We aren't that far away

I wouldn't trade CJ for KP straight up. Am I overrating CJ? Maybe if picks/salary dumps are involved-- sure.

That lineup looks intimidating as hell. What frontcourt can stop KP/Nurk?

 

Go after Rudy Gay. He has a player option and he'd be a perfect 6th man. We don't need more young guys we need vets now. Could Gay be like Joe Johnson is for the Jazz?

 

Where are you getting the money to pay for him?

 

That's why Neil has to get creative. That's his job.

 

CJ might be slightly ahead of him right now, but he's only in his second year and he's quite a bit younger than CJ. KP is only 21. Plus we have a lot of depth at SG, so we can slide Crabbe or Turner into the starting lineup.

 

Take Porzingis away from New York, and the spotlight, and you'll see that CJ is worth more, so no, you're not overrating him. That being said, that's a trade I'd consider.

 

Think we need another two decent players. So use all three picks and hope we get lucky. Can always trade somebody if we are in a roster pinch.

 

Agree that we are a couple of 'good' players away. If Davis is fit, he helps as Nurks backup. We need to move Leonard and at least one of Crabbe/Turner. We need solid role players to fill out the bench and probably a starting SF, who doesn't need to be a star.

 

No. He needs to let his leg fully heal. As much as I would like to see us beat the Warriors this series, I'd rather have Nurkic healthy for the next 10 years.

 

No way I would trade CJ for Porzingis. CJ is a better player.

 

CJ has been so good this season and is on a 4-year deal which makes him almost untradeable for me. Three months ago I'd have even traded him for Cousins but now I think him and Lillard should be our foundation, build on that.

Porzingis would be magnificent here and would almost offer everything else for him. Him and Nurkic as our frontcourt would be just magnificent. We'd still need a small forward to complete our team but that's fair, we'd draft one. I'd trade one or two picks plus 2-3 players of New York choice for Porzingis. Not sure how tempting that would be for them but if the atmosphere becomes toxic, it could be doable. I'd even absorb Melo's contract if it was necessary (Porzingis is on a rookie deal so offering Harkless + Aminu + someone + 2 picks for Melo/Zinger should work cap wise).

I think what would be doable is offering our pick + players for them, and then them offering that pick + something to move up to the top 3 of the draft. They'll want to get their hands on Ball/Fultz/Jackson instead of Tatum/Smith that they will have available at 6 or 7 where they are drafting. And perhaps someone above them will prefer to get a less talented but still great potential player, and some squad fillers. If it's Orlando in top 3... Something like:

POR get: Porzingis
NYK get: no. 2 pick (Lonzo Ball)
ORL get: no. 6 pick (Jayson Tatum), no. 15 pick (John Collins), Aminu, Crabbe.

This really does not look that stupid. We get to keep two of our picks, New York get a potential star for a player they might want to see gone, Orlando get more players that they can develop but perhaps the ones they need more too.

Payton/Crabbe/Tatum/Collins/Vucevic is a good line up to develop.

Ball is a better foundation to build on than Porzingis.

If we get Porzingis we don't really need Aminu here. Crabbe's contract has already been mentioned as a bit too high and we'd replace him with a rotation player with Cleveland pick (Memphis pick we use to get a power forward/center combo player).

 

You need Copperfield to create enough cap space, not an NBA GM.

 

The #15 pick, Crabbe and Aminu for Porzingas? This relies very heavily on Orlando being incredibly stupid and irrational and I just don't think you can count on that anymore since they fired their GM.

I don't think very many people in the NBA would agree with you on that. Ball is a great play-maker, but his shot is considered suspect and his defense is currently terrible. He has a downside of a poor man's Rickey Rubio. I guess you could say he has an upside of Magic Johnson, but it's an incredible risk. Porzingas is still extremely young, has a great shot and has the potential to be one of the best rim-protectors and rebounders in the game. Prime Dirk Nowitzki on offense combined with prime Tyson Chandler on defense? I don't think any team would rather have Ball over Porzingas.

 

Yeah most of that is on point. I would even add, after consideration, that New York would be extremely dumb to give away Tatum and Porzingis. Probably even more stupid than Orlando for giving away a no. 2 pick for no. 6, no. 15 and two decent players.

 

We just need to convince Boston that Patty C is the next great white guy.... and trade him for their pick.

 

Ah yes the player that EVERY team has gotten better after he has left. Great idea.

 

Porzingas has made it no secret he's unhappy with the front office in New York....he's probably asking to be moved....if you can get him, you do but I don't think CJ or Dame will be involved in any trade....it has to be picks and Crabbe, Leonard, Ezeli's contract, Napier, Connaugton, Layman, etc.....for the Knicks they are blowing it up...picks will be the draw.....CJ and Dame and Nurk are our core that attracts players....bust that up and you're still trying to replace them...right now Porzingas is in a losing culture....Phil Jackson likes to sign unathletic white centers...Longley, Purdue, Wennington...he might see his franchise triangle center in Meyers.....I'm just going to project that scenario until it becomes reality

 

I don't think we are that far away from making the WCF. Anything beyond that just isn't in the realm of possibility as long as the Warriors are around as currently constructed, pretty much no matter what we do.

But that's really ok. The present is Lillard/CJ/Nurk. We should try to get to the WCF with that core next year if we can. If we can't, well, hopefully we don't burn through all our assets, because Nurk is only 22, and he's going to peak in about 4-5 years. The NBA landscape will look drastically different then, and we'll go from there.

And really, I don't view the Blazers' success purely through the prism of championships. It's fun watching deep playoff runs even if they don't win it all. The playoff drought isn't such a distant memory for me that I take this shit for granted.

 

No thank you.