Do you guys remember

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Schilly, Jul 1, 2016.

  1. Schilly

    Schilly Well-Known Member

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    A couple years ago, before Wes blew out his ankle? Our starting unit could play with anyone, flat out anyone. Our bench on the other hand sucked like the worst bench in the league and it killed us. All this talk of renouncing everyone so we can trade for Milsap are make a push for a max contract etc... Would recreate that scenario. We would have a great starting lineup and rely on the likes of Montero and Alexander to be our reserves. This is not a winning model at all. I get that a team really only needs to be 8-9 deep but that doesn't account for injuries. As much as bench and role players aren't all that exciting they are absolutely vital for success.
     
  2. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Evan Turner is our bench!
     
  3. Schilly

    Schilly Well-Known Member

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    With the ability to bring back the rest outside of Kaman and Hendo
     
  4. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    Easier to find bench players than stars, though
     
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  5. Schilly

    Schilly Well-Known Member

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    Can be true when you have draft picks and aren't capped out. If we were to sign Gasol for example it would push Plumlee to the bench. Turner could also potentially push Harkless to the bench. Either way it improves our starters and our bench. Leonard might be the odd man out in that scenario, but as much as I like Leonard I would make that move to make the team better.
     
  6. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

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    They had bench players, Stotts just wouldn't play them. Barton completely rescued the Blazers in the one game they won in the playoffs against the Spurs. The next season, Barton and CJ were available and he still wouldn't play them to the point to where we had to trade for Arron afflalo. That cost us Barton who ended up near the top of the Sixth Man of the Year voting and a first-round draft pick.
     
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  7. Cippy91

    Cippy91 Habitual Line Stepper

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    I see what you are saying but would we need to renounce everybody? not sure if Neil and them are looking into it but just wondering. That's what it depends on. I definitely don't wanna gut the team but I wouldn't mind trading somebody along with letting someone like Meyers go
     
  8. Schilly

    Schilly Well-Known Member

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    I'm talking about the scenarios I see with people proposing clearing a tone of cap space by cutting everyone to make room to trade for Kanter or Milsap.
     
  9. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    The breakup of that team allowed Olshey to rebuild the team from scratch, in his vision. The guys he signed and brought in last year made people think we were going to be just awful. Yet we were soooo much better than expected.

    Neil made plays for pretty good players who chose to go elsewhere. All the guy can do is make the pitch and offer the most. He did. The fools are the ones that said, "no thanks."

    I don't think he's done yet. He brought in a guy who's going to be with us a long time and who has a balanced game. We're going to win games like we did last season, but not with as slow a start.

    I think Neil has done the right things all along. He brought in that solid starting lineup to appease and keep LMA. He boldly went after Afflalo to give us a better shot in the playoffs. Injuries are not his fault.

    We are better than we were before.

    And Neil is not done yet.

    Too bad he didn't get LeBron or Durant to come here. Nobody else was going to really make that much of a difference. The guys Neil likes do make a difference. Ask @HCP how that 23 win prediction worked out for him.
     
  10. Cippy91

    Cippy91 Habitual Line Stepper

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    Originally I was salty about Parsons of course. Logic sets in and Turner will definitely help but it depends on what Neil plans on doing next because I don't think he is done yet either. We hear names like Mahimi and Gasol. Looks like Milsap might be on the market. I just wanna make sure we resign Crabbe and Harkless. Wouldn't mind Meyers going. We are deep in SF's though so that's why I am a bit confused. Crabbe could come off the bench at SG but you already have Aminu off the bench at SF so where does that leave Harkless? wish I knew what they were thinking
     
  11. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    It's not a game of PG, SG, C, SF, and PF. Sometimes you run 3, even 4 guards and a SF type. Sometimes you run a PG and 4 SFs.

    I loved my Dynasty Bulls. They had 4 guys 6'7 and a C.

    The guys Neil got us give Stotts all kinds of options.
     
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  12. Cippy91

    Cippy91 Habitual Line Stepper

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    True and I like that. I loved Hark playing at PF. We still need a rim protector though. I like Plumlee in stotts system a lot. I wanna see what Vonleh can really do. A lot of questions I have.
     
  13. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Well, I don't know what everyone else is proposing, but I know that we could clear sufficient cap space to take Millsap back by renouncing Leonard and Harkless (or by not finalizing the deal with Turner, though that would really be a bad faith move).
     
  14. Cippy91

    Cippy91 Habitual Line Stepper

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    The thing is, I am such a fan of Harkless that I don't know about that one. It would be tough. Probably a good move but tough. I feel he has so much potential. Ceiling is high
     
  15. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    Atlanta is going to gift him to us?
     
  16. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Again, I don't know what people are proposing. Supposedly they need to clear cap space in order to be able to keep Horford and Bazemore while signing Howard. How much space do they need? Can they take any salary back in order to accomplish their goal? I have no idea what they're expecting as a reasonable return on a Millsap trade that also let's them pair Howard and Horford.
     
  17. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Agreed. If we could only waive Leonard and then deal Aminu and picks for Millsap, I'd think that would be ideal.
     
  18. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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    They have Horford's Bird rights, and they don't need to clear space to sign Howard.

    http://www.spotrac.com/nba/atlanta-hawks/cap/

    If anything, they might look to trade for a replacement for Bazemore should they not want to match. If Horford doesn't sign, they're fucked without Milsap.

    And letting him go for lesser players makes them worse.
     
  19. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    They've already agreed to a contract with Bazemore, which is why they need to clear space. They only have early bird rights on him, so they can't sign him for $16M starting and hold on to Horford unless they clear space, which is what generated all this Millsap trade talk.
     
  20. Denny Crane

    Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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