I never said I wanted Withey instead of Lopez, you are the only one arguing that with yourself. I'd rather have Withey as the center backup for next season instead of Meyers. Thats not a nock on Lopez, or a projection of greatness for Withey, just a sad realization of this seasons projected competency of our backup center.
Withey could possibly be better than Meyers on defense, but our second unit needs scoring and Leonard is much more likely to make waves there.
But trading Withey's rights enabled us to get Lopez. We could not have included Meyers in the trade even if we wanted to, because of his salary. Remember, the whole reason NOH basically gave us Lopez was to free up the cap space necessary to sign Tyreke Evans. So, the choice really was Lopez or Withey (which is, of course, a no brainer). Meyers was never part of the discussion. The choice wasn't trade Meyers or Withey. The choice was get Robin Lopez, or not. If you think Meyers Leonard as our back up center is bad news, imagine him starting, which is exactly what he'd be doing, if we'd passed on the Lopez trade and kept Withey. BNM
BNM, I was going over this in my head when the trade happened, and didn't think it was thread-worthy at the time, but I guess it's up now... When the offer on the table was Lopez (basically) for 2 second-rounders, and NOP said "we want Withey, too"....did Olshey even haggle over it? Was he close to hanging up the phone on a trade because of Jeff Withey? Would NOP have held their ground and not traded Lopez (and not received Evans) if we had said "nope, we're keeping him"? Was Jeff Withey the keystone of a deal that might help the Blazers win the championship?
Well duh obviously nobody is saying we should have kept Withey instead of getting Lopez. I hope Meyers surprises me and outplays specialist second rounders such as Withey. I'd have been intrigued if we had found a way to keep Withey since there was a real chance we could need a player with that skillset on the court this season. If you look at NBA players like Theo Ratliff, he didn't do anything good except block shots and had a very nice 10+ year career. I don't think there is a chance for Crabbe or Barton to get court time this season unless the team has multiple injuries. With Watson, CJ, Wright the team already has shooting and scoring on the bench, which are Meyers strengths. But the team doesn't have any shotblocking or tall defensive presence on the bench, so I think there could have been a great opportunity for Withey to find a role on this team. In the NBA the position that has the greatest effect on a teams defense is by far the center position. Defensive centers can provide support to all other four positions. That why every year the DPOY voting is filled with centers. The Blazer roster is already composed primarily of offensive players so I thought a scrub like Withey could end up shockingly being a contributor even in a small role. Maybe Neil didn't want that, maybe he wanted Meyers to get the backup center spot by default and only have to beat out the worthless Freeland or a shorter Thomas Robinson. If we wanted Withey I’m sure we could have easily included a different 2nd round pick in the trade. Throughout the year I’ll compare Withey with Meyers as it may be interesting.
I liked the Withey pick. I thought he was a great value where he was taken and liked the idea of him as our third string center. Him, Leonard and Lopez are all very long and good FT shooters. But, if the choice comes down to keeping Withey or getting Lopez, you take Lopez 11 times out of 10. Even if you think Withey will be a stud (he won't be), you take Lopez to give Aldridge the legitimate starting center he asked for in his exit interview. I'm sure NOP wanted him to fill a roster spot and 2nd rounders don't have cap holds (other than minimum salary if they have less than 12 players under contract). So, that helped them sign Tyreke. After clearing the decks to sign Evans, they needed cheap bodies to fill out their roster. Withey gave them a back up big that was cheap - exactly what they needed. BNM
I agree with your points. I liked the Withey pick very much at the time. But, I was just pointing out that there was never a Leonard or Withey decision. Because of his 1st round rookie scale contract, Leonard would have counted as $2.3 million against the NOP cap. Withey, a 2nd rounder had no cap hold. They definitely needed a center after giving away their starter to sign a guard. Withey was perfect for what NOP needed. That's why the insisted he be included in the Lopez deal. Leonard wasn't even an option. This does beg the question: was that Olshey's plan all along. Was a deal in the works at the time of the draft. Was Withey actually drafted for NOP and never in Portland's plans. I know NOP could not officially make an offer to Evans until July 1, but maybe their plan all along was to dump Lopez to clear as much cap space as possible. If they knew ahead of time that they were losing Lopez, and they knew Portland desperately needed a starting center, they may have been talking to Portland (and other teams) about taking a center in the second round. BNM
