Isnt their a cap min as well? If we trade our large contracts for tradable contracts to then trade for picks, will we have enough salary? Ant needs to go so Shae can take over. But i see value in keeping ayton and grant for the moment and Ayton could still be part of the long term plan. he is young enough.
Yes, there is a min, but Portland wouldn't drop below it. If they trade Grant they will get probably two contracts back to total his. Hopefully an expiring. Same with Ant. Pretty sure if we traded Thybulle we would get another player back. Doubt they trade Ayton with Clingan being a rookie. After this season Ayton is an expiring and might have value if he doesn't ball out this season. But Portland will stay above the min this season as most cap space is gone in the league.
Now that the Slippers & Queens are playoff teams, will Portland become the conference repetitive laggard. I only hope it's not like 17 out of the last 18 years of not making the playoffs. NBA Teams: Sacramento Kings Records Year by YearLand Of Basketballhttps://www.landofbasketball.com › teams › records_sacr...
I don’t believe in tanking before January. I think every season you have to play hard until New Years. If your team has no talent, it’ll show by then, and you can tank with impunity.
I think the worries about the salary floor are overblown If the Blazers are trading their big salaries (Ayton-Grant-Simons) they won't be trading them for TPE's...they'll be taking salary back. I'd think the same is true for Thybulle & Timelord. Last time I checked the Blazers were about 38-40M over the salary floor teams have to be at the salary floor or above by opening night of the regular season. The floor is about 14M below the 141M salary cap. If a team is below the floor, they lose any cap-space they had below the floor. Meaning the most cap-space any team can carry into the season is 14M. That's the only management 'penalty' now there is an ownership penalty in that any team that starts the season below the floor becomes ineligible to collect luxury tax payments distributed by the league. You can be certain that everybody in the Vulcan flagship is aware of that
manipulating technicalities are an important aspect of Blazers Edge contributors. One of their latest "huh?" offerings suggested "Portland has the best Center rotation in the NBA". Included in this fantasy was Duop Reath replacing Al Horford to help the Celtics win more championships. Today's burnt biscuit award goes to a Locked on Blazers viewer who believes the Blazers are better then the Pelicans, Clippers & Warriors.
I think we should start tanking in summer league. I think those SL losses should count towards the lottery dammit!
Ayton, Clingan, Reath, RWill3 is def in the conversation. Whether we maximize that advantage and win, that’s a whole diff story
RW3 should not be a net positive in anyone’s accounting of lineup value. Just because a die can come up 6 sometimes doesn’t mean that’s the value you can count on. He’s basically Reaf LaFrenz.
It's a lopsided comp. 4 against ~2. Portland can't roll out all the Centers in one lineup. Jokic + Gordon is better Embiid + whoever is better Davis + 6'2" Bronny is better Gobert + KAT + Reid were spectacular Porzingus + Horford won the chip Lively + Gafford made the Finals Chet + Hartenstein got put on ignore ? Turner + Toppin made the ECF Adebayo beat Portland by 60 Nic Richards went nightmare mode Zubac swept Portland Sengun abolished the Blazers Green + Looney + Trayce is a headache Sabonis triple double machine Wemby toyed with the Blazers catching my drift ? If Portland had the best Centers in the NBA, I don't think Blazer fans would be looking over the horizon at next summer's lottery pick.
Ayton + Time Lord + Clingan + Reath is a good collection of BIGS. Not elite, but deep. 2 years of Ayton will hopefully be enough time for Clingan to become a starter — and a quality starter in his prime. Having an elite starter is great, but having a quality starter who is a BIG on D is necessary. I like Reath (just turned 28 and with low mileage) as Clingan’s eventual back-up or 5th big at PF/C. After this dead period thru August — it’s huge with trades until February.
I mosied over to NBA.com, and checked out the latest power rankings. the overlords of basketball offered couple fun facts from last year. numbers to know: The Blazers had just four wins (they were 4-41) in games that weren’t within five points in the last five minutes. That was the lowest total for any team in the last nine seasons. Their opponents shot 61.3% in the paint, the highest opponent mark in the 28 seasons for which we have shot-location data is basic terminology... - forget about comeback victories - the bunny door was wide open
* last season, with Ayton, Portland ranked 28th in the NBA in opponent FG% at the rim (0-3'); and 28th in opponent FG% in the 3-10' zone * in 2022-23, with Nurkic, Portland ranked 7th in the NBA in opponent FG% at the rim (0-3'); and 15th in opponent FG% in the 3-10' zone
ahh the good ol' days. When Winslow & Josh Hart pushed guys out of comfort zones, and Jerami Grant actually played real defense.
don't forget about Drew Eubanks. He split time with Nurk, and played some disruptive defense. 1.3 blocks lead the team.
these guys are mean!! The Norwegian guy starts the pod trolling Billups. Then @13:14 Mike Richman called Scoot one of the worst players in the NBA.
Misleading. Mike said Scoot was one of the worst players in the league LAST SEASON. That is a true statement, not a mean one
I'd say Camara and Thybulle were at least as good defensively as Hart and Winslow; likely much more defensive impact considering they played 137 games vs Hart/Winslow at 80 games. Eubanks was definitely underrated around here. A better backup C than Reath ***************************************** still, the reality is that Portland was a better team defensively last season than in 2022-23; at least they were in terms of defensive rating. In 2022-23 Blazers were 29th in opponent 3ptFG%; last season they were 3rd. So, trying to scapegoat perimeter defense for Ayton's failings doesn't compute where the Blazers cratered last season was defending the rim and defending the paint. Nurkic+Eubanks were good at that; Ayton+Reath were historically bad
