This is going purely off of stats as I haven’t watched him play much, but isn’t he pretty washed after his Achilles injury?
he’s still producing. His per/36 numbers are 17ppg, 13 rpg, 4 apg, 1.3 bpg. Also grades out well defensively and can knock down threes at a decent rate. I like Kanter but I’d rather have cousins. I don’t think people realize just how bad Kanters been defensively.
If it was before the season, I'd likely agree. I don't see the team just bailing on Kanter with the way he has produced for us. Agree with others that he likely goes somewhere he could get more opportunity.
I know Kanter does work on the boards and can score inside but he’s a straight liability defensively. That’s gonna kill us in the playoffs. Quick wrote an article about the defense recently that dove into what a contrast there is between Nurk and Kanter on that end. —— Filling out the rest of the rotation, you have two very negative defenders in Anthony and especially Kanter. I know Stotts has tried to say nice things about Kanter’s defense, but the center is allowing 66.7 percent shooting at the rim (more than 10 points higher than league average for centers) and has a track record of being a poor rim protector with terrible overall defensive impact metrics. Partnow: It’s worth noting that in Nurkic’s minutes this year, Portland has been essentially average defensively. With the Nurkic, Covington and Jones frontcourt they’ve been slightly above average, despite being matched up against opponent starter-heavy units. But having a good defense as a team means having a good defense for 48 minutes, or at least the bulk thereof. Occasionally, it can also work by having a superb defense with starting units which is then balanced out with poor defense in some bench units. What does not work is having a decent defense with top units and then a tire fire at all other times. Lineups with both Anthony and Kanter have played just under a quarter of Portland’s non-garbage time possessions according to Cleaning the Glass. Those groups are surrendering 117.7 points/100 possessions, Lineups with Lillard but no Nurkic (obviously with substantial overlap) tell a similar story. Without their idealized personnel groupings on the floor, this roster is noncompetitive defensively. https://theathletic.com/2380738/2021/02/19/portland-trail-blazers-defense-stats-contenders/
I get he's a liability on defense. I just can't picture a team in the league just completely cutting out of the rotation someone who has been an otherwise solid contributor and teammate to bring in someone like Cousins. And when I say someone like COusins, I just mean, not some all star. Easy to tell a guy to sit when you bring in a stud at his spot. It's another thing to pick up a waived guy and say sorry, we're gonna see how guy off the street fares.
My guess is that since anyone can claim him, (minimum contract), someone with a record worse than us claims him off waivers. I hope we get him though. We need big men right now.
but he’s not some guy off the street, and has objectively put up better advanced numbers than Kanter. His VORP is more than double Kanter’s. Kanter is so bad defensively that whatever he does offensively is neutralized.
Btw I realize that Olshey most likely will not pursue Cousins, but I also realize the reason won’t be basketball related, which is what pisses me off.
I can actually see just about every team in the league doing that but probably not this one, so you'll be fine. Most teams just do what makes sense to win the most games. They don't give a shit about playing time to make people feel like they're at some free love festival. In my opinion we unfortunately do care about shit like that, so I'm sure we'll turn down the chance to get and play a better guy at C because we have someone on the team that left once before and is on a one year contract. Basically putting loyalty to a mercenary ahead of wins.
It’s so annoying, especially in this case, because I know cousins is tight with Dame (and is also friendly with Nurk) and would probably be open to coming here. It would also open up the possibility of using Kanters contract to acquire an upgrade elsewhere, or a future piece.
If Houston is actually going young I think now is the time to buy-low on PJ Tucker. He would add spades of defensive versatility to our personnel groupings as he could play next to any of Nurk, Kanter, RoCo (as a small ball-five), and even cover some of Carmelo's warts. Basically, I think you'd sell him on being our defensive captain, mentoring Nas, and trying to win a ring with Melo. starters/closers could vary, but I see each of these units being very strong with staggering Dame/CJ's minutes. Lillard or CJ/Hood/Covington/Tucker/Kanter - iso rebounding Lillard or CJ/Trent/Jones/Melo/Nurkic - nurkic/melo operating out of high post Lillard or CJ/Trent/Jones/Covington/Tucker - iso defense I think Kanter contributes a hell of a lot in the locker room and on the court. His defense is awful but his rebounding helps make up for some of the losses. I think the big thing is limiting Kanter's minutes with Melo (for defensive purposes) and Jones (two non-shooters).
Either buyout or Collins + Giles. Houston gets to try out Giles for the youth movement. We can kick the tires on Collins after the season to see if he's recovered (doubt Olshey would go that way, but if we want to actually compete for a championship and cover Kanter's warts, it seems worth it). Tucker could use this season as a chance to prove that he deserves another decent contract. We can use him as a short-term option while we groom Nas, who in theory could take his and Melo's minutes next year.
Boogie has avg'd 12/9 with the Rockets as a starting center....and they lost all 7 games with him starting....Kanter has been a double double machine and as a starter has a winning record with our team.....Boogie would be welcome by me but he's not having a better season than Enes so far....he's serviceable and sure, he could help us but I'm not dumping Kanter for Boogie at this point if it's my choice.
