Plausible destinations for our vets?

I like him but do you see him as a starter on a very strong team? Defense and heart are his strengths. His offense is really non-existent and his hands don't seem very "sticky" either. I see a place for him on a roster but probably not as a starter. I would prefer to have a JJJ, EM type. Hell even a Zach Collins type of player that can move and create a bit of offense. That said he is looking like a great defender and teammate and that counts for a lot.

Edit: I think it's possible Joe has to wait to dump Simons and Ayton until they are expiring deals. I mean, at this point, it won't be super surprising to see both in POR uniforms next season. Thybulle and Williams III are attractive cheap options for teams. JG is pricey but maybe there will be a team that will take a flier on him?

 

Would you do this? Obviously you would if we also get our pick back from Chicago, but how about just adding a bit more protection (like 1-20 instead of 1-14)?


The puzzle is why the Bulls would do it. Cuz they're kinda dumb? Cuz they don't value cap space?

 

Even if Grant, Simons left, we'd still struggle with Chauncy as our coach, and our overall bad shooting. Deni, Camara, and Clingan are defensive specialists. Scoot is just...Scoot. Leaving Sharpe as the lone talented offensive player. But he's yet to reach even the league average in TS%.

 

If you think that we're winning BECAUSE of Ant and Ayton, all I can say is you haven't been watching the games.

 

Yeah, I am so confused lol.

 

Grant and Ant have played in the games won

 

I thought we won three straight after they went out?

 

or three out of 4?

 

No, it was three straight, two over MN and one over ATL

 

Please someone take ayton off our hands

 

salaries of mentioned C's:

Ayton - 34M (2 years)
Claxton - 27.6M (4 years - decreasing salaries)
Vucevic - 20M (2 years)
Poeltl - 19.5M (3 years all at 19.5M)
Timelord - 12.4M (2 years)
Valanciunas - 9.9M (3 years)

 

Excellent. If somebody wants to offload some salaries and a pick for Ayton we could make that work.

I'd take a pick for Timelord as well.

 

This is basically crap and an unprotected 1st for Jerami Grant. It gets Grant's contract off our books. And that 1st could be used, or packaged to move up in the 2025 draft.

The Kings are under performing, but have a lot invested in their middle aged roster, so they'd be in win now mode.

 

the Kings have a losing record; they were in the lottery last year. I'd seriously doubt they'd give up an unprotected pick in this 2025 draft for a player like Grant. Too much risk, even though it's small, of it being a top-4 pick. They might do a top-4 protected pick but they'd quite possibly demand top-10 or so; maybe split the difference and land at top-7. That would be a decent trade for Portland, IMO

it would be great if the Blazers could find a taker for Heuter. He's been a fairly solid 3 point threat in his career. But 17M is pretty steep and 18M next season is steeper; and he hasn't been solid from the arc last season or this

by the way, this trade would bump the Blazers just above the tax line. They are 3.7M below so the trade would put them 200K over the line. And they'd have to waive a player, almost certainly Reath. Both are fairly minor issues though but for sure the Blazers would need a follow-up trade to dump some salary

I didn't even check that; good catch

I'd think that makes it even more unlikely the Kings risk an unprotected pick. Fox will be UFA in 2026; the Kings only have 5 players under contract that season; and Derozan will be 37. They might be a pretty deep lottery team

 

Starting to worry that we won't be able to unload any of our vets because it's a glutted market. Suddenly there's a slew of teams looking to offload practically their entire roster. Bulls, Pelicans, possibly the Kings. Meanwhile the teams that are succeeding are doing it with a patient build-slowly approach (Orlando, Boston, OKC in particular) and as their core is young they're unlikely to do a classic Brooklyn Nets gamble-on-a-bunch-of-aging-stars approach.

Be prepared to have possibly all three of Ant, Ayton and Jerami still on the roster after the trade deadline. I can see RWIII and (if he ever gets health) Matisse being moved, but I'm pretty pessimistic about the others.

 

POR needs two FRP in this draft.

 

I doubt it. Our five vets (also including Matisse plus rwill) could compose a starting lineup in it of itself. I don’t see a lot of competition for the trade market with our overall available players.

 

The Heuter and Lyles make about 25 mil per year, so it would be a cap savings for Portland, even this year. They probably would protect it, but I think their lineup would be too solid for them to get a top pick anyway. I think they're in the Damian Lillard era Blazer territory, of being too good to suck but not good enough to really complete. So I think they'd be in the same mode we were in, of trying to get talented vets.