Trade Deadline: February 6, 2025

we all throw out opinions most of the time. Opinions-r-us

"My guess is that Simons is undervalued (compared to how our GM values him) in the league, so he didn't get traded".

my counter-guess is the rest of the league, having seen Simons for nearly 8 seasons now, and already having solid established gauges for the value of undersized SG's and tweener guards who play crappy defense have probably pegged the value of Simons accurately. And that Cronin either significantly overrates Simons or is content with him remaining on the team and plans on re-signing him

"My guess is that the coach and GM are unsure DC's body is ready for high, consistent minutes."

Clingan is averaging less than 16 minutes a game. I'd wonder what would be high minutes for a young big? 28-30 minutes? 25?

he played 21 minutes the last game and had 21 & 7 without missing a shot. The game before that he played less than 6 minutes against Minny and Gobert (which is a optimal type of C for Clingan) while Ayton + Timelord played 40. Before that he had a 7 game stretch with one 20 minute game, but for the other 6 games he averaged 12 minutes, with this kind of inconsistent jerked around distribution: 17:37- 20:20- 10:37- 7:44 - 11:06 - 9:34 - 16:53 - 5:52 (Minny game). That's ridiculous if the goal is to develop Clingan's game. If the goal is to make Clingan a tentative 3rd string C, then success!!

he had a 3 game stretch in January when he averaged 24 minutes, 8 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. Before that is was 11 straight games, coming off injury, when he averaged 12.7 minutes with only 2 games over 16 minutes. And the 2nd game back he played 19 minutes so obviously he was 'ready' for more than 12.7

On Nov 12 he played 21 minutes which was the first time in his first 12 games he played over 20 minutes (and only the 4th time he played over 15 minutes). That started a 6 game stretch where he averaged 22.7 minutes, 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Per36, that's 13 pts - 16 reb - 4.8 blks

sure, there might be some valid concern about Clingan's ability to sustain heavy minutes. But he's played 40 games and been over 20 minutes just 10 times; and played less than 15 minutes 20 times. it's not a case of being foul-crazy either as he's only averaging 3.2 fouls per 20 minutes.

my opinion is that, like the author of that article said, this is just another example of the Blazers doing rather bizarre things. They invest a 7th pick in Clingan (and were reportedly exploring ways to move up in the draft to get him), keep 3 other C's on the roster, and then jerk Clingan around with inconsistent minutes and inconsistent substitution patterns. And that might be the worst way to actually develop a 20 year old rotational player.

What's apparent is that Clingan is more productive when he gets above 20 minutes on a consistent basis. What also might becoming apparent is that the Blazers will have Ayton, Timelord, and Clingan all back next season. Which is what that author was saying about Portland's direction being muddled and and illogical

and remember what the author said about the Scoot-Sharpe-Clingan trio. The last 3 top-7 draf picks who do not play the same position have only played 148 minutes together. I looked it up and Portland has played 45 different 3 man combo's more

"I would have traded Grant for a pick and soon to end contracts. I have no idea whether the Blazers were offered this"

about the only consistent rumor we heard was that Cronin was demanding two first round picks for Grant. I'm not sure how big of an echo chamber effect in the blogosphere was at work with that particular rumor. I find the rumor credible; whether it was a negotiating ploy or not I don't know. If it was a ploy it was a stupid ploy. If you have a car with a bluebook value of 20K and your first ask is 75K, you'll immediately be dismissed as a quack because you just insulted a prospective buyer

I would have happily traded Grant for a couple of 2nd's and a smaller, shorter contract. Whether or not he could have even fetched a heavily protected 1st is debatable

 

Paul was above average at the least if not very good. He was great at times.

Jody/Bert/Vulcans are absolute crap owners. Plus just the whole situation where its a trust as the direct owner is bad. Jody doesn't get the incentives/benefits/rewards/or costs as owners normally have. So sucks that Paul set the team up to be in this limbo period of 10-30+ years.

We don't even know that Jody dieing will change this - might just have someone else take her place controlling the trust and this odd situation could continue for who knows how many decades.

More than any lottery pick or coach or player or GM the best thing that can happen to the Blazers would be if the team got sold.

 

I have my opinions, and they're really not that different from yours. However, I do think you're conflating GM issues with coaching issues. The coach issues are separate, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that you and I both disagree (to put it mildly) with Billups minutes distribution...

 

Nurk is not wrong here...

 

it seems pretty likely that Portland and Orlando discussed trade options for Simons. If so, obviously Orlando was unwilling to pay whatever price it was Cronin was demanding. My hunch is that Cronin may have been demanding an unrealistic price; but I've developed a bias that may be skewing my thinking

 

My guess is they did not want to give a FRP and felt Black and filler was sufficient.

 

my guess is that Olshey demanded the Orlando pick and another pick, and the Magic were drawing a line at the Denver pick and no other draft asset

 

Interesting to bring that up out of nowhere. There must have been noise behind that for a while now.

 

Can't say that bums me out. The 25th pick in this draft does not excite me.

 

JC does not eant to gift Ant to Orlando that's why he's still here. He wants unprotected first rounder in return

 

Not sure what you’re asking.

 

of course it doesn't bum you out, you're a huge Simons fan

if it was the Denver pick I'd need to see what else was in the package. If it's Issac, no way. But I would have been just fine with a lottery protected Orlando pick plus Anthony and Harris. Odds are the Oralndo pick will be outside of the lottery; but there's enough chance it will be inside that lottery protection is justified, IMO

 

I don't think any of Portland's veterans are worth an unprotected 1st round pick unless it's a team guaranteed to not be in the lottery

 

A huge fan is a bit exaggerated. I defend him a lot because there are a lot of comments about him that I find incorrect. He provides a need that no one else on the team does...at least not so far.

If we do trade him I want value or I do not see the point. He will be on an ending contract next year so the worst-case scenario IMO is we lose him for nothing other than cap space. Ideally, he comes off the bench next year and we are competitive enough that he will want to stay. Of course, with the way some of the fans disrespect him, he might be ready to move on.

 

hie "value" is completely subjective

but apparently, acceptable value for Simons, according to your post, is in 16 months exchanging him for cap-space; no picks; no prospects; no incoming talent. Just salary relief...really?...and you just said a late 2025 1st was unacceptable.

so then, going back to that earlier discussion, why would letting him walk in 2026 be a better outcome than a:

25th pick in June
+ 14.6M in salary/cap relief next season
+ exact same cap-space as letting Simons walk in 2026

your worst case option is a lot worse than my acceptable option

That's not going to happen if Chauncey is still coach and Cronin is still GM. Simons will be starting. Either he'll be starting over Scoot who is a better PG, or he'll be starting over Sharpe, taking the Blazers back to an undersized starting back court, and significantly blunting the advantages of Portland's newly acquired roster length

 

I did not say it was unacceptable, I said it did not excite me.
You don't know if we would have gotten cap relief space in 2025 until we know what contracts were coming back.
You don't know if he would come off the bench next year because we don't know how much Scoot will improve over the summer. (Or even if Chauncey will be back)

 

last first: I don't think any team is going to pay Simons 28M to come of the bench, and that includes Portland

what I have said, many times, is that I would have considered Simons for Anthony + Harris + Denver 1st acceptable. I'd shoot for the Orlando 1st, lottery protected though

both of us are talking hypothetical trades. Lacking any trades, you're saying an option is letting Simons walk in 2026. I think the Blazers could get at least something + the same 2026 salary relief for Simons, and that's better than losing him for nothing

 

I don't know. This seems like the most likely trade (Ant to Orlando) that Joe was talking about when he was saying that he got traction on some deals just like he did with Jerami and that he said he did with the Deni deal the deadline before this one. So I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with Denver's pick, Cole Anthony and Black or Howard... or maybe it's just Cole Anthony and Black or Howard.

I think more along the lines of Joe taking his fucking time like he has in the past than Orlando and Joe not seeing eye to eye on Ant's value. I guess we'll see around draft time.

I'm just really curious to see if Joe letting this group see things through is a season long commitment or if we drop the next one to the Lakers if we'll see the team pull the plug on this season. Sitting Ayton, Grant, Simons, Williams probably Deni and Tou a lot of games and even one of Shaedon or Scoot when playing other tanking teams. Should be interesting to see.

 

I didn't realize Orlando had that Denver pick 4 years ago.

Or that we were shopping Ant for that long.

 

wut?