Forum Game Official Blazers Offseason Trade/Free Agency Prediction Thread

POR: LaMarcus Aldridge, Marco Belinelli

CHI: Evan Turner, Moe Harkless, Gary Trent Jr, Portland 2019 first round pick

SAS: Otto Porter Jr, Skal Labissiere, rights to Dani Diez

Give Hood full MLE, re-sign Aminu and Layman.

Sign Dragan Bender and Rajon Rondo to vet min contracts.

Lillard / Rondo
McCollum / Belinelli / Simons
Hood / Layman
Aldridge / Aminu / Bender
Nurkic / Collins / Leonard

 

I don't hate this for the Blazers. Im not 100% sure why SAS would do that though.

 

Get younger/more athletic.

Murray/DeRozan/Porter/White/Poeltl can be built on.

I just don’t see LA being apart of their future, and it’s been shown he and DeRozan only got to the 7th seed as it is, time to move on and re-load.

 

I guess, one thing I dont like is it on paper would keep Simons off the floor, no idea if he’ll ever be great, but a firm believer if you think someone has a shot to be you need to let them play and take their lumps, coach them up, and get them minutes.

I think the trade is interesting!

 

Simons would definitely play, Belinelli/Rondo would be used more situationally.

 

We wasted all this time training Jake. just to let him walk !!!

 

Out:

Kanter
Hood
Curry
Aminu

Trade: Turner, Harkless, 2020 first (lottery protected) for Hayward

 

Nobody trades a top 5 player to "cut salary" to start a rebuild where they won't be landing free agents with the salary they save. And they're not going to give up AD for two late firsts either...

 

I'd rather cut out San Antonio and take Otto Porter in that scenario.

 

Yikes...

 

Creativity.

ATL Gets: Maurice Harkless, #25 (POR)
MIA Gets: Gary Trent Jr, #44 (ATL), Future POR 2nds (if needed)
POR Gets: Taurean Prince, Kelly Olynyk

- Atlanta is likely to get a starting SF with #8 or #10. They probably don't want to pay Prince in that case. Will probably try and trade up into the late teens with #25, #35, and #41. Harkless is a stopgap backup SF or PF.
- Miami is looking at a luxury tax bill next year for a non-playoff team. They also have 3 bigs that get big minutes (Whiteside, Adebeyo, Johnson), so saving $12M and getting some minor assets back for Olynyk is a win for them.

Portland then pursues sign-and-trades for high-level free agents with Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, and future picks. They could work out a trade like this with other teams than Philadelphia for a S&T free agent.

If they land either, they do this:
PHX Gets: Evan Turner, 2020 POR 1st, 2022 POR 1st
PHI Gets: T.J. Warren, Meyers Leonard
POR Gets: Jimmy Butler or Tobias Harris

- PHX is most likely looking to trade Warren, and could use a backup PG and veteran presence. Getting two picks and an expiring for Warren is a win for them.
- PHI takes Warren to replace Butler who is only making $10M for the next 3 years. They'd be willing to take on Meyers (who makes sense as a backup big that can shoot for them) in order to land Warren. They likely don't land a better player than Warren with the $21M of cap space they lose, and even if they did that $20M+ contract would be worse than Warrens, and probably not worth it from 2020 onward after Meyers expires and Warren keeps making $10M. They'd add a good piece to replace Butler going forward, and a piece that'd help them also maintain flexibility before Simmons is extended. If they didn't want Meyers, they could shop him elsewhere.

Hard capped at $138M. Apx. Salary - $130M w/ 9 players.

Sign Kyle O'Quinn, Glen Robinson, Tim Fraizer, Robert Franks to minimum.

I like the Butler lineup:
Lillard (36) / Simons (12) / Fraizer
McCollum (36) / Butler (12)
Butler (24) / Prince (24) / Robinson
Collins (30) / Labissiere (18) / Franks
Olynyk (30) / O'Quinn (18) / Nurkic*

Once Nurkic returns:

Lillard (36) / Simons (12) / Fraizer
McCollum (36) / Butler (12)
Butler (24) / Prince (24) / Robinson
Olynyk (27) / Labissiere (15) / Collins (6)
Nurkic (27) / Collins (21) / Nurkic*

* You could swap Olynyk's and Collins' role with Collins as the starting PF if ya want.​

 

I think LA’s familiarity with us is more important, plus with Nurk out for a few months it will be good to have a post scorer.

 

LA is a much worse fit with our guys. We need a two-way player. We need someone who can space the court. LA provides neither, and is aging and on the decline.

People wouldn't want him as bad if he hadn't played here before.

 

Since when is LMA a post scorer? All his shots come from the mid-range

 

Exactly where are you getting that LaMarcus Aldridge isn't a post scorer. Here is a shot chart for the 2018-19 season. Maybe it will change your mind a little. Yes he has a very good mid range shot. But the bulk of his scoring and shots come from the paint area. Not only that he is way above average at it.
http://www.austinclemens.com/shotcharts/

Edit- When you click on that link you will have to look for LA as it will come up with Aaron Gordon first.

 

Aldridge never has been what I’d call a bad defender, idk I think the time is right to bring him back.

 

Hood played himself into a nice deal somewhere, starting, but I doubt it will be here.

Kanter did too, but the thing is, he is a heartfelt guy, and literally a man without a country and family right now. And he feels like he is part of a family here and IMO, that is not insignificant. I am not a capologist like some of you, and no way do I see him taking $5 mil just to feel good, but I do think he loves being here and would love to see the Blazers make some move to keep him here.

 

Enes Kanter has made over $94 million in his career. He has plenty of money. Could he make more? Probably. But i wonder how much he is really after money at this point?

 

Why is the timing right other than for nostalgic purposes?