Game Thread 2025 SL GAME #2 - BLAZERS VS GRIZZLIES - JULY 12, 2025 - SATURDAY - 7:30 PM - ESPN 2

Never judge a young player until they’re 23

 

I’m sorry I accidentally implied he needed motivation. I meant it as a positive only. They’re going to make each other better.

 

They certainly can motivate each other. Yes they both have qualities that each of them can build upon.

 

Not judging him just my ignorant evaluation. You're so right about these young players coming in at 18-20, it stakes a few years to even see what they are made of and how talented they may be..

 

Lol its summer league. It doesnt matter.

 

It’s fun to watch our players.

 

I'd think the 'top' is probably quite a bit less than 300. Quite a few starters are marginal; so are a lot of rotational players. But even those marginal players would totally dominate a city league game

still hard to get my head around 4-5 year deals for 200-300M

 

the stretch provision does not alter contracts. It only alters the cap-impact of said contracts. IIRC, the only method for altering existing contracts is the buy-out provision

Milwaukee waived Dame but still has to pay him according to the contract schedule: 54M next season; 58M the season after

 

You should know that “our” doesn’t apply to Stren.

 

Love was an inefficient chucker in college too. Over 5 seasons, 38% on FG's; under 33% from the college 3 point line; and a TS mark under 51%

 

love should not be on a regular contract. wouldn't even give him a two-way. maybe sign him to the remix.

yang looks good as a hub on offense but i really think he will be a project who shouldn't get regular minutes. maybe he'll be better on the regular roster but i see him as being a few years away.

 

After two games and this being summer league I am comfortable in saying this right now about Yang if the season was to start now. I think I would be semi comfortable in playing him 10 to 12 min per game but nothing more at this time. I think he has shown glimpses of magic in his game but also some big red flags. One of the concerns with DC was his D on the perimeter and I think he did ok with that in year one but Yang -- he looks lost when he is more then 8 to 10 feet from the rim on defense at least at this time. Once summer league ends and maybe he gets a couple / few weeks off to recharge he needs to convince Tiago to live with him at the gym until training camp starts in late Sept. cause he needs work but with enough work he could be turned into a masterpiece within 5 years or so.

I will even say this and this might be getting ahead of myself but I see a world in which he might end up being better then DC but again only with hard work cause he has most of the tools.

 

Thankfully, chuckers' value is diminishing.

 

the guy made a lot of strong arguments but needed an editor to cut out about 70% of the times he said "archetype". yeeeeesh

but he's certainly right about the value of undersized combo guards; especially ones who are bad defenders. Too bad it took the Blazers a long fucking decade of starting an undersized, bad defense combo guard at the 2 before Portland finally saw the light

the problem isn't so much that type of player doesn't have a function. The problem is they are role players who should be paid around the MLE and should be coming off the bench

 

What does that even mean? He's a multi-million dollar investment for the franchise. Of course they're going to protect him from meaningless games and guys playing reckless for an NBA contract.

 

Unless he’s picked up.

 

He’s a 16th pick and a project. Not even lottery. He is not the future of the team. He’s going to be a role player at best this year. Multi million in this day and age really ain’t much.

 

Yang like most rookies is going to have good games and bad games. I think Yang will better playing with better talent. Summer league guys are looking to make a name for themselves. To piggy back on to that statement how is guys don’t read their draft reports and then try and prove they’ve improved on the negative points of their game.

guys like Love dropped out of being a top prospect because he’s considered a chucker and takes ill advised shots. He did absolutely nothing to change that last game.

 

that wouldn't change anything. If another team signs him, he would still get paid according to his Milwaukee contract. The Bucks would get some minor salary and cap relief

 

Yeah, that's my understanding of it all. If a player agrees to a buyout then obviously that's a new contract but if it's just waiving a guy like the Bucks did with Dame he gets his money on time because they made the decision. As I'm sure you know the stretch provision has nothing to do with the player and only applies to cap management.