So, Dave on BE has posted his thoughts on all of the centers in the known universe and has concluded that, "Brace yourselves, Blazer fans, a mild, slightly warm zephyr might be blowing through town. That zephyr's name is Gortat." http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/6/4/4395710/all-the-centers-in-the-universe-part-2 Yeah, he's a bit "meh", but he's probably obtainable given that the Suns look to be in a rebuilding mode. So, what would it take to get Gortat? He's making $7.7M in the last year of his contract next season, which is certainly reasonable. Freeland and #10 should be more than enough enticement, IMHO, and would leave the Blazers with some nice change to spend on other FAs.
Only way I'd obtain Gortat is by trading nothing more and nothing less than Freeland, Pavlovic and Jeffries: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=n5tzg5w That's the deal - they have to take all three of these guys in order for me to take Gortat.
I'v been a fan of trading out lottery pick for Gortat for awhile now. Gortat is a good center, not amazing but top 10, can both defend and score well off the PnR and sets good screens. He isn't a sexy pickup but he would give us the player LA wants to play next and makes us better for the next year at least then our lottery pick would, and if we sign him after his contract is up he is a center who could be moved at anytime when it feels like Leonard can take over. No player at 10 am I enamored with so I have no problem with trading the pick, I just don't want to see McGee/Jordan on this team.
...and is a decent center, which suggests that they should be able to get more for him than a disappointing rookie and two journeymen.
BTW, IF that deal were made, that would leave us with 8 players with a total salary of $48.07M. Assuming 5 roster-spot holds of about $500K, we would have about $8M remaining cap space if all holds are renounced. Would that be worth it, or would we be better off just keeping Hickson and Maynor, and then trying to use the MLE to fill in the bench? To me, this seems like the exact recipe for what MM calls "NBA purgatory".
Worth it. Use the 8 million to try and grab Evans. Use room exception on maynor. Offer jermaine oneal the vet minimum. Lillard, maynor Evans, Matthews, Barton Batum, claver Aldridge, oneal Gortat, leonard
Gortat fills a position of need and makes us better then either hickson or Maynor does. We could still keep one of the two(maybe both) while adding a shooter to the bench. I doubt we renounce all cap holds though so that would leave us with around 4m? in capspace instead Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
A year ago he had a 15/10 season (21 PER). Then Steve Nash went away. I'd be pretty happy to add him. There's a combination of size, competence and health that we just haven't had at the Center position since....jesus, I guess Camby and Ratliff were both of that caliber when they first came on board. A guy like that does the lunch pail work so that Aldridge can do his thing (score, be the focus of the offense). I'd do the deal for the #10 pick. It's not a great draft from what everyone says, and it could mean us avoiding the next Luke Babbitt or failed eurostash instead. The window for Aldridge, Batum, Matthews and Lillard is right now. (Sure, Lillard will get better, but he's already a prime-level NBA pg.) Get some bench pieces and let's roll. We're not a contender with Gortat, but we're also no longer in shitty lotto pick territory either.
2 Questions: If we traded for Gortat and he is a free agent after next and we let him go does that 1) still give us money to play with next year in free agency and 2) is there a center that is worth going after? In other words in a worst case scenario is there any value using him as a one year stop gap that is better than what we have now? Obviously some of these arent realistic or are team/player options but this is what we would have to work with 2014 Center Free Agents Fab Melo Boston Celtics Bismack Biyombo Charlotte Bobcats Anderson Varejao Cleveland Cavaliers Tyler Zeller Cleveland Cavaliers Kosta Koufos Denver Nuggets Chris Bosh Miami Heat Joel Anthony Miami Heat Andre Drummond Detroit Pistons Vyacheslav Kravtsov Detroit Pistons Andrew Bogut Golden State Warriors Festus Ezeli Golden State Warriors Donatas Motiejunas Houston Rockets Jordan Hill Los Angeles Lakers Ekpe Udoh Milwaukee Bucks Marcus Camby New York Knicks Nikola Vucevic Orlando Magic Jonas Valanciunas Toronto Raptors DeMarcus Cousins Sacramento Kings Marcin Gortat Phoenix Suns Enes Kanter Utah Jazz Meyers Leonard Portland Trail Blazers Spencer Hawes Philadelphia 76ers
That's very interesting because the cap holds for both Maynor and Hickson would free up around the 4 mil you suggested. The offer of #10 pick, Freeland and 4 mil space fits perfectly. Then offering Hickson around 5-6 mil, Maynor 2.5 mil; and we get another 2-3 mil to offer another player. The question is, how much better does this make us? I think significantly better, since we finally have a center that plays at the position and Hickson able to free up more time for Aldridge (cutting him down to 35 per game). I still think we need a wing, but maybe we can trade Matthews for more of a slashing guard. That's a huge gamble though.
Right, instead we're in shittier draft pick territory. I think there's a good chance (of course that's all it is - a chance) that whoever we pick at #10 will be worth more and have a better impact on the team in 2-3 years than Gortat would. So we're selling our future in order to not be a contender? If our "window" is now we may as well blow the whole thing up and start over.
I don't know man. I actually think we have "contender" possibility with a player like Gortat, because he is savvy and knows how to protect the rim. I think Lillard is really going to surprise peeps next season (in a good way). And remember, we had absolutely the worst bench in the NBA and almost made the playoffs. Without Batum's injury nag and Matthews ankle, we could have gotten in a few more wins. Add Hickson coming off the bench and we become immediately better.
Everything is a risk, right? If Gortat is solid, Lillard advances incrementally, Aldridge wants to stay and plays well, Batum becomes more consistent, then there is a chance this could be a very solid team. But, if it doesn't gel, and LMA goes to TX, then we'll be hating the fact that we gave up on whoever went at 10. However, if it all goes south then we will be in lottery city for a couple years anyway. I do like the idea of retaining Hickson off the bench if that would be possible. That would really thicken us up down low. Retaining Maynor and developing Barton and Claver could give a nice rotation.
Call me cynical, but I don't think Hickson stays if he's going to be a backup. I'm sure he fancies himself a starter, and expects to land in a spot where he can be. That said, if he'd be willing to stay and be LA's backup at a decent (read: below MLE) salary, I'd be ecstatic.
I think minutes is more of an issue, IMO. I think he could still get the 25-30 minutes per as a back-up to both Aldridge and Gortat; still leaving 10 minutes for Leonard to develop
A #10 pick isn't really a "future." It's a hope. I have more hope that Lillard blows up in the coming year or two into an elite PG. If that happens, I want competent starting-caliber guys playing with him. Gortat is that.
I've been all over the map on Gortat. Just looking through his numbers again, he really excells in the PnR, which is why he was so much better with Nash. He still ran it about 20% of the time last season, and was 27th in the league, at 1.16 PPP. Other than being better in the post, his numbers on offense were comparable to Hickson's, in the breakdown of which plays he ran, and his effectiveness in them. Hickson did well in the PnR for us, primarily with Batum on the side, and Gortat could run that more effectively. This biggest difference was on the defensive side of the ball. Gortat was 20th in the league against post ups. Hickson was 220th.
