The Center Position: Whaddya wanna do?

We have 3?

Seriously - I can live with Plums as our designated non-scorer because of his passing. Having Harkless and Aminu on the floor together makes my stomach ache.

 

He's a very talented post threat but a bit suspect defensively, not a good rebounder either. His price will be higher than that too, I'd expect Philly to ask for McCollum which is a no go to me.

Maybe Blazers should actually try to get Embiid. He should finally be fit to play next season and is still young enough to make an impact in the league. His price should not be too high all things considered.

 

Welcome to the forum!

I mentioned Okafor because I have a couple friends who are lifttime sixer fans. According to them, the sixers are super high on Embiid. They believe he's a superstar in the making and the sixers would rather keep Embiid/Noel. Than Okafor.
Also he's 20, he should improve defensively. With that Roster I think it shows how good Noel is defensively rather how bad Okafor is.

 

Hello, nice to be here, been looking at forum for a while before I decided to register. Due to 9-hour time difference (I'm posting from Poland which is like two letters away from Portland but a gazillion miles afar) I will probably be posting in what seems like the middle of the night for the rest on here. BTW as opposed to my picture I'm a Blazers fan, not a Bucks fan (the buck is reference to my family name from FB account).

I agree that at 20 he still has time on his side. His offensive play is pretty much there, not much polish needed to be added to be 'there'. On the defensive side he's not THAT bad. Personally I'd rather have him than Noel as I believe Okafor will find it easier to improve the D than Noel will find it to add offensive play to his repertoire. At least one of Philly's bigs will be available this window I believe and Blazers should have a go at whoever is made available. Okafor might be likely to be available for a trade but I fear that the price might get high here, especially if Boston come into picture (although I'd expect Boston to go hard for Horford and Whiteside and if they don't come, go all in for Cousins with Howard also in the picture). As I said, offensively Okafor would be a great choice and would have exactly the role you mentioned, a go to man when Lillard and CJ are not hitting it from the perimeter. Ideally you'd want to get a defensively solid 4 if you got Okafor. Imagine if Blazers got Millsap to go with Okafor... It's a pipedream.

 

Welcome! Enjoying your insight!

 

Personally I'm not sure if I'd go after Millsap along with Okafor.
I like what I've seen from Plumlee when put in a play-making position at the FT line. He just needs to develop the ability to hit a 15-18ft jumper.
I think that a lineup of Okafor/Plumlee and Okafor/Nards would fit pretty well. I believe both Plumlee and Nards would complement the low post skills of Okafor.
Defensively might come into question if teams decide to attack Nards/Okafor. But Aminu could slide up to the 4 if it's needed and one of the three bigs I mentioned could sit.

 

That's kind of odd. 6 months ago the team was calling Embiid out for half-assing his rehab. There were stories that he could have played this season if he had taken rehab seriously.

 

Trouble is that when you have both Okafor and Plumlee in the line up you have zero threat from the perimeter from either of them so it might be tough to stretch the field even though there are two great shooters at guard positions. Neither of Okafor and Plumlee even has it in them to develop a 3-point shooter, both are not very efficient from the mid-range (though Okafor has developed his jumper this season) and Plumlee's offense is generally limited. If we were to keep Plumlee at 5 then the power forward should be someone with the ability to stretch and score from most areas of the court. If we're using Plumlee at PF then I admit, if he develops a 15-18ft jumper he'd be a terrific option - but that's a huge massive IF considering that his shooting has been his weakness.

Leonard stretches the floor well but he doesn't offer much aside from shooting and even at that he's only truly efficient when he gets some space. If the price is right I'd be leaning towards keeping him and giving him another year to develop but it's hard to trust him as a main option at 4 and even more so at C. He's different than Vonleh and all centers though, basically the only true stretch 4 at Portland now and I think moving for someone like Williams and Leuer would be a bit of a sideways move anyway, so unless he gets a great offer from another team, I reckon keeping him should be an option.

Millsap is the perfect choice for me. If Blazers got him then I'm not sure there's even a need to change much at the center position as you'd have scoring from the other 4 players plus Millsap would add defence and ability to play near the basket. I'm finding it hard to believe that Portland will be able to lure him away from Atlanta now though. Horford is the Hawks player that is a possibility due to his contract status and I think he'd like to play as PF but he'll a) get a lot of other teams after him, b) a good offer from Atlanta. Besides if he goes beyond $20m then it's getting to expensive for a 30-year old player. Failing to get any of them I'd start looking at players like Okafor who might be available, providing they are priced well. Ability wise Cousins would be a match but I have doubts about his character (even though I don't mind cocky players) plus his price would likely require Blazers to trade both Plumlee and McCollum and probably throw some more. Too much. There;s really no need to rebuild the whole team, just add key elements.

 

Sounds like Okafor and Leonard might be a good combo.

 

Yeah the reports were he wasn't taking rehab seriously or telling doctors how he really felt.
Then Colangelo came out and said "No one's rushing him back there's no reason to. The goal and objective at the start of next season is to do everything we can do to get him in the best position to be successful. Because if he can hold up and he's OK, he's a game changer. It's going to take him a while to get re-acclimated because he hasn't played. But this guy is worthy of a lot of time and effort. I'm upbeat about the possibilities. I really am," said Colangelo.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/170043...-embiid-has-no-chance-to-play-this-season.htm

This isn't even bringing up Saric or Simmons(if they can draft him).
With Colangelo bringing up "destination" talk, someone is getting traded sooner rather than later. Especially with the Rumors that surfaced in March.
They don't think Embiid/Okafor can play together. If Embiid is healthy rumors are they want to move Okafor.(no it's not just cbs that reported this)
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...still-look-to-trade-jahlil-okafor-this-summer

I don't really see a reason why Okafor or Plumlee shouldn't be able to develop a 15-18ft jumper. Especially Okafor.
Okafor as a 20yr old rookie shot 68% from the line. Plumlee has been in the low to mid 60's from the line two out of his three years in the NBA.
I only bring up Nards being able to play well with Okafor because of Nard's ability to shoot the ball. Spread the defense out.
I think Plumlee should be able to play the 4, and Okafor the 5. Nards + Okafor might get destroyed in the P&R though.
Personally I'd prefer Noel from the Sixers out of their bigs. But I don't think they'll trade him.. Okafor is more likely.

 

I watched some of Okafor's highlights from this season to get the better feel of how he performed as I did not catch that many Sixers games (really better things to do at 1 AM here than watching the current Philly team). He's better from mid-range than I expected him to be, not perfect and he misses them but he's managed to pull off some sweet shots. Maybe it'd actually not be such a terrible idea to try to develop him in that area and play him next to Plumlee. I generally like him as a player, 2015 draft class looks proper solid in general. The center I'd like the most from that class is Myles Turner though, I think his potential is huge. A complete no-go in terms of availability though, unfortunately.

 

LMFAO

 

We have to plan on having Aminu get minutes at the 4. There is too much small ball going on not to have someone on the roster to cover these guys. As much as Aminu can frustrate me at times he is a great asset. He can guard bigger SF's and quicker PF's. I don't know if he needs to start in the future, but I do see him as a very good utility player. I consider him more of a 4 than a 3 in today"s NBA.

 

Even with Crabbe being a quality 3-d player who is young and potentially locked into a 3-4 year deal? I'm not even sure they have a wing player on Crabbe's level atm.
Crabbe + pick + Davis or even Harkless/Aminu?

 

They won't take Plumlee because the whole idea is that they move Okafor because they have too many centers. Crabbe is not enough. Maybe a 3-team trade with Plumlee or Davis going somewhere else could work, or send Leonard there too in S&T.

 

They don't have anyone aside from their bigs. Covington is all right too buy far from very good. They got a lot of cap space though so I'd expect some free agents to go there.