I wanted Collins last summer but his stats dropped in the last year. However, because they dropped they are more inclined to trade him. And he is just entering his prime. So if it is a straight trade for Ant then I would do it to balance the roster. If he gets back to 10 rebounds a game and 40% from deep....it would turn out to be a good trade. I would do it if other trades don't materialize.
Yes. Presuming this is the major move and anything else the Blazers do is cosmetic, the Blazers need a guy that can rebound, not another 3 that can play the 4. They need a natural 4 who can occasionally play 3 but more often play 5. If you're going to re-sign Grant and keep trotting him out there, addressing his deficiency on the glass is almost as glaring as covering Dame's struggles to stop dribblers from getting into the paint -- you can play 23 seconds of great defense and have it mean zip because we can't rebound.
Something needs to give because this just doesn't make sense: Simons - 24 Little - 23 Reddish - 23 Knox - 23 Watford - 22 Murray - 22 Johnson - 21 Sharpe - 20 Walker - 20 Badji - 20 Butler - 20 Scoot - 19 Rupert - 19 Not all of these guys will be back, and some of them, if they are back will be on 2-way contracts. But there will be 10-11 guys of that age range either on the roster or as 2-ways. There is no way Dame, Grant, Nurk, Thybulle and whatever FA they might bring in will make up for all that youth. It doesn't add up. We are getting younger and younger. Granted, we don't have a lot to trade to bring in more talent....it is just the way that it is.
apparently a lot since we've been hearing how urgent it is for Toronto to make trades, and hearing it for 20 months, and nothing has happened
Well, if I had to guess, I'd say if they lose their players for nothing, that will be the beginning of the end. Although.... Neil was able to shrug off letting LMA walk for nothing.
Seriously, finding a way to turn Nurk into Jarrett Allen and, as much as I don't like him personally and think his attitude could be subtraction by addition, signing Draymond Green (or at least a similarly-styled 4) really would shift the identity of this team in a heartbeat.
ok then, add that to your idea: Ant to Orlando-->Harris to Washington; Bol to Portland (or Cle.)-->Kuzma to Cleveland-->Allen to Portland
Reddish Knox Badji Butler all get cut, Keon is trade bait or cut at the deadline - then your list is fine; Simons - 24 Little - 23 Watford - 22 Murray - 22 Sharpe - 20 Walker - 20 Scoot - 19 Rupert - 19 Fill out the other 7 roster spots with vets - regardless of the keep or trade Dame aspect I don't think you want a team of only young guys.
Yeah if there were any way to sign Green for the MLE it would be a home run for next season. He's a legit all defensive player and great at keeping the offense moving. I hated the idea of giving him a 100+ million long term deal but hes a crazy good value next season at the MLE. However with Poole gone I think that ship has sailed and they're going to retain Green.
True - Yeah I think the team has given up on him but since his salary is guaranteed they will wait until the deadline to cut him if nobody wants him in trade. I remember all sorts of posters talking about how he was the same value as a first round pick when we did that stupid Clippers trade.....
I don't think they stashed Badji for all those months after cutting an injured Sarr -- especially with no other real bigs on the team besides Nurk -- just to dump him before they get to see him actually play. I suspect he's one of Schmitz's diamonds in the rough, and they're going to give him every chance to show he's worth being one of the 17 or 18 guys on the roster.
Probably. I think that's kind of the template for what the Blazers need at that position, though. They need a physical guy who rebounds and plays defense. I think Justise is a poor man's version of that, but the Blazers need someone a little better and a lot more reliable.
It is a team option but I think with the way things are going we will want another year to evaluate someone like Knox at just 3M.
They have to have someone with size/length/wingspan to go up against Wemby for the next 15 years. It's why I would have been happy with Nnaji at #23.
Keep Simons he's the most atrocious defender in the NBA, too small to battle for rebounds, and Portland just got amazing draft picks after Ant's first year as a Blazers starter.
Why do you like Kuzma better than Collins? I don't see it. Let's do a quick comparison from last season. Kuzma first, then Collins TS%: 0.544 0.593 3PAr: 0.421 0.339 FTr: 0.208 0.252 WS/48: 0.019 0.095 BPM: -1.7 -1.3 VORP: 0.2 0.4 Per 100 stats TRB: 10.1 10.3 AST: 5.2 1.9 PTS: 29.5 20.8 Net Rtg: -14 +2 So Kuzma scores more, but is less efficient. He shoots the 3 more frequent, and has more assists. Collins is better at everything else. He has a much better impact to winning games (as seen with the net rating and WS/48).... and that is with Collins having the worst year of his career.
1. Defensive versatility 2. Availability And I'd be willing to bet that Kuzma's offensive efficiency would be better if he played on a team where he wasn't the only offensive option. He certainly chucked more than he would if he was on the Blazers. I'm not set on Kuzma, but was merely providing a new creative option. Maybe they prefer Cam Johnson and they can actually get something done with Brooklyn?
How about using Ant to bring back Zach Collins from th Spurs plus some future draft picks coming with him? Zach would shore up our paint game
