I wonder if Jack would come back? I'd love for Neil to do that damage he's gonna do & then b able to score us Jack too! I'm not exactly sure how the logistics work BUT... where there's Neil, there is THE way!
So supposedly Dwight is looking for 25 million. Parsons wants max as well. I just don't see any way that we could get there. Two max deals would be extremely difficult to make work without gutting the team. If we released all of our free agents we could get to $41,356,903. So enough to give two guys 20+ million. If we could get Parsons to take 20, I don't really see Dwight taking 20. Hassan's max is around $22,361,189, so we'd be really close, but again, we'd be losing every damn free agent. That is, unless we can trade Aminu/Plumlee, but even then, that would only free up $41,406,247. We would need to get to 42,361,189, so a hair under $1 million more to max Whiteside and get Parsons at $20 million (if he would go for that.)
So there is this thing that happens in here where we convince ourselves that what we think Neil should do is what Neil will do and then when he doesn't we get bent out of shape. Example how many people were convinced we would buy a pick to get GP 2 and we didn't so then people were mad. We had no reason beyond our own speculation to believe that would happen. The fact that Dame is involved in the Parsons meeting should be a pretty clear indication that this is a high Priority. We all believe that a rim protector is what the team needs most but Neil has never actually pursued one. What if Neil has more faith in Plumlee than we want to admit? He didn't have a bad season in fact had one of the better seasons a Blazers center has had in a while. What was much more suspect in our system was the combos at the 3 and 4 which seemed best when Harkless and Aminu started together. Parsons improves the shooting in that regard which was a weakness in Stotts system.
I'm not mad at Neil.... I'm mad at reality. I'm mad at being constantly reminded that we're not a desirable location for free agents. It's just frustrating. We all realized that we weren't getting a shot at Durant, or Horford, even though it's depressing that we're not even getting a SHOT, but that's fine. We accept that. What's frustrating is when second tier guys like Howard or Whiteside don't even (reportedly) give us a shot. Maybe Neil didn't even try, and that's very possible, but it's still depressing. We want to be wanted.
That's my point though, what if Parsons was the #1 target all along because he fits Neil's vision better than Whiteside does?
Man, I get it, the shit hasn't even kicked off yet. We don't know what Neil's plan is, and it might be spectacular. I'm not saying I lost faith in Neil. I'm just annoyed. That's all.
Moe Harkless gonna get some love: http://www.basketballinsiders.com/young-moe-harkless-set-for-big-pay-day/
Chandler parsons would be on par with most of the other "best" free agent signings portland has ever made. Why are some of you complaining again?
Because he is rated something like the #17 ranked FA. We have a young, upcoming roster, great fans, tons of cap space, made the 2nd round of the Playoffs....and if #17 who has had 2 knee procedures by age 27 is the best we can do, that doesn't seem like that great of a get.
So if we sign Parsons, trade for Monroe or Kanter, and then re-sign Crabbe/Harkless, will you be happy with this offseason? Kanter is making 17.1 million next season. Monroe is also making 17.1 million next season. If we signed Parsons to max money 25 million, we would need to release all the free agents except Harkless and Crabbe, and then we'd need to send out about $10 million in salary to match one of those guys. So..... roughly Plumlee and Aminu. That would leave us with Dame CJ Harkless Parsons Kanter/Monroe With a bench unit of Crabbe, Vonleh, Davis, Connaughton, and Layman. We definitely lose some punch off the bench.
