GREAT NEWS!!! Slow, plundering, and disinterested and STILL lead the league in Rebounds/36. Can't wait until he's unleashed!!! Btw, you're completely ignoring the fact that Miami has had a mediocre record for several years running now.
I doubt he will make our offensive worse based on who we gave up for him. Of course it will be hard to pin point blame since we have so many other new players in the rotation. But I am sure we will spend hours trying.
I'm really excited about this signing....hopefully the Blazer social media junkies don't trigger him with negativity and doubt...he needs a new start just like Nurk did
I’m excited about the prospect of the“bully ball” NO mentioned happening when Nurk gets back. Not many teams will be able to match the Blazers’ strength in the paint.
You're on record saying no to Blake Griffin who was a top 10 player in the league last season. You're saying no to Otto Porter. What kind of player do you want if none of those are suffice?
If you’re asking who I want to make a big investment in, I’d say no one player. I’d much rather spread the money out on complimentary players like Whiteside, Ibaka, Gallinari, etc than max a dude in his 30s or drop $100M on someone like Porter. The core of the roster can be developed internally.
Porter would be a huge upgrade but I can understand the concern with his salary. Blake Griffin would be a guy I'd go all in for. We more than likely aren't going to be a player in free agency with roughly 17 mil in open cap space so we should probably make the play for a big salary guy. We aren't going to get anyone better than Otto Porter Jr. or Blake Griffin. Ibaka and Gallinari are not going to put this team over the top. I can assure you that.
I’d argue that a duo of Nurkic and Whiteside would make a bigger impact than Otto Porter. Porter is ok but would get eaten up by guys like Kawhi, George, Lebron etc. Not many teams would be able to counter a Nurk/Whiteside combo though. I could probably be talked into Blake.
I would agree. I think people are sleeping on Hassan big time. BUT. He's going to be a free agent and I'm going to go ahead and assume he doesn't want to be Nurk's backup and I don't think it would be the wisest thing to spend a lot of money on a backup. We need 3 and 4 starters that can make a difference. I think Porter CAN make a difference. Gordon Hayward as well. Blake Griffin FOR SURE. Throw in the picks. Throw in Little. Let's get Griffin to Portland.
I've heard Miami's overall oncourt/offcourt defensive numbers weren't good with Whiteside. Maybe some of that really is stat chasing. But when his stats aren't really that different from normal, perhaps it's on his teammates. I wonder if some of it is just how dispiriting it can be if you are a young person trying to figure shit out and the well-paid vet who is supposed to "lead" you is a cranky, weird center whose style of play doesn't really fit with the coach. Maybe the young guys just didn't try as hard when he was on the court because they just didn't have any belief in him as a leader or teammate or anchor. I wouldn't put a Dennis Rodman or Ron Artest on a young team, and for that matter even Nurkic is probably a bad fit for a young team that doesn't have strong leadership. Maybe Kanter too. Whiteside's teams had the most success when other vets (Wade) were around to rally the troops. Eh...some guys do mature. Vince Carter was insanely immature and changed, and Artest didn't. I'm not really sure Nurkic has matured a bit--I don't see behind the scenes. I know his behavior since having Dame in his ear has been exemplary. I kind of suspect, though, that if you made him move to Miami and replace Whiteside, he'd probably piss everyone off. Just watch him get under the skins of opponents. It's not hard to imagine him doing that with coaches and teammates if the structure wasn't there. Portland has relatively few unique assets. The pockets aren't as deep as they once were. They haven't traditionally been a free agent player. Poor draft position. Only one superstar. What Portland does have is probably the best leader in the league in Lillard. I think it's a legit strategy to target other teams' talented basket cases so that we can leverage that leadership as much as possible. It's kind of interesting to think what could have been if we had a mature Lillard in 2000 instead of Stoudamire. With Dame, Pip, Sabas and Smitty the Jail Blazer term never gets coined. I think I'm going to spend then next 45 minutes imagining the 2000 WCF with Dame running point in the fourth quarter.
Got one point. But my feeling remain. Too often pay content is given up for free. Sorry to care about the quality of content we are lucky to get. Feel free to mock me. But I feel like we must protect The Atheltic and quality journalism. Maybe it's because I am a journalist myself but when we treat pay-content the same way we treat free-content, we are losing its value.
I guess I am not very up top date on Miami; who was their well paid vet, AKA "cranky, weird center"? or am I mis-reading something?
I'm describing Whiteside. I'm just saying he have been a terrible leader in Miami, and the team may have sucked with him out there. The good news is that we didn't acquire him for leadership. We acquired him for rebounding and shot blocking, which seem to be exactly what he did in up years and down years.
