Yeah, but it won't improve as much as it could, especially after Whiteside is upset only playing 20mpg then leaves... Counting on a sign-and-trade isn't something we should do. Why not just trade Whiteside for a wing that could help us and then we could use as outgoing salary via trade over the next year? I have a hard time thinking Stotts couldn't trade Whiteside for Otto Porter. Or Whiteside and a pick for Dieng and Covington. Or a number of other trades where we'd have salary that'd be expiring next season. It's a math thing mostly.
But the main question for everyone not wanting to do anything or embracing the possibility: How do we make a trade for a big salary player next season? What contracts would we have to trade to match salary? Think about it...
As GM, Olshey has literally nothing to do with ticket prices, but don’t let that mess up blind hatred.
One issue is the other team has to agree to these deals. Just because some fans want it,doesn't mean the other GM is going to make the trade.
Not sure who you are refering to, but i never said do nothing. It's just foolish to go back into high salary unless it significantly helps us.
This is where I can get behind the make a move at all costs line if thinking. Even if that's just moving our current expiring contracts for 1yr deals to kick the can down the road to next season (if nothing else is available).
High salary 2 year deals makes sense as a fallback trade option because itd give us the flexibility to make a trade on draft night or next season. 3 year deals and up dont make sense unless the player makes us a contender.
without knowing what's even available, it's impossible to make an assessment as to whether it's a good or bad deal. A team over the cap might offer the best deal in a sign and trade and worst case scenario he walks which would be better than a bad deal. I'm done as I'm not going to engage in a back and forth with you as it only bogs down threads.
I like to bash Olshey...it's entertainment for me but in this case, I'm thinking there aren't any good trades out there...yet. I'm thinking people are overrating the value of Portland's expiring contracts compared to the sea of expiring contracts on the market. It's a buyer's market for expirings, not a seller's and I don't agree, at all, that Portland can't build a good collection of trade-able contracts unless they add some other big ones for their current big ones. IMO it would be stupid to convert 46M of expiring contracts to 30-40M in salary next season...all while having to give up other assets too fact: a bad contract doesn't become a good contract when it's expiring...it just becomes less bad, and Portland's expiring contracts may actually have more value to Portland, as expirings, than to any other team
If I knew that Nurkic was coming back before the trade deadline of Feb 6, I would strongly consider doing a Whiteside & 2nd Round pick to CHI for Otto Porter trade. I don't know if that's enough for CHI to say yes, but it's more than having a player just walk away /expire. Porter has been Inactive for most of the year. Injured? or unhappy? Don't know.
Not to be nasty here, but what makes people think Olshey has a plan? He HAD a plan, a perfectly reasonable plan, when the season started. Then Collins and Hood went down and spoiled it. At this point, I don't see any evidence of a "Plan B".
From what I have seen in past moves Olshey doesn't make his plans public. There is no doubt in my mind he is working on plans, but if nothing happens, it would be foolish to think they are not trying. I know some think that just because they think there are plenty of moves to be made that the Blazers need to make a move, but if the move is not the right move for the team, I would rather see them hold pat then make a move just to make a move.
The value doesnt lie in the expirings, it lies in the cap relief. Your looking at this wrong. Nobody's saying its a good contract, but their valued in terms of the immediate cap relief they provide. Look at Tobias Harris, Kristaps Porzingis, Otto Porter, etc. If we had expirings last year, we couldve gotten Porter for almost nothing, just like Chicago did. How would having salary to trade next year be stupid? Youd rather it be where the only way to acquire a star be trading one of our big 3? We need a big expiring next year, to match salary in a trade. Otherwise, we could be left missing out on a massive upgrade because we dont have the pieces to match salary outside of our core 3 players..
With as many options as Olshey has at his disposal this year, if he tries to do something and cant, then he's a much worse at his job then I expected. Ive literally combed over every rumor and team I'm the league this year. There will be opportunities out there. Guaranteed.
but Portland didn't have expiring contracts last year, when there were very few expiring contracts and the value of expirings was much higher. It was a seller's market. They have it this year when there is a sea of expiring contracts making it a buyer's market, in spades. by the way, don't bother telling me "I'm looking at it wrong" when what I'm doing is looking at it differently. I just don't agree with those insisting Portland will be fucking up if they don't convert their expiring contracts to 30-60M in salary and tax next season. If there is a trade that adds an 8-13M salary on a decent player, that's fine. I'm not objecting to something like that, just as long as the combination of player and his contract have good positive value. there should only be one player in that un-tradeable core, not 3
Expiring contracts are our most direct path to improving this team. If our owner is willing to carry them it gives us our only advantage over other small market teams.