My guess for Portland's center next year: Al Horford

There's no reason to trade him. He's young, he's a superstar, he just signed a super max contract. They've got him locked up. He isn't asking to be traded. There's no urgency to unload him. It's harder to find a player of the same caliber as Davis, which is why they wouldn't accept someone like CJ/Crabbe/Leonard.

 

We actually signed Kanter the first day free agents could sign; its just there was a 10 day moratorium where all the other agreements were announced. We and his agent kept the agreement out of the news.

 

Trading for Anthony Davis is as likely as trading for Steph or Kawhi.

 

And the NBA has cut that number in half for this summer which I welcome.

 

We will sign Biyombo.

 

I'm still shootin' for Jah Okafor (he just got his little meniscus tear trimmed up)

 

The cap will be around $92M next year. The Blazers will have $46.7M in guaranteed salaries. That gives them about $45.3M of space. Of course they'll have about $37.1M of non-guaranteed contracts and CAP holds to deal with. I'd be surprised if they brought both Henderson and Crabbe back. As Nate pointed out earlier, bringing back Crabbe offers the Blazers a lot more flexibility. With that being said, they should easily have $25M available to offer a max contract. If need be, the Blazers can go over the cap to bring back guys like Crabbe, Leonard, and Harkless. Since the CAP will go up again the year after next, there's little incentive to try to stay too far under the cap.

Here's my thoughts on who they will target in descending order -

Bring back:
- A Crabbe (Restricted. Contingent on reasonable contract)
- M Harkless (Restricted. Contingent on reasonable contract)
- M Leonard (Restricted. Very contingent on reasonable contract)
- G Henderson (Not restricted, but if the right price and timing work out..)

Offer Max:
- K Durant (yes, we've got to do the token try)
- A Horford (doubt he'll leave Atlanta, but again, give it a try)
- H Whiteside (doubt Olshey will want to give him the max, but worth an offer)
- C Parsons (someone will probably give him the max, and this doesn't feel like a bargain that Olshey typically goes after)
- R Anderson (see Parsons note above)
- D DeRozan (I think his price will be too high, and not a position of high need with CJ and Crabbe on the roster.)

At the right price:
- B Biyombo (age 23)
- E Turner (age 27)
- F Ezeli (age 26)
- E Fournier (age 23. Not a position of need, but perhaps at the right price.)
- K Bazemore (age 26. Not a position of need, but perhaps at the right price.)

At a bargain price:
- M Speights (age 28)
- I Mahinmi (age 29. Good uptick in production this year.)
- Al Jefferson (age 31)
- Z Pachulia (age 32)
- M Teletovic (age 30. Good uptick in production last year.)

 

My biggest fear. Blazers strike out on all the major guys and bring in Al Jefferson for cheap-ish. It just feels like that's what is going to happen. Olshey hasn't exactly had the greatest track record recruiting free agents. He struck out on Spencer Hawes (of all guys) and Greg Monroe. Although I guess you could argue that it was good thing we struck out on those two (I still think Monroe is a decent fit).

 

Ahhhhh no. Mo doesn't have Draymond's handle, isn't a playmaker & definitely doesn't stretch the D as an outside threat. It's a long shot that these offensive differences change much going forward.

STOMP

 

Ya, comparing Moe to a guy who will be first team all nba is a stretch.

 

I'd rather him add 30 pounds.

Ed is actually listed at 6'10 and 240, which is undersized, but only slightly. He's got a slim frame but a huge wingspan.

DeAndre Jordan is only listed at 6'11 and 265, so Ed is really not that far off from being legit NBA center size.

Tyson Chandler is 7'1 and 240.

 

Actually, scratch that. Ed Davis only has a wingspan of 7'0, which is fairly average (even below average) for an NBA front court player, let alone an NBA center. Meyers Leonard is at 7'3. Aminu at 7'3.25, Vonleh 7'4, Harkless 7'0, heck even Batum was 7'1.

Gobert is 7'8.5 holy shit.

If so, color me even more impressed that Davis is such a good rebounder with his short arms. He definitely plays like he's got longer arms. I would have never guessed his wingspan was so average if I didn't check. It probably affects his ability to contest shots at the rim though.

 

In Mother Russia, bone breaks you....literally.

 

Heels, but I don't think he'd run well.

 

They could do that and Ed would still be smaller than Rudy Gobert.