The 2014 NBA Draft is tomorrow. Big day for most teams with the exception of teams like the Portland Trail Blazers which have no draft picks. In fact 13 of the 15 players on the Portland Trail Blazers roster have contracts for the upcoming season with Watson and Williams not having one, yet? Do the Blazers add through free agency or trade? If a trade happens who do the Blazers give up on and do they trade them for a draft pick this year? If adding free agents without trade what positions or players are sought after? Last year on the old Trail Blazer forum I did predict the signing of Robin Lopez. I predicted it would be Robin or Marcin. So what happens this offseason? Safe to say the starters are untouchable. Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge, Lopez. Each starter is in the top10 for their position in the league no questions asked. No trades allowed. Bench players that deserve to come back due to production and chemistry: Barton, Wright, Robinson, Freeland. Another year for development and minutes will help these guys and show their future value. Unproven bench players: McCollum, Leonard, Claver, Crabbe. These four players really need some minutes and show improvement if they want to stay in the league. The Blazers are 2 roster spots short with a realistic potential for 6 roster spots being available. So what are the needs for the team and how can they be addressed? A backup PG, backup C, bench scoring. A backup PG that could start with Lillard adds rotational value. The guy I am thinking of may have a lot of offers since Deron Williams ankles went out on him. Livingston had a great comeback year and played in 76 games averaging 26 minutes, 48% FG, 17% 3PT, 83% FT, 3 RBD, 3 AST, 1 STL, 8 PTS. Those numbers are similar to Williams numbers without the cringing 3 point shot selection. Livingston makes his living in the paint distributing the ball. He's a good guy who was willing to put in the effort for rehab to make it back to the league. The next player the Blazers could add would add rotational depth and could start at SF in a regular lineup or PF in a small lineup, maybe even C in a lineup similar to how Bosh is used at C. He would definitely be a scoring option off the bench with a lot of versatility doing the little things that make a team run. He was drafted a Blazer and had a great year playing in 78 games with averages of 30 minutes, 44% FG, 36% 3PT, 73% FT, 5 RBD, 4 AST, .5 STL, .5 BLK, 8.5 PTS. Josh McRoberts should be seriously considered to be included in a active 10 man Blazer roster. He could be the 6th man of the year next year. The last needs of the Blazers for the upcoming season is a backup C. Can Freeland, Robinson, Claver, and Leonard play Robin and Lamarcus minutes in a platoon style? That really depends on Claver and Leonard this summer. I think Freeland and Robinson got that confidence boost from the community and their teammates and will be working hard this summer to please. So who do the Blazers go after that will make an impact but not ruin team chemistry. He's going to be unselfish, he won't care about minutes, plays above the rim defense and shouldn't be to inexpensive, worse case scenario for team health he could start in certain lineups. Oh and by the way he's weird enough for Portland. None other than Chris "Birdman" Andersen. I'm not sure of his health or his issue with Miami but he would be a reasonable addition without subtraction. All these scenarios require no trading and are reasonable.
Welcome to RipCityTwo! That's a well written first post. Look forward to reading more from you. Just a heads up, a few of the people around here like to give rookies a bad time so don't get upset if they tease you a little.
Welcome. Good write up. I have to disagree with the "our top 5 are untouchable" part, though. Only Lillard is untouchable; Aldridge is close to it. If the right trade came along, the rest (Mathews/Lopez/Batum) are fair game. And I'm a huge Batum homer.
This is true if being untouchable depends on PPG and hype. In reality it's the over-hyped player a smart team trades.
I think what you see the Blazers do this summer will be very low key. They want to maintain their cap flexibility for next summer, when a number of players become free agents. Here's what I think you're going to see: 1. They purchase a draft pick tomorrow, only to send the player over to Europe. No cap hit and it will be a player that could use a few years to develop. 2. Use their MLE, but split it, to get 2 players, possibly Steve Blake and Jermaine O'Neal, to come for a year, with a possible ETO in year 2. They could drop them both next year, then sign them if they want to stay longer. 3. Possibly use their biannual, but this would require them dropping someone else, say an Allen Crabbe, and I don't really see that happening. I think they really want to see what they have in their young guns this summer - McCollum, Robinson, Leonard, Barton, Freeland and Crabbe, before they end up dumping some of them next summer. I think with next summer, they will be able to acquire one max offer player (don't know who that will be), but it will be a starter. Could be at the C or SG position as I see both of those areas possible for upgrades. I think it's also important to see who Olshey works with on these deals. He has a penchant for working with agents he knows well, such as Arn Tellem. He's not going to go out there and blow everything up and if he can add a little more depth to the bench, I think he wants to see what the guys can do. Just my 2 cents
Most of this echos what I think as well. There really isn't much we can do. We have very limited resources. One thing we can do is make some of our yuoung players better. We also need to add a couple of aging vets who may not play much to help the kids.
Makes sense. I'm not thrilled by Blake/O'Neal. But increasing the trade value of some of our young players seems like a smart move, and doesn't affect last season's unit that over-performed. Who are the UFAs next summer? After this summer's boon (both FAs and draft) I can't imagine next summer having better options.
Thats just stupid to say 5 players are untouchable on a team just because they are all in the top 10 of there positions. I don't think any other team calls all of there 5 starters untouchable.
Nice wright up. I tend to agree. As far as the starting 5, no one is untouchable, but I don't think we should be actively looking for trades. If a no brainer comes along, sure. But I say don't mess with good chemistry. As for our bench, I'm open to trading any of them. We should be looking to consolidate talent. With the two open roster spots, we use the MLE and the BAE to pick up two solid roll players. I agree that Livingston would be a good choice for backup PG. A bit risky with his injury history though. Other options are Collison (my preference), Chalmers, and Sessions. As for a backup big, McRoberts wouldn't be bad. He'd probably fit around that BAE level. He only had a 13.8 PER, and shot 43.6% fg. Other options I prefer to go after first are Blatche, Jordan Hill, Jason Smith, Humphries, and Jeff Adrien. I'd love to see the Blazers move into the draft tomorrow, but with the limited roster spots we don't have a lot of options. I'm guessing not many teams are going to want our "scraps" - Crabbe, Claver, Wright, or Leonard.
I think the Blazers should explore what Wes Mathews trade value while exporing the thought of Batum at SG. Maybe package Mathews and others up for a good SF. I'm not saying do it I'm saying exploring but to just flat out call the whole starting 5 untouchable I don't agree with.
Yeah, I disagree with the "untouchable" part for everyone except Dame as well. LMA will (and should) only be sent out if we're getting an incredible haul back and/or he (seemingly unlikely) told Olshey he's not planning on coming back after this year, but I wouldn't say he's "untouchable". Nic and Wes are very touchable, depending on what comes back. The Blazers have some very good starters, but I hesitate to follow those who like the currently-en-vogue Spurs model and say "let it bake" because I'm not convinced that LMA/Lillard/?? = Duncan/Parker/Ginobili circa 2003. If you can turn Nic and Wes into a bona fide 2nd/3rd option, or turn Lopez + other considerations into an upgrade at the 2/3/5, then you have to take a look. I'll agree, though, that we're not in fire sale mode, and it wouldn't make me rip my eyes out if the starting five came back as-is next year.
