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

Ya stylistically and impact wise, I can't think of a worse comparison.

Trevor Ariza, Jeff Green, Chandler Parsons, Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince, etc... all better comparisons.

 

Nope, try reading again. Focus on the words... terrible comparison

STOMP

 

We shall have to agree to disagree but I don't mind, I've been in the minority but been right in the past.

I see it. He isnt the facilitator Green is, but I think he has many facets he can develop to become a similar player. Again.. NOt become Green, but OUR version of him. What WE need as a team from him in those hustle categories... much like Green.

 

Thanks PLaty! Your absolutely correct, just couldn't place my finger on the right word. This is absolutely what i'm trying to say.

 

I might be a little ambitious in predicting Horford, having read through the comments. I assumed a lot of teams would be really leery of offering a 30 year old who really isn't a superstar a max contract. But yeah, I can see San Antonio and probably a lot of other upper echelon teams pursuing him for the same reasons I want him.

To answer the Harkless vs Greene comparison, well, it's a silly and wrongheaded comparison. But there's a good idea there--intentionally go small just like GS.

Maybe if things don't go as planned and we are stuck with a front court rotation of Hark/Plums/Davis, you start Harkless and Davis and just go small.

Maybe focus in the offseason on another 3 and D defensive 3/4 guy in the mold of Aminu?

 

I like that idea. I haven't watched Marvin play much, but those stats sound good. This league is becoming all about front court players who can hit threes.

Shit, he's 30 this year? Fuck I'm old.

 

Anyway, looking around the league it seems 6'9 is the new 6'11. Maybe you live with one real big man, and guys like Cousins demolishing us because Cousins gets exposed on the other end any time he's not on a center. Just look at the Sacramento game--he got 30 points and the loss.

I can't wait for the Western Conference Finals this year. Set the records and everything else aside--it's going to be a matchup of traditional twin tower basketball vs Golden State most likely going most of the game with nobody over 6'9.

 

Perhaps that what we see; but perhaps not. Spurs played great with Boris Diaw starting in place of Duncan. People forget what an insane athlete that guy is. Guy casually beat Amare in Phoenix on jumping measurements while wearing flip flops and drinking a coffee. He played SG when he first entered the league.

The Spurs started Diaw and didn't play Duncan hardly at all in their win in San Antonio. I could see them with a similar gameplan in the playoffs. Then they could play two bigs against the Warriors bench where they don't have to worry about them being exposed defensively. Pop has played every player regular minutes this season and is literally comfortable going 15 deep so we shouldn't expect any sort of predictable rotation.

I'm excited for a heck of a series though.

 

Yeah I mentioned him in another thread; I think that'd be a good idea. He might be like Aminu or Davis in that we can steal him the first day of free agency while other teams are chasing stars. The DameCJ back court seems to really thrive off forwards who can move their feet, decent athletes, can rebound, and have limited offensive creation skills. Biyombo is another guy I'd take a look at; we could use a defensive center.

Snag those guys the first day of free agency and plan to use the rest of our cap space to keep our core. If for some freak reason Durant wants to come here just renounce our restricted free agents. Gives us the best of both worlds, sign the value free agents but chase the stars.

 

Frankly, we don't need any more role players. If that's the route we're going we might as well just bring everyone back.

What we need is someone who's good at more than one or two things.

 

we should go after festus ezeli. he is tall and big. he can play great defense. i think he would come in relatively cheap. he would be a great back up. plus at least he is better than meyers.

 

What do you mean by 'cheap'? I'd expect he gets at least $10 million per season. With our center injury history I'd rather go in a different direction.

 

if the cap is 92M, then 10M is just 11% of it. Getting a young starting stud 5 at that rate would be a steal.

you're so right... we shouldn't have drafted Walton because he was an injury risk given his history. Same with Sabas. Same with Roy & LA. Same with Lillard & CJ.

Instead of focusing on talents PDX might acquire, we should just hide in our basements wringing our hands in fear of the injury boogieman. Or maybe management should let the doctors decide which player's injury history makes them too big of a risk to pursue like all the other NBA teams do.

STOMP

 

When we drafted all those guys they hadn't missed half their games in their professional playing career. Games played is a significant predictive factor for a 4 years NBA vet. It's not the be all end all but it's a strong indicator.

He's a restricted free agent; if we do get him it'll be a huge red flag his team doesn't think he's worth that contract.

 

or they've gone another direction... they're supposed to be one of Durant's most likely landing spots. Maybe he'd prefer to go somewhere else where he can start?

Instead of stoking fears about a player's health when we're way outside the loop, why not just evaluate his play on the court and think about how it would project with Portland? If the Blazers are interested in him they'll do their due diligence checking out his knee before offering a contract, so that concern is covered by people who actually know whats what.

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