Speaking of favors... One season, the Bulls had to scramble to get under the LT late in the year. Player bonuses earned for making the all-star team pushed them over. In order to get under, they cut Erik Murphy and Utah picked him up and thus his salary came off the Bulls' books. Utah owed the Bulls a favor because the Bulls turned the signing of Boozer into a S&T, giving Utah a massive TPE. http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-b...-favor-saves-bulls-potential-luxury-tax-woes/
David Griffin owes Neil quite a bit. He's taken Mike Miller/Varejao/this pick, etc etc all for very little compensation.
Holy 30th pick Batman! This years pick will be more enticing to teams we are looking to make a trade with, since they will see their return quicker....hope Neil has something good up his sleeve!
Even if they're worse next year, their draft pick may not rise much due to the conference they're in. Unless another team takes a major jump forward (which a team like the Celtics or Raptors could), Cleveland could be a bit worse and still win the conference.
Neil is the assist man but if he never use to better the team then he just blowing smoke. But with Paul loving the draft I guess he pretty excited about this year draft.
Meh! Hardly worth a thought. I wonder if I will ever see a Blazer team that is a contender again? Or do we need to trade PA?
Allen hasn't been the problem. He's presided over two teams that with better luck could easily have won the title. The 2000 team should have--blowing a 15 point fourth quarter lead in game 7 really doesn't have much to do with the owner. And the 2009-onwards Blazers team could have become a title favorite if Oden and Roy had not succumbed to health issues. Roy/Aldridge/Oden/Batum/Matthews would have been a powerhouse. Even the best ownership is only going to preside over a few legitimate title shots. Miss those windows due to bad luck and you get a long, long drought.
I wonder if we will see a 3way deal with us, Cleveland, and Chicago that deals us Butler (obviously CJ would have to go). Cleveland owes us one because we've helped them like four (?) times in the past two years (Haywood, Miller?, Varejao, now moving picks around)
I wasn't serious but It'd be fun to have an oddity on the roster. We could probably get Tacko late in the second round.
How close does this package get us to Butler? CHI Gets: Harkless, Plumlee, Vonleh, Noel, 2017 POR 1st, 2019 POR 1st, 2020 Right to Swap w/ POR, 2021 POR 1st PHI Gets: Crabbe, 2017 CLE 1st POR Gets: Jimmy Butler, Robin Lopez
If we wanted butler the conversation would have to start with CJ. I'd be willing to give up a package centered around CJ for Butler. That's a two way stud right there. Pair him with Dame and use some of our other assets to pick up a center/PF and were in business. My question is...why is Chicago looking to trade Butler??
Very far. They're not going to listen to any proposal that doesn't include Lillard or McCollum. Butler is better than either player, IMO. There is no combination of assets Portland has that adds up to Butler without one of those two in it.