I suspect they might need to rest Jrue on back to backs and things like that. He's 35 and if they're hoping to have him healthy by the playoffs, they need to be careful with his minutes. So I think Thybulle will get minutes. Just not a ton.
Every team is out here moving pieces like Bobby Fischer on bath salts, and Joe Cronin’s sitting in a flotation tank whispering about “internal growth” while his cap sheet looks like a busted Excel file printed on a tortilla. And meanwhile, Rob Pelinka is pacing the halls in L.A., sweating through his linen suit because LeBron James has him by the pancreas, making passive-aggressive Instagram posts that read like hostage notes from the set of a Wes Anderson film. So here’s what you do, Joe. You pick up the phone, and with your best stone-cold, vinegar-drenched voice, you say: “Rob, I’ve got your anatomy in a vice so tight your great-grandchildren are gonna be born whispering.” Two options. Option A: You trade for Jerami Grant—yes, our $160 million isolation magician with the shot diet of a haunted carousel horse. In return, you send us Gabe Vincent (last seen floating around a G League gym like a confused librarian), Maxi Kleber (who might actually be a wax figure), and Jarred Vanderbilt, a man who shoots like he’s being tased in slow motion. Only Vando has money past next year, so we get a financial colon cleanse and free up the runway for Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara, who at least sweat on defense and don’t require four dribbles and an interpretive dance before launching a contested mid-range prayer. Option B: You go straight to the deep end, no floaties—Jerami + Deni for LeBron. Yeah. I said it. LeBron freaking James in Portland. One year. One glorious, geriatric, tax-deductible fever dream. Not because it’s smart. Not because it’s basketball. Because it’s theater, baby. Shakespeare with hamstrings and a smoothie deal. You grease the rails by offering him covert ownership in a Willamette Valley winery named something elegant like “Cuvée du Chase-Down” or “Pinot Post-Up Estates”. You sign Chris Paul and let him run the point like an angry little raccoon on a farewell tour, with his primary contribution being teaching Scoot the dark art of scrotum taps. You bring back Kevin Love, who shows up in Dockers, hits a corner three once a week, and spends the rest of his time soothing the locker room like a human cup of chamomile tea. Then? You let the geriatrics run wild. You let them strut into Moda like they’re about to shoot a Centrum Silver commercial, flanked by Jrue, Matisse, Camara, and Clingan, all of whom defend like their rent depends on it and eat protein powder out of Ziplocs like feral gym rats. And LeBron? He gets to hobble past fentanyl zombies and step over steaming human coil-shaped insults to modern governance on his way to brunch at Tusk, asking himself why the hell he didn’t retire after the bubble. That’s legacy. That’s content. And let’s not forget: these guys respect the damn janitors. Chris Paul tips with handwritten notes and eye contact. Kevin Love probably buys the towel crew personalized bathrobes. LeBron once made a ball boy cry in a good way. Meanwhile, Jerami Grant wouldn’t notice the arena staff unless they blocked his mirror. I’ve seen sour cream with more emotional presence. So do it, Joe. Twist the vice. Because sitting still is not neutral. Sitting still is rotting from the feet up, like a cantaloupe left in a sauna. Do something bold. Do something weird. Do something that makes Zach Lowe question his life choices in the middle of a podcast. Give us chaos. Give us old men limping heroically. Give us Rip City: The AARP Years.
Grant should not be playing that many minutes, and shouldn't be on the team. Cronin screwed up by giving him that massive contract and then not trading him last offseason. Now they're stuck prioritizing a massive contract who doesn't fit theyre style or needs.
Whether he should or shouldn’t be on the team is irrelevant at this point. He IS on the team. He’s gonna get minutes. You know this. Especially if they’re trying to win. Chauncey will play him. I’m just hoping they don’t start him and hopefully if he still gets starter minutes he will come off the bench. I will be furious if they start him.
Murray sucks ass but Thybulle I'd prefer over others such as Kiepert as the 11th man. Thybulle shot 44% on 3s last year, yeah small sample size but his D is way better. We don't need Simon/Ayton style players that are good offensively but screw up our defense. Id rather lose a couple more games but have great defense and have the young players build a defensive identity.
Grants contract is a sunk cost. Grant is worth minutes if he is accepting of any role. If he was paid $5 million we'd all love to have him on the roster. His "style" is fine when he's playing at his best and deferring to others as he has done at times in Portland. He has moments of very good defense and floor spacing. If he's trying to force shots like Ant/Ayton then he should be benched. Will be a test of Billups if he can have him in the right role and productive this season.
Because theres no action to take on it. Grant is on the team and the Blazers are stuck with him. They can't trade him. Adding a Kiepert type player doesn't make anything better with Grant - it would make it worse.
Because the conversation isn't "should the Blazers trade Jerami Grant." We already know they should. The conversation is "should the blazers add a three point shooter" and right now they have zero minutes for anyone else to add to this rotation. Grant is on the team. He's going to be on the team. He has no value and Cronin isn't going to send out assets just to get off him. That's just reality. So he will be here and Billups will play him. I'm not debating what I think they SHOULD do. I'm saying what I think they WILL do.
If he is still on the team, then it might be best if they piss you off. He is going to be part of a 3-man rotation at forward, so he is going to get 30 minutes either way. I love Toumani more than I like Grant, but between the two, I think Grant complements Clingan's lack of offense more than Tou, and I think Tou will bring energy off the bench. So I am not sure I care either way. They will all be getting their minutes.
It isn't affecting team building though. Unless he starts this coming season, the. I can see the complaint. I personally don't think he starts.
I think it depends more if were talking about what the Blazers DID do in the past or what they SHOULD do now and going forward... Yes previously they gave Grant that contract which was stupid. They DID make a big mistake there. But now that the mistake is done what do they do today? I'd love if we could trade Grant but sounds like there are zero buyers.
Camara defense is more important in the starting lineup as he can lock down the opponents best players. He also plays more games. I will be super disappointed if Grant starts in front of Camara or Deni. Now if Grant legit outplays them then fine - but nobody should be handed anything on this team.
It sounds like there's zero buyers unless we want to include draft capital. It's just not worth it. And the funny part is that we're talking about replacing Grant with a three point shooter..... but he was a 40% three point shooter for each of the last two seasons before 2024-2025.
How does his lanky defense and 3pt shooting not fit? I mean i know we want to run more but i personally think his numbers dipped due to apathy of knowing we didn't want to win. Put him out there and tell the team to win and i bet he fits in. A better question might be, if we got rid of him we would be super thin in pf spot. Who is replacing him that is realistically gettable and provides an upgrade?
I agree that no one should be given anything. I have been saying that for the last two years. Personally, I don't care if Grant starts or not, but I can see the benefit of starting him with Clingan, since Donovan is a good defender but a poor offensive player. Camara will be needed to lock down the best team offensive threat, but I don't mind if he does it off the bench because, as I mentioned in another thread, I think they call more fouls early on to set a tone. So, keeping Tou out of foul trouble and allowing him to add energy off the bench is not a horrible idea either.
I have a Blazer Surprise for you, Mr. BonesJones. Let’s take a little stroll through the garden of logic, shall we? You’ve responded to Natebishop3’s point — which, mind you, is based on the very real state of the roster as it currently exists — by assuming future moves that haven’t happened, aren’t guaranteed, and may in fact be the hallucinated product of one too many Cronin pressers. That’s called responding to a flawed presupposition with a flimsy distraction, followed by the rhetorical equivalent of a wet sock thrown at a chalkboard. Your take — that something currently shaping team-building isn’t relevant because it might change later — is the sort of thing that makes Socrates rise from the grave just to file a restraining order. What Nate said is relevant precisely because the current situation exists, and we are all forced to live in it like a cursed snow globe. Whether Cronin wakes up tomorrow and trades Jerami Grant for a wheelbarrow full of churros is beside the point. So, yes, Mr. Bones. You’ve changed the subject, defended it with future-fiction, and then acted like Nate committed a foul for pointing at the scoreboard. You’ve assumed the punchline to a joke that hasn’t been told, then blamed the audience for not laughing. In short: your logic is upside down, your sarcasm misfired, and the ghosts of classical rhetoric are howling in the rafters.
Don't be surprised if they start the old guys at the beginning of next season... Jrue over Scoot and Grant over Shaedon. That this would piss off perpetually pissy dimwits definintely isn't the point, it would be to throw the old guys a bone while motivating the youngins to be better. They'll still get their 30+ MPG and hopefully decidedly take over the starting roles sometime during the season with their play rather then by default. You'd think Grant would be plenty motivated to be at his best after the stinker of a year he had but maybe he's hitting a wall? Hopefully Jrue is physically good to go after being injury plagued last year. If so, I think this is pretty likely STOMP
I don't think you have to be a dimwit to want the runway cleared for Scoot and Shaedon so we can see what happens when the back court is theirs. Now obviously that's not going to happen. With the acquisition of Jrue and the retention of Grant it is very likely that two of Scoot, Shaedon, Toumani and Deni will be coming off of the bench. That is going to make me unhappy. I haven't seen putting Shaedon behind other people as successful during Shaedon's time here. He's been the best when empowered not when told he's not yet good enough. Shaedon seems to buy not only what he's told but buys in most when what he is told is reflected in his position in the rotation. I think Scoot is very motivated regardless of the situation. So you might be on the same page as Chauncey and maybe the two young guards will come off the bench but that doesn't mean that you and Chauncey are seeing this correctly. I don't think you're a dimwit for seeing things that way but not taking a moment to see why some fans would dislike it insomuch that you are calling them dimwits shows an extremely narrow point of view and I guess some people would call that dimwitted.
