Official Around the NBA October/November 2016

If you guys want to find solace in anything from the last season or two...look at a majority of the players who have been let go or traded. People who come to this team leave a better player and that says a lot to the type of Player Development the Blazers have.

With Stotts and Olshey I haven't felt this confident in the direction of the franchise in a long time.

 

Whoosh.

 

Brush up on your history. The Warriors sucked. They traded for Bogut. Then they were good. Also, look up games that Bogut missed last season, especially Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

 

Wow, Wes is still an elite defender.

 

Harden with the clutch jersey grab to get past Wes, ends up drawing a foul and wins the game going 1-2 from the line...

Hardens turnovers are killing me right now. Not that I'd expect to win that stat anyways, but come on...8 turnovers on 6 assists and people think he's an MVP?

 

He's also one of the worst shooters in the NBA.

 

So Steph and Klay's maturation had nothing to do with helping them... you know, win?

 

He also had DNP-cd in games 5/6 in the 2015 finals. Played a total of 3 minutes in game 4.
Wasn't that much of a difference maker in games 1/2/3 either. Turning into as Screaming-A-Smith puts it "Andrew Bogus."(for game 3)
Bogut was a situational player who more often than not was on the bench due to no big to guard in the 2015 playoffs.
Outside of series against Memphis that is.
I'd say any defensive Center could have filled the role Bogut did on the Warriors team.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2747/year/2015/andrew-bogut

 

Lol. Using your logic, Ian Clark made them relevant too.

 

Bunch of last minute rookie extensions beat the deadline today for 2013 draftees.

All from Woj

Oladipo: OKC-- 4yrs, 84 mil
Steven Adams: OKC -- 4yrs, 100 mil
Gobert: UTA-- 4yrs, 100+ mil

Nothing for Plums it seems, understandably.We're gonna skip the lux tax this year and let him go to RFA in a market saturated with centers.

 

This makes me feel a bit better about how much we spent in the off season.

 

Hell, $25M a year for Adams and Gobert is insane. The money on the table these days is absolutely riduculous. They are good but limited centers and are being signed for a quarter of a cap, wow. Wonder how much Noel is going to get, I have been advocating trading for him in the other thread but if he is to sign a $25M a year deal next year then it's a no go.

 

Gobert is good... but I just don't think he's THAT good. Dame abused the shit out of him.

 

And will continue to do so as long as they both play. I have no doubts now after watching the last game. Gobert will not get a team to a ring with Dame around. He has his number.

 

He's a fine defensive player with little offense and not really a game changer IMO. He is nice to have a round but not as a central figure.

 

Well centers are generally expensive anyways. Look how much Mozgov got. So there worth what their value is. That's just the way it is with centers.

Unfortunately Mason Plumlee is going to be expensive for no reason but his value in the open market.

 

Well I think the best for us will be to let Plumlee go this season. Miles Plumlee got $12M and Mason is probably worth more. We will still have Ezeli and can trade for another center. In all honesty someone like Okafor could really be worth the risk if only for the fact that he will be here on a small contract for the next 2+ years.

 

I know a LOT of people around here love to hate Meyers, and I also know Steven Adams is a much better defender and can take a kick to the nutsack and keep right on playing, but check out these numbers from last season:

Meyers Leonard: 8.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 1.5 apg in 21.9 mpg
Steven Adams: 8.0 apg, 6.7 rpg, 0.8 apg in 25.2 mpg

Now check out these numbers:

Meyers Leonard: $41 million over 4 years
Steven Adams: $100 million over 4 years

Again, I acknowledge that Adams is better, but how in the hell do you justify $100 million over 4 years to a guy who should never be anything more than a defensive role player who should never be higher than your 4th or 5th option on offense? That's insane money. Oh well, I guess they have to give it to somebody and they aren't going to attract any top name free agents to Cow Town any time soon. Which is moot at this point after giving these extensiions to Adams and Oladipo.

BNM

 

This has instantly raised Leonard's trade value.

 

My top-3 draft day rankings for our #10 pick:

1 - McCollum: $106m
2 - Adams: $100m
3 - Gobert: $102m

I'll never get used to these new contracts.