I agree. I thought he was fantastic when many were struggling. Early in his Portland years he was a bit of a mental mess when things weren't going well for him or the team, but that has improved the last two seasons as well. I'm shocked at how good he's looked since his return.
Trevor didn't bail on us. He (rightfully) chose to spend time with his son instead of going to the bubble. I love the Blazers probably more than I should but your loved ones >>>
The answer is absolutely not. Not in today's market. Hood was having his best season as a pro. You also have Gary Trent Jr. and Nassir Little waiting in the wings. If Ariza wants to come back at a reduced rate I would be willing to listen.
1.) He didn't "bail" 2.) We gain no free agent money by waiving Ariza 3.) We lose a 3-and-D wing that's a good fit for our team 4.) We lose our only medium-sized trade chip So no, waiving him would be a terrible mistake.
It's independent of Whiteside. Itd be a mistake to let him walk though, unless we fill the backup 4 through trade instead of the MLE.
Yea it’s crazy he use to be bad around the rim with that flick weird shit he use to do. Now he’s confident, leads by example, high IQ, man he’s really good
Makes almost no sense to give up Ariza, unless they just want to carry a lower payroll for the sake of it. We won't be in the lux tax anyways.
I love it how people think that they can just say "+/-" and roll their eyes and think they're making a point. The fact remains that, if Whiteside was bad we were clearly able to overcome it to the tune of outscoring the Celtics by 9 while he played, so he didn't significantly hurt us, and chances are strong he was doing something helpful. The alternative is to say it was mere coincidence, as in "that's when Dame got hot!" or "that's when the Celtics went cold!" Okay, maybe, but chances are pretty strong that one of the FIVE Blazers on the floor at the time had something to do with that.
On the other hand: if you're prepared to fire a bunch of people in the organization just to save a few bucks here and there, does it seem likely you wouldn't be penny pinching with the players?
Background: https://bckonline.com/2020/07/08/trevor-ariza-skips-nba-season-to-spend-time-with-his-son/ Related:
That article on Ariza says that it's a one month visitation window. Suppose we make the playoffs and are still in them when the month ends - is there any chance Ariza could join us? Anyone heard anything about this?
In pure basketball terms (ignoring the "bailed on us" comment) absolutely. Even if Ariza couldn't play, he's an expiring contract, and, without him, we're pretty hamstrung on trades, because we just have Dame and CJ's MASSIVE contracts and a bunch of itty bitty ones (and Nurk, who is probably the best value contract in the league).
Players are a lot more important than ancillary staff, and portland has always been a player culture type of place. Unless they think Ariza is completely washed I just don’t buy that they don’t pick up his option. They already saved a bunch of money on the transaction to pick him up as well his 2 million salary from opting out of the bubble.
Whiteside is showing so far that he’s not down to be a backup. And that’s fine, he’s absolutely good enough to be a starter, just not here. But if he leaves, we have to find a competent center, we rely too much on that position to not invest in someone good. I’ve mentioned it before, but Cousins would be my number one target among vets if Whiteside leaves. He’s close with Dame, reached out to Nurk when he got hurt, and I doubt he finds a starting role elsewhere.
Think we have one in Collins. More and more, I like him as a C in a lineup where he's the sole big, rather than his current role. He's free to roam around on both ends with more space. I'd focus our attention on getting a versatile forward who can swing to multiple positions. Wenyen hits a lot of those but we just don't know how good he really is until they play him