Jerebko? We already have 2 PFs. Maybe if Aldridge leaves and you decide to start Leonard you could get Jerebko to come off the bench.
Leonard in the starting 5 intrigues me. I love the thought of it offensively, spreading the floor and opening up more room for LMA, but we would be nonexistent on the offensive boards without Rolo. Defensively, who knows. If the playoff Meyers shows up it could be great. It could weaken the bench though - would Rolo score in the second unit as I imagine Leonard next year would?
you can't start Leonard there yet. He has the physical tools to be a good defender but needs more time. I think you sign Rolo toa short deal and try to get Meyers 8-10 minutes a game at center and while he's playing PF he can sometimes take the task of guarding good centers. Just to get movies minutes under his belt
Every year some team finds an American player who has honed his game in Europe and is ready to make an impact. The Rockets are particularly good at this, as Darryl Morey's strategy seems to be spend big on stars and then get bargains for the minimum: they got Chandler Parsons and Patrick Beverley (and to a lesser extent, Joey Dorsey) this way. I think we might find our backup PG this way. I have already mentioned Daniel Hackett (who played at USC with Vucevic and Taj Gibson), although technically he may be Italian. But an actual American who didn't get much interest in the draft because he was mostly an undersized SG in college, but has successfully shown he can play PG and win, is Malcolm Delaney. "All Malcolm Delaney does is win championships" (Well, he didn't this year, but he took Lokomotiv Kuban way farther than was expected, seriously threatening deep-pocketed Khimki Moscow (the team that could afford to pick up Victor Claver mid season, when you know just about any team in the Spanish League would've loved to have him). (To be fair, the highlights don't really show that he has progressed from a short SG, but that's highlights for you.)
The Top Ten Free Agents in Europe (I wish #6 would give the NBA a shot before retiring, like Prigioni. But he almost certainly won't.) Who will sign Boban? Maybe Memphis, to replace Koufos? Who else plays a slow enough pace?
He is one big dude. I was just flipping through that top 10 and he is the only one that would even remotely interest me. He's 26, so he could come to the NBA if he is athletic enough.
The news that Detroit traded for Ersan Ilyasova indicating that they won't be looking to re-sign Greg Monroe started me thinking about the options for the Blazers. It was rumored that Olshey went after Monroe last year. What are chances that he tries again? Could the Blazers even get the CAP space available to sign a major free agent? Here are the Blazer salaries for 2016: Damian Lillard $4,236,287 Nicolas Batum $12,235,750 CJ McCollum $2,525,160 Meyers Leonard $3,075,880 Allen Crabbe $947,276 Steve Blake $2,170,465 (player option) Mid Level Exception $5,465,000 (CAP Hold) Draft Choice #23 $1,112,900 (CAP Hold) Chris Kaman $5,016,000 (team option, $1M guaranteed) Aaron Afflalo $7,750,000 (player option) LaMarcus Aldridge $20,130,000 (CAP Hold) Assuming (big assumption) that LaMarcus re-signs, and the CAP is $67.1M, that only gives the Blazers $2,436,282 of CAP space. To get that $2,436,282 of CAP space, the Blazers would have to renounce the rights to: Wesley Matthews $10,868,460 (CAP Hold) Robin Lopez $9.187,092 (CAP Hold) Dorell Wright $4,075,500 (CAP Hold) Joel Freeland $3,766,890 (CAP Hold) Alonzo Gee $947,276 (CAP Hold) Tim Frazier $845,069 (CAP Hold) If Aaron Afflalo does not opt in, and the Blazers cut Kaman, that gives the Blazers $14,202,282 of CAP space. The max for a 0-6 year NBA vet like Greg Monroe is 25% of the CAP = $16,775,000. Without additional trades to cut salary (Batum on draft day?), it's not looking like the Blazers will be able to keep LaMarcus Aldridge and sign a major (max or near max) free agent. With the salary cap going up significantly in 2017, my guess is that we're going to see a lot of inflated short-term offers making acquiring a quality free agent very difficult.
The bad news is, he can't jump. The good news is - he doesn't need to! (#s 4 and 1 are almost Sabonis-esque. Which is fitting, as he has the size and mobility of Sabas.)
For Deladova? I hope he offers a pass. I don't want that guy on our team. He had his 15 minutes and will now be back at the end of the bench.
Wouldn't be the worst idea to have a defensive backup PG (Delly) to offset our offensive backup PG (Frazier). But I wouldn't pay much for it.
I have not watched Dellavedova play, so my next comments could be very wrong. From only scouting reports and NBA stats, Dell makes more sense at BUPG than CJ. Dellavedova’s NBA assist rate (per minutes played) is about three times higher than CJ’s. Plus he has a very good assist to TO ratio, about two times better than CJ.
I not worried about the money we would offer Della so much but what worries me is how many years. I would prefer 2 year deal with team option for year 3. You would think we don't need this guy (at least at what he will probably make) 4 years from now. He would certainly help our D in the backcourt though.
Agreed. Plus he is the type of player you love to have on your team. All grit - full effort (kind of like Wes).
