btw I don’t think you should look at Klutch as an enemy. They rep our head coach. If everything is equal it’s more likely they’ll push their players towards Portland rather than away. And I’m 99.9% certain Nurk ain’t taking less to go somewhere else after he spent the last four years being underpaid. To me bird rights are valuable because they essentially make guys restricted free agents. We traded for an expiring Powell for example without any existing relationship. But they knew they had his bird rights. I’ll take the odds that we will be able to keep Nurk. Roco same thing but with him you could at least maybe make a case for being able to replace in house.
why are we trading/not paying guys that defend again? I can’t imagine Rocos next contract being that much different than what he’s getting now. I just don’t understand the strategy, then again it’s only the media that’s pushing these guys out, we’ll see if it actually happens. Powell is more valuable, more expensive, and we have replacements lined up. Why isn’t media pushing his exit? (These are rhetorical questions, I know why.)
he was also hot trash until about a month ago when chauncey benched him and finally got him engaged again. averaged 7/6 in 30 mpg on 25% shooting from 3 in December.
Btw despite Covington’s “hot trash” play he still has somehow managed to rank as a top 25 defender based on DBPM. He’s also one of only two players in the league with at least a 2% steal and 4% block rate. Thybulle is the other. But yeah we don’t need defense.
I'd keep Nurk unless its a clearly beneficial offer. Yes he might walk as a free agent, thats fine the team has to take some of those risks. We took it with Powell and resigned him to a team friendly deal. There will be times it works and we resign guys, and times it doesn't and they walk for nothing. Many centers don't make shit nowdays so Nurk may not have a huge market and we can resign him on a good deal. If Nurk gets a crazy big offer then you let him walk as we did with myself and Roco. Now if we trade for Simmons or another deal that brings in a big non shooter maybe I would be more likely to trade Nurk. But right now we have no replacement. The focus should be trading a guard, either at the deadline or in the summer.
you keep going off on tangents. the premise was.. why does roco keep showing up trade offers? well, cuz he sucked enough to get benched. And he's a FA who could walk. And he's on a really reasonable contract that can be easily moved. He's an obvious trade chip for a 10th place team going nowhere. Need more reasons?
He sucked enough to get benched, then what happened? Going nowhere? There’s half a season left how do you know they’re going nowhere? If the season ended today they’d be in the play in. Going on tangents, yet you still haven’t answered why Portland would be looking to trade one of the three players on this team that actually defends. He’s a free agent with bird rights. He’s also only a fit for playoff teams, most of whom are in the tax. That gives Portland a big advantage in keeping him. Not all of us stick to everything media aka Jake Fischer tells us.
Nurk can be better but no I don't think Nurk will be better. You are watching the dude play for a contract right now. He hasn't even been injured yet this year which in itself is surprising. He's the softest big in the entire league. There is nothing "beastly" about Nurk at all. If the Blazers pay him much more than 70 mil for 4 years they will regret it. Now I could see a 4 year 15, 16, 17, 18 million 66 million total type deal. I think that is his value at this point. Just my opinion.
A motivated Nurk is a beautiful thing to watch. The problem is that he is never consistently motivated. Seen this movie before. Great guy to have around on a reasonable contract. If you do not believe he can be retained for $15m or less a year - trade to get something back and not lost it for nothing.
Someone will give it to him this offseason and maybe more. The Blazers will not want to pay that and he will walk away. That's why the Blazers need to trade him by the deadline.
what is the absolute ceiling for this team, with dame possibly out for the season? the 9th seed? if you don't think that's "going nowhere" i don't know what to tell you. If Roco isn't traded by the deadline, I will be shocked.
I knew what the ceiling was for a Stotts team. idk what the ceiling is for a Billups team, how can anyone? There’s no history there. And it’s not just about this season. Dame is locked up for at least two more seasons. And like I’ve said before, the blazers aren’t in a position to be dumping plus defenders. They need to be adding defensive minded players, not subtracting them. So unless we’re getting another defensive minded player in return for Roco, or using the picks we’d receive for him to acquire one, I’m really not down for trading him.