if they stay under, gives them a chunk of the tax payment, making it even more $$ in the owner's pockets before bigger paydays for guys come up soon. For us, I don't know if he for sure starts over Harkless, but he's a guy who can give us really good minutes at the 3 and 4, stretch the floor a little with his shooting, at 36%, not gonna kill us on defense, and had a lot of good playoff experience, checking that box.
Oversold by who? They said they were viewing it as space to use to improve the team. That is not a guarantee that they are going to spend it. What did you want them to do, go out and bring in the next Evan Turner? In other words, if somebody is available who will vault us into contention, and we can get that player using the TPE, we'll do it. I've seen nothing that would indicate otherwise...
If Olshey's commitment to winning matched RipCityTwo's commitment to whining, the Blazers would be in the finals, baby!!
Well, we got the 3 seed in the west last season. If we could get a guy who would get us into the top 2 I think they probably would have pulled the trigger... Don't you?
