FINDING A PF: Number 1 offseason priority

My preference is definitely Jarrett Allen with Zach Collins shooting up my draft board.

 

I agree. But I doubt any of them will beat him out as a rookie. But you are right, we need 1 PF, 1 center and 1 beer. (I mean 1 wing)

 

I really like how the DraftExpress mock draft looks, it has us taking Justin Jackson with our pick with Jarrett Allen and Justin Patton still available, TJ Leaf and Harry Giles are still available with our Memphis pick, and Caleb Swanigan and Bam Adebayo is still available with our Cleveland pick

 

I Vonleh keeps playing like this then we have our PF of the future.

 

There are a lot of bigs in this draft with upside.

I'm fully convinced that Vonleh's ceiling is Kurt Thomas - Who was a very solid role player on contending teams -- will Vonleh reach his ceiling is the question. If yes, you can have him as a piece to this core of Dame/CJ/Nurk.

 

Saric would be great! Love this kid's play!

 

O'Quinn would be outstanding. That's who I want as my backup C.

Maybe they'll take Napier, Layman, and a 2nd or two?

 

@Boob-No-More

I would love to here your thoughts on some of the following players:

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TRADE TARGETS:
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Trevor Booker
- Cheap option at PF?
Ian Mahinmi, Robin Lopez, Kosta Kofous
- Would be good backup Cs, could trade AC or ET for either should we draft a wing like Justin Jackson
Eric Bledsoe
- 30 min a game 6th man? Could possibly trade Crabbe and our top 2 picks
Nicolas Batum
- I think he'd be a great 3rd ball handler and him and Nurkic in the PnR would be deadly.

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FREE AGENT TARGETS:
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James Johnson
- I think he'd be great as our PF
Amir Johnson
- Underrated PF, MLE target who can shoot and defend.
Thabo Sefelosha
- Possible MLE target who'd be a good replacement if we shed AC or ET
Danilo Gallinari
- If we shed enough salary, would he be a good sign to pair with a defensive minded frontcourt?
Patrick Patterson
- Down year, but maybe he could bounce back and be of good value?

 

It's odd because going to the basket, I don't think there is anyone on the Blazers that gets higher on a dunk than Vonleh. From a standstill under the basket, he gets up but doesn't protect the ball well so doesn't finish around the hoop well. He has huge hands so wondering if they are 'slick'. Some players have slick, leathery hands that make it tough to hold onto the ball at times.

 

If that's the case, just get him some pomade to make his hands nice and sticky whenever he runs his hands over/through his hair.

Vonleh is a total enigma to me. He has the strength, but lack explosiveness...unless he's rim running with an open lane. He has a nice touch on his jumper, but a horrible touch around the basket. He locks in on defense some games, and others he just looks like Meyers (last night - and again, I'm talking about Withey not Gobert).

I think he's a great option when he's the 5th option, but once he starts moving up in the pecking order he totally fails. So, my prognostication is he's going to suck until he's playing with Harkless/Nurkic again - that line-up puts him in his rightful position as 5th option, where he can just focus on defending one man at a time and shooting whenever he's wide open.

 

I've been thinking Amir would be a great fit next to Nurkic. His weaknesses are that he's not super athletic or a great rebounder, but those would be mitigated with the size of Nurkic, and he's known for being a willing passer who keeps the offense in flow and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. We could use some of that vet savvy IMO.

The main trade target (as I've mentioned) that I really think we should go after is Avery Bradley. Some may wonder why in the world the celtics would trade him, but I think it all depends on who they draft, as they have Brooklyn's pick. If they go after say Lonzo Ball it may make sense to cut bait with Bradley who only has a year left on his deal.

Perhaps a package of Aminu, Vonleh, and a pick could get it done? A lot to give up for a guy on an expiring deal but I think he'd fit damn near perfect next to Dame/CJ as a floor spacing elite permeter defender who can handle the ball well enough to take pressure off of either of them, plays well off the ball, and is an amazing rebounder.

The other trade targets I'd be interested in, but only to get Crabbe or Leonard (or both!) deal off of our books would be the suns guys Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley. Yeah, they both have bad deals, so do the guys we'd be giving up (in any combo). Chandler would add much needed interior D, spell Nurk for 20 minutes a game, and provide a stable vet presence who is familiar with Stotts (who must have liked him given that we were rumored to be pursuing him last season). Dudley is now an undersized 4 with mediocre D but, like Amir, is known to always be in the right place at the right time, has a great +- over his career, and is known to be an amazing locker room guy.

Not sure it's possible at all, but hypothetically if we could turn Leonard/Crabbe/Vonleh/Aminu/a pick or two into Chandler/Dudley/Bradley and sign Amir Johnson I would love this rotation (filled out with draft picks and youngsters).

Lillard/Bradley
McCollum/(Bradley/Turner)
Harkless/Turner
Johnson/Dudley
Nurkic/Chandler/Davis

Lots of vets, lots of shooting, lots of hustle. Would love to grab Jordan Bell in the draft too (at the end of the first round)

 

I dont want to sound rude, but you seem to have no idea about cap situation etc. Batum, Mahinmi? These are terrible contracts unless you mean giving up Dame or Cj.
Moreover there are no FA targets for the Blazers. We just cannot shed that much salary, its impossible although these players would be useful.

I have thought about Booker and Koufos and i yhink we should give a try, they should be available for almost nothing.

 

I'm excitedly awaiting BNM's response. And yes I logged in to post for the first time in forever to post this.

 

Every time Aminu shoots, I hold my breath. If the ball goes in, I assume he got lucky.

 

Do you rally think I have no idea about the cap situation? Do you not read enough of my posts?

In both, we'd trade the awful contracts of Turner and Crabbe.

Mahinmi is making less than both and is just as Valuable. So a straight across trade names sense if we drafted a wing who is ready to play right away (Justin Jackson).

Batum is an upgrade over both, and is only making $7M more, so trading Turner+Leonard+OurPick might make sense.

We could shed that much salary. Brooklyn would take Crabbe and Leonard for free. Sacramento would probably take Turner if a pick is attached. Harmless, Davis, and Aminu are all on positive contracts who we could get something for.

So how couldn't we shed that much salary?

 

But in all calculations we have to think about the future too. With around 100M between CJ, Dame, Batum and Nurkic what will be left for the others?

And if we get rid of a bad contract we shouldnt take back an even worse which is Mahinmi's who has no knees and is 30 years old.

 

We'd be over the cap by then. We'd have role players on rookie contracts and value contracts (ex. Kyle O'Quinn) so we'd be fine.

We could likely get a pick with Mahinmi though so...