It comes down to who is the easiest to replace. Ayton is not untouchable, but overall he is the best center we have had in a long time. Maybe not an elite defender but it is adequate to go along with his very good offense. I would not trade him either.
Agreed. I'd certainly make Ayton available though for the right return (FRPs). To your point though - he's the one veteran that is a legit average starting level player, and also young enough to help a number of seasons from now after a rebuild.
Amazing in a bad way that we have a 21 win team dead last in the western conference but in the luxury tax.
Check out this ledger of teams that will be paying a hefty tax possibly? 2024-25 NBA Team Tax TrackerSpotrac.comhttps://www.spotrac.com › sort › cap_maximum_space When I was a youngster I had to work and save to get a car one that I could pay cash for. I had friends that financed new rides and some screwed up their credit or their parents, But they did pick up a lot of chicks..and looked good doing it. lol
They could have traded Timelord at the trade deadline for expirings and 3 seconds. That is what Houston paid for Steven Adams and I'm sure they would have preferred Timelord. I'm also confident they could have traded Brogdon for Fultz and a second or something from Orlando. Fultz was expiring. Both deals would have gotten the Blazers out of the tax for next year and we would have been compensated for doing so. So I feel fairly confident the Blazers are not going to have to pay to dump a player. Besides, tax is calculated as of the end of the year. The Blazers have basically 3 trade cycles (Draft, FA, Trade Deadline) to make deals to get under the tax. There's no real pressure to dump a player for nothing until next Feb.
Agreed. With the amount of teams with money available, and the dearth of good Free Agents -> I fully expect a trade before the season begins to get Portland out of the tax zone. Some team will miss out on FA, and then will be looking at the trade market for decent players.
Perhaps the Blazers could have traded for an expiring but that is no longer possible since we're going to be in a new league year. I don't think the Blazers will wait for the trade deadline - most teams will use up their cap space so it'll be hard to cut a large ~12 million deal like the Blazers need to do. They could cut $4 million or something at the trade deadline. But yes they have draft and free agency. I expect by mid July any such luxury tax savings deals will be done. It's really Jody/Vulcan primary objective, so they'll want to pocket that cash before they consider adding any talent.
I definitely think we can trade away Ant or Brogdon to get out of the tax. It just sucks that because of the stupid overpaid Thybulle contract and Grants deal the Blazers are in this spot. We shouldn't be looking at trading Ant/Brogdon/others primarily to save money; we should be looking to trade them to add talent to the roster.
blame Lillard !! Dame wanted a playoff team. He grabbed Cronin's wrist and forced Joe to sign Grant & Thybulle to big money deals. Then Lillard demanded a trade the following day. UFO's, JFK, Chrissy Teigan, & Damian Lillard, all these conspiracy theories have factual evidence to back them up.
If the number one priority was to cut salary for next year then one of the trades I highlighted would have already been made, since that would be the most guaranteed way to make sure we aren't in the tax next season. It's a calculated risk. They held onto players because they have some reason to believe that waiting will maximize returns on those guys. And I have no reason to believe Jody isn't on board with that line of thinking because we didn't dump Timelord or Brogdon at the deadline. Yes it could blow up in their face, but until that happens I have no reason to worry. Your logic makes no sense to me.
Ditch Simons just to get rid of his contract at the minimum. Make Grant and Brogdon available and if a trade makes sense than do it. Build around Scoot, Sharpe and Ayton. Role players of Walker, Blanton, Reath. They need to still be in asset mode. Try to be shitty for another year or two.
Oh gosh I sure hope not..... Blazers giving up multiple assets and picks for Ingram just seems like another Olshey/Cronin settle for mediocrity failure. Blazers try to win with Ayton/Grant/Ingram/Ant and a bunch of rookies - more of the two timelines.
Yes they should be in asset mode. But that means trading Simons for an asset - not dumping him just to save luxury tax. After February it will be an expiring deal so his contracts isn't that bad. Yes for sure trade away Grant and Brogdon.
100%. Turn Simons, Brogdon and Grant into 2 or 3 first rounders in the next couple years if at all possible.
Keep Portland Weird... it also applies to their basketball program. This team thrives in unusual circumstances.
