Gary "Hard Cap" Payton

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by SharpesTriumph, Jul 6, 2022.

  1. julius

    julius Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    42,404
    Likes Received:
    30,000
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    singer songwriter
    Location:
    Washington
    You must be new here. Of course people are actually upset over the Blazers not reaching their unrealistic, unreachable and impossible expectations.
     
  2. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

    Joined:
    May 2, 2021
    Messages:
    9,062
    Likes Received:
    7,410
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Currently the apartment in the Moda
    That doesn’t change the fact that they have 5 players that can cover the small forward position.
     
  3. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    56,114
    Likes Received:
    53,918
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NYstateofmind
    yes they have capable defenders now that they didn't before.

    but we can all admit without it being labeled as "nonsense" or "spin" to say we are undersized, and have no depth in the front court.

    Not to mention, signing GP also removes minutes for our prized rookie unless he too plays out of position.

    It's not an ideal roster build. We don't need to "spin" this shit really.
     
  4. BoBoBREWSKI

    BoBoBREWSKI BURP!

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Messages:
    13,173
    Likes Received:
    3,983
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NW
    If Golden State would of re-signed him or another team got him there would be a thread about how we suck for not going after him etc.
     
    Blazer509, Tince, Quatro44 and 10 others like this.
  5. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

    Joined:
    May 2, 2021
    Messages:
    9,062
    Likes Received:
    7,410
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Currently the apartment in the Moda
    It’s pretty much a spin.
    They pick up one more decent backup at center/pf and they have plenty of size. This is all assuming they don’t deal with 3-4 injuries like they have over the last 4 years.
     
  6. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    56,114
    Likes Received:
    53,918
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NYstateofmind
    label it however you wish, don't really care.

    Using our primary asset in FA on yet another guard and forcing our wings to all play up a position is really stupid IMO. I would be OK with a hard cap for someone like Porter or Hartenstein even-- but on a guy who can play maybe 20 mpg while taking away minutes from Sharpe is not smart IMO. Not to mention GP2's only positive impact historically has been on a team with a specialized system that is very hard to replicate. I'm skeptical of his potential impact on our team.

    Relying on Drew Eubanks to play 10-20 mpg (that's even if Nurk is healthy all year) is also idiotic IMO.

    Really the only smart move here was bringing in Grant, but if you believe what people say, that was a foregone conclusion, but kudos for getting it done without giving up #7.

    We'll field a competitive team that will battle for the play-in, but unless Sharpe or Nas pop, our ceiling with this wonky roster build is probably around a 45 win team. And if we have injuries in the front court, we now don't have the flexibility to make moves to address our depth there unless we take downgrades in talent.

    This isn't spin, it's an opinion, and I think a fair one.
     
    SharpesTriumph and Natebishop3 like this.
  7. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2014
    Messages:
    13,909
    Likes Received:
    14,823
    Trophy Points:
    113
    We could have had Jalen Smith for less than the TPMLE. No hard cap, better roster balance.
     
  8. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2008
    Messages:
    30,244
    Likes Received:
    22,997
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I don't disagree with any of this, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with it? I mean should we tank or should we go all in? If we wanted to go all-in, we could have paid the exorbitant asking price for OG. Would people be happy then? We're still not really contenders.

    This was always going to be a 2-3 year rebuild. We had limited ability to make trades this off-season because Ant/Nurk needed to be re-signed, but they're also some of our biggest trade assets. Balancing the roster around Dame/Ant was always going to be a huge challenge and realistically I don't think it can be done with the assets we currently have on hand. See how this season goes and pivot from there. They're primed to pivot into full go-for-it (trade all our picks) or full youth movement after this season.
     
  9. julius

    julius Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    42,404
    Likes Received:
    30,000
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    singer songwriter
    Location:
    Washington
    It's weird that the Warriors have 1 player over 6'9" in their rotation...had GP2 on their team as a wing, and yet....
     
  10. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Messages:
    90,157
    Likes Received:
    52,173
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I don't think anyone is unhappy with Gary. I think a lot of fans are frustrated that we have such a short team and no depth in our frontcourt.
     
  11. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Messages:
    90,157
    Likes Received:
    52,173
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I'm thinking the plan is to make a move at the deadline. Could very well see Ant shipped out, especially if Sharpe shows that he can contribute right away.
     
    blazerkor likes this.
  12. Wade Garrett

    Wade Garrett Exactly right.

    Joined:
    Mar 25, 2019
    Messages:
    1,971
    Likes Received:
    3,507
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I think YOU should.
     
    riverman likes this.
  13. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2008
    Messages:
    30,244
    Likes Received:
    22,997
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Personally, I think they're going to let Dame rebuild his trade value and them ship him after this season.

    If everything pops, ie. Nas pops, and Ant pops more, and Watford pops etc. and we smash our ceiling. That's the only way I see us pivot into full go-for-it mode with Dame. But that's unlikely imo.
     
  14. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    56,114
    Likes Received:
    53,918
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NYstateofmind
    there was realistically no one out there in FA for us that would have drastically raised our ceiling, but i don't see how GP2 does that either. I would have gone after other targets that at least made sense for our roster as constructed.
     
    Ed O and SlyPokerCat like this.
  15. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2008
    Messages:
    90,157
    Likes Received:
    52,173
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    If we can get a deal similar to what Utah, I'm good with it.
     
    SharpesTriumph likes this.
  16. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    56,114
    Likes Received:
    53,918
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NYstateofmind
    we have a draymond on our roster? is grant as good a defender as wiggins? is Nurk as durable as Looney?
     
  17. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

    Joined:
    May 2, 2021
    Messages:
    9,062
    Likes Received:
    7,410
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Currently the apartment in the Moda
    If this team wins 45 games and makes the play in I will be ecstatic!
     
  18. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2008
    Messages:
    30,244
    Likes Received:
    22,997
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I see GP2 as the type of player that is going to maintain this value until his mid thirties. Kind of like PJ Tucker. Every team is willing to trade for that kind of player so we can just move him later if necessary.
     
  19. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    56,114
    Likes Received:
    53,918
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NYstateofmind
    that's what we said about roco.

    i'm rightfully skeptical whether he can do what he did in GS. Let's not forget that he couldn't stick on any other roster and actually played on the GS summer league team last summer.
     
    Ed O likes this.
  20. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2008
    Messages:
    30,244
    Likes Received:
    22,997
    Trophy Points:
    113
    We got an early second for RoCo. If that's all we ended up getting for GP2 I'm honestly fine with it. That is about his value.
     

Share This Page