Trade Idea How We can Fix this Team, both Short Term and Long Term, by the Trade Deadline

I would LOVE Marcus smart. He's a dog, and I mean that as a compliment. I know Boston could use a guy like Ed Davis, so how about Davis and Vonleh for Smart? Vonleh is a local kid, and could develop behind horford. Davis gives them more instant help rebounding. Then trade for Noel and watch the defense take off. Ideally I would trade CJ for Cousins. Just imagine this

Lillard
Crabbe
Harkless
Aminu
Cousins

Smart and ET the guards off the bench. Have familiarity with each other from their time in Boston. Shit we could get Cousins and still trade for Noel as a backup who'd see plenty of minutes and compliments Leonard.

 

I don't see this actually happening, but if it did, I'd start Noel at center and Cousins at PF. Now that Cousins has 3-point range, they could work together.

BNM

 

He doesn't even need to though. He has a solid 15-17 footer that will provide plenty of space.

 

I wonder (again) if Boston would take Turner back. They seem to be doing pretty well without him. But maybe if we just ask for Jonas Jerebko and Tyler Zeller (whom they re-signed to a longish contract but who is getting no minutes? I'd prefer Amir Johnson, of course, but he's a lot more useful. We'd only get him if they thought he would ask too much in free agency (which is how we got Turner...). Maybe Jerebko, Zeller and some low-value pick? Anything to clear a logjam and make it feel like we know there's a problem.

 

Serious question: are most of our players untradeable? CJ's got that poison pill thing, Olshey knows he'd lose his job if he traded Lillard, and nobody else is worth a damn.

 

The thing is, it's not hard to imagine some of these 'not worth a damn' players being quite productive in SA.

 

Sigh. Patty Mills.

Thing is, if SA had them, they would not only be better, they would be paid a lot less.

 

I guess I stuck this in the wrong thread yesterday; maybe one of the coaches should ask Harkless what should be done.
http://www.blazersedge.com/2016/12/...f-id-tell-you-why-blazers-are-losing-portland

 

Harkless has hinted before at what he thought was the issue and the frustration around what he was feeling. He said something to the effect of, 'we can't just try to outscore teams' but I can't find the link. He didn't elaborate on that and went silent.

If this losing continues, eventually it will come out.

 

I'm sure Crabbe and/or Turner would be useful/productive players in San Antonio or Golden State. Turner is something like a Shaun Livingston. The problem with both players is entirely in what they're paid. Livingston makes a third what Turner makes. As I've mentioned before, Ian Clark makes a tenth what Crabbe makes. Those are the prices where role-players become real assets to good teams. If Crabbe and Turner were making a tenth or a quarter or a third what they're currently making, I'd love having both players on the team.

Leonard is unsafe at any price, though.

 

So your primary objective is to piss people off?

I never would have guessed.

 

Harkless hasn't been around long enough to fully understand that he cannot tell Quick or any other media leach anything "in confidence".

Hark: Don't do it. These guys are not your friend. Do not trust them. Ever.

Now, if you want to tell me, I promise I won't breath a word of it. Scout's honor.

 

I believe we need go after Noel great defender and rim proctectors. He fits Neil like ex lottery picks that been lost on the bench so he fits perfect for this team. Who we trade for him it would have to be Crabbe or turner due to they need veterans and wings. It properly take a one our 1st next year. This shore up our short and long term for this team.

 

Money fucks up a lot of things. For one thing, if a guy's being paid minimum, he's in no position to feel butthurt at anything the coach asks of him. Come off the bench for ten minutes every other game? Sure! But when you're being paid like Crabbe and Turner it can either make you feel entitled (which is bad) or put undue pressure on you (which is bad). I'm sure a lot of Crabbe's problems this year are mental. You've got to wonder what your teammates are thinking of you and your mega-contract.

There wasn't really much Olshey could do with Crabbe, though - it was pay him or lose him for nothing. In that situation (like with Batum when Minny tried to get him) you pay him and think of him like an "asset". Sadly for Olshey and the Blazers, Crabbe has been just the first syllable of that.

Turner was avoidable, though. That was a desperate move after all the preferred choices turned us down (thankfully, in the case of Parsons).

 

Remember how we deemed Batum unacceptable at the price he ended up getting? Well it's just $2M more than Crabbe and $4M more than Turner. Meanwhile, he's been tearing it up of late, averaging around 17/7/7.

 

So when Danny Green got his 4 year 45 million that wasn't considered a huge bloated contract?

 

No, it was "a freaking steal"