Didn't you think Damian Lillard was a worthless pick? And personally, I wouldn't help facilitate a trade for LAL. That would make Houston the next unstoppable team, IMO. Asik doesn't move the needle enough for us to compete with Harden/Howard
I assume Olshey won't hesitate to try and bring in a top free agent if he think that is the player the Blazers need. He tried last year by offering Hibbert a max deal . . . Olshey isn't shy about going after a big name free agent.
What center would you want to get with the pick or would you rather just keep it? Gortat is the only non nutcase defensive one we have a realistic shot at.
Do I really need to? I think it's painfully obvious why you don't give up a lotto pick: *30 years old *prior to last year he was, at best, average. I'm not going to fall for him when you bring up his PER on an AWFUL Suns team. I know Portland has to overpay for talent but this is ridiculous.
We are asking for you to name who we can get that is a needle-mover. Since you don't think Gortat is.
Right now there probably not many but that doesn't give you the green light to spend a top ten pick on an average 30 year old. Patience.
Not sure when and why you got on this PER kick but it doesn't begin to tell a story on a player. Andre Blatche is a better NBA player then LaMarcus Aldridge? Because that is what PER says. The examples go on and on.
We can't trade LMA for Noah because would lose the PER battle. LMA is 24th overall in PER. Noah is tied for 55th.
Really? . He was a backup to Dwight that was good enough that Orlando matched a 10m a year contract for him to play 12 minutes a game. You discount the Suns but it was the only time he was a starter and he put up 15/10/1.5 his first year there, his second year with an injury and playing disgruntled he put up 11/8/1.6. He is a good defender and is great at both guarding the PnR and setting it up. He has no upside but he is certainly not "at best average" he was okay last year and great the year before with Nash. He is a top 10 center, he wont' step up and become the best center in the league but he is a guy who can be a solid center for us for a few years until/if Leonard develops if we feel like extending him next year. The Lotto is a crapshoot especially in a weak draft at the 10th pick when 3 of the top 10 players are injured and wont' do any workouts (Noel/Bennit/Len), I don't know what you expect with the 10th pick but were not getting anyone who will make us better in the next 3 years then Gortat will. Are you just hoping to shoot for the moon and maybe we'll get superstar but in reality we will most likely get a player who won't even be a starter? Its not like we are a lottery team and need to build through the draft, we are a team attempting to make the transition from Lottery to playoff to contender and the first step is getting quality center which Gortat is.
Not to answer for someone else, but my thinking is if Gortat isn't a "needle mover", and there isn't another "needle mover" that we can get, then let's get a cheaper "non-needle mover". I certainly wouldn't want to give up anything outside of Freeland/Williams/Jeffries/Pavlovic in order to get Gortat - he's just not worth it, when you could probably get someone like Pachulia, Dalembert, Kaman, etc for a few million dollars without giving up a lottery pick. I'd MUCH rather just sign a stop-gap C outright than give up assets for a different stop-gap C.
This is a good post. I personally think Gortat is a needle-mover if healthy and putting up close to the 15/10/1.5 line he did two years ago. If you don't think the guy is one though then I agree with going cheap at Center instead.
For the record, he's on the proper side of 30 (he's only 29 - he turned 29 just over two months ago).
We're so bad at protecting the hoop that he would certainly make us a better team - so in that sense he moves the needle. But I guess I don't see the point in moving the needle from "lottery" to "1-and-done". And I think that any of the Cs I named have just as much potential to lead us to a 1st-round-bounce as Gortat does. If the results are essentially going to be the same, go with the cheaper option.
