They have been building the relationship with Ingles since he was traded. I think a one time 10+M paycheck to go to any possible team is something he and Joe have likely talked about.
Yeah I agree this seems very possible if not likely. It could be a 3 team deal if the player we are acquiring is from a tax team that can't receive a sign and traded player. I doubt Ingles is going to get a large 5-10 million offer when injured right in July, so its in his and the Blazers interest to keep that sign and trade possibility open. Very possible a starter if not all-star becomes available during the season and Ingles salary could help match. If that trade doesn't happen Blazers can just sign him with Bird Rights in January/February. They can even roughly agree on an amount now. The one hickup to this is if the Blazers use the full MLE, resign Ant, resign Nurk, and are close to the hard cap. If the Blazers are close to the hard cap, then its becomes very unlikely they would use Ingles salary in a trade. So then he probably just signs here or Utah or elsewhere in July.
If there's no earth shattering trade that happens I think we can expect Nas and Hart to compete for starting SF with Dame and Ant starting in the backcourt along with Grant and Nurk starting in the frontcourt. That will give us Hart or Nas and Justise off the bench as players with experience giving quality heavy rotation minutes in the league. That will also give us 12 players with guranteed contracts Dame, Ant, Nas, Grant, Nurk, Hart, Justise, Shaedon, Trendon, Keon, Greg and Didi. Also according to a post from Walker, he will be our second two way player. I'm hoping and I'm sure the rest of you guys are too, that Shaedon dominates in SL and then dominates Hart and Nas in training camp so he starts at SF but that's just a wish. So we really have two must have needs: a backup C first and foremost that we could use the entire TPMLE on (to me the guy is Hartenstein and we should try to get him on a three year contract starting with the full TPMLE) and a PG that isn't likely to see a lot of action unless Ant or Dame get injured in which case they would see a ton of action so we would need a good vet min PG (Rondo, Rivers and Elfrid Payton have all been taking the min and are all capable of running an offense and playing great defense as a backup).
Keith Smith mentioned that Portland can re-sign Nurk and Ant and still fit in a full NTPMLE guy. For me the only guy that might be worth that is Jalen Smith, but since he wouldnt even be starting here im not so sure its a good fit. Maybe split it up on two guys. Hartenstein and maybe someone like Otto Porter.
You're right, if we don't use Bledsoe in a trade that frees up 15M and would allow us to use the full MLE. In that case you're 100% correct that we offer a three year contract at the full MLE to Jalen Smith... he's the perfect extremely mobile big, with a workable three point shot to backup Nurk. Then the vet min PG. I don't mind Hartenstein and Porter with a vet min PG as a plan B that would then give us a full roster of 15 players.
What I like about guys like Stix and Mo Bamba is they could theoretically play WITH Nurkic in certain lineups (along with backing him up,) which increases their value and probably makes paying them more worthwhile.
Yikes, Bamba and Nurk in the same lineup? I’m willing to try it if you think Bamba is as mobile as Mobley, but I don’t see it. Well, he’ll be a fine backup C with some upside left if nothing else. Who’s stix?
Bamba is good in space because of his ridiculous length. You could beat him off the dribble and it doesn't really matter because of his wingspan. And he shoots well from outside so he could space offensively, he doesn't really have much else in his bag on that end anyway. He's also not a great rebounder relative to his position, so Nurk would balance out his weaknesses and vice versa. And were not talking a full time role here, just a few minutes here and there. There's a big difference in paying a guy that won't play more than 20 minutes and one that could imo. Stix = Jalen Smith
Otto Porter for the full MLE would be a good get. Big wings that can shoot and defend. Warriors can only offer the TPMLE to one of Porter + Payton. If we want Porter, the full MLE actually has buying power in this market.
So much love for Hartenstein. lol is this an Oregon thing? He's fine, but think his numbers are inflated in his backup role on that team.
What a lesson in mismanagement: - Rockets trade Chris Paul and two firsts and two pick swaps for Westbrook in 2019 thinking Paul was done to reunite Harden/Westbrook. - Rockets trade Westbrook for John Wall and a pick in 2020. - Harden traded for scraps in 2020. - John Wall paid ~84 mil to go away after sitting on the bench for a year.
