How does Portland get better this off-season

Just for reference:

2019-20 Payroll: $126M committed to ten players, not including draft pick(s).

2019-20 Salary Cap: estimated $109M with tax level at $132M
———

Aminu, Curry, and Hood are all unrestricted. Layman is restricted. Layman will be back. That’s 11 players under contract and a safe bet that we’re already in the tax. I think Aminu and Curry are gone. I think we could get Hood back using our MLE, but wouldn’t be surprised if he got more.

Short of trading CJ I don’t see much activity this summer. If we used other pieces to get Blake we’d really be stretching the rest of our roster thin.

Give me hope please.

 

Neil Olshey:

 

Trade CJ to get an upgrade at the 4.
Fire Stotts
Get rid of Turner, Mo, Meyers. I'm actually ok with Meyers, but whatever.

Same as its always been.

Build around a core of:

Dame
Nurk

Surround them with other veterans, while developing Collins as a backup 4/5. Hopefully get some burn for Trent Jr at the backup point. I would keep Aminu and play him at the 3 if its reasonable.

 

Trent is a shooting guard, not a point guard.

 

PF ought to be the priority.

Trade up for Brandon Clarke.

Fire Neil, hire Hinkie.

 

Tatum said he wouldn't mind playing in New Orleans probably figuring he is going there anyhow. Any way we could make that a 3-way trade?

 

This isnt a shot at Stotts but if they lose in the 1st round again then that should probably mean time for a new coach. That doesnt guarantee improvement, BUT it could mean improvement too.

 

oh ok, backup 2 then.

Maybe:

Dame
Hood
Jake
????
Nurk

We really need a Blake Griffin type of player at the 4.

 

One thing they need to trade CJ because he just to short to defend the 2 position and to a team has a lot salary cap that way we don't have to take back all 25 million. Next person is Turner and due to this draft is pretty weak start in the 20 throw in and get a productive player back. Now you can try to trade Harkless and Leonard but I don't see no takers we have to wait and deadline. Hood you can try to bring back he can play the 2 and definitely you bring back Layman if someone don't throw some stupid contract at him. Trent can do what Curry does let go him.
Dame Simons
Hood Trent
Harkless Layman
Zach SKALs
Nurk Leonard
You probably going get at least player Turner trade and maybe 1or2 players from CJ trade.
Maybe the other 2 players you pick up through FA.

 

If they don't get out the 1st round you definitely has to make changes that maybe the coach and some players.

 

I would submit that when they were swept with HCA, it should have happened then. To not even be able to get 1 win against a team that has struggled in the Playoffs even more than the Blazers was jaw-dropping. They hadn't won a single Playoff game since 2011. Keeping Stotts was just enabling Dame and it cost this franchise another season in NBA purgatory. Who knows if a new coach would have made a difference but by keeping Stotts, it ensured no change.

 

I said multiple times that I would've let Stotts go after the Pelican series so you'll get no argument from me there. There are very few coaches with the cache to reign in a star, many coaches try and end up looking for a new job fairly quickly. It wasn't just keeping Stotts though that cost them it was, keeping everything basically the same, Personel, and Coaching. I didn't quite understand the argument of oh let's give them another shot. It wasn't like they were "close" to anything. They were close to winning a couple of those games in the first round... People will always point to well that was a bad matchup they had Anthony Davis. If one great player is all it takes for you to have a huge matchup disadvantage then the Blazers are basically at a disadvantage no matter who they play in the west, all these teams have stars, some have stars better than AD. Some of them aren't as good as AD but you're gonna have to beat those type of players if you want to advance.

 

Assuming lack of playoff success then you end the CJ experiment and find a home for Turner. Try and keep Hood, develop Trent and Simons, inject Collins with steroids, get a real PF.

As above:

Dame, Simons, backup PG from somewhere
Hood, Trent
Layman, Hood, Trent
____; Collins; Skal
Nurkic; Leonard; Skal

Surely you can get something at least decent for CJ.

 

I think a big decision will be Zach. If they view him as a center, he’d be best used as a trade piece imo. If they view him as a power forward, and so far Olshey has only compared him to power forwards, we should start him.

 

Answer fc me one question. What position does Eric Gordon play?

 

CJ is a lot like Gordon, better served as a bench scorer, then a starting 2, at least in my opinion.

 

wow, they aren't giving you more tickets this year lol.

 

Internal. Organic. Growth.

 

2 guard why?