https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/agent-client-list/Mark-Bartelstein/15 Some targets (via trade/FA) would be: Kyle O'Quinn Bobby Portis Larry Nance Taj Gibson Gordon Hayward
O'Quinn might fit because he isn't going to demand big minutes and will fit in well when Nurk comes back. Tyson Chandler could be a similar fit as well and a welcome veteran in the locker room.
Portis would be nice, but he's RFA, so we've got no chance there. I'd be on board with a trade for Hayward too.
I'm not trading much outside of salary for Hayward. Ain't no way I'm giving up Simmons/Little/Collins/picks. That contract would tie us down to cap hell for years.
Hayward only has 2 years left on his deal. Trading Baze/Moe/picks for Hayward at the deadline would only add one more year of high salary.
I never thought Hayward was a “superstar”, but I also think people should give him a bit of a pass for last year, it takes to work back into it. I expect him to be much better than last year. He may have never been as good as the contract suggestion but I think he’ll still be a good B level player.
picks sure, OK. Not touching our youngins. A part of me still wants to maintain some sort of flexibility for 2020 summer. There will hardly be any competition in FA next year.
Next years class sucks and Portland doesn’t project to have the max available anyway. I’d be more open to Hayward than Love since his contract ends earlier.
Love is intriguing for several ways though. I agree I get nervous thinking of him as our PF and covering shooters. But, he would be supper fun to watch on the PnR with Dame or CJ, setting screens for both, possibly helping push the pace by his outlet passing, and as a target for Nurk. Teams absolutely cannot leave Love open at the 3pt line.
Wait! There's more! https://www.blazersedge.com/2019/6/...19-portland-trail-blazers-oquinn-deng-daniels
I wonder what kind of market there will be for Taj Gibson. He just turned 34 so I doubt he'll get more than the Tax-MLE, unless Minnesota is dumb and overpays. Taj and Zach would be a solid interchangeable 4-5 combo while Nurk recovers.
I don't care for the personalities at all, but they would bring some grit and edge that wouldn't hurt this team.
But he’s also been more than that, according to Gortat. In a lengthy podcast with Standig, Gortat extolled Morris’s contributions off the court, with a pretty striking anecdote. “I think he’s a great human being,” Gortat said of Morris. “First of all he’s a great teammate. He’s a great teammate. And a great teammate is when you’re on the island, [and stuff] hits the fan. I get you my example. When I had a situation with bench players, call out the bench players and I threw them under the bus, accidentally threw them under the bus, I did make a huge mistake. I felt disgusted with what I said, and I apologized. I feel like I’m going to be apologizing till the end of the season.” (This, of course, is a reference to Gortat’s comments in November that the Wizards had one of the worst benches in the league. At the time, the team was 2-7, and the bench was indeed playing awful, but Gortat’s postgame comments caused a mild uproar.) Gortat continued: “And that moment when you’re walking into the locker room and nobody wants to talk to you, that moment when everybody’s look at you like ‘Look at this [jerk], what the frick is he thinking?’ That’s the moment when you’re on the island. And that kid right here, [Morris] came to me first — what’s up, how you doing, how you feel, lets go get a lift, let’s play music, let’s get back to it. You know what I’m saying? He’s the first one who come in, approach, grab your hand. And he’s going to talk to you, make you feel like ‘Hey, whatever, we’re past that.’ That’s the guy who he is. People just don’t understand that. And it’s huge, as a teammate. It’s huge.” That’s a great anecdote, and more support for Gortat’s months of Morris praise. And also for Gortat’s belief that he’ll be a great personnel man one day. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...kieff-morris-saved-marcin-gortat-this-season/
