Exclusive Should Blazers try to make the playoffs or rebuild(tank)?

that's deflection. This thread and debate isn't about last season...it's about next season and the question of if the Blazers should try and make the playoffs

Deandre Ayton $34,005,126
Jerami Grant $29,793,104
Anfernee Simons $25,892,857
Malcolm Brogdon $22,500,000
Robert Williams $12,428,571
Matisse Thybulle $11,025,000

that's the stupid hedge

 

Maybe you could say Simmons did but that didn't go well...

 

It's fascinating how many Blazer fans complained about being stuck in purgatory - Not bad enough for high draft or good enough to contend.

But now that we're out of it because they're bad enough to get high draft picks, they want to go right back to being stuck in the middle?

Trade vets for assets and get high draft picks as a result. More assets + more flexibility + better group of young players > less assets, less flexibility and a worse group of young players.

If they short-circuit this rebuild, then they should've just taken whatever "crappy" offers they were given for the #3 pick last year. Because moving on from Dame and entering a rebuild was supposed to produce a BETTER result, not the same shit.

 

The Blazer fan base on here is hella wacky at times lol. Complaining about everything, wants a rebuild, then complains we're in a rebuild, blah blah over and over again.

 

You get a bunch more conversations than I do obviously but from my perspective it seems like a pretty good amount have come to grips with the tank and figure we got another couple years.
I would like to see them at least try to get another good pick. Hopefully this year they do pretty well. Next year is worth the tank effort. Maybe they can put something together by 2025-26?

 

I was just basing it off this poll. More people want to try to make the playoffs (yay, 8th seed!) than do what it takes to become a 1 seed down the line. I don't get it. Only way I'm cool with a playoff push is if it comes from the young core breaking out, not because of highly priced vets.

 

To start, I agree with you. Three of those players were part of the Dame trade. Some suggest that Ayton was not but forget Allen from the Bucks to the Suns was a big part of the trade. With that said, Cronin should have kept flipping those assets but seemed to be content and stopped. We do not know if he actually was trying behind the scenes and at the deadline, but nothing happened. That was unfortunate. He was on a good roll. I understand matching on Thybulle only from an asset side. Reasonable deal that can be part of a larger deal some day. You have to get to the floor and he is actually a "journeyman" vet type player Portland needs. They just do not need it on a long deal. Grant was just an awful resigning done to save face for peddling a FRP for him. I am sure he was "promised" this new deal and even knowing Dame was leaving Portland honored their word and gave Grant his deal. Now he needs to be moved. Same for Brogdon and Williams, need to be moved. Ant was the only holdover for Portland really. He needs to be moved because he no longer fits. Some suggest he is fine and can be a part of a three guard lineup. I do not agree. Scoot or Sharp would be forced to sit if Ant stays. That is a non starter for me. I like Ayton. At the end of the season he was finally playing like I expected. He and Scoot have something going. Again, you have to have one large contract to meet the floor. Ayton does that and is worth another season IMO to see how he and Scoot continue to gel, hopefully adding in Sharp and another first rounder or two. If Portland cleans house correctly, they won't be tanking, they are rebuilding. I would love to see them "play to win" with Scoot, Sharpe, Ayton, FRP, FRP and the other youngsters from the previous two drafts sprinkled in with vets on low salary deals and few years. Flexibility in the salary cap will be essential.

 

I've read people here saying at teams needs a big salary to reach the minimum floor. That's kind of true, but context makes it more not true than true, IMO

the rule is the salary floor is 90% of the cap. Next season, the cap is projected to be 141M, meaning the floor would be around 127M. Portland is projected for 163M in team salary for 12 players next season (not counting Banton or any 2024 draft picks). If Portland kept Banton and added the 4th & 14th picks they'd be at 179-180M in salary...which would be 7-9M over the tax line. Shedding Ayton's salary would still leave them over the cap and around 18M over the salary floor.

meaning using the salary floor as a justification to pay Ayton...or Grant, or Simons is a theory that doesn't fit the current situation. It doesn't apply next season, or the 2025-26 season. And the 2025-26 season is the last season of Ayton's current contract

the penalties for being below the floor don't really look like roster impact penalties. They look like financial penalties the Vulcans would be concerned with as the biggest penalty for being below the floor is not being eligible for luxury tax distributions that season. And the team would owe the shortfall to the NBA

the new rule is a team has to be at the floor by the start of the season. What we will probably see is that veteran player will start signing substantial 1-year contracts with teams below the floor in August and September if those teams haven't found more coveted free agents. This looks like a rule that the player's union probably loved

by the way, the current projection of tax distributions to the 22 teams below the threshold is about 12M

https://www.sportsbusinessclassroom.com/nba-2023-24-luxury-tax-tracker/

 

and Joe said the three he drafted last year were win now players and not your typical rook? Wonder if he says it again?
NO doubt about it, the longer it takes Joe and Chauncey to build with younger players the more job security they have with possible extensions. If they follow ownerships mandate to stay under the cap. Buys even them time. The questions is how does it effect profitability if they cant get butts in the seats, or sponsors? Maybe not at all, as the team is a subsidiary of the mothership and use all types of tactics to keep the Blazers alive and probably as mediocre as ever in the end. They won't spend the money to contend.

 

I didn't vote but I am guessing that many of those who voted to try to win were thinking the same way you are. The poll can be interpreted a few different ways depending on one's definition of the term "tank". So when it asks what they want the Blazers to do on day one of the next season, intentionally trying to lose is not a preferred option for many. Myself included.

So yeah they are rooting for Scoot, Sharpe, Ayton, Walker, Camara, Rupert, Murray, and whoever we draft to to try to win. Personally, I would add Ant to that group as well.

So in my mind, it just comes down to Grant and Brogdon. (I would move Thybulle and I don't think Williams is a factor either way.)
The bottom line, most people hate to intentionally lose so I can see why they voted to let the youngsters try to win.

 

I say trade Brogdon and Grant for picks/expiring. We'll be a lotto team again and have a shot at Cooper Kupp. I mean Flagg.

 

Best case this team is "maybe" a play-in team. That would mean Sharpe is playing at an all-star level, Scoot improves significantly and we draft a rookie who wins ROY. This team is 2 years out IMO before any real playoff discussion can happen. It's developmental years for now. I thought everyone knew this when we traded Dame...

 

On thing is consistent with this group, we’re never fully satisfied and not afraid to armchair pontificate.

Not happy with mediocrity purgatory.
Not rebuilding right
Should have followed the Suns example and sold any hope of the future for a chance now
We’d be better with Dame.
Yeah, we won the championship but we could have won it in five rather than seven if only we had a better coach/if only we’d played Scoot more.

Constant solutions searching for a problem
#firestotts
#fireolshey
#selltheteam
#firebillups
#tradeant
#whydidwesigngrantforarebuild
#firetheteamdocssinceeveryalwaysinjured

etc. etc.

Sometimes this place is like a bad soap opera you just can’t stop watching.

Then again, many of us do take a break and think life is so much more; while others (old farts like me) think back on the very real thing known as Blazermania when we won it all.

Love it of we could do it again but it won’t come without missteps, mistakes and course corrections; and us constantly pointing out every perceived mistake no matter how slight or trivial.

 

This team is soo bad, i don't think anyone should worry about winning too many games next year.

There will be a sag for Flagg.

The offensive sets are designed for players that have tremendous awareness. Ballers that can really shoot well, and haul ass to get back on D.

Blazers lack both these things, yet still run an offense that doesn't fit the personel. Round hole with a square peg, as we see the coaching staff scratching their heads during opponent beatdowns.

remember too, Cronin has already shown significant tanking talent. Trading good Blazers to better teams, for scrubs & future picks, right in the middle of a .450 season. That clearly works well to disperse any winning chemistry Portland might grow headed into AllStar break.

It's this new Blazers Front Office tank speciality. Congratulations player X, you've graduated to a team that wants to win games !!