Blazers interested in Aaron Gordon

If Shams knows what he's talking about and this really is the guy that Olshey has picked as his savior maybe we see some crazy action at the deadline.

 

When did Shams speak on this?

 

https://www.si.com/nba/trailblazers...erest-in-aaron-gordon-ahead-of-trade-deadline

I'm trusting SI because I don't have the athletic but it's not like trusting some blog that's been around for a couple of days.

 

I’d give up Simons for Gordon. But, Little? Hell no. Trent and Hood are two players I wouldn’t be disappointed with moving on from as well.

 

Gordon with a big game

 

Getting Gordon and keeping RoCo is ideal. I forget who it was (please re-post if possible) but someone showed that SF is by FAR RoCo's best position. That he could interchange with Gordon but mostly be at SF would be tremendous. If you lose Hood and Tren +, you definately need some backcourt help but with CJ back, Trent is playing much less and Simons isn't playing at all. If MCW or Bacon comes back, that fills in the few minutes that might be needed. My guess is, Simons slides into the back up SG spot with CJ running the backup PG.

But up front, I think you make a significant improvement.

 

I would do Hood + Trent + Collins.

I want to keep Jones.

Then fill out the roster with whoever we find in the buyout market.

Dame (34) / CJ (14)
CJ (20)/ Ant (20) / Nas (8)
Roco (20)/ Jones (20)/ Nas (8)
Gordon (28) / Melo (20
Nurk (28) / Kanter (20)


A veteran guard would then be perfect to complete the roster.

 

I really like Jones too but why should he be off the table? Covington and Gordon would be an upgrade at the forward positions. I would rather have Covington at SF anyway.

 

It would be hard to ask Roco to switch onto shifty guards like Murray, Mitchell, Fox, or Curry, etc for 94 feet. DJ can do that easily with his foot speed. Jones brings defensive versatility that we do not have on the roster otherwise. Simons would be forced to guard smaller guards for a few mins in the playoffs. Dont want that.

 

Besides I doubt Jones would have much value for a team like Orlando given his contract situation. Taking him on for 25 games and watching him leave in the summer is just a waste.

 

some CBA expert check me on this: pretty sure, it would have to be a 2-for-1, or 3-for-2 trade in order for Portland to stay within the minimum roster size. That is, unless the Blazers sign somebody first, but then the tax line becomes an obstacle

if the Blazers signed somebody to a pro-rated minimum contract right now, I believe it would be about 700K. That would put them at 15 players meaning a 3 for 1 trade drops them to 13 players, which they are allowed to have for 2 weeks. That would leave them about 1.1M below the tax line. So, Portland would have to send out at least 17M in salary to take on Gordon's 18.1M salary and stay below the line.

but they would also have to leave enough room to get back up to 14 players within 2 weeks of the trade. They might be able to finesse that by using 10-day contracts till signing another pro-rated minimum deal fits into their margin

Hood + Zach + Trent leaves Portland well less than 100K in space so I don't think that works. Hood + Zach + Simons leaves Portland at least 600K in space and that would be enough to sign a 14th player. But that's probably not nearly good enough for Orlando. It might have to be a 3 team trade. Maybe some team would place a lot of value on Zach or Simons, but I don't know why

 

I would not take Jones off the table, but his defense sure would be nice to have around in the playoffs

at the same time Gordon + RoCo offers a lot of defensive versatility

 

In this scenario I guess RoCo also takes the backup C minutes from Kanter. i cannot see him playing only 20 mins.

 

I like Gordon as a long-term piece. I'd be willing to give up anyone not among Dame, CJ, Nurkic, Covington or Little. So if Trent is a significant enough piece to them, that's fine. Trent/Collins/Jones, also okay by me. Though obviously I'd prefer to dump Hood.

 

Yeah, the tax and the roster size minimum really make working a deal with Orlando for Gordon tricky. At least with the pieces we all are including in deals. A Hood/Jones/Trent for Gordon and MCW adds only about 500K in salary, giving us the space to bring in a buyout, but it hurts us on the wing. Depending on buyout possibilities, it leaves us with Little and Melo as the only sf/pfs off the bench.

Lillard/MCW
CJ/Simons
Gordon/Little
Roco/Melo/Collins
Nurk/Kanter/Giles

I actually don't mind the 9 man shortened playoff rotation with that move, but one injury on the wings leaves you really struggling for depth

 

if RoCo is moved to SF and Portland still has Trent and Little, Jones does become a little redundant. I just have no idea how much trade value Jones has

 

I don't like the wing depth after that trade either. I think the value wing depth increases in the playoffs

maybe the ideal trade (for Portland at least) would be Hood + Jones + Zach for Gordon + Ennis. But with Orlando's cap situation next season, I'd think Jones would have to be routed to another team. Unless Jones can opt-out of his 2nd year now, but I don't know why he's do that

but bringing in Ennis is a better outcome for Portland than MCW

I could easily be wrong about this but I' guessing that Orlando would like to clear Gordon't contract off their cap next year. Jone opting in would torpedo that option

 

I think Portland has to give up some young piece(other than Collins) to entice Orlando. Be it Simons, Little, or Trent. Agreed on Ennis, or Bacon over MCW. Was just thinking they might want to also move his 3 million from next season.

I can see them liking Jones' length on the wings, would form an intriguing defensive pair with Isaac, if the latter ever gets healthy. Overall, though, Orlando is just a mess of bad management over the last like 7 or 8 years that has left that team in an unenviable position, IMO.