What I love about what the FO has done is give the Blazers a real identity over and above individual players. Now, this might have had the effect of driving down the value of our players in other GMs' eyes (I think Grant, for example, has really sublimated his stats to fit in with what Chauncey has asked) but what we gain is a "culture" that, with any luck, can carry us to the finals as Miami's has for them. Of course we lack two things that are hugely in Miami's favor: Spoelstra, and being a popular FA destination. So, yes, it really would help to get lucky in the draft. But let's be honest: San Antonio has literally all the luck that counts.
The "super-duper role player" of whom you speak is also setting ACC freshman scoring records, which seems to suggest that he might be a little bit more than just Kirilenko reborn.
As you state no the Blazers didn't HAVE to give Turner 4 years - plenty of other NBA players would have happily taken a pay raise on a one year deal. Your also factually wrong that the Blazers HAD to spend the money in the offseason to get to the 90% cap minimum that year. If they were below the minimum the penalty was the difference went to the players on the Blazers roster. This almost happened the season prior - instead the Blazers used that cap space under the minimum salary at the deadline to take on Varejao contract along with a first round pick. Doing a bunch of deals like that sounds way better than paying Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe, and Meyers Leonard nearly $200 million for 4 years. Please feel free to live in your delusional reality where Olshey had a good 2016 offseason.
No shot because we didn't get a high draft pick in this lottery? We don't need another lottery pick. We have three good recent lottery picks and then we also have the number one in Ayton. The Suns obviously didn't know what to do with him and make obvious stupid decisions. They got rid of Toumani Camara for crying out loud. For Nurkic! Perhaps the secret to having a consistent and truly dominatin' Ayton is to believe in him and surround him with people who aren't petulant primadonna's (see Booker and Durant). A team that stays together plays together and wins together. I'm so glad that Cronin didn't Scrap half the team and is going to build on these guys and let them see what they can do. Much more valuable than tanking for another pick. I'm so sick of the tanking tools and lottery lovers.
Prime Pippen seems to be the easy choice, but really I don't know--I've never really been good at the player-comp game.
Ant contract is fine, we didn’t have Scoot at that point, Dame was leaving, I don’t understand how crazy it is to hear you guys say Ant is overpaid, have you looked at some of the other guys salary around the league? Ayton was traded for, Cronin didn’t sign him to that deal. The Grant one is the only one you can talk about, but that was done with the intent that Dame was going to resign as we were trying everything to please Dame at that point and make him stay. If Dame requested a trade before we signed Grant, who’s to say Cronin would have still signed him? No one knows the real answer to that
We do not have a superstar. You ain't winning shit without a superstar. Period. End of discussion. Maybe Sharpe could be one. It's still pretty undecided at this point, but this was our best shot in a deep draft to take another guy who has a chance of becoming a superstar. Now we won't have that if we continue on this path.
It's all just gobbledygook and pipe dreams. Everybody was screaming and clamoring to get Wembiwoohoo and we just missed out on getting him and if we had we would have kept Dame and you know what? This would have been worse for the franchise. It's actually a good thing that we moved on from him and have now built a team that features size and length and athleticism and defense and balance and that is much more valuable than having a couple of Superstars. I'd rather have a Deni than a Dolla. I'd rather have a Toumani than a Wembihoohaw.
I'm starting to believe that Scoot might have superstardom in him after all, if he continues improving the way he has over the past 16 months.
Did you even read what was posted? it says it right there, with all teams legally obligated under the CBA to spend at least 90 percent of their caps on player salaries, that meant everyone had to have at least a payroll of at least $84.69 million — a huge leap from the 2015-16 cap figure of $70 million. Who is actually factually wrong here? LMAO We didnt need to resign Crabbe to that big contract either, but we would have lost him for nothing. In the end, the next season we traded him anyways to Brooklyn.
I don't see him as the superstar that we would need. To me, he could be Chris Paul, which would be fantastic. But we need a wing that can dominate.
It comes down to if you want contracts that are "fine" or contracts that have enough positive value to contend for a title. Ant/Ayton/Grant types just don't provide that value. If the goal is just to eventually make the playoffs and lose than its fine. Blazers either need a number of Camara values, or Scoot/Sharpe type to become an allstar, or some other acquisition of a player whos worth greatly exceeds their cap hit. Back in the SPAM days that wasn't as critical.
I believe it. Look at Dame. He had four years of college to become what he was when he entered the league. Give Scoot time and I think his potential is higher. I think he can reach it. He has more dog in him than Dame and plays like a running back with a quarterback's IQ and vision.
Everyone wants to talk about this loaded draft coming up, but how much do you trust these experts analyst? They have been wrong more than they have been right actually. You never know how loaded a draft really is until years down the road.
