That was a disgusting display, even for him. Dude is a lost cause, right? He's still on the books next yr as well. I guess trading him is not even a possibility right now. I wouldn't be upset with a buyout at this point.
I'd be surprised if the Blazers find any trade option for him that doesn't have Portland adding incentive. I doubt that will change when Ayton has an expiring contract
Cut him. Eat the salary. If someone will take him without us having to include an asset, do it, otherwise just dump him.
H I want him gone as well, however given Clingan's injury issues it might be good to keep him this yr and trade Timelord? We won't get anything for him and he's a body, and given his play good for the tank, obviously as long as his attitude is not detrimental for the team.
sure....if the Blazers were wanting to win games. Otherwise, there's not much reason to keep either one. Pick up a big body when the 10-day contract window opens. And if they waived Ayton they are still 3M below the tax line and could sign a current free agent to C a vet minimum deal some current C free agents (according to ReaGM): Omer Yurtseven Olivier Sarr Jahlil Okafor Boban Marjanovic Trey Jemison Moses Brown Ibou Badji JaVale McGee Robin Lopez Thon Maker Skal Labissiere Frank Kaminsky won't be hard to find big bodies. Bringing back Lopez would be fun
A trade would be preferable just to retain the salary slot. But yes, we can't be giving away assets to dump players who we can be waived instead.
If they could have gotten ANYTHING for him in the off-season after his good play in the last half, they should have. Most likely it would have been a few seconds, but they should have done that. This situation was entirely predictable and the organization is delusional to the point of malpractice.
Cronin has been pitiful in managing assets and has historically waited too long to move them. This is a pattern.
Also this FO will never admit they made a mistake. Buying out Ayton should absolutely be an option. I'm sure we could save ~1-2 million since a team would definitely pick him up on a minimum. But that would: 1.) Be akin to the FO admitting a mistake. God forbid. 2.) I guess Ayton contributes to the tank. Keeping his salary slot would be useful in theory. But I can't see how any team would trade for Ayton without the Blazers adding some significant capital, which they have no business doing. There are centers in the G League that deserve a look more than Ayton.
I think Portland could easily trade him for expiring contracts, but they would be for players that are basically worthless, so there wouldn't be much point. But I could see a contending team, with a couple of worthless expiring contracts, giving us a protected 1st for him. Like when the Blazers had that 1 good run when they made the WCF, Kanter was great as a bench piece. I can see a team wanting Ayton in their rotation.
Strange guy imho. So many physical strengths but mental toughness aint there. Get him a team of sport/performance shrinks to work on his thinker. Barring that just deal with it. Nobody is taking him and it would cost too much to cut.
I still maintain that gambling on a talented, young, former #1 pick was the right thing to do for a rebuilding team like the Blazers. Especially at what we gave up. Let's just say we got lucky with Toumani who has turned out to be a foundational piece going forward.
DNP-CD for 12 months and get value next trade deadline as an expiring. Guy clearly doesn’t want to play, respect his choice.
Ayton isn't used very well at all in the Blazer "offense", what there is of it. He's shooting .598 on 2-pointers and if it weren't for his 3-point attempts, would have the highest TS% on the team (other than Robert Williams). Ayton's got nimble feet for a guy his size, he's a huge guy, and it's a shame Billups can't make better use of Ayton's mobility. For me, Ayton seems like a big opportunity lost. He's not Nurkic. He can run. What happened? A moving center the size of Ayton can be a problem for the defense. Are the Blazer coaching staff and players so inept at designing and throwing passes to a moving big man? To me it looks like none of them give a shit.
