How many players would you keep?

Keep:

Dame
CJ
Plums
Harkless
Davis
Crabbe
Aminu


Everyone else, can be used to help upgrade, but Id like to see these guys come back. I think this is our core going forward.

 

Absolutely there is; that's why I couched the question as who do you want to see back, rather than asking anyone to realistically predict player movement.

 

I would not break up the Dame -CJ backcourt. Sure there are always the exceptions for the ridiculous unrealistic superstar trade scenarios.....but other than that I think it would be foolish to break that duo up. I would build around it.

I don't dis-like any player on this team, especially as role players off the bench. We still need that 3rd dependable scoring starter....preferably at SF. But I am not sure we can get him this summer. So I am fine if we keep the top 13-14 players and continue to develop them, and hope one emerges. All while waiting for the right opportunity for a trade.

Even if we keep everyone (except maybe Kaman) we will be better next year. I don't mind letting this cake bake...for a little longer.

 

Without any regard to financial considerations I want to keep all of these:

Dame
CJ
Harkless
Davis
Crabbe
Hendo
Plumlee

And it's not that I want to get rid of anyone else. I really like all of the pieces currently in place, but know that to take the next step a few changes will have to happen.

I am excited to see what Olshey can do with this roster to improve it next year, after how he put this squad together.

 

Like it or not, Aminu is coming back. I am happy about that. He makes mistakes in offense and isn't the best shooter, but he is the kind of long disruptive defender we need. He has been asked to do a little more than he should because we kind of needed that this year with a thin and new roster with only 2 reliable scorers. If we keep filling the roster out with talent, Aminu can ease back a bit and focus on strengths. We need that. And his contact is great.

Also, keep Montero. He is raw, but he is loaded with talent and is cheap as hell. Why not have upside in your 15 th man? Also, if we let him go, he probably gays signed by the spurs and becomes fucking amazing and Buford and Pop look like geniuses. You know it would happen. They loved Batum, and Montero reminds me of the unproven 19 year old Nico.

 

Sure but what center is that? I see the offensive option like Monroe and the defensive option like Whiteside. But both have weaknesses in their game. So I would rather keep our "center by committee". Not a fan anymore of maxing out the contracts for centers. You get me Drummond then that is another story.

 

That would require dealing C.J.

 

The Dame/CJ scoring machine is next to untouchable.

We talk about which players we want back, and some lists are very short. But how do you replace any of the players we do not keep?

We do not have a draft pick. We maybe able to buy a second round pick. But so what, just another long term project on the bench.

There are tons of teams with money to overpay in the FA market. Competition for FAs will be the strongest in years, maybe ever. Plus, not one FA has hinted he wants to come to Portland.

Trades are possible, however, beyond Dame & CJ, only a couple of our players have a positive trade value, and they are on most everyone’s keep list. The rest of the roster needs more time to develop and build their trade value. I believe we will have a 2017 first to use this summer in a trade.

We probably will lose a couple of our FA players. Henderson, Leonard, Harkless, & Crabbe will get some interest from other teams. Olshey will find FAs to replace the players that sign with other teams.

In the long run, which FA players we keep and sign away from other teams will come down to how much is needed to sign them, and how well their contract fits into the long range cap space.

The bottom line is, this roster is overachieving. We are winning more games than was predicted by a vast majority of experts. This makes our players more valuable to us than to other teams.

I do not foresee a major shakeup to our roster this summer.

 

NEED TO KEEP
Dame
CJ
Ed

FORCED TO KEEP
Aminu

WOULD LIKE TO KEEP
Hendo
Plums
Hark
Crabbe

 

This, This, This, and This.

I am hoping for Boogie, others are fantasizing about Paul George. Truth is we'll be very lucky to get Batum, and I don't think we will.

 

Batum would immediately become the 3rd best player on our team, if not second best. However, Batum is beside the point. The big question in my mind is... "Can we get someone who immediately and obviously becomes the 3rd best player on our team (that plays the 3, 4, or 5)?" I hope so, but I'm not sure it will happen.

As I said before...
The good news is that we have a lot of good players,
The bad news is that we only have a lot of good players.

 

Sorry, BlazerCaravan, but I think your poll question is bass-ackwards. I think GMs primarily look at what players they can GET before they think about who they are going to keep. If Kevin Durant suddenly decided he just HAD to play in the northwest, then Aminu and/or Harkless are expendable. If a center who's seen as a serious upgrade becomes available, then Plumlee isn't as important to the team's future. All of our guys, with the exception of Kaman, who's clearly gone after this season, are young and still have upside. Dame is clearly the franchise's marquee player and, barring something crazy being offered, isn't going anywhere. CJ is just a notch below that. Everybody else on the roster is fair game to be included in trades or could be replaced if an upgrade becomes available. If not, then they've all got room to grow here. Crabbe, Leonard and Henderson are all guys who other teams are likely going to throw lucrative deals at. Money, and what other players are available will decide whether the Blazers match.

I think it's going to be a really fun summer to watch.

 

total agreement

 

I'm not asking you to play GM. I'm asking who you like on the team and hope to see back. As a fan. It's an opportunity to quit playing armchair GM; we're all shitty GMs.

 

Whenever I see threads like this I remind myself that this team was projected to win 26 games or so. I think they finish at about 43 wins, 2 games above .500. That success is because of the players on the team so I have a hard time being excited about showing players the door, but improvements need to be made to take the next step. I think a lot of the guys on peoples "go" list don't have enough value to justify moving for what we would get in return. I'm pretty content with all the players on the team currently I see them as either established or still developing.

Keep (Currently under contract)
Dame, CJ, Aminu, Plumlee, Vonleh, Davis

Re-Sign For Sure
Harkless (Will still be good value)

Choose between
Crabbe and Henderson (Probably Crabbe will be cheaper and as a RFA we can just let the market decide)

Would like to re-sign
Brian Roberts (I really like how he fits the backup/3rd PG roll for us)

Let the Market decide the price
Meyers Leonard (I want him back with the Blazers but on a reasonable contract, his shoulder injury and down year will probably bring his FA price down to where the Blazers would be silly not to match)

Will cost so little it doesn't matter
Montero, Connaghton, Alexander, Kaman

This offseason especially is more about who we are able to lure in. Example let's say we are able to steal away Harrison Barnes (Just an example) then we really don't need to keep Harkless and Aminu. It should be a priority to improve one Starter position this summer, though some improvement should come pretty simply from Vonleh simply developing.

 

I wouldn't be a fan of either starting 5; both our worse than our current starters.

Plumlee and Davis don't make any sense as duo together.

A Dame/CJ/Cousins trio would have major issues defensively. Ed might pair well with Cousins. Not enough shooting to help out Dame and CJ.