Quick (iirc) said Billups’ model calls for his center to be athletic, rim running and more mobile. Ayton is exactly that
Alright, as long as he is nothing like the last center you were persistent in trying to get us to land.
Even Jake Fishcer brought up the idea of Nurk for Ayton S&T today. I wonder if there some esoteric cap machination that we are all unable to find that our so-called cap expert GM can. If we can upgrade from Nurk to Ayton, while still retaining 7 and our TPE, I think we might be able to go up a tier for our projections next year.
it can be done, it just has to become a bigger trade, maybe even a 3 team trade but with Ayton the only moving part with BYC status if it's just Port/Phoenix (I'm just guessing here): * Ayton (26M first year) + Saric (9.67M) + Payne (6M) = 28.7M outgoing X 1.25 = 35.9M max incoming salary * that would leave the Blazers having to absorb 41.7M in incoming salary meaning the least they could send out would be 33.4M * so the window is 33.4M-35.9M. If Bledsoe is the filler, and he'd just about have to be at 19.3M, that would mean Nurkic would have to sign for between 14.1-16.6M in first year salary in that regard it's doable. It's even believable that Sarver would much rather have Nurkic at 15-17M/year than Ayton at 27-29M/year Now, I'm not taking the time to calculate Portland's status with a hard cap after a trade bringing in nearly 42M in salary, but I suspect that might be a fatal flaw in this deal. I also didn't bother to figure on how Portland's TPE's could fit I'll say again that I think a team like Portland investing 30M/year or more in the traditional C position is misguided. Just reviw what has happened i the playoffs this year. teams are much better off with the versatility of PF's and stretch-4's manning the C position than paying big buck for a traditional C; and Ayton is a lot more of a traditional C than not
I've been wondering this too. It did seem like part of his overall plan was his knowledge of and ability to navigate the cap.
There is some merit to this obviously, but I think most of it is purely anecdotal. Ayton would be the best pick and pop/pick and roll partner for Dame this side of Aldridge. And his defense is getting better every year at age 23. Just last playoffs, we saw Ayton's value on both ends of the floor. Unlike other "traditional" bigs, I don't think he's gonna get played off the floor because he can switch onto guards in some capacity AND is a far better post player/finisher than guys like Gobert. It makes most sense to use our assets for wings, but there is something to potentially having a competitive advantage with a top 5 center in the conference. And if we manage to land him for Nurk + Bledsoe, our only real drawback is opportunity cost. We could still add wing help afterwards if we retain our TPE and #7.
Agree with every word of this. AND... I'll add, even though most of us hate what Cronin did at the deadline, I think it's also safe to say we were all pleasantly surprised at Hart's contribution. Somebody recently brought up that Ayton is the type of C that Chauncey is wanting... It's not outside the realm of possibilities that Cronin just has a very good understanding of what Chauncey is wanting to build and going out and getting him those pieces. That's not to say that he didn't overpay for them, cuz he just flat-out did, but Ayton for Nurk straight up would be a big win. ALSO the type of move that covers us mid- and post-Dame, if/when we have to trade him...
Could Durant be in play this summer? Apparently, he hasn't been in contact with the Nets FO since the season ended, and they probably won't bring Kyrie back, meaning KD would be left with a whole lot of nothing + a broken Ben Simmons. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/nets/ny-20220524-hfug5wiemzcalocthifea7p7p4-story.html
he's got 4 years left on his contract so he doesn't have much leverage geeeezuz...he's going to be paid 53.3M when he's 37
Yeah I could see the appeal to add Ayton. As Wiz mentions, a huge hickup could be the hard cap. If the Blazers bring in $42 million in salary they probably don't have the TPE and maybe they lose the MLE.
What would be the type of offer the Nets would consider? We just don't have much for young players with upside on our roster, or vets a 3rd team would want. Eric Bledsoe, Josh Hart, Nassir Little, Keon #7, Milwaukee pick, Blazer 2028 pick, swap rights in 2025+2026+2027 We really can't offer much else. Not sure that is enough, although the #7 pick is a good piece for them. If they also shipped out Simmons for much of anything they could have a nice rebuild. One big hickup could be the Brooklyn picks, they owe a bunch to Houston so I'm not sure it makes sense for them to do such a complete rebuild.
Dame Simons ? Durant Nurk Does this team contend? If they get some good vet minimum guys it just might.
But CJ also is one of the most blackhole blinders on "this is my shot baby" guards I've seen on the Blazers, probably since Damon Stoudamire. Ant is an ULTRA willing and BRILLIANT passer. He's also radically different from CJ in terms of demeanor. CJ is hot and cold. Ant is always frosty and always in the zone much like Dame. Of course, Ant will be like Dame and have off games, but he has that killer mentality and frostiness that Dame has. CJ is IMO mentally weak. One of the sole times he wasn't like that IMO was that quad overtime game to give him credit where credit is due.
