Ages: Nas: 20 Ant: 21 Giles: 22 Trent: 22 Jones: 23 Zach: 23 One bonus to all the injuries we've had over the past 12 months is that Stotts has been forced to kick the tires on our younger guys more than we probably would have in other eras. But our franchise player is 31 next year. CJ will be 30. I like most of these guys (well, not a huge fan of Giles so far), but you just don't usually trot out 6 guys in your rotation under 24 unless you're in a complete rebuild. Personally, I feel like the only guy I really have to keep is Little. I just feel like we've got a real diamond there and his value just isn't recognized yet. I feel like Portland is going to parlay a lot of these assets into more proven playoff guys.
Every team that deals with injuries does this. Any team that has all of their starters plays their bench players much less. At least i agree with your premise. I like the next man up concept and it does look like they will grow because of it.
Will Barton has been the only young guy with promise that Neil actively traded away. Crabbe and Layman/Pat i don't really consider in the same boat. History tells us there is no way Neil lets them go. And I don't really blame him unless there's a definitive upgrade available. None of those guys on the list really have more value to other teams than they do to our team -- not really the recipe to maximize assets.
On what they have done so far, I would not be interested in keeping Giles or Anf. Would like to see Zach when healthy for one year, if that's possible.
Combo of the two. Core vets are Dame and CJ (30/29). Supporting vet starters are RoCo and Kanter (30/27). Youth worth investing in are Little, Trent, and perhaps Jones (20, 21, 24). Everyone else is expendable.
Even Nurk? He's still just 26! Wow, what a dropoff that he doesn't even get a mention after he was almost universally considered our second best player just a year or so ago.
I tend to agree with that, although I'd need to see the numbers on Trent's next contract. If he's making 20-25M/year, which is entirely possible, I just don't see how Portland can sustain 100M/year in 3 guards, especially considering that core and supporting cast isn't a contender. Also, Trent spent last night guarding either Rozier or Ball and those two made Trent look like a screen door that's true, but Nurk seems too injury prone. He's also right on the edge of being an anachronism at C in the modern NBA. He's more of a traditional C, but he doesn't post traditional efficiency. And unless a C is a generational talent like Embiid, or a defensive force like Gobert, or a non-traditional big like Adebayo, they don't seem to be core players. On the other hand, Nurk's contract is a bargain if only he could stay healthy and play like he did in the bubble
too bad none of the guys in the youth movement appear to have any all-star games in their future and there aren't any middle-ground option is the poll....no room for waffling and that ain't right
Nas given his age, athleticism and progress could come back to bite you. He might end up being an all-star. The guy isn't close to there yet but he's 21 and his upside is huge. That being said, I think we could see Nas, Gary, Jones, Zach and Ant be with the team for a while and I can also see everyone but Nas being gone next season. So like you said there needs to be some room for waffling on this one sense the Gary/CJ situation is still fluid, since Zach's situation is complicated, since DJ can opt out this off season and since a lot of us hope that Olshey will be fired as soon as this season wraps if we don't do something really special.
I said in another thread that I've come to the conclusion that Trent is our Kuzma. Someone (in another thread) was asking why every player is classified as great, good or terrible, with nothing in-between. IMO, Trent is in the in-between. His 3P% notwithstanding, he's below-average overall, and should be paid accordingly. If someone wants to give him more than what Nurk currently makes, honestly, I think you let him walk.
I'm hoping/expecting Melo and Hood to be gone next year. I actually think the roster will look very different next year with so many guys being free agents. I fully expect Jones to opt out. Frankly I don't think he'll want to stay here. Our offense is doing a horrible job at showcasing his skills. I doubt we will let Collins and/or Trent go, but at the same time I can't imagine we're going to pay Trent a bunch of cash to come off the bench Really hoping Melo is gone. I hope we keep Kanter but he's a UFA. Giles is probably gone. Dame's cousin can take a hike.
Dame is 30 in his 9th season. He's been the face of the franchise since he was drafted and still highly concerned with the youth movement. LoL....
I think you misunderstand the point of the thread. Like, you probably didn't read (or just completely ignored) the last line of the OP. But I'm also not surprised by that.
I’m not sure what more can be done to “showcase” DJJ’s offensive game. It’s his 5th year in the league and he’s never even averaged 9ppg in a season. He defends some, he shoots spot-up threes, and he dunks. Am I missing some sort of hidden array of offensive talents we haven’t seen yet from him in 5 seasons? Was Spoelstra holding him back, too?
We have essentially turned him into a spot up shooter.... we have stuck him in the corner. That's not his game. He's shooting a career high from three this year, but his overall shooting is down. We don't do a good job of finding cutters in our offense. Our idea of ball movement is Dame driving into the paint and kicking it out.
His overall shooting is down because of the increased number of threes. His 2P% is the second-highest of his career, as is his TS% (essentially his points per shot, so factoring in free throws and threes being worth more), not counting his very low-minutes rookie season. I don't see a lot of evidence in the numbers that he's being misplayed. The DJJ of previous seasons isn't a particularly valuable player--he was signed as an upsider flier. To become valuable, he needed to improve his three-point shot, especially as a corner spot-up shooter (he's likely never going to be a good pull-up shooter from distance, nor are you likely to want him firing threes from above the break). So that's what Stotts has him working on. It hasn't really hurt the rest of his game--he's still quite efficient.
