But what if Hendo doesnt want to be here? Plus He his in his prime with little upside. I think CJ can still become much better at some things.
If Henderson doesn't want to be here, he won't but I have nothing to make me believe he doesn't want to be here. Stotts is his 7th coach...he has only played for the team that drafted him and Portland...that's loyalty. He's looking to me like a guy who's enjoying his job for the first time in years
I agree. I just would be hesitant to trade CJ until Hendo is inked out. I would trade CJ on the CHANCe that we can retain Hendo.
Just look at what happened in GS when Kerr signed Iggy and convinced him to come off the bench..another career starter...bingo..championship. Hendo is looking like that guy coming off our bench and worst thing that could happen is he becomes a starter sending CJ to the 6man role. win win
At this point though would CJ be okay with being a 6th man, or want to move on to be the starting PG for another team? Dont get me wrong. Id love if we can retain them all, but if one of them goes, Id rather have it be Hendo.
Of all the big name guys...Boogie is a real possibility..their front office is dumb enough to do a deal for him
Still looking at the long term. I do think we might refrain from a very minor short term downgrade for a minor long term upgrade. Something like Hendo for a future second round pick. We probably would have taken that if the team was bad but now may keep Hendo unless we get a first round pick. We are also probably a tad less interested in acquiring salary that screws up our roster and players bonus than before. So I suppose it makes us more likely to "let it bake". Neil still is going to do a long term upgrade if its available. I don't see us doing any short term upgrades.
If they trade for a player who can actually contribute, working him into the rotation might disrupt chemistry and cost games. So if they do I'd view it as a move for next season not this one.
Yeah I don't see Neil trading away one of our top players like CJ for a few month rental of a veteran who can walk; the end game won't be a title this year anyways. Neil is thinking about the long term. He already lost a free agent for nothing he's not going to give up assets he's worked so hard to get to have that same press conference again this July.
Yeah its really helped Dame. Another thing thats helped is Plumlee and Meyers passing. They get in a spot to start a 4on3 when Dame is trapped. Having CJ also be our backup PG has been a game changer. Him and Lillard are really only playing about 18 minutes a game together; the other 30 minutes one of them is the sole PG with a bunch of athletic wings and its really benefited our bench. Now when Lillard goes out I'm excited to see CJ excel with the ball instead of having dreadful fear over the team not setting up an offense.
How do you figure? Houston was when we beat them. We knocked them OUT of the playoff spot with the second victory and Memphis is currently the 5th seed.
I'm guessing we run with what we have. See who elevates in playoffs and who disappears. Im sure Paul and Neil will make one or 2 off the wall trades no one saw coming during the draft. I think we are thinking long term but trying to do a 2 year rebuild instead of a 4-5 year. Why waste lillards prime? I see us as a possible first round upset team this year especially if we can get above 8th. Next year 4-5th wcf maybe Following year is when we go for the gold
I'm talking at the end of the year. I don't consider anyone in the playoffs until the end of the year. (Or, they have clinched the spot) That's my perspective.