Notice 2023 Blazers Free Agency

And those numbers are actually above his career average of 4 rebounds per game.

 

Trendon Watford

 

Let's give the holdovers a chance to show what they can do with a completely different offense.

Playing with Scoot is going to be very different from playing with Damian Lillard.

Grant is actually very effective in the open court. He has length, good dribbling ability, and excellent finishing ability.

 

if I was gauging depressing things about the Blazers right now, Grant's rebounding would be way down the list

it's not good though, but it's also typical Blazers. Portland invests in players that require some unorthodox, or somewhat uncommon attributes in other players. Grant's poor rebounding was not a real issue when he was paired at forward with Josh Hart. But there aren't many SF's that averaged 8.2 rebounds, and none were as short as Hart. In any event, it wasn't really a handicap with Grant when he and Hart were averaging 13 rebounds/game

but what are the chances Portland will find somebody like Hart to pair with Grant?

* Blazers had Dame at PG so what they needed was a 6'5 SG who was solid at defense; instead they went with CJ for 7 seasons.

* Blazers had 6'3 CJ at SG so what they needed was lots of length and defense at forwards; instead they went with 6'3 Powell and 6'7 RoC0 (I pretty much gave up on Portland in the 2021 playoffs watching 6'3 Powell trying to defend 6'10 Porter....yeeeeeesh)

and we're already seeing forecasts of the shitty balance coming next season. Ant will start, no doubt about it. Meaning either Scoot or Sharpe will sit; probably Sharpe. Or, it will be all three starting and two playing out of position. I can't decide which is worse, but I know who the square peg is

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/590/raptors-show/is-a-pascal-siakam-trade-imminent/
I'm listening to this right now but it sounds like Siakam didn't want to come to Portland at all.

 

But if we do Dame dirty we won’t get any Free agents.

 

Man we need lots of draft picks, it’s our only chance.

 

As it has always been...Look at the top free agent signings and top trades in the history of the team. It's always been the draft.

 

That's why I want picks and draft equity in a Dame trade; I don't care much at all about Claxton/Jovic/etc names thrown around.

 

I disagree. FAs with their pick of destinations generally want to go to a franchise where they can get paid and win. For Portland to land Free Agents of note, first they'll need to have Scoot, Shaedon & ??? develop over the next couple years to the point where the league is taking notice that they're going to be great. If that is happening & management has cleared space resisting the temptation to overpay for short term bandaids alla NeO, Free Agents will come. 3 years from now they'll be looking out for their own best interests and won't care about what happened with Dame any more then they wanted to come here to play for peanuts for the chance to play with him... they'll want to get paid and win.

So yes, management accumulating draft capitol and continuing to draft well will be important but not as important as committing to a long term plan of developing and setting the stage for big moves in a few years when they're ready to rock.

STOMP

 

Assume this is sarcastic.

 

Yes it is

 

I was at the Raptors game at Moda last season. It was like being in Canada. The singing of Ol' Canada was louder than any i had ever heard before an event with a Canadian team. It was Toronto West.

 

The cupboard is pretty bare at this point. I'm not even sure if we'd sign someone at this point because it would push us over the luxury tax.

 

Traded for Sheed, Damon, Pippen, and Nurk. And we’ve been good at signing our own FAs.

 

Random question. What is Winslows status?

 

Is there any question if maybe he just retires at this point?

 

Yeah I highly doubt we sign anyone until the Dame trade is done - we might have a full roster after the trade.

Blazers have I believe closer to $7 million under the tax but again not clear if they will take on any salary in a trade and yes might need to keep some room to pickup someone during the season.

Jody has also shown she wants to just pocket cash, so Blazers haven't gone right up to the tax the last few years, instead staying 5-10 million below it.

 

Cronin said that we're unfortunately in a holding pattern on free agent signings until we see what happens with the Dame trade. He said it's unfortunate because players aren't willing to hold out to see what Portland can offer which he doesn't blame them but it sucks for us.