You think that they would plan to have Porter take ET’s spot as backup floor General? I don’t see ET’s minutes being threatened at all. Porter would play starting SF.
That’s pretty much where I’m at. I know Porter is better than Layman, but I’d like to find out how much better. Only way to truly tell is if Layman gets an expanded role.
You don't see a downside, which assumes we get a new owner who has the same spending habits as Paul Allen. On the flip side - what is the upside to the deal? How much does Porter actually improve the team?
Oh fuck. e_blazer, I have obviously had my head buried in Thanksgiving. I guess that sounds better than getting senile! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Hell, you know who I mean!
I saw some people Bring up Dr. Jack and man thats hard to fight with in my opinion. I picked Dame, but those are two amazing guys...
Even if Layman impresses with an expanded role, I suspect Porter would also elevate his play if he were on our team. The only way to prove definitively is to trade for Porter and play both Porter and Layman and see who produces better results! But I do understand being gun-shy on that contract. For once I don't really care about the finances because (a) we're screwed anyway, and (b) we've been eating it with Turner and Meyers for two years now - at least Porter wouldn't take TWO YEARS to barely half live up to his contract!
I do, indeed, and I agree that he is my favorite Blazer ever. Just an absolute winner from attitude through performance.
Here is our contract situation. Basically, we have over 40 million/year tied to Turner/Harkless/Leonard over the next year. In 2020/2021 we will only have Dame/CJ/Nurk and the capholds of Zach/Caleb, along with all the rookies we keep from this year forward. That is immediately 90-95 million of our cap taken up. The salary cap is expected to be ~118 in 2020. So that leaves us with ~22 million in capspace to chase free agents with during that year. That isn't enough for a max contract, and given Portland's history with free agents, it's very likely we end up with scraps. So the question is, since Turner/Harkless/Leonard are already taking 40 million in cap for the next two years, will we perform better if we convert any number of these players (along with a pick probably) into Otto Porter? Or is there someone on the market that is a more realistic get using these contracts (lol) and has the upside to make this team better? Or are we just better with Turner/Harkless/Leonard? Also consider that Porter, Dame and CJ's contracts all expire in 2020/2021 so if everything falls to shit, we can hit the reset button that year without carrying his ~28 million a year contract on the books into the future. My answer is yes, but I don't expect a trade with salaries this big to go down while the ownership situation is still not settled yet.
Layman's also barely played. It's a 250 minute sample size that you're buying too much into. Also, birth can play the 4 so I don't see how it'd restrict Layman. Itd just send him to the bench where he'd play just as much and actually get more shots and scoring opportunities. Also, Porter is a great defender. Layman is average at best. Porter has shot 44% from 3pt for an entire season. We can only dream that Jake shoots that.
Maybe we should rethink this whole don't trade Zach thing. If not, get this guy some semblance of big man coaching at least. He is more foul prone than Oden in his first summer league.
He started playing worse once injuries hit and he had to start playing mostly 4 next to Meyers. He's not a 4. Maybe long term the Blazers want him to develop into a 4, but as it currently stands his effectiveness on both sides of the floor is diminished when he's not playing the 5 spot.
CJ gave up more than he scored. So he may not be middling on offense but on defense, he gave up 32 to a guy who averages 13.
