Correct, he'll be an UFA. I think technically, the contract can be extended now - but it'd have to be for the minimum (or close to it). I don't see any advantage for Baldwin to agree to that. It's in his best interest to hit the FA market next summer.
So that really is a bummer, because if he plays very well, someone could offer him more than we can and we would lose him.
Dame Cj Curry Baldwin Nik Trent Simon At the start of the season but I think Trent will take Nik place by January. This if all these guards make it on the roster.
Considering Bladwin shat all over Trae Young, can we consider him our own top 5 pick from this draft ?
PG: Dame/Baldwin/Simons SG: CJ/Curry/Stauskas/Trent Like you I have Baldwin as our #2 PG and #1 Defender, which puts him as the #3 most important guard on the roster in my book. Baldwin is a must have. The four I'd prioritize to keep are Dame/CJ/Baldwin/Simons. The others are more expendable and more easily replaceable. There are a few players I'd trade CJ for (i.e. Kawhi/Butler/Love), which makes Baldwin (and Curry) even more important to the roster in case something like that were to happen.
To answer your question, in a word... yes. To answer you question w/ a lengthier answer/to put things more aptly... FUCK YEAH!
If we had an upgrade at the 3 (Kawhi??), then I think so. His length allows him to defned 2s just fine.
I think it would work great. Baldwin would defend the other team's best guard and provide ball handling so Dame could spot up for threes. The defensive help alone would take some of the wear and tear off of Dame.
Honestly, I'd try to sign him to a 4-year $20 mil extension right now, and be thrilled if he accepted it.
It's part of the CBA. It's tied to having Bird Rights with the player. http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q58
He doesn't have an option. He signed a 2-year contract in January/February. The second year of that contract is NON-guaranteed until mid-July. This means he is currently under contract. Also, Portland has no tools to sign ANYONE to a 4yr/$20M contract right now. It's not feasible due to the current CBA rules.
To be honest, in these two summer league games he reminds me of Brandon Roy and Dame Lillard in their summer league debuts. Not in playing style, but in just being clearly another rung or two higher than the other guards on the court. Hell, he's got a 29PER in his two games, and his defense has been outstanding too. If we somehow had a top 5 pick and had just drafted him, we'd all be over the moon right now about this 21 year old kid's potential. It's just summer league and it's only a two game sample size and he is a third year player and he has the stink of failing to get minutes on a shitty Memphis team, so I think people are rightly not as hyped as we could be. But if you only could look at these two games in isolation you'd have to consider him an absolute stud. First time I've been really excited for the next summer league game in a long while.
This. And, and, and....... More of This. Baldwin and Collins are 2 of our team's best defenders (which is saying a lot on a top 10 defensive team). Having them on the same SL team seems kind of ridiculous. #stoked