Yeah, if Simons shows he is legit (good chance he will IMO) this yr his value could skyrocket. if Little shows anything decent his value goes up, But if Simons does blow up then I think the option of trading CJ increases for an SF/PF starter
It's sometimes hard to take Woj seriously when you know he's just Neil's mouthpiece. I certainly wouldn't trade our young guys for nothing, but I question how much value they really have around the league when they've shown almost nothing on an NBA court. Hard to tell whether it's Woj's feeling given his conversations with other teams or if it's just Neil doing the whole "our guys have so much value around the league" bullshit.
I would give up one of Little or Simons (and a future draft pick) for somebody like Otto Porter. He's only 26 , so I don't know if that is mortgaging the future?
What mortgaging? What do you see as the ceiling for Little, Simons and Collins? I see their absolute ceiling as bonafide starter level for all three players. Giving up these guys for a definite all star/ all nba quality player (no matter how overpaid) should be a no brainer. Especially since the guys being talked about (Love/Griffin/etc) fit perfectly with Dame/CJ/Nurk timeline. You're not going after washed up has beens.
What are you basing this ceiling assessment on? You've only seen one game and a few minutes of garbage time for Simons and you've never seen Little play a minute of NBA level ball. Both of those guys look to have the athleticism and raw tools to be all star level players. Obviously, there's a world of difference between having raw talent and athletic ability and actually developing it into an upper-echelon player, but I'd like to see what they can bring before trading them away. Love and Griffin are both guys who are towards the end of their All-Star window and both have long histories of significant injuries. Mortgaging the future for one of them doesn't seem reasonable to me. For a young guy like Leonard or AD, sure, but we both know that there's no player like that even remotely available to trade for.
All star level players don't get DNP CDs for 60 games in their rookie years. Show me a single one. I love Simons, but the hype behind him is absolutely nuts. Olshey's plan is working.
He was also far more proven in college. Simons is a completely unknown entity. I'm projecting his future with speculation like everyone else. A year ago, he was just a guy who was picked 24th in the draft. What has he done to suddenly boost his value so much that people don't want to throw him in trades for all stars?
Hell no. Not our young healthy studs for him. That's mortgaging our future for someone who could be injured all season. I'm. Good.
Game 82, probably. I wasn't arguing that he shouldn't be included in deals--just answering the question you asked. Also, Kyle Lowry only played 10 games his rookie year, and he's now a 5x all-star.
I don't think we have to mortgage any future to make a run....I think we just plug in the roster spots with role players type upgrades and make a run.....what I don't want is to get slower on offense...young guys have young legs..our future is too bright to waste the development of our draft picks...we have a great bench foundation ...we just need to find another PF who can score and defend
One game against a bunch of nobodies in what was effectively glorified summer league. I got excited about that too, but it needs to be put in perspective. He didn't play a single meaningful playoff minute after that performance. Good find on Lowry. It also took him three teams and 7 yrs to get to that level. If we project Simons to follow the same path, Dame will be far removed from his prime. Now's the time to strike.
On the other hand if the other team has an astute evaluator of talent and can see future potential (i.e Pop who traded for the draft rights of Kawhi) and that team is losing their star player anyways, then I think Simons, Collins, and Little are a huge haul to receive back. As for the Blazers getting that extra guy is huge if he meshes well skill wise with Dame, CJ, and Nurk. You can always get depth to replace what those three young players (Limons. Collins, Little) would have given you this upcoming year. But I also agree with those who point out that Harkless and Aminu together are average at best as your two starting forwards. Which is why I always argued for a couple of years that upgrading that is needed before moving CJ. So just upgrading them would be huge even if it was not a star player.
Chauncey Billups was tossed around the league as trade fodder for years before he settled into becoming a bona fide allstar...
Rashard Lewis. Drafted when was 19, only played 20 games his rookie year and averaged around 8 minutes a game. In a few years he was averaging double digits and made the all staar team. I guess it can be done.
It was mainly Lowe pushing the idea of trading for another piece, Woj was just like “yeah I guess dude” lol. They did agree that the blazers are building up their collection of assets, but I didn’t get the sense that Woj thought the Blazers are actually going to make a big move. Woj’s quote about finding a center in the last year of his deal to hedge Nurkic was more noteworthy imo.
Jermaine O'neal only played 45 games his rookie year, pretty much all garbage time. Z-Bo only played 41 games his rookie year, almost all garbage time too. Rashard Lewis only played 20 games his rookie year. Those are three I thought of off the top of my head.
