maybe there’s someone who will trade you the lamp for some steak knives and a night light or at least a candle to be named later.
*rolls eyes* Its speculation as to what opportunities might be out there, and what we'd try to do with the team. Nice anology though?
There were mentions of Ariza as a possible target. I never in a million years would've thought Swanigan would be back on the team this year, ha ha, but he was included just to make the trade legal. Most people had never even heard of Wenyen Gabriel before this trade or if they had from his days at Kentucky he had mostly been forgotten about. Even our G-League guy @Scalma asked "who the fuck is Wendell Gabriel?" The thing that wasn't factored in by a lot of people was making a move to save that much money, mainly because that is nowhere near as fun of a scenario to dream up. However, there were several ideas being floated about by people, including myself (@tester551 was another), that would save the Blazers a big tax payment.
Who the fuck is Wendell Gabriel? btw I’m not a g league guy. I actually hate it. I only watch it when there’s a blazer involved.
If he thinks we could be contenders next year and if the market doesnt think he skills are worth a big contract.
I am confused. Who is likely out the rest of the year? The fact that Hayward makes 5 million more than Whiteside is an advantage for Boston. The ESPN trade machine says it still works with just the two of them. It has been wrong before, is it now? Seem like Whiteside is better than the 6'8" Theis if the C's want to win this year.
It's tough to imagine the Blazers keeping Whiteside and just letting him expire unless Jody has said, "Enough is enough" in regards to spending and being over the cap. Whiteside, despite his limitations, does some things well and a team making a Playoff push might want him. Same with Ariza. He is a veteran who can play defense and hit the '3' as we saw last night. However, he is not a longer term solution due to his age but could very well help a Playoff team this year.
If we got a wing type player either for Whiteside or in the offseaon, I could see keeping Ariza for next year to see how well Hood comes back first. Having Ariza, Hood, and one other quality wing would be a solid rotation despite Ariza's age. Best case scenario is that Hood starts to be "okay" by the trade deadline and Ariza could be expendable.
The biggest mistake at the deadline would be doing nothing. They need to either use Whiteside to get under the tax, or find upgrades, preferably that extend beyond this season. Ideally (for them) they’d accomplish both, but they gotta do at least one of the two.
I’m going to apologize from the beginning for this post so don’t get upset. But this is exactly why I have a hard time with trade discussions. Calling a player expendable after he essentially gives the team everything he has to make a solid contribution and maybe even position them to get into the playoffs is the callous side of the business I hope we never have to live through. Seriously go have a conversation with people who are in the business and talk like that? You will be shown the door. The only people who talk about other people like that are reporters and shock jocks. Oh and people on internet fan sites....
