Next bargain-bin player?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Rastapopoulos, Sep 20, 2020.

  1. PCmor7

    PCmor7 Generational Poster

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    "If Portland was in Maine instead of Oregon and the Blazers were in the Eastern Conference, how far would Dame have taken them in the playoffs?"
     
  2. Fez Hammersticks

    Fez Hammersticks スーパーバッド Zero Cool

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  3. Tince

    Tince Well-Known Member

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    CJ is almost certainly overpaid in terms of value to the rest of the league. Doesn't make him a bad player. I wish my boss overpaid me...well, maybe he does.
     
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  4. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

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    Not a bargain player, but do you think Davis Bertans would sign for the full MLE?
     
  5. GDiama

    GDiama Well-Known Member

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    Nope the Wizards can pay him more than that if they need to do so. He is a sniper, but i think we need to sign a solid defender with that money.
     
  6. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

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    I'd love to get a bargain bin player, but me personally, and likely many reading this, would
    like a larger move first. Then, a bargain bin player could be obtained that would make the rotation...
     
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  7. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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  8. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

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    Derrick Jones Jr. as a depth piece may be interesting. But he can't shoot, and that's a problem.
     
  9. lawai'a

    lawai'a Well-Known Member

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    i heard he was still struggling with covid complications after 2 months, is this still the case?
     
  10. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    I know this is somewhat pessimistic but there is more than just a chance that we actually don't pick up any bargain bin player this off-season. I mean most likely Olshey will want a back up 5 but who knows. Could we see Olshey giving the MLE to a split of Melo, (if he thinks he was a success) Rio and then to give a raise to Wenyen? I just think that Olshey is so in love with moves he's made in the past that we could honestly see our only additions to the roster be the 16th and 46th picks and min level guys Terry will never play. We could see an obvious rotation of Dame, CJ and Gary taking up virtually all of the minutes at the 1 and 2 (if Dame and CJ play around 36 minutes per game apiece that would leave Gary with 24 and he might even get up to 30 playing some time at the 3) maybe with spot minutes for Ant. Then at the 3 and 4 I think there will be a battle for the starting spots between Ariza, Melo and Zach. If Hood is healthy and by the time the season actually starts it will be over a year since Hoodie's injury and it only took Wes like 8 months before he started a game so I think Hoodie will definitely be playing, then Ariza, Melo and Hoodie will get virtually all of the minutes at the 3. At the 4 I think Melo will actually get the most minutes with Zach getting a lot but I think more than half of Zach's minutes will come backing up Nurk. I think Rio might suck up all of the minutes left at the forward spots. I honestly don't know if we'll see anyone besides Nurk and Zach play the 5 maybe a min level guy or if we draft a big but in this scenario maybe Olshey will only use the MLE on guys he's already picked up but we could also just go small in spot minutes. In actuality this is the one position that if we let Whiteside walk (which I imagine is a virtual certainty) that Olshey might try to get a bargain bin player for. Other than that I think there is more than a 50% chance that Olshey just wants to see what a healthy version of what he put together might look like.

    Rotation: Dame, CJ, Ariza, Melo, Nurk, Zach, Gary, Hoodie, Rio everyone else will be fighting for scraps. Stotts likes to play vets when the team is healthy and just vets. Maybe a younger guy like Nas, Wenyen or Ant will break through maybe a bargain big or big we draft will break through but I really think the odds are that those nine guys are our rotation players. The questions you might ask are who will initiate the offense if Dame and CJ are both sitting at the same time? I don't think that will happen much but Rio is the answer to that question and that's why we might give him a raise to keep him around. The other question is very similar, who would play the five if both Zach and Nurk are sitting? I don't think it will be in the game plan to ever sit Zach and Nurk at the same time but this may be why we'll either see a big drafted or this might be the one addition that we see that will expect to see some PT. Remember that for most of last season the only big that got minutes was Hassan... that's it. At times Biggie got some run, earlier in the season Skal and Tolliver got some run but mostly we went Hassan or small ball. With Nurk and Zach along with all of the guys we played small ball with I think Olshey might feel big man rich.
     
  11. damianlillard

    damianlillard Well-Known Member

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    Man if that’s our team next year Neil should be fired immediately
     
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  12. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    Yeah like I said, it is pessimistic but I've heard Neil multiple times talk about "if this team was healthy they'd be contending". So, I really think that even if Melo would come back for the min, he's not going to volunteer to do so. That means Neil will have to lead with an offer and we've seen him overpay so many players with offers that no one else would have given them. The guy bids against himself, he believes in the Dame/CJ back court, and he has way too much loyalty or stubborn pride (whichever way you want to look at it) to be an effective GM.

    I hope I'm wrong and we see big changes that give Dame the best chance to win a championship because the team I was just talking about does not do that. I don't want to believe the things I'm saying about Neil but it is what I think. Hopefully he proves me wrong and moves CJ to a better situation for CJ and for a player or players that fit(s) better with Dame.
     
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  13. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    He's struggling with the complications of basketball is all I know.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2020
  14. lawai'a

    lawai'a Well-Known Member

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    i looked again and his recovery is almost complete to the point of resuming basketball activities about a month ago.
     
  15. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Only if his agent is really shit.
     
  16. Zach Collins Enthusiast

    Zach Collins Enthusiast Bored

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    One player I would really love us having is Javale Mcgee, couple his defense with that of Collins and we'd almost upset the weak defense of our backcourt
     
  17. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    As a proud resident of Flint, MI, I say: please no.

    That said, he does have 3 times more rings than the entire Blazers Franchise...
     
  18. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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  19. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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  20. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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