Well if Jody is gonna be a cheapskate, As long as Dame is here he won’t ever see a championship ring on his finger.
I would be open to an Ant for Lavine trade as long as there wasn't much else included on our end. We get the better player, Chicago gets the guy with slightly better upside for less money. Not sure if we could do a Lavine + Filler for Ant + Bledsoe. Cap experts would have to chime in on that. Also, this only works if Lavine has made it clear he doesn't want to stay and Chicago is trying to get something of value in return.
LaVine has no business being one of our targets given his size, lack of defense, injury history (and upcoming knee surgery), lack of playoff success, and salary expectations. This is regardless of if we involve Ant in the deal too. If we use all our pseudo flexibility on getting LaVine while also losing Hart, Cronin can F straight out.
ok....I see the disconnect now, thanks my take: becoming a contender was NEVER going to be a quick 1-2 step process. It was always going to take time, like a couple of seasons, and going into the trade deadline the Blazers absolutely were in the position of having to take 2-3 steps back before they could move forward. They were way too deep into the dead-end alley of olshey-vision a rookie player in his 1st or 2nd season, no matter how good, would not make Portland a contender by himself. But, he could be an integral part of the puzzle if Portland makes follow-up moves and has some good luck and yes, losing the chance at the Pels pick was a setback. If that could have been used for Grant and the Blazers got lucky and landed a great wing with their own pick that could have really elevated their upside
We agree here probably 2-3 years at best. It's only fair to give Chauncey Billups 3 years at least. I kind of have a problem that he wasted his first but that's just my take on it. Then we need to think about Lillard. This needs to happen in 2-3 years. So yeah it kind of needs to be quickly now.
After watching some video of Lavine in Chicago from last year, two things stick out. I would not consider a ZL & Dame backcourt to be too small, especially with Lavine's long arms and athleticism. And, I would love to be able to get Caruso to come off the bench. He was involved in a lot of the highlights and does a bunch of the things that don't show up in the stats.
LaVine is from Washington? Thats pretty interesting. If hes got his mind set on Portland could a sign and trade involving Ant be in play?
I prefer the theory from Jacked Ramsays -- Lavine rumors are about jacking up his next contract and Portland is playing along by staying silent. The Blazers doing Lavine (and his agency) a solid with a bigger contract from Chicago. Then the Blazers get help with getting Grant. Agencies and players wielding clout especially with teams like Portland and Detroit that aren't big-time, free agent destinations but which keep good relations with agencies in order to make trades. THIS is something Olshey did not do and current management MAY be doing. It's a reasonable theory, IMHO.
This was pretty obvious and discussed in this thread, so it's not a new theory from them. For the record, Olshey actually did this a lot. Where he struggled was cashing in on those favors. There's a reason for his long list of "near misses" for signings from him dating all the way back to Roy Hibbert, Greg Monroe, Enes Kanter, Chandler Parsons, etc.
What would make you angrier…… Adding another ball dominant no defense playing SG like Lavine, who is a good offensive player or adding a two way playing combo forward who isn’t really great at anything, like Grant?
If I just got to pick between the two I'd rather have Lavine than Grant. Given what it would likely take to make room or trade for Lavine though, that would make me angrier. Although if we give up our lotto pick for Grant, that could change it back to that. I don't know, good question, ha ha.
Lavine, because it would require a sign and trade which would hard cap us, as well as recreating the same roster imbalances that February's fire sale was allegedly intended to correct. At the very least, even if Grant is overrated and overpaid, he fills a gap in the roster.
Lavine signing for a deal that would fit into our TPE would indicate major concerns about his knee health, so that would trouble me as well.
Crazy all this talk about Lavine when Ant’s going to be resigned at less money. And we have Hart. If we draft a legit big forward or bpa, and fill with a few more vets, we could make a nice step if we dont have huge injuries.