36 year old that had a 17 PER and a top 12 RPM at his position, ahead of guys like Sabonis, Horford, Draymond, Love, A. Gordon, Griffin, Aldridge, and Bjelica.
Not Love with his contract. Millsap is still the better defender even at his age. He had his best 3 pt shooting season last year. Gallo is the better 3 pt shooter over all though and is younger. I would take either for the MLE if those are our only options.
Gallo would be nice, at least offensively, but I’d be shocked if he didn’t get more than the full MLE.
My guess is the Millsap rumor is coming from someone other than Portland. Usually any Rumor about the Blazers turns out false as Neil usually holds his cards pretty close. Millsap's agent might be trying to get a bidding war going and using Portland as leverage against someone else.
I don't think we would necessarily. Olshey probably is crazy to want to run it back and think that our team is in contention for a title but that's what he thinks. If that's the case it follows that he would want a crafty vet that plays tough inside on both ends, gives it his everything and can hit the three with the MLE. I doubt with Rio opting in, Hoodie coming back, Ariza playing in the playoffs and the rest of the team that played last season and is under contract that we need anything but a big with our MLE. Dame, CJ and Gary will cover the bulk of the minutes in the back court with Ant making up the rest. Ariza, Hoodie and Rio get most of the minutes at the wing with Nas trying to earn as many as he can. Nurk, Millsap and Zach will be the rotation down low with Wenyen battling for as many minutes as he can get. We'll have two rookies who will be in what we have learned is unavoidable purgatory under Stotts. That's 14 guys so Hoard or Brown will get a two way deal and that's the roster.
It makes perfect sense with everything that we've heard from Olshey about wanting this team to have a chance to contend now but hopefully this rumor and all of that talk is a smokescreen and we'll see some huge moves that actually put us in contention in the next few days... I just highly doubt that and Millsap makes sense if we're just staying the course.
Not a big fan of the potential Millsap acquisition. Like Hoopguru, I'd rather have Crowder, if it was either or. Truthfully, the way the Blazers play, I think Gallinari would be the ideal fit for player and team. The Blazers don't focus a great deal on defense and don't fret over bad shots. He's a weapon on the offensive end the really complements what the Blazers already have ... opponents basically having to score 115-120 per game to beat Portland. I'm not giving a push to acquire Gallinari a stamp of approval. Just looking at what this front office and coaching staff values, Gallinari fits.
Here’s my question re: Crowder; What’s the difference between him and Aminu? He just seems like a poor mans version who got hot at the perfect time. We’d have the same issues with him as we did with Aminu/Harkless. Teams would leave him open and dare him to beat them.
I never thought Crowder really was analogous to Aminu. His game always reminded me more of Millsap, Draymond ... powerful, a little undersized height-wise who really liked getting after it and could be a very good 3-point shooter in streaks. Physical. Bulldog. Chief was a guy who was a big-time recruit out of high school who was long and looked like he might be able to develop a handle and no one ever convinced him that he never did. He guards because of his length. Crowder guards because he's tenacious. On the defensive end, Crowder is a Type A personality. He loves a challenge. He wants you to come after him, and he wants to take you down. He knows that's the end of the court where he has value. Chief, I felt, came into the league thinking he was a versatile player, a guy who could score 18-20, and then he found out his length and athleticism and ability to make guys like KD work for their points was going to keep him on the floor.
Aminu is objectively a better defender than Crowder though, even if he’s a different player. And a better rebounder. Crowder has also only shot above 35% from outside once in his eight year career. but really my point is that there’s a reason why the team moved on from Harkless and Chief, and signing Crowder would just rehash those same issues. We should be trying to get better, not reverting back to something that’s proven to not work in a playoff scenario.
I don't disagree with that. Admittedly, I like Crowder more than you. I think he and Aminu (and Harkless) are different types of for the lack of a better description defensive specialists. I don't think any of them are needle-movers for this team. I don't think Millsap is, either; I see Millsap at his age and I think he's what I thought in a forward that Kent Bazemore was going to be in a guard when the Blazers traded for him, but I just don't think he's a good fit for the Blazer system. Still will say this until I'm blue in the face: There really aren't a lot of forwards I see probably available, either FAs, trades, or draftees, that are going to be clear improvements over the glut of players we already have at that position. The position where the Blazers really could make a noticeable upgrade is by getting someone who could produce at a Seth Curry level as a backup PG.
Not without trading CJ (I wouldn't be opposed but I don't know if Boston has the interest). Without CJ or Dame's contract I'm pretty sure he's impossible for us to get without Nurk being included because of how poor of a job Olshey has done at spreading the money around i.e. overpaying CJ by so goddamn much. If you don't value Nurk like I do then you could trade Nurk, Ariza and Hoodie and a protected first for Hayward. You'd probably then want to get a big with the MLE, something with the BAE and hope that Ant, Nas and Wenyen take a big leap forward. The rotation would be like Dame, CJ, Gary, Hayward, Zach, MLE, BAE, Rio, Ant, Nas, Wenyen with our two picks, Hoard and Brown getting very little time. I don't think that's a better team but maybe you like Hayward more than I do and Nurk less.
