They need Grant to go on a heater first half of the season and sell high on him instead of low..that'd be my projection. Easier to trade a 30 mill dollar player that looks like a 30 million dollar player. He'll probably look a lot better next to Holiday than Ant.
It is if your saying "We have no minutes to go around because we have Grant" as a justification for not going out and getting a better fitting shooter.
Surely you don't of Thybulle as an elite shooter because of a small sample last year? He's proven what he is a a shooter. And he's not a movement shooter or a guy defenses respect from three.
So is it your contention that we should send out a pick to get off Grant's contract? Or are you saying we should just sit his ass on the bench and tell him to take his money and shut up?
oh please... if he lands on a heater I'm for throwing all the gas on him it might take. Unfortunately he's not known for going on heaters and has never played at the sort of dominant level a current 30M+ dollar player is expected to be at any point for his entire career. Maybe management was duped by Dame who both set up his guy while leaving a flaming financial bag of poo on the Blazer franchise's doorstep as a farewell present, but really who cares? Signing him to that deal was undoubtedly a very very bad move in retrospect. But given that, maybe it would be more productive to talk about how he fits in with the core guys since he's almost certainly going to be one this season rather then pretending about or lamenting over a trade market for him that common sense says never existed? Resenting him for not being close to a 30M+ player doesn't seem very particularly productive either. This isn't a good situation, but if they can't trade him they've got to figure out how to make it work. STOMP
He played way better next to Dame than Ant...he'll play better next to Jrue...he has built value but he's just coming off a bad season..that's why building his value makes all the sense in the world if you want to move him at the deadline...otherwise you eat his contact and play him..Grant is a 3 and D wing..if he has a good start, you could move him...same with timelord...
If you find one who is on the block and guards Lebron or KD as well as Grant then, sure...Grant is a better defender than most 3 pt snipers.
Who is saying there aren’t enough minutes to go around? if there is one position we are thin at, its PF.
Nope. The absolute best he's shown in his Blazer time is as an okay starter level of play. His stats & efficiency peaked back when he was 26 on a terrible Pistons team have been on a steady decline since. Now he's 31 and set to receive 102M total or about 20% of someone's cap for each of the next 3 seasons again while trending down for the last 4 seasons. You are pie in the sky dreaming if you think a couple months of the best play he's shown to be capable of will fool anyone into thinking about taking that on. Under the rules of this punitive CBA, taking him on is worse then paying filet mignon prices for hamburger. To move him Portland would have to attach significant draft capitol or take back someone else's contractual nightmare. He and the Blazers are stuck together until they buy him out, so how are they going to make this work going forward? Williams is on an expiring deal. In the few times he's together enough to play he flashes the high end rim protection and defensive ability he was known for. His situation is nothing like Grant's STOMP
He’s way better than you frame him but hey. Sounds like you listen to Torey and Eric. Your take mirrors theirs pretty much. I think Chauncey plays him and starts him for the reason I stated. With the current CBA he’s not garnering trade interest so that’s not an by option unless he plays himself into a valuable trade piece again. As to me dreaming about him gaining value that’s just a cheap shot. I have no idea if he’ll gain value but I’d sure give it a shot. Grant made team USA with Dame so I'm pretty sure guys like Popovic and Kerr saw him as a valuable player whether you do or not. Chauncey had him guard the other teams superstar more often than not for a reason...he's a glue guy on defense. Jrue Holiday should unlock Grant's game.
I don’t know who that is. My take on Grant and his game hasn’t changed much since well before they traded for him. Good player, probably the best forward they’ve had since LMA, pretty low bar though. But I was very much on record being against dealing the pick they did for him. Like many here though I was absolutely perplexed when they gave him the contract they did as it made no sense at all. It’s really not. He’ll need to level up several steps from where he’s ever played before to be worth his contract and that just doesn’t happen at his age. Also I forgot to mention he’s been missing about 1/3 of games over the last several seasons so massively overpaid and unavailable STOMP
We already have better defenders for KD and LeBron and start against them. Deni and Toumani can cover 48 minutes at the 4. It'd be smart to get a movement shooting SF and a fringe rotation stretch 4 that fit particular roles for a fraction of the cost.
I'm not saying I expect Thybulle to be a better shooter than Kiepert, I'm saying he's a better all around player for what the Blazers need and for the defensive identity they're trying to build. Yeah all else equal I'd prefer better shooters. Problem is all else isn't equal. Better shooters have worse defense, worse contacts, or some other drawback.
