We need one of two things, either more Northwest teams in the Northwest Division or some serious realignment. A NW Division made sense when there were teams in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Now, it makes ZERO sense. We are the only team that doesn't have a single division rival in the same time zone, and half of our division rivals are two time zones away. That's bullshit. No other division is split across three time zones (Pacific, Mountain and Central). I'm all for adding one, or preferably two, new teams, as it would force a much needed realignment. Selfishly, Id like to see teams back in Seattle and Vancouver, but I doubt if the NBA gives VAN another chance. So, Vegas would be the next best thing. With two new teams in the West, move MEM and NOP to the East where they belong, but geographically and culturally. Then create divisions based on time zones. It would be much more viewer friendly than having half your division rivals two times zones away and would surely increase TV ratings. Right now, road games against MIN and OKC start when many people in POR are still at work or during their evening commute. That hurts TV ratings. The opposite it true for fans of those teams when they play in Portland. Not only is there a two hour time difference, prime time TV programming in the Central Time Zone runs from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, not 8:00pm to 11:00pm, like it does on the coasts. That means fans of MIN and OKC are getting ready for bed about half an hour after tip off in POR. Most will be sound asleep by halftime. And, we all know TV money is the coal that makes the NBA train roll. BNM
FIFY, but the idea is absolutely correct. Player value (including future value) per dollar is what is most important here, not just Player value. Turner and Crabbe are two of the worst in that category.
Interesting thought. So, our top 8 to protect would be Dame/CJ/Moe/Aminu/Plumlee/Vonleh/Davis/Leonard, and leave Crabbe/Turner/Ezeli unprotected (along with Napier/Connaughton/Layman)? Of those left unprotected, would Ezeli be the most desirable due to his size and the size/length of his contract, or Crabbe due to his youth, scoring ability, and still untapped potential?
Yep, go back and look at previous expansion drafts. Expansion teams are looking for young, CHEAP talent. They'll take veterans, but only if they are on the last year of their current contract. They mostly just want enough guys to put a team on the floor until they can build through the draft. I mean, seriously, how competitive can you hope to be when your best player is someone else's 9th most valuable? BNM
The 5 team divisions are stupid. They serve no purpose. Hell the division winner is not even guaranteed home court. When I go to ESPM or NBA.com to look at the standings, I never look at the division version, I always look at the conference version because it's what matters. If they add one more team out west, at the very least they should go back to two divisions : Pacific and Mid West But I would not be opposed to just two in the whole league. West and East.
The best part about a Seattle franchise is that Toronto would have to stop using that dumb, "We the north!" slogan.
Definitely not Crabbe. He's the best player, but his contract is too big. Napier and maybe Layman might get picked because they are on cheap, rookie contracts. Ezeli, in spite of his injury history, is a low risk (financially) big man. His contract is vert team friendly. It's small, by current standards, and the second year is only partially guaranteed. If he doesn't work out, they can always waive him after year one. BNM
What kind of balloon animal is that???? also, this would be cool to me, mainly so I can see the Blazers in Seattle. Unfortunately, I probably would lose all my blazer broadcasts. Might have to get league pass.
I value Crabbe more because he has a much higher ceiling. I think he could be a legit first or second option in the right situation.
We'd protect Lillard, McCollum, Aminu, Plumlee, Davis, Crabbe and Leonard. They wouldn't draft Turner as they wouldn't want to pay that amount of money to him.
Really? What do you think Crabbe's ceiling is? I think he'll be nothing more than a role player. He's not starter material, IMO.
No, it won't. POR and MIN are both already north of TOR, but it doesn't stop them from using that stupid slogan. We The North, the Raptors slogan, mocked by the Portland Trail Blazers BNM
