Speaking of Turner, I don't think it's his ability that makes him difficult to move. I don't think it's his contract that makes him difficult to move. I think it's his fit. He doesn't fit with what most teams want to do. Including the Blazers. Decent player; wrong era.
You don't think it's his ability? His ability is the reason why he doesn't fit. He's an inefficient 6'7 guard who can't really beat people off the dribble and can't space the floor or play without the ball. But when he has the ball, bad things happen. He doesn't fit anywhere, because he's not good.
He could beat people off the dribble if he could shoot. No one respects his shot so they’re willing to give him any jumper he wants.
Russ is also one of the most explosice Athletes in the entire NBA... ET isn’t, he needs to have a jump shot and craftyness.
Nuance. I'm saying the same thing you are. That his skill set doesn't fit with what teams want to do. His contract is less of a hindrance to trading him than fit. His game would not have looked so bad back in the days of shooting guards backing their guy in on the block and shooting a turnaround, and almost no one shooting a decent percentage from the three point line. Mike Dunleavy would have loved him for his defense, his ball handling, and his mediocre ISO game. But even if his contract were cut in half, he doesn't fit what the Blazers should be trying to do on offense. Or just about any other team really. Trust me. I'd love it if we could trade him. I was just saying, I don't think anyone would want him. The only possibility I see is in a Butler trade. Or maybe that's a hope and a prayer.
Stotts has talked about a bigger role for Turner, but with all the new guys who can actually shoot, I'd prefer to see less of Turner rather than more. Yeah, benching him reduces his trade value, but it's not like he's tradeable anyway. No sense doubling down on a bad decision by continuing to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. BNM
Completely agree, even though it seems unlikely. This is why I'm in favor of simply trading him for one of the other bad contracts of 2016.
Bump Pre free agency: Collins Leonard Skal Nurkic Seems uhhh light. Harkless could theoretically play power forward but he does his best work on both ends at the three where he often has a size advantage. Layman same thing. This for me should be the priority the minute FA opens. options that I tried separating by $. Didn’t include RFAs. Full MLE Marcus Morris Nikola Mirotic JaMychal Green Thaddeus Young DeMarcus Cousins Enes Kanter Brook Lopez Dewayne Dedmon Tax MLE Markieff Morris Taj Gibson Jeff Green Mike Scott Jonas Jerebko Robin Lopez Ed Davis Mike Muscala Noah Vonleh Joakim Noah Vet Minimum Kyle O’Quinn Tyson Chandler Kosta Koufus Greg Monroe Marcin Gortat Pau Gasol Anthony Tolliver Henry Ellenson Obviously not everyone on here is a fit nor are all my $ predictions correct. If I had to choose one from each category though I’d go Mirotic, Markieff, and O’Quinn. A lot depends on how the team views Zach as well. Do they plan on starting him at center while Nurk is out, or do they want him taking over at PF? We’ll find out soon.
Someone on this board has been saying this a lot ... wait a minute ... I AM that someone. If we lost Aminu, boy, I wouldn't mind Thaddeus Young. Don't think we could afford him, but who knows what moves will be made.
If we keep Aminu (as backup to Collins), then we could use the MLE on a temporary center or bargain wing.
Im thinking Neil is going to swing for the fence with a trade involving CJ to add scoring punch to the front court. Just a gut feeling and don't really want CJ gone at all, but it's the 5th year of he and Paul's plan so knowing we have assets aplenty now, it may happen. Expect the unexpected!
I would probably cap Aminu (as a backup ) at around the tax mid level figure ($5.7M.) Lets round that to $6M. Anything more and Id probably look elsewhere. Honestly though, I’m not sure they even want him as a backup, nor do I get the sense that Collins is going to be the power forward next year. I think it’s more likely he starts at center with Leonard and someone like KOQ as depth. We got owned by power forwards in the playoffs. I think that’ll be Neil’s focus, while Zach plays his natural position.
I would bet Collins starts at PF and Leonard starts at C, only because Stotts tends to like consistency in positions. When a starter is out, he is more likely to move a non-rotation player into the starting spot as opposed to a key second unit person--to keep the second unit in tact. I would think the same would go for Nurk's injury. But, Collins seems to think his best role is C, so who knows. Collins may want all the C minutes he can get.
