I agree with this. I'd be surprised if anyone gets moved. I'd be shocked if it was anyone but Henderson, Kaman or one of the end of the bench guys.
Neil has a history bringing in players he has ties with. Yeah I definitely could see us making a move to bring Blake in. I guess the question is; will we give up CJ? Not sure we have the assets otherwise. It would be a big risk for a player that can leave as a free agent next summer in 2017.
Something like this would be what I'd try if I'm Neil http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=gw535rt We get Blake Griffin Clippers get Markieff Morris, Hendo, Meyers, PJ Tucker, $11mil trade exception, POR pick, PHX pick Phoenix gets Vonleh, Kaman Clips flip trade exception and picks for a vet in another trade. Gives us a lineup of; Plumlee, Davis Griffin, Harkless Aminu, CJ, Crabbe Dame
Similar idea, except NY is 4th team in the deal and Melo goes to Clips to play with his buddy CP3. Knicks get Brandon Knight and Phoenix gets the picks. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=h6sdz3w
Why couldn't C.J. leave in 2017? He probably won't but what if he wanted to be a leader like Dame is now, having his own team. That could be a risk too. Plus we have Allen Crabbe we can place in the starting SG position.
Meyers is one of my favorite players in the NBA but I would do that deal. Kick ass if Neil pulled that off. If he traded Davis or CJ, though, I'd be very sad.
Yeah they're talking about Griffin being out for the year and then he would be a free agent after next season. Aren't a lot of teams that can help give up some vets, cap flexibility but also throw away this season. If Griffin is traded I think there's a real chance we're in the mix. Boston is another team but them being the possible #2 seed not sure if they give up this season. Knicks could try to get him if Melo waves his no trade.
Griffin is a top 10 player when healthy, we are not getting him for old ass Kaman,Mayers and Henderson, FORGET IT!
At the least, I expect us to try to get to the salary floor. Then again, we can also do this after our season ends, but before July 1.
We can do it later, but that seems less likely because anyone we might acquire at that point would have multiple years remaining on his deal which would subsequently eat into our cap space for the summer, and most of our best trade assets (Kaman, Henderson, Meyers, Harkless, Crabbe) which would be needed to acquire a "needle-mover" (the only acceptable result of a 2016 cap-consuming trade) won't be available to be dealt at that point. IMO, if reaching the floor is a goal, it happens this week or not at all.
If David Lee doesn't get moved in a blockbuster I fully expect to eat his contract for a second or two.
That is over $33 Million in salary the Blazers would be trading for with only $17 Million going out. Yes Crawford's $5.7M comes off this summer but does this roster want Lance Stephenson for the next year and a half? I understand Meyers might not be back if he gets offered a monster deal and Hendo/Kaman were leaving anyway but that is a TON of cap space given up for two very talented, albeit questionable locker room guys. That also makes Portland very small for at least the rest of this season. Her is the rest of the roster filled out with the trade implications. Plumlee, Davis Griffin, Harkless, Alexander Aminu, Stephenson, Montero CJ, Crabbe, Connaughton Dame, Frazier
I think Neil targets Thaddeus Young to fill the PF spot. He's hugely underrated and doesn't demand the ball, so it wouldn't interrupt any of the current offense. He's a massive upgrade to Noah on both offense and defense. We send them Noah, and even offer to take back JJack in a salary dump since he's done for the year.
