I have definitely been eyeing him for the last year or so. I think NOP keeps trying to make him the lead guy and he's not that guy. I knew he wasn't that guy when I watched Oregon beat Duke. He's a great second guy though, I think.
Unfortunately though, if NOP thinks that Lonzo and NAW are a viable starting guard pairing, they'll probably try to stick with that young core rather than bring in an older guy like CJ.
I used career. And your best argument for jones is that he’s a better shooter? No team is signing either for their shooting. It’s for their defense, and the majority of the data suggests RHJ is the better defender. And my whole argument is that he can do the same job for the minimum, so why pay Jones?
RHJ might be a better defender, but he's abysmal on offense. The gap between them on offense is actually pretty massive. There's a reason nobody signed him until the end of the season. He can't shoot the three at all. 20% shooter. So are you saying that the gap between them defensively is as big in favor of RHJ as the gap is offensively is in favor of DJJ?
We held onto CJ for too long. He's 29 and he's at the point where a franchise isn't going to trade for him to be their main guy for the future. At this point he's really a guy that could help a team take the next step. That's why I'm hoping Philly shits the bed in the first round so we can try to convince them to take CJ.
I like that but I don't think there's any way Houston is giving up Wood. He's their primary positive asset. I think targets that would either shore up the backcourt D so we could add role-player scorers (Marcus Smart) or serve as another distributor and we could add some role-player defenders (Derozan, Ricky Rubio - but then we'd need to add shooters) should be the targets if we replace CJ. I'd be OK with the step-down in talent if it meant roster flexibility (i.e., keeping Powell, reducing payroll) and potential picks. I love the thought of a Dame, Marcus Smart, Powell, Simons backcourt. You get a little of everything.
Since we're doing the trade CJ thing in here, which I obviously love... there's a new trade I've been thinking about. If the Knick are interested in CJ they might be willing to give up what amounts to three late firsts and Toppin for him. If Toronto is ready to let Lowry walk and really start a youth based rebuild, they might be willing to take the haul of Toppin, pick 21, 23 and 32 along with all of the cap space for Siakam. If that deal went through obviously I'd re-sign Powell using his bird rights, I would try to get Elfrid Payton or maybe Kris Dunn with the MLE, I guess I'd give Zach his QO but I wouldn't match anything higher or at the same cost with more guaranteed years, I'd re-sign Enes using his early-bird rights and then fill the rest of the team with DLeaguers and other min level guys. I'm assuming that DJ stays just because this is the best money he can get. That gives us Dame, Powell, RoCo, Siakam, Nurk, Payton, DJ, Ant, Nas, Enes, Zach. That's a big upgrade over our current playable roster IMO and would be fantastic with a new head coach.
I think the biggest question this off season is - how far into the tax will the Blazers be willing to go? Dame $43.7M CJ $30.8M Nurk $12M RoCo $13M Powell $11.6M (Player option) DJJ $9.7M Simons $3.9M Little $2.3M Elleby $1.5M ((Nichols)) $2.8M By my calcs - the Blazers have $134.2M tied up in salaries with only 9 players accounted for. (3 minimum salary charges) The tax line is $132.6M. Powell can opt out and go anywhere, but the Blazers have Bird rights and match if willing to take the tax pain. Carmelo will have to be minimum salary, again exceeding that tax line. Most likely we'll have to let Kanter walk if he gets anything significantly above the minimum. The Blazers have the bird rights to Collins and will retain him if its a reasonable price. $43.7M for Dame and $30.8M for CJ eat up 68% of our CAP (56.2% of the tax line). That's a big chunk of money that will keep the Blazers hands financially tied thru 2023-24. Dame is worth it, but....
I could see Lowry fitting well next to Dame (and Powell of course). The other guy from Toronto I'm interested in is Boucher. He is way too thin to play center, but I think he'd be a terror next to Nurk, help erase some of Enes' mistakes, and could play in a switching 3/4/5 lineup with two of Nas, Covington, and Collins. He's also best utilized at the same position as Siakam, so Toronto may be willing to let go of him.
They can’t go into next season planning anything around Collins. Whatever they get from him is a bonus. He’s had too many injuries, bad luck or not.
A of course. B - He definitely is. People overrate jus thow mobile you have to be to effectively trap. It's extremely hard to find mobile Cs with size that can hit 3s as well, especially ones for cheap. That's what he could be for us next year.
He's only had 2 injuries. Not encouraging but not damning either. I think I you go in with a solid 3rd string C behind him that could step up up to 2nd string if needed, and a 4 that could play some 5 (Like a Thad Young).
I wish DJJ and Elleby wasnt 28K short of matching Thad Young this offseason. A Thad Young and Zach Collins 4/5 pairing off the bench would be perfect.
he’s only had two, but those two essentially cost him two seasons, and the ankle one he had is a pretty serious one. The good thing about Collins is he can play two positions so even if they invest in another center, they can still find playing time for Collins if he’s fit, as I don’t expect Melo to be back.
Mobility for a big it's more of a prerequisite if you're asking them to be at the level of the screen and in a back pedal. Trapping is more a couple quick slides and being able to recover back in a sprint. I feel like the lack of a secondary rim protector (with most teams only playing with one big on the floor), and the amount of shooting that teams are putting out on the floor is why we don't see really any team trap with any consistency. Besides maybe Denver with Jokic and the Lakers with AD at center which they rarely go to in the reg season. If a team doesn't have a lot of shooting on the floor, you see it more though, including from us. Obviously because more prevalent in the playoffs when you're dealing with the elite off the dribble creators and you have teams that have the personnel to pull off the scheme consistently. The best defensive teams still drop to some degree with their center I'd say roughly 85% of the time in the regular season though.
DJJ decision to stay or go depends on what his agent thinks offers are. Is he looking at earning under $5million? Then he's opting in for one year. If a team is gonna pay closer to his $10 million I agree he leaves. If he opts in he will still only be 25 before the 2022-23 season... so he has plenty of time to build his value and earn more large contracts the 7 years. He hasn't earned a huge rookie deal as lottery picks do so he's going to be weary of giving up $10 million in salary. He talked about this in multiple stories, interviews, and recaps of free agency; how this is life altering money for him. Players don't pass up multiple millions just to get a change of scenery. They request a trade, they think next year will be different, etc. With centers, maybe you could give examples of new centers that shoot threes and trap. I just cant think of them. That seems to be a very narrow rare skill so I don't see the point in trying to target such a specialized role. If the team gets more talent they should get it at any position or role.
