Your guess for who will be our starting center next year

Meyers Leonard will return stronger and better after the surgery. In my opinion, with improvement on both offense and defense that we saw from Meyers in January and February and until his injury in early March, Meyers can be the additional force that the Blazers need to make it to the WCF or better.

In a lineup with Mason, Chief, CJ, and Dame, Meyers can develop, just as Mason did in the playoffs, to provide the energy, chemistry, and talent that can take the Blazers further, perhaps to the NBA Championship. With the repair of the shoulder, Meyers will return better than ever.

Given the coaching, center assignments, clever use of talents of the Leonard-Plumlee-Aminu frontcourt, the Blazers can be victorious over the Warriors. The semi-finals showed how close Blazers were, winning most of the quarters with the Warriors. Next year, giving Meyers the role that he was ramping up to in early 2016, can be the year for the Blazers!

 

If Aminu, Harkless And Crabbe continue to improve their shooting, we don't need a Center who scores, we need ones who sets quality picks and become our paint protector.

 

We still need a better rim protector, but I think your right there.

If we can get Whiteside and I think Leonard will prove to be more valuable than many think he can become. As long as he comes back 100% from the injury that is.

Im stoked about a possible line up of...

Dame/CJ/Connaughton
CJ/Crabbe/Montero
Harkless/Crabbe
Aminu/Leonard/Vonleh
Whiteside/Davis


I think that would be enough for next year to put us into the 3-6 spot and see what tweaks need to be made to be a solid contender (1-4) spot) the next few years.

 

We need a big man who can play defense.

 

Next year can indeed get us to the 1-4 spots, or I would say 1-3 spots for the playoffs. With Meyers playing like he did as last season progressed, and remember holding Cousins to 2 out of 11, Chief holding down key players, CJ cooking, and Dame outsmarting, Blazer defense can make the quantum leap needed to beat the Warriors, Spurs, Thunder, or anyone in the playoffs.

But Orion, why did you leave Mason out of your lineups?

In my lineup, Meyers would be the 5 and Mason the 4, with excellent possibilities for rim defense and rebounding.

 

I'd love to see Whiteside play for us. I think Whiteside's defense makes us so much better and because he is so tall, I wouldn't mind trading for a PF or bringing in a FA to play FA. I've kind of had three ideas on how to improve our front court overall if we get Whiteside. And this is also assuming we re-sign Leonard cause it only makes sense that we do if we get Whiteside. I'm not an expert on salary cap so if someone could tell me if these scenarios are possible.

1) Trading cleveland's pick, our 2018 pick, and other pieces for Jahlil Okafor. A PF/C rotation of Whiteside/Okafor/Davis/Leonard is pretty good, but I've seen rumors that Boston is offering their 3rd pick in a package for Okafor, which would seem like a more enticing deal.

2) Trading cleveland's pick, our 2018 pick, Mason Plumlee, and Aminu for Paul Millsap. Millsap is always a leader among front court players in steals, our starting lineup would be a lot better defensively with Whiteside and Millsap. PF/C rotation would be Whiteside/Millsap/Leonard/Davis/Vonleh. Is that enough going to ATL? It seems more than enough seeing that Millsap is 32 and will be a FA in 2017. But with POR, I think it'll be easier to re-sign him.

3) Sign Gasol to a 3 yr/$25 million deal with a 3rd year player option. Then trade Plumlee and our 2018 pick for Zachary Randolph. Gasol took a similar deal with Chicago and has said he's willing to take a paycut to play for a contender. I like Plumlee's ability to pass but with no jumpshot, he's not the ideal PF in today's NBA. Gasol is 34 but still a productive player. My worry with Whiteside is that without Wade and McRoberts, who set him up a lot for field goals, how will he score? McCollum and Lillard aren't great alleyoop passers. He's like a better offensive version of Deandre Jordan, but I see Whiteside hit open more regularly this season progressed. Randolph could certainly score off the bench. A PF/C rotation of Whiteside/Gasol/Randolph/Davis/Vonleh would be great as well.

Again, would any of these scenarios be possible?

 

Domantas Sabonis!

 

If you need your center to be a good shooter, you have your priorities backwards. That's how they thought in the days of George Mikan. Bill Russell showed that there are already 4 players who can shoot, and that a center provides other unique skills.

When I saw the question, I thought, Ezeli. Then I saw that there was a slot to vote for him. I thought I'd have to write him in. He was good in the playoffs, but not especially before, so the rest of the league hasn't noticed him as much as we have. So we have a higher chance than with more famous centers.

He's just big, which is the main quality we miss at center, not shooting. We need a center who can body big men, as he did to ours, including Plumlee. Just plain size.

 

Just a hunch, but Whiteside is going to completely shit the bed once he signs a 100 million dollar guaranteed contract.

Not worth the risk.

 

Nice to see people coming around to this:

 

Too soon...

 

I'm intrigued by a Brook Lopez opportunity but Whiteside makes a ton of sense for our needs. It means Meyers needs to step up and give up some ranged shooting off the bench. It may also make Plums a trade chip, which is ok if we legitimately improve our center position.

 

Yes, and passing skill is much more important itself if you are also a threat offensively. You don't have to guard Plumlee like you do other great passing centers.

 

You at least want your center to be able to convert 70+% of their attempts from 0-3. Mason shot 52% from that range in the playoffs, which is horrendous for a big man.

 

You guys are selling me on Whiteside.

Aside from his stats, he is a quirky person. He will need a lot of personal coaching like he has had in Miami. Spolstra took Whiteside under his wing and helped him develop into the player he is today.

My hunch.
If Whiteside signs here, it will not be for the money. He wants to win more than he wants the money. He will sign with the team that offers him the best chance to be a winner.
He is the type of team player we want.

 

In order of preference:
~ A Horford (age 29) - He'd be a nice fit, but I don't think we have a good chance of getting him.
~ H Whiteside (age 26) - His age fits our window, and at the lower max of $21.5M he wouldn't kill our cap space. Has he matured enough to not be a distraction?
~ D Howard (age 30) - Older, injury prone, and potential chemistry problem ('touches'). May come at a higher max, $30M. Some team will be desperate and pay him max. Healthy, at the right price (~$25M) and with the right mind set, he could be a game changer.
~ B Biyombo (age 23) - Young with plenty of upside, but limited offensive skills. Not sure if he's a significant upgrade over Plumlee, but at 23 and the right price he'd be worth the gamble.
~ F Ezeli (age 26) - Although he's restricted, there's a good change GSW let him walk if the offer is high enough. Only a slightly better rebounder, rim protector and scorer than Plumlee and one year older than Plumlee.
~ I Mahinmi (age 29) - Limited upside considering his age, but showed a good uptick in productivity when given the opportunity to start this past year. His rebounding, blocks and scoring are all right around Plumlee's current rate.

 

Agree on the first 3 100%

Horford would be the best fit, safest bet. But I'd like to see him at PF, and C for a small lineup.

 

and even though he is not a great shot blocker, his overall defense is excellent.

 

I suspect a lot of people are voting on who they want, rather than trying to predict who will actually be the center. Otherwise, it would be surprising to me that so many people think that both Olshey will target Whiteside and that Whiteside will choose to sign with Portland.

Whiteside would be a great add, as would Horford. I don't think either player is highly likely to end up in Portland, though.

 

Seriously, nobody is a little suspicious that he pulled his head out his ass just long enough to sign an enormous contract?

He's got all the talent in the world though, so I can understand the infatuation.