Damian Lillard $42,492,492 Eric Bledsoe $3,900,000 (dead salary) Josh Hart $12,960,000 Justise Winslow $4,097,561 Keon Johnson $2,681,040 Nassir Little $4,171,548 Didi Louzada $1,876,222 Greg Brown III $1,563,518 Trendon Watford $1,563,518 (Andrew Nicholson) $2,844,429 (dead salary) Jusuf Nurkić $18,000,000 (cap-hold) Anfernee Simons $12,000,000 (cap-hold) Top-3 pick $9,000,000 (estimate) Roster Charge $1,000,000 (estimate) about 118M with a 121-122 salary cap = 3-4M in cap-space. And that doesn't include 30M in TPE's or 6-10M in MLE Bridges is eligible for a max contract and that starts at 30M/year....and Charlotte would be sure to match I really don't know where the idea that Portland would even consider a cap-space move comes from comes from. They'd have to renounce Nurkic and one of Hart/Simons
they wouldn't instantly match...they would take 71 hours & 59 minutes to match so as to make the Blazers dangle on their offer
Re: Bowie I just checked basketball-reference. Bowie was at KU for 5 years and during that time missed 2 full seasons. (81-82 and 82-83) Yes, he was a skilled player. No, his injuries were not somehow unpredictable.
So Damian Lillard is Sebastian Telfair in this example? Seems a fair comp right? Just trying to make sure you aren't you know conflating apples and oranges to beat the BPA no matter what drum. Which btw I actually agree with, just if two players are of similar talent and one is able to play SF/PF seems to me we ought to take the guy who plays the position we need? If Ivey drops to #7 and it's him or Holmgren I may very well take Ivey because the talent differential would be huge, and the same is true with any Big below that tier such as Duren (though I think he's a darkhorse for a surprise top 3 best players in this draft).
Right so therefore the talent differential was monumental and you can easily play Clyde at SF or Jordan at PG.
This is precisely what I've been saying, but in case you haven't heard Bowie over MJ and Webster over CP3.
Sure that's fair enough standing reach + quickness (need both) are more important than height, but you know the guy who Plays Taller, however you want to define it or, NOT A FREAKING GUARD. I love how we kept drafting and trading for guards and everyone is like Olshey is an idiot! And I'm like hey maybe draft a larger player if the talent discrepancy isn't large and everyone says ERMERGERDH BOWIE OVER JERRRDANNNN!!!!!
I don't know if they would match a max offer. They've got Hayward, Oubre and Washington who basically cover for what they'd be missing from Bridges. They also have two mid first round picks and are a small market team that can't afford a lot of luxury tax. They might look for a sign and trade if a team could free up enough cap space to offer a max deal. All of this is moot though because we will not have the cap space despite our trades to go after Bridges... at least I don't think so.
Let's just hope we don't misevaluate the players in this draft like we've done in the past. I think grading draft prospects and making picks is like some form of alchemy and we haven't often been able to turn lead into gold.
Not to nit-pick, but I believe the comp would be Simons. I know some won't want to hear it, but it is still speculation whether he or Ivey will have the better career or be a better fit next to Dame. Disclaimer: I like Ivey's chances to be really good - but I also suspect Davis will be better than some of the players drafted ahead of him, so what do I know?
That quote was from Bob Knight after coaching MJ on the Olympic team. https://fadeawayworld.net/nba-media...stead-of-michael-jordan-so-play-him-at-center STOMP
I wonder if Boston's mindset will change about making moves if they can't pull out the series against Milwaukee.
The Blazers were laser focused on drafting a center; a position of need at the time. They had 2 on their board. Everyone knew about Bowie's injury history; it was an obvious red flag. I am laser focused on drafting BPA; and trading for need. And don't get fleeced.
Well I'm not suggesting we take a 4th tier big when Ivey or Sharpe are still on the board. I'm saying if talent is a coin flip as to who is better, go for someone who can play SF/PF or even Center and trade Nurk. It's always much easier to trade a big for a smaller player than the reverse. It's another adage akin to BPA, never trade Big for Small and salaries and most trades seem to follow this truism. There just aren't that many humans who are big enough to play SF let alone PF or C.
Ivey can maybe be better than Ant though I doubt he will in the next two seasons. Ant as you recall was buried on the bench and didn’t develop a ton until this season when he got his chance. You’d have to be really confident in Ivey to unload either Dame or Ant this offseason or really in the next two. Seeing as it takes two to tango, I think drafting Ivey only makes a lot of sense if you either plan to trade Dame or have a trade for a quality big in exchange for Ivey that you can pull off on Draft night. The clock is ticking on Dame’s window and I really want to give him the best shot possible. If we got the number One pick we gotta take Jabari Smith or maybe Banchero. We ought to take a position of need player unless there is a huge talent gap, in which case yep, take BPA and figure out a trade later.