Notice 2023 Blazers Free Agency

Yeah but we're 3-4 years away from having to extend our young stars.

I'll put it this way.... very few teams are begging for Simons or Herro because almost everyone has a short chucker on their team. How many teams could use Jerami Grant right now? I bet I could come up with a list of 8-10 teams without even really trying. Supply and demand.

 

Cleveland.

 

Spotrac doesn't have the exact numbers, but this is their estimates. Sorry but these are NOT that bad.



Here is Dame for comparison.

 

Yeah I like this deal. The team needs to fill up the salary cap, Grant is the best option possible to play at the 4 for Portland right now, seems like a good lockerroom guy, and it's not like his salary is keeping anybody else worth while from coming to Portland. He's a good player making a fair salary moving forward. Look at the % of salary cap that he's going to take up. That's what matters. Get over the raw number.

Grants salary will take up and average of 20.5% of the cap over each of the 5 years (even less on the last 2 years). That's not bad at all for his production.

For comparison. These are a few salaries of last year, of guys who took up more % of the cap than Grant will moving forward.

Jerami Grant - 20.5% of the future salary cap
Andrew Wiggins - 27% of the salary cap
Michael Porter Jr - 25% of the salary cap
Julius Randle - 21% of the salary cap
CJ McCollum - 27% of the salary cap
Brandon Ingram - 25.6% of the salary cap

Jerami Grant is a good player. Maybe not as good as all of those guys, but he's also the least paid out of all of those guys, as far as the salary cap is concerned, which is what matters. I'd rather have him starting moving forward than Jabari Walker. This team need some good players around the young guys. I like this deal overall. Slight overpay, sure, but not a bad contract if he continues to play like he has.

 

So I was curious how his contract compares..

Grant had the 35th most ppg in the league last season league wide and 8th highest ppg among small forwards/power forwards and power forwards.

Here are the forwards above him:

1. Giannis - $45.6 million
2. Lauri Markkanen - $17.25 million (free agent after 24-25)
3. Julius Randle - $28.2 million (he compares most closely to Grant in terms of age and contract)
4. Siakam - $37.9 million (free agent after this year)
5. Jimmy Butler - $45.2 million (not sure why BBref has him listed as a power forward)
6. Bojan Bogdanovic - $20 million
7. Kyle Kuzma - $25.5 million
8. Grant
9. Banchero - rookie
10. Giddey - not sure why BBreference has him listed as a power forward.
11. Aaron Gordon - $22.6 million (free agent after 24-25 season)

So I want to take a closer look at Julius Randle.

 

Crabbe and Turner were negative assets the day they signed their deal. There is no way Grant is a negative asset today.

 

Here are the top 20 forwards in terms of ppg

Player Pos
Giannis Antetokounmpo PF
Jayson Tatum SF
Jaylen Brown SF
Lauri Markkanen PF
Julius Randle PF
DeMar DeRozan SF
Pascal Siakam PF
Jimmy Butler PF
Keldon Johnson SF
Klay Thompson SF
Bojan Bogdanović PF
Kyle Kuzma PF
Jerami Grant PF
Paolo Banchero PF
Franz Wagner SF
Michael Porter Jr. SF
OG Anunoby SF
Buddy Hield SF
Josh Giddey PF
Aaron Gordon PF

If you take out the superstars and the rookie scale guys, here's what you have left:

Player Pos
Lauri Markkanen PF - $17.25 million (free agent after 24-25)
Julius Randle PF - $28.2 million (he compares most closely to Grant in terms of age and contract)
DeMar DeRozan SF - $28.6 million (free agent after this year)
Keldon Johnson SF - $20 million
Klay Thompson SF - $43.2 million (free agent after this season)
Bojan Bogdanović PF - $20 million
Kyle Kuzma PF - $25.5 million
Jerami Grant PF - $27.5 million
Michael Porter Jr. SF - $33.3 million
OG Anunoby SF - $18.6 million (free agent after this season)
Buddy Hield SF - $19.2 million (free agent after this season)
Aaron Gordon PF - $22.6 million (free agent after 24-25 season)

Who would you rather have than Grant?

 

Laurie

 

Yeah... he was kind of a steal, but that's mostly because he didn't really live up to his hype until he got to Utah.

 

Markkanen
Randle
DeRozan
OG
Gordon

 

I'm not happy about the Grant contract considering the Dame situation, but it's not nearly as bad as some are freaking out about

people need to keep in mind one of the biggest changes to the CBA. There are now essentially three 'hard' caps. One is the 1st apron; another is the 2nd apron; and the 3rd is now the minimum team salary of 90% of the cap. Teams that are below the salary floor are penalized. In that framework, Grant's salary is almost a necessity.

 

Ok. That's a good list. Here are my thoughts.

Markkanen - I think he's going to sign a contract for a LOT more than Grant when his current deal is up. It might be sooner than that. I could see him signing an extension sooner.

Randle - is an interesting comparison. He's a much better rebounder, but he's a much less efficient scorer. I think Grant's defense suffered a bit last year. Randle is the #1 option on New York and Grant was our... third?




DeRozan - he's getting older, he's not a power forward so it's hard to compare them. He's also a free agent after this season so it will be interesting to see what he gets on the market.

OG - I'd rather have OG, but he's a free agent after this season. I bet he gets paid.

Gordon - I really like Gordon. He's the dude I would have liked to have over Grant. He's a couple years away from an extension and I bet he signs for at least a similar contract.

 

Curious as to where he would be in the same rankings, but with RPG as the criteria.

 

Player Pos TRB
Giannis Antetokounmpo PF 11.8
Julius Randle PF 10
Bobby Portis PF 9.6
Evan Mobley PF 9
Jayson Tatum SF 8.8
Lauri Markkanen PF 8.6
Josh Giddey PF 7.9
Pascal Siakam PF 7.8
Josh Hart SF 7.8
Jarred Vanderbilt PF 7.5
Kyle Kuzma PF 7.2
Jabari Smith Jr. PF 7.2
Draymond Green PF 7.2
Jaylen Brown SF 6.9
Paolo Banchero PF 6.9
Aaron Gordon PF 6.6
Scottie Barnes SF 6.6
John Collins PF 6.5
Deni Avdija SF 6.4
Kevin Love PF 6.4
Tari Eason PF 6
Jimmy Butler PF 5.9
Bol Bol PF 5.8
Tobias Harris SF 5.7
Michael Porter Jr. SF 5.5
Kenyon Martin Jr. SF 5.5
Chris Boucher PF 5.5
Torrey Craig PF 5.4
Kyle Anderson PF 5.3
Royce O'Neale SF 5.1
Keldon Johnson SF 5
OG Anunoby SF 5
Buddy Hield SF 5
P.J. Washington PF 4.9
Caleb Martin SF 4.8
Santi Aldama PF 4.8
Dorian Finney-Smith PF 4.8
Saddiq Bey SF 4.7
DeMar DeRozan SF 4.6
Luguentz Dort SF 4.6
Keegan Murray SF 4.6
Grant Williams PF 4.6
Pat Connaughton SF 4.6
Jerami Grant PF 4.5

 

The Blazer should see if Giles is worth a proper reclamation project?

 

That is a bit depressing. A LOT of $$ for that poor of rebounding production.