This should be fun. 'We tried to make additional deals, but when we weren't giving good players away for almost nothing, we weren't able to pull anything off. It takes two.'
Ready for some next level mansplaining on how we got 25 cents on the dollar for essentially 4 starters???
'Well, we have a lot of flexibility going into this summer and cap space to build around Dame. Even though I said our books were good, and I traded 3 starters and a key bench player for practically nothing, and ownership couldn't give a rats patootie we still have the ability to be flexible to go out and make moves.'
“Do you think you were ready for this job based on the fact that other teams got more value for similar players?”
Roco sucked, Nance was not that good (starter material LOL) and injured and now needs knee surgery. For CJ we got a solid all around player in Hart and what has a very decent chance to be a lotto pick this year and a 21 mil TPE - I mean WTF did U expect for CJ? the trade you can piss and moan about is Powell, we did get last yrs 1st in Keon and out of his 5 yr deal, but I can agree it was a losing trade but Roco was bad this yr - he simply sucked and Winslow has looked pretty good for 4 mil a season.
I won't argue the Powell/Roco deal. That was pretty bad. But CJ and Nance? Nance for Hart - Even before we found out that Nance needed surgery, this was a win. With the surgery, this is even better for the Blazers CJ for a lottery pick and a 21 Million TPE - Who would have ever thought that CJ and his 100 million remaining salary would ever bring back a lottery pick, let alone a lottery pick without having to take back bad salary to offset his. And as far as "what are the Blazers going to do with cap space? They don't sign big names." It's about flexibility. They likely won't sign anyone with pure cap space. They'll operate over the cap, find better fits with the MLE and BAE, or hopefully use the 21 Million TPE to bring someone back in a lopsided deal at a later date. This is exactly what Olshey should have done 4 years ago. The Blazers use the next few months, where they would have been stuck in the late lotto, and lose their way to the top of the lottery. If they get some ping pong ball luck and get one of the top PFs in this draft (Smith, Banchero, or Holmgen), use the TPE with the other pick to bring back a useful player, or sign another good role player with the MLE, this is a better team than one with CJ, Nance, and the taxpayer MLE.
Lottery pick -- hopeful we get it, but if we don't it's a non-asset. The conditions if we don't get it are absolutely trash and it's a joke that Cronin couldn't negotiate a better offer. 21 million TPE -- useless if we don't absorb anything with it. High likelihood we renounce it. And CJ had a 2 yr 68 million deal. Not 100 mil.
I don't think people think the CJ deal was unreasonable. I think most people think making that Clippers deal a week before the deadline offsets any decent trade Cronin may make in the future.
So....50% bad, 50% good. That is an 'F' grade. We needed at least an 'average' and a 'good'. Now we are left with Dame, 2 young 'ens, a wildly inconsistent Nurk, and a couple of role players. We need to get VERY luck in the upcoming Draft and somehow leverage the cap space to something very good. We need a legit #2, or we are right back where we started.
Time will tell with the 1st paragraph. I agree that the protections after this year are bad. Here's hoping they get a good pick this year. If so, I think this trade is an absolute win. The TPE could be renounced. I wouldn't say it's a high likelihood, but even if it is, it still allows Portland a MLE, and BAE that they likely wouldn't have had otherwise. You can get much better players at those amounts than Cody Zeller and Tony Snell. Whoever traded for CJ was on the hook for 3 years 100 million on their cap. Portland may have paid half of this season already in real dollars, but it's hitting that team's cap for this year and 2 more. That's not some small thing. There were ALOT of other teams' fans who though CJ was a negative trade piece with his contract. I think this trade proved otherwise. But I don't see how you get anything more out of a return for McCollum with that contract and that lack of defense.
Prolly best for my health that I have a meeting at this time and won't be able to listen to this drivel live.
"I'd like to apologize to all the geeks on SportsTwo for not getting two all stars in return for our mediocre role players & over rated CJ". Some of you never cease to amaze me.
Is that why someone just said a reporter around the league said that Other teams view Portland as not receiving enough value? hmm? Mr smarty?
