Real interesting point about planning for what it would mean to extend Deni when the time arrives to do that from a cap perspective in the CBA Apron era.
Deni & Scoot weren't good together; but with Deni, you have to wonder how skewed those stats are by his early season struggles I think it's pretty revealing that the Scoot/Sharpe backcourt were a net 9.5 points better per 100-possessions than the Simons/Sharpe back court. It's also very revealing that the names of Simons-Ayton-Grant don't show up a single time in the top-5 duos, but do show up 7 times in the worst-5 duos a bit of confirmation of all that looking at the worst 3 man combos: lol at #20
Lots of talk about how the Knicks might break up their starters - particularly the KAT Brunson duo I wonder if we might have the defenders to hide KAT? Especially if we also flip Ant for a pick and Black? Simons for Black, Anthony, #16 Ayton Timelord #11 #16 for KAT Blazers rotation KAT Clingan Deni Walker Grant Thybulle Camara Sharpe Scoot Black Gives us that missing offensive star to round out our lineup.
Do you really want a guy that is a nice #2 or #3 player and pay him $60m in the upcoming years in the apron CBA era? I do not think you do.
yep when the news about the new apron rule came out I really underestimated how big an impact they were going to have, especially when added to the new tax scales what is that....around 450M in tax due? I'm assuming the Lakers and Bucks are in repeater territory. If Boston has no roster changes, their total tax bill next season will be 240M...yikes!
I think the question would be if KAT can be the #1 offensive option on a team of deep role players. He got to back to back conference finals with different teams. If he can be our "star" than the 60 million he earns is fine. I don't think I like watching him play basketball so not sure it's a trade I would ultimately want. But it is an intriguing idea. There just not really a way to acquire these top30 level NBA players, especially in PDX. We might have missed the boat trying to do it with our draft picks. I'd rather roll the dice on a guy like KAT than a head case like Zion.
Zion is the bigger roll with the bigger payoff. KAT is what he is. When two teams in a row want to dump you.... that's not a good sign. And I'm not even a fan of getting Zion at this point.
Zion has played a grand total of ZERO playoff games in his career. Missed every one of the 10 games the Pelicans were in. I don't understand this board bizarre Zion infatuation. I mean not to mention he currently has active RAPE allegations. You think a prospective owner is going to want to bid on that? I'm all for getting an all-star level player better than KAT. These guys just aren't available though.
Did you miss the part where I said I don't want him? KAT has been on back to back conference teams who immediately want to move him. That's a HUGE red flag.
I don't think it's a red flag, it's not a secret mystery. The guy is a horrible defender at the center position and on a massive contract. He doesn't make sense to pair with other limited players also on massive deals like a center in Gobert or poor defender in Brunson. Blazers are in a different position as we have defenders but no star offensive player like those teams have. We could build the team with him as our #1 option. Those teams can't as they have Edwards/Brunson. The idea for us is it would be like Harden being an MVP in Houston after a bench guy in OKC. Not saying I'd do the deal for certain but just found it to be an interesting hypothetical.
no he can not, we have many years in MN to prove it. He can be a #2 (next to Ant) or #2.5 (next to Brunson) on deep teams to make it to the CF (this year was a fluke tho, they just got super lucky with Boston being super injured at the right time. This is not the guy to pay $60m/year for.
Okay but the Knicks are the team that you're talking about. Putting him around a bunch of solid defenders? Bridges, OG and Hart?
I only listen to these guys when their video is posted here, but I really enjoy listening to them. I like them better than the vast majority of podcasts. For whatever reason, they do not irritate me, even when I disagree with them. Regarding this video, I agreed with almost all of it. Especially this part........in the age of the various aprons, is it really a bad thing if the Blazers just played it out and let the 88 million from Matisse, Williams, Simons, and Ayton expire? (or wait for the deadline) Now of course, if you get a pick and an expiring contract for any of them, then you do it. But cutting that number from your payroll is a luxury to have when resigning the others. They were ok with keeping Grant if there were no takers, and maybe he helps down the road in a trade for matching salaries. I would definitely move him, especially if we draft a wing at 11.
It’s easy to say no to overpaying or maybe even over trading. I just think that you’re going to have to be willing to spend and overpay a little if you want to win. Especially in a smaller market.
Yeah I think eventually if you really target a single player that you think will be much better on your team you overpay to get him here. Thats basically what we did with Deni. Now would KAT be better here or worse? I really have no idea, he has a ton of downsides. But theres a number of cases of these allstar guys like Jimmy Butler/Kyrie that are nearly worthless on some teams and then lead others to contend in the finals. So just because KAT had some major faults doesn't mean he can't be better on his next team. Requires management to do a super good job understanding their own situation and how that player can contribute in their next stop.
$60m/year to KAT when you do not have a certified #1 guy and cast that just needs him as a #2/#3 guy (as he was in NYK) is not willing to spend and overpay, it is being irresponsible and set the franchise back for the duration of his contract. Just makes no sense for Portland. It is basically making Portland the next pre-Ant Minnesota. No thank you.
that's only relevant if it actually happens. And if that's the plan, there's no reason, at all, to start any of them next season or to play them major minutes but it's pretty safe to say that isn't what the F.O. intends
