I'm probably alone on this, but I'd rather start Harkless and continue bringing Crabbe off the bench. Harkless seems to be most effective with Dame/CJ, and Crabbe has been effective off the bench all year. Harkless also (IMO) has a higher ceiling than Crabbe, and a lot more room for growth. If he can continue to develop into a legit starter, we could really have something dangerous brewing.
Why is everyone in love with Harkless? He had a good couple games before the break and now people are super high on him.. I just wanna know why.. Or what exactly you see in him.
Sports Whispers @SportsWhispers 5m5 minutes ago Exclusive: Blazers and Nets have discussed a Joe Johnson trade
I've been high on him all year, and was really perplexed when he unexpectedly fell out of favor. For the most part, I think it's because he's so much more athletic than Crabbe, and I place a premium on raw athleticism. His slashing and finishing ability are needed in the starting lineup, and are a better skillset match with Dame/CJ than Crabbe's more perimeter-oriented game. I think he's a bit more competent and versatile defensively as well. Don't get me wrong, Crabbe is clearly a superior offensive threat, but I like the idea of continuing to bring that threat off the bench.
He makes 25 million this year. 28 day rental? Maybe take on his salary and move him to Cleveland for Mozgov? Both are FA at the end of the year
If there's one team is does NOT make sense to do a salary dump with, it's the team that doesn't have the ability to trade a first rounder until 2020 or a second until 2021.
Yes, you are right there. I was referring to the suggestion that the Blazers might purposely keep their excess cap room so as to give it to the team as a bonus for exceeding expectations. That's ridiculous IMO.
Oh my bad. I agree with you, that's not really how it works. But in a sense they might want to keep their cap space to be able to retain all these guys, I guess in a rudimentary way that could be looked at as "getting a bonus". You could be calling and dangling Crabbe and Meyers in trades just to gauge interest. The more interest the better feel you have for what retaining one of your players might cost you in free agency. That's why I'm sure Olshey is on the phone at the very least fielding every single phone call.
The point wasn't to make them feel good. It was that they have played hard all year and some of there for very little money in terms of the Cap. Since that money is either paid out to them or to another player, if the Blazers were to acquire a contract that ate up the cap space who didn't contribute and Portland only got a 2nd round pick out of it that doesn't really help the franchise, that might cause some consternation. Imagine if the Blazers got a 2nd round pick for David Lee and he doesn't even show up in Portland or just sits on the bench the rest of the season. That would cost every player money for no contribution to the team.
I think we are probably on the same page here. When I say bonus, I mean Pup's suggestion to start this thread, which I personally don't think a GM like Olshey would consider, with building assets being more impt - "2. Let it ride out....and reward the team financially Because the Blazers are so far under the cap, if they don't make any moves, the players will divide up the difference between the current team salary and the minimum required salary mandated by the CBA. This team has battled hard and come together as a group. Is it worth pulling money off the table from them to take on something like David Lee's salary just to get a poor future Draft pick? I would submit the good will earned from giving the players money outweighs the $3Million it might take to buy a pick in the future."
If it was worth something good or helped the team in the future, it's no question. But if it's just for a poor pick in the future like a 2nd rounder that you can easily buy, for a player that would not contribute at all and then be gone, I can see that at least having the possibility of being an issue.
Somebody mentioned in an article I read that the Blazers could use that 13 mil to pay for Dame's kicker bonus if he gets an all NBA nod..something to that effect.
Don't believe the Blazers would want old man washed up Joe Johnson unless we're getting something else in the deal. Johnson doesn't even deserve any minutes in our rotation.
Agree or disagree with opinions, I appreciate that people can express and explain. Ask on open ended question looking for opinions on Twitter and get accused of questioning loyalty, implying I'm calling someone a BUM.....quite the knee jerk, tunnel visioned responses from a historically legitimate point. Thank you for all the great opinions here.
