FINDING A PF: Number 1 offseason priority

Markkanen to me is another Channing frye. He'll be a solid big that spaces the court but I doubt he's ever going to be a center piece of a team like porzingis. Not someone I'd draft in the top 12. Hartenstein is the better bet imo.

 

You can't repair something that doesn't exist.

 

Amir Jonson over Kyle O'Quinn??? No way. Johnson is three years older and a below average rebounder for his position (12.8 TRB%). He is currently making over 3x as much as O'Quinn and will be a UFA this summer.

In addition to being 3 years younger, O'Quinn is an elite level rebounder (19.4 TRB%) and an elite rim protector (6.8 BLK%) and a better passer (14.8 AST%). He's bigger and stronger, on a cheap contract and locked up for an additional season.

Here's how they compare. Tell me why, exactly you prefer Johnson. Yes, he does make an occasional 3, but it's less than once every 3 games. He's not exactly a floor spacer.

If we just want a 6'9" guy who can hit an occasional 3-pointer, we should just keep Aminu. He's also 3 years younger than Amir Johnson, hits 3x as many 3-pointers, is a better rebounder, a better defender and locked up on a very reasonable contract for two more years - his contract actually goes down over the next two seasons.

Ask yourself this, would you be willing to pay serious luxury tax penalties for Amir Johnson for the length of his contract, including repeater penalties? Because that's what it would take to sign him. O'Quinn and Aminu are both younger and cheaper and locked up longer. O'Quinn is way better and Aminu is a better fit.

BNM

 

I assume you mean post injury Channing Frye, because before his injury, he was a fucking stud. He didn't really add the 3-pointer until after he left the Blazers and went to PHO (he made a total of 20 three pointers in his first 4 seasons, an average of 5 per season).

Go back and watch some video from his rookie year, before his injury. You will be amazed. I promise. If not for the injury, he probably would have finished 2nd in ROY voting to CP3. He was that good.

BNM

 

Amir Johnson is not the answer and neither is Channing Frye. We need someone who's really great

 

my guess is Vonleh will continue to start next season, and then we will draft someone to push him (the only way I see another scenario is if we shed Crabbes salary.) I'm already expecting Leonard to be traded. I see Davis as a mid season dump if he shows he's healthy. So the way I see it, we'll be drafting at least 2 bigs. How about a Hartenstein, Patton haul?

 

What about a Bam and Rabb haul? That would still likely leave us with the Cleveland pick to take a Crabbe replacement (for the future).

 

I don't really like either for us. Bam has a better chance to make it, but is too similar to Vonleh and Rabb has some serious issues guarding space/pnr and doesn't look like he'll be strong enough to hold up at 5. Doesn't have much stretch potential either.

I've said it already, but our "pf of the future" is probably not in this draft. The only guy that projects to be a down the road starter at PF is Jonathan Isaac, but that's like 4+ years from now after he bulks up and is probably out of our reach if we are being realistic. Miles Bridges could be one too, but he'd be the smallest (by height/wingspan) 4 in the NBA, but just might have the strength+athleticism combo to make it work defensively.

Outside of those 2, you've got a boom or bust type in Isaiah Hartenstein and some will throw Williams and Giles in this mix, but they are 90-95% likely to be straight 5's in today's NBA.

Then you've got Leaf and Lydon who's likely upside is situational stretch PF's who are negatives defensively and aren't dynamic enough scorers to make up for it.

John Collins is probably the wild card in this group. Has a nice strength/atheticism/coordination combination that should work at the PF position, but he plays like a center offensively and doesn't play much defense so I struggle to see how becomes a starter unless he develops more of a face-up game+shoots 3's.

 

Vonleh may be throwin his hat in the ring if he can keep this up

 

Vonleh is the future...
In NO's eyes.
Bank it.

 

Caleb Swanigan.
He's the guy.

Terrific rebounder. Very good shot. Very good passer for his position. Body is very similar to Vonleh... but I think Caleb has a little quicker twitch & has it between the ears better.

 

Honestly I think the front court could be okay. It may be far too optimistic, but I think a four man rotation of the following would be alright:

Vonleh/Nurkic (starters)
Davis (sans 10 pounds and able to guard the 4)/Leonard

You know what I like about it, all 4 should be able to set nasty screens. And that was the thing I hated most about Plumlee's game. Now Leonard doesn't do it well all the time yet, but that should be the key to the guy staying in the league. Dame/CJ could be great running their defenders into him out on the three point line, and how many teams have that luxury? Ed is a great offensive rebounder so the pairing would be alright.

I really think the piece that's missing is a elite perimeter defender who can space the floor on offense, and if there was any way to get a guy like Avery Bradley, I think that's the ticket. Really, I know it doesn't work contract wise, but theoretically if you had an Avery Bradley type and Crabbe/Aminu were out, then Harkless/Turner could guard the big swingmen instead of chasing guys on the perimeter. This rotation would be nice IMO.

Lillard/Bradley
McCollum/Bradley
Harkless/Turner
Vonleh/Leonard
Nurkic/Davis

Obviously you want to fill it out with vets and young guys, but it sure looks balanced to me IF (and big if) Vonleh and Leonard get serviceable and dependable.

 

I think Faried would be a good PF on this team. He'd be a rich-man's Noah Vonleh. I wonder if we could pry him away from Denver for Leonard and one of our 1st round picks?

 

Well yea, he's gotta make the Batum trade pan.

 

Those 2 players are literally nothing alike.

 

Not true, they have a similar skillset, build, and athletic ability. Faried just has a bigger motor and is a better finisher than Noah. Actually, probably everyone in the league is a better finisher than Noah.

 

Faried is way too limited offensively IMO to make sense for POR, especially his mid-long range shooting

 

They actually are similar in terms of skillset, Faried just has a better motor.

 

No they don't.

Athleticism: faried is a superior athlete and much more explosive.

Skill set: Vonleh can post up and shoot. Faried does neither. Faried plays above the rim, Vonleh plays below it.

 

Vonleh is a good athlete, he just plays too passively. He has a 37 inch vertical and a 31 inch no step vert, both of which are better than Faried. Their 3/4 court sprint and lane agility tests were identical.

As far as shooting, Faried is a better mid range shooter at this point by a long shot. He hits 42% of his mid range shots from 10-16 this year and Vonleh is actually shooting a dismal 13%, though I think he is capable of being much better in that catagory, he is certainly a better 3pt shooter than Faried.