If he was the third string guy the whole season I’d be ok with it, but I think Portland needs someone a little more dynamic. They’re essentially looking for a second stringer who’s going to play quite a bit. This is of course assuming Collins is going to be the PF and that Quicks report is accurate; two pretty rocky assumptions.
Seems like the most logical conclusion. I suppose that they could still plan on Zach splitting minutes at the 4 & 5 spots and the new guy could just be a 3rd stringer who doesn't play much unless there's an injury. I am hoping that we see Zach as permanent PF though. I love the rim protection that he and Whiteside will bring.
I don't want Collins picking up guys like Bron/Kawhi/etc who have all moved up a position. He will only become even more foul prone.
It's not as if he can avoid playing against those guys in today's "positionless" NBA. Guys get switched constantly so he'd spend time against them even if he's playing center. He's just going to have to learn to move his feet better and keep himself vertical.
It kind of seems like we’ve decided perimeter defense isn’t a priority and we’re going to compensate by having really great interior defense and rebounding (Whiteside/nurkic staying at home, Collins/Skal help defense blocks). I kind of get it, zigging while the league zags. It’s appears that we are betting on Lillard/CJ/Hood being better perimeter scorers/shooters than other teams if everyone wants to get one dimensional, and if the opposition goes small to kill us on switches we just dump it down low. If that’s the case I like it more than matching with small ball 4s (aminu/Harkless) and conceding the offense/size/rebounding completely. I still wouldn’t mind a pesky perimeter defender to compliment dame/cj though. Maybe Bazemore can give that a shot.
I would take Noah first, but if he is not available then Koufos is not a bad 2nd string guy either. He is only 30, has 233 starts, and has 37 playoff games under his belt. I would rather have a vet like him who can help now, then a young center who might have more upside down the road but may struggle until Nurk gets healthy
So the suspects Kosta Koufos CJs high school teammate Greg Monroe another missed 2016 target Kenneth Faried for smaller lineups Amare Stoudemire because they were at a workout
Monroe would be fine. Compares pretty favorably with Kanter, but has kind of gotten buried the last couple of seasons. He did produce when given minutes with Phoenix last year and Philly this season though and isn’t that old. Career comp Could do a lot worse for a backup/third stringer.
Amir Johnson? Could do worse. A hustle big who can defend a little, decent rebounder, willing passer.
well, Jason Quick says the Blazers will sign a C and call it an off-season here are the remaining free agent C's according to spotrac: Timofey Mozgov Kosta Koufos Nene Hilario Ekpe Udoh Amir Johnson Zaza Pachulia Joakim Noah Salah Mejri Pau Gasol Andrew Bogut Isaac Humphries Greg Monroe Tyler Zeller Angel Delgado now, if I was to eliminate those I wouldn't be interested in: Kosta Koufos Joakim Noah Salah Mejri Pau Gasol Greg Monroe knowing how seldom I've agreed with Olshey on bigs, I wouldn't be surprised if he signed one of those I eliminated...or one I didn't list at all
I think we need another PG as injury protection or, another forward that can play 3-4 and handle the ball.
I would prefer to stay away from any additional centers who are coming off of injuries. Pau is 39 and coming off a stress fracture in his foot.