He's exactly what this bench has been missing. We all knew that he is a complete zero on defense, but he's a top-5 scoring big - easily. This system can use him to his strengths -- exactly how Memphis utilized Randolph, which revived his career. In short, is it even possible?
I think they need to drop ET's minutes and play Zach for interior defense. The way they keep him, I don't know their going to be in an awkward position because of the cap this summer.
Only way to keep him is via the MLE, so it will depend on how much he might be offered elsewhere. Bear in mind that our MLE will be of the taxpayer variety, so there will be many teams that can outbid us for his services. If he really wants to stay here, and embraces his role as the back half of the Nurk-n-Turk center rotation, then he could theoretically sign here for one year at tax-MLE level, with the "promise" of us re-signing him next year to a much larger deal summer 2020, but that would be a lot of risk for him.
I know it goes against everything the league is turning into, but I want to see if we can work him in as a starting PF, along with backup C. I think he can Collins can work eventually as the backups, but I want to see if he can mesh with Nurk as well for about 10 mpg. We'd have multiple P&R threats and move that action to the wings instead of down the middle. Not many ways to stop that if we can work out the spacing.
The chances of keeping him appear slim, which is why I'm not letting myself get too attached to him or Hood.
It will depends how bad olshey wants to keep him and Hood. But he must trade to trade Turner Harkless Leonard and Aminu Curry walk. That might give them enough to resign both of them. But then again it will take Kanter and Hood patients in this summer too.
Short answer - they can't. And this is why I grit my teeth and snarl every time some chowder head tries to tell me it doesn't matter that Olshey overpaid for a bunch of scrubs. "It's not your money!" they cry. No, but it is the team I root for and Olshey F'ed them royally! He finally tripped over a couple of guys in Hood and Kanter that might help - and there is no way to keep them. I'm not even betting that we can/will keep Jake!
It's possible. But, is it likely? There are going to be teams giving him better offers than the Blazers can. He would have to turn them down to rejoin the Blazers. Unless, the Blazers can move Turner/Meyers/Hark in a draft day trade or early summer, all they will have is the vet MLE. They could offer it to him with the promise of a bigger payday the next season after they move some of those terrible contracts once they become expirings. Kanter is very excited about being here. Will that last till the summer?
I would say the first assumption is that the tax-MLE won't be enough. What will it start at?...about 5.6M? Kanter will probably take a pay-cut from his last contract, but it likely won't be that much. So then, Portland would need the full-MLE. That way, Portland could offer something like a 3-year/30M deal projected tax line is 132M; Apron is 138M. Portland would have to be no higher than 129M to offer Kanter the full MLE Portland is at 126M in guaranteed money (10 players). Layman's cap-hold is about 2M. The first round pick adds another 2M, bumping it up to 130M, so just those two 'factors' push Portland out of full MLE range. Then there are the cap-holds for Portland's UFA's: Al-Farouq Aminu $13,218,500 Rodney Hood $6,598,487 Seth Curry $3,354,000 looks like there isn't away to get it done short of a significant cap-clearing trade and renouncing the rights to Aminu it will be a buyer's market for expiring contracts next season. Ideally, if the Blazers were the first team out there dangling a 1st round pick as incentive to take either Meyers or Harkless (I'm assuming Turner has too much negative value), Portland could be at 115M (not counting roster charges). Convince Hood to sign for his non-Bird amount...Blazers are at 119M. Convince Aminu to sign for 6-7M. 125-126M. Layman's cap-hold puts them at 128M. Sign Kanter for full-MLE and Portland is at 137M. Re-sign Layman for 10M (too much?....too little?) and Portland is at 147M with 13 players. Vet minimum for 14th player and Portland is around 148-149M; 16-17M over the tax line. Would JA agree to a 30M tax bill? Would Kanter agree to be a backup? Does Portland need to bring back both Aminu and Hood?
I do everything in my power to keep Enes. He is the perfect running mate with ZC. Perfect! And those 2 give us a great foundation for having one of the best benches in the league, along with Jake. Run the second unit offense through Enes (keeps him happy) and surround him with shooters (Jake, Curry, Trent, even ZC) and thats a strong second unit.
Lol Olshey haters are funny. He tripped into Kanter and Hood. He lucked into a killer deal to get Nurk. He accidentally traded for the rights to Layman. It was the Blazers scouts that really wanted Lillard and he just so happened to go along with it. This stuff is laughable. I think there's plenty of fair criticism to give without ignoring the positive Olshey is responsible for.