Notice LONGTIME NBA ANALYST (MARK STEIN) PREDICTS BLAZERS WILL TRADE MCCOLLUM

Nah, we bring back Tyreke at any cost. Based off last year, he's a better player than C.J. I love Tyrekes game.

 

Otto Porter Jr. would be perfect and would give us a real chance if Zach could develop to his fullest potential as well. Maybe Washington goes after Cousins next year and is willing to trade Porter for cap space. If give a pick to WAS and a pick to a 3rd Team to take Harkless and Meyers (who'd be expiring).

 

This season we'll see whether Collins is taking the leap or not (though could be his 3rd year too). If he's better, much better, then we should pair him with Nurk and go the twin towers look. Collins already has great defensive instincts. Nurk eats up space. Pairing them for 30+ minutes would solidify the frontcourt IMO.

The question remains.....does trading CJ for a SF like Wiggins or Butler make us better or just create a new weak-spot in the lineup. I'm a willing fan to allow Neil the time/space to continue to build this team into a team to shine in 2020-2025 (Nurk, Collins, Trent, Simons), after the W's dynasty ends.

 

IMO, we have so much more ability to replace the production of CJ in the back court than to somehow increase the production of the front court out of thin air (or Zach's development).

Between Curry, Baldwin, Trent, Stauskas, I think you pretty easily replace at least 80% of the offense to say nothing of the improvement in defense and ball movement. Add to that the increase in production at SF (preferred) and I think it is a net gain.

Now there are times the Blazers would miss CJ unique ability to just go out and create a shot on his own....but for me, that tremendous skill is balanced throughout the game by how often he brings the entire offense to a dead halt and how often he is a liability on defense. Yes I know, they were better defensively this year....but I credit way more of that to that Nurkic was here for an entire season and you added Zach who is a very good rim protector. There we also a significant increase in defense the year before....as soon as Nurkic showed up from the trade. I don't credit CJ for much of that.

 

Agreed. OPJ would be a perfect add to this roster.

STOMP

 

There's this guy in our division that would be a perfect fit. Let me introduce you to Jimmy Butler.

 

I love your debate tactics.

 

Without bird rights, it'd be damn hard to bring him back under the CBA.

 

I agree. I think the very reason we loaded up on guards, is because Neil anticipates a possible trade of CJ. IMO, his value goes up more after the season starts as teams may speculate we are serious about trading him, hopefully creating a bidding war for him.

 

The flaw in your argument is that you're comparing Klay to Monta when you should be comparing Klay to Baldwin.

There's no one in the team that is gonna average 12.5 ppg, shooting 44% from the field and 41% from three in CJ's stead. Those are GREAT numbers for a rookie.

Like I said, we don't have a Klay.

 

I think that loading up on guards gives flexibility for a future trade of CJ (or even Dame) if one or more of the young guys pan out. I don't think there's much chance he's thinking of a trade this season.

 

Good point. I forgot about that provision

 

maybe not but if the right player presents itself, it could. If Minnie mad Butler available for example I think CJ and some would be in play.

 

We'd have cap space.

 

So you say a "huge no" to my CJ trade because you don't like the roster two years from now but then propose a trade without top end talent either? Tyreke had a really good year last year but it was only 52 games. Applying the same logic you applied to my trade in two years we could be left with trading CJ for Alize Johnson.

 

I didn't say that we did. Which is why I said, "Do we have a Klay? I don't know." I was just explaining the idea of balancing out the roster, as Kingspeed brought up Golden State.

But Klay wasn't some superstar off the bench. He was a solid rookie. Maybe Simons is that guy in a year? We don't know. But the idea is that you trade CJ for a comparable player at a position where we don't have a talented player that deserves minutes. Right now the forward positions are a huge question mark for me.

Out of all the guys that we just watched on our summer league team, who has the most potential to step up and be a scorer for this team?

Simons
Trent
Layman
Baldwin

We NEED a third scorer. Collins deserves minutes, but he's such a project on offense that I have zero expectations for him as any kind of scorer. Aminu and Harkless are role players. We need a third guy who can put up numbers consistently. Where are those points going to come from?

 

You're creating a false narrative and you tend to do that. No one was calling Klay a "superstar off the bench". But please don't deny putting up numbers like that in your rookie season is solid. That's the reason they traded a 22 ppg scorer for an injury prone center who never proved anything. They drafted Klay for that very reason, to trade Ellis. We don't have anyone that would contribute like that if we give up CJ. This is my entire point.

 

And you like to make personal attacks when they're not necessary. Just make your point and leave it at that. Don't psychoanalyze my post please.

I was trying to say that there was never a guarantee that Klay was going to turn into a 20 ppg scorer, which is what they traded in Monta. He put up nice numbers as a rookie and they dealt Monta for a center that eventually helped win them a championship.

If they drafted Klay to get rid of Monta, why did we just draft two shooting guards? (and sign two more)

 

This wouldn't happen if you didn't put words in people's mouths. You were trying to say I was saying that Klay was a "superstar off the bench". I said nothing like that. But Klay was a lottery pick. You expect lottery picks to at least become starters. If you thought I was attacking you personally by saying you tend to create false narratives, thicken up your skin... I'm literally talking about your post. And if you don't think that they drafted Klay to have options with Monta, I'd disagree.