There is a ton of money available for a front court player. We'll have to trade for that player. Don't fool yourself into thinking we could sign a top 20 front court player as a free agent. Never happen. Overpaying those players was exactly what needed to happen so that we can trade for any player, at any salary, in the league.
well, you were just opposed to trading CJ when you showed up in this thread....why should I have to name a player to trade him for when you just showed up opposed to trading him at all? How about this...the mythical front court player is a SF who doesn't score as much as CJ (or dribble as much) but shoots fairly well, plays good defense, and has quite a bit lower salary & shorter contract but I'll play anyway...I'd probably trade CJ for Covington, Dieng, and a 1st. I might trade CJ for Tobias Harris, even though I hate Harris's contract as much as CJ's...but maybe not on 2nd thought. I might trade CJ for Aldridge and a 1st, but the Spurs wouldn't. As long as we're in San Antonio, I'd probably trade CJ for Derozan. CJ for Justice Winslow and Kelly Olynyk? Otto Porter is a SF that was interesting but he may have serious issues with his foot problem is I think CJ's contract is not one other teams are going to see positive value in, and CJ as a player has too many weaknesses, so getting good value for him will be a challenge. But at the least, the Blazers should be exploring all trade options for CJ but you know Olshey isn't.
who cares if they have a good 3&D SF while climbing a ways out of the salary hole CJ puts them in.... too bad the Warriors didn't have the same overwhelming reluctance to break up the ball dominant, undersized, back court of Curry and Monta besides all that, Neil says Simons is the most gifted athlete he's ever drafted, so SG should be fine
Im not saying Im against trading CJ, I just think it takes a peg and plugs it into another hole, and creates another If its a 1 for 1 trade for a SF/PF. Also I might be the only one I dont know, but While I see potential here and there in Simons, I think he’s quite aways off from being a good NBA player.
the strength of the NBA is at SF...that's the position that wins championships most often and is named MVP of the finals more. If the choice is being weak at SG or being weak at SF, I'd prefer to be weaker at SG. I think that's especially true considering the defensive versatility good SF's bring to the floor.
Ideally, they should've traded CJ last summer after resigning Hood. A Hood/Dame backcourt is nice... but obviously Hoods achilles blew up
CJ isnt getting the Blazers a Superstar SF though... KD, Kawhi, PG13, Lebron, none of the guys capable of finals MVP the Blazers could get if they gave up Dame and every draft pick they can give up. For CJ they’d get like a mediocre SF...?
we need to change how we use CJ. or at least try it first. atm we look to dame to create, setup, iso, or deep 3. CJ plays off that and when he gets the ball he isn't charged with setting up, its create n iso. his role is definitely not "make the extra pass" it's score the ball. we need to start him slow, with some pick n rolls, some drive n dish etc he is capable, i just dont think he's been mandated.
Are we much better than 'mediocre' at SG? Scoring - very good Efficiency - terrible because he doesn't get to the FT line Passing - please... Defense - average at best and at times, downright porous, especially for the amount of cap space he takes up Makes teammates better - almost zero So overall, is that much more than a mediocre description?
Overstate things much? He could be better in certain areas for sure. But hes not this "mediocre" player you say he is. The number of FTA per game is pretty negligible between 12-24. His APG is the high end of average. And his FG% is #10. And whatever RPM and WINS are they say CJ is a pretty good SG. THE PROBLEM ISN'T CJ. I AM THE PROBLEM.
Nice stats....and in the vast majority of them, CJ is hanging around the company of players he is making 2-8x as much money as. And maybe I missed it, but didn't see much related to efficiency. +/- is good....but what will that look like after last night's -31 performance against a KAT-less Wolves team? Ugh!
If Dame/CJ pairing, with the money Neil committed to them over the next 4 years, need a specific roster with perfect health just to get to EVEN A RESPECTABLE record, than Neil needs to reconsider that pairing and look to trade CJ and use his resources more efficiently.
PG13 was available, and Portland was bidding, reportedly offering all three of those 1st round draft picks. BUT, the same reports noted that Olshey was holding CJ untouchable in those trade talks meaning he had to be offering something like Harkless, Meyers, and the 15th, 20th, & 26th picks in the same draft. Or maybe he was holding one of those picks and adding a future pick. Olshey even said something along the lines of "why would I trade CJ for PG13; I want CJ to play with PG13" that's how loopy Olshey is about CJ. Now, it's entirely possible that Indiana would have still wanted Oladipo and Sabonis over CJ and three draft picks. It's worth noting though that at the time of the trade, Oladipo was coming off his worst year as a pro while CJ was coming off his best. And we don't know if the same Olshey-loves-CJ bullshit was going on when Jimmy Butler and Kawhi were available. Maybe, maybe not all that aside, your seeming insistence that Portland has to trade CJ for a player just as good, or better, makes little sense to me. Most trades don't work that way, and very few trades don't involve risk...except for the ones Olshey likes when he's dumpster shopping, obviously. Portland has driven the car into a dead end with the Dame/CJ backcourt; they need to back out but CJ, and his contract, are blocking the rear-view mirror. Remove that obstacle, back up to the main street, and pick another route. Like I said earlier, sometimes you just have to take a couple of steps back to find a better way forward
