Can't see anyway they would consider sending out Franz with Ant being the main piece they get back. Makes so much more sense for them to add Ant to those two and give us youth/picks.
I am sure they would prefer to get Ant for just draft picks. But I would not do that. Ant and Franz's replacement is a fair trade. I like Franz but it's not like he is an all-star......yet
I like the idea of him hanging out in camp with the new guy(s) and playing 1-2 games. beyond that... eh.
I don’t think there is a chance he plays summer league. Show up and show his face . Maybe work out with the new guys a bit but I don’t think he plays.
I can't waith for Scoot and Shaedon next season. I have a feeling we will be very active this summer, pre, during, post draft
Do you think Ant is an all-star or something? Franz has been in the league 3 years vs Ants 6 so has way more upside, and is a much better defender. It's nuts that some Blazers fans stiill think we can trade the 4th best player of a last in the west 21 win team for the 2nd best player who is younger with more upside of a 47 win team.
Yeah, I think that we all understand that. The discussion however was about what we could add along with Ant to get value back. I personally think #7 has value depending on who Orlando likes. They are a lot better than the Blazers but I don't think they are a contender yet, so they might be willing to be patient since their star is only 21. But Orlando is just one example.
I think Orlando comes up so often because there just aren't many teams that could use a player like Ant (I was thinking Dallas but they went out and got a much better version of Ant in Kyrie). He needs to be on a team with longer, defensive-capable guards. Orlando has 6'5 Suggs and 6'4 Fultz. And penciling in Ant as the starting PG works in Orlando because Banchero and Wagner are both capable of running offense and combine to average over 9 assists there is also the reality that Orlando's roster is quite unbalanced. All of the consistent impact and scoring punch comes from the front court. The lack of scoring from guards was their undoing in the playoffs. They couldn't come close to matching opposing back courts. the problem is that Wagner has way more value than Ant. He has length and versatility that apply to both ends of the floor. Adding a 7th pick to Ant won't persuade Orlando to consider Wagner as the outgoing player. If Portland had Wagner and Orlando had Ant, no way any Blazers fan would trade Wagner for Ant and the 7th pick in this draft. so you have to start moving down the roster to find matching salary. WCJ is the obvious target, but he also obviously has some warts, especially his ability to stay healthy. He's only averaged playing in 54-55 games/year; that's not good (although, Ayton has only averaged 59).
Agreed which is why I think we should just keep Ant, unless for some reason we draft someone similar. (Sheppard) But I think it is more likely we draft someone who can eventually replace Grant, whose salary is much more of an issue than Ant's.
We really can eat whatever least valuable salary Orlando wants to cut - maybe that's Isaac expiring deal. Maybe they use some cap space. It's better we eat the worst salary in any trade to maximize the value of other assets we get back. But then we need to get multiple young pieces back - draft picks / Black, etc. that's the sort of deal that makes sense for both teams. Orlando is going to want to add Ant as a 4th best player or something - not have him try to become their second best player.
I'm ok with keeping Ant if we trade away Brogdon. I'd look to trade every vet on this team - Grant Brogdon Ant Ayton Thybulle Timelord Reath. But most likely only 1 or 2 will have worthwhile offers this summer so to start the season we keep the others.
You most certainly might be correct but I just don't see them putting him out there for that? Going up against guys playing rat ball to show what they have so they might get a chance to play in the league doesn't sound like a smart move at all.
