It was leaked that Orlando has some interest Aminu. Portland really needs a decent backup center, and Vucevic was reportedly on the trade block last year. Vucevic for Aminu and Davis works. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yak7shev
I wonder if Olshey is still interested in Greg Monroe. He seems to have wanted him for a long time. He would not want to be our backup center, but could possibly start at PF till Collins develops. I personally don't really think he'd be a good fit.
Our TPE from the Crabbe trade is also enough to get Vucevic, if ORL wanted to do a pure salary dump. The ship may have sailed on Greg Monroe to POR. Too bad, he actually had a REALLY good season for MIL. Not sure why you think he wouldn't want to be our back up center. He accepted his role as 6th man in MIL and played really well at both ends of the court. He came in 6th in Sixth Man of the Year Voting. All his per36 numbers, advanced stats and on/off numbers were excellent. Both Monroe and Vucevic are surprisingly good passing big men with AST% comparable to Nurk. Both are good rebounders and scorers, but neither offer much rim protection. Vucevic is cheaper, but has two years left on his contract. Monroe would be a 1-year rental while Biggie and Collins learn the ropes. I'd be fine with either as our back up center, but would still rather go with someone like Kyle O'Quinn or Cole Aldrich who are both MUCH cheaper, offer much more rim protection and are career back ups who are accustomed to coming off the bench. I prefer O'Quinn as he can play both center and power forward and would be a good fit both backing up Nurk and playing beside him. BNM
Unless we trade Meyers, I don't see us needing a big in a trade....we need wing defense more than anything and some bench scoring...I like Vucevic...if they would trade for Meyers and spare change, I't be a good move but as it stands.....we need to replace Crabbe and maybe Connaughton.
We also have our $12.9 million TPE that could be used for someone like Courtney Lee who would give us both wing defense and scoring off the bench. Lee + O'Quinn or Aldrich would really shore up our bench until our younger players (Swanigan, Collins and Layman) are ready to contribute. BNM
Did you forget how vulnerable we are in the middle without Nurkic last year? Whenever he went to the bench, things went to shit. And what does Meyers Leonard have to do with us needing a big? Are you a blazer fan or did you just come from the moon?
Blazers just cleared $$$ by trading Crabbe for virtually nothing, they aren't going to go adding another $10M+ to their TAX BILL. If anything, its a minimum contract, but more likely another trade that sends out more than we bring in by $4M for NO TAX BILL. Delay the repeater!
POR: Tyson Chandler PHX: Meyers Leonard, Ed Davis, Pat Connaughton Nice way to cut more salary and gain a veteran piece.
