It's his non-shooting side. Zach will come back with a deadly arsenal of hook shots. You read it here first.
Mixed feeling on that. I agree they would never tank. I also know it is not a good thing to do for the culture of an organization. Always play to win. But it's just weird how sometimes it just seems like a good idea?
I'm all for tanking in the right situations but unless Dame gets hurt (knock on wood that doesn't happen) similar to the Curry situation in GS, I just don't see how that is even possible to do. He's too good for this team to ever bottom out. Losing Zach pretty much eliminates them from getting home court in the playoffs unless some miraculous Nurk Fever type trade happens soon. However, I do think the roster is talented enough to still make the playoffs. So hang around .500 until the trade deadline while emphasizing the development of guys like Simons and Skal, then make some savvy moves like what picking up Hood and Kanter did for the team last year, add any bonus we get from Nurk and Collins, and if they sneak into the playoffs they can be just as dangerous as last year, in my opinion.
Dame can't be traded until next July, lol. CJ can't be traded until Jan 30th Hood, Hezonja, Tolliver, and Gasol can't be traded until Dec 15th Everyone else is trade eligible now and can be combined with each other to make trades work. The Blazers have their 15th roster spot open so they could sign any available free agent right now but doing so comes with a huge financial hit as they are already deep into the luxury tax. Anything else you want to know?
Off topic and no i don't want this to go into a political conversation. How much will the loss of revenue from China effect the cap. Will that effect this years numbers or next? Could that make matter worse for the Blazers this year? Sorry i didn't know who else to ask?
Dear Cleveland, I know it's not much, but how'd you like Bazemore, Trent and 2 draft picks (1st and 2nd) for some Love?
The salary numbers are set for this year, it is based on revenue from the season prior so it won't make matters worse this season. It's hard to know how much a loss of revenue from China would effect the cap. I've heard anywhere from 0% to 15%. I'm guessing it will be closer to 0% than it is 15% as time goes on but that's simply a guess. After this season the Blazers should be in a better spot financially in terms of not being so crazy over the cap. That's why trading an expiring contract like Whiteside for a Kevin Love or Blake Griffin gets tricky though. It pretty much guarantees they'll be in the tax next season so the China thing could cost them a lot of money if the tax line is a lot lower than projected a couple years ago. I think they're fine overall though.
Dan Marang was tweeting today just how much he would love to have LaMarcus Aldridge back right now. Have to say i agree. He would help them quite a bit.
Thanks. That covered my questions nicely. Pretty much China ain't gonna effect them this year. Yes i agree when all is said and done i presume the loss will be minimal then if this year is set. By next year a tweet and the issue might be water under the bridge.
The projected cap for next year is $116 million, up from $109 million this year. If it truly dropped 15% then it would fall all the way down to about $99 milion for the 2020-21 season but I just don't see it being that extreme (admittedly I could be wrong). Worst case scenario I think they'll just keep it the same as this year and not bump it up. There is a way for Portland to get nearly $20 million in cap space this coming summer if the cap is $116 million so that would be erased by a lower cap but that would involve letting a lot of pieces walk for nothing and leave a pretty thinned out roster all to try and sign someone for not the max anyway.
Until they can figure out how to do something about the defense end we end up in the lottery. We scoring enough points to win games but given over 120 points the last couple games your not going to win many games.
