Your guess for who will be our starting center next year

Throwing out some other options:

I would rather trade for John Henson than overpay for bismack Biyombo. Henson and Biyombo offer similar skills IMO.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Nikola Vucevic available in the next year. If you look at Vogels bigs in Indiana, he had Hibbert, West, Mahimi, and Turner. All of those guys play with a tough, physical defensive mindset. Vucevic is a poor defender but pretty good offensively.

Vucevic would be a good pairing with someone like Biyombo or Henson IMO. Meyers would also be a good pairing with Henson or Biyombo

Order of my Preference:
1. Whiteside
2. Okafor- has to be paired with a defensive big but exceptional offensive skills.
3. Horford
4. Monroe/Vucevic - has to be paired with a defensive big
5. Dwight - declining IMO but can still be effective. I am more concerned about his mentality on the court than his skills at this point.
6. Henson
7. Biyombo


8. Mahimi
9. Ezeli

Realistically I think we can land anyone from 4-8 above. I did not include Pau Gasol on the list because I believe he is too old and does not make us a championship team.

 

All aboard the Cole train! Who needs steam.

 

Each year, Olshey strikes out on his big free agent, then signs underrated ones. Our big men are pushed around inside. We need size. Ezeli bodied Plumlee like he's a kid. So I voted that Olshey will succeed in getting Ezeli because he's obtainable. I didn't say that Ezeli will be his first choice on July 1.

 

Whiteside blocks more shotsm but Horford is a better defender, especially in the pick and roll, where is where we (C.J. and Dame especially) need the most help.

Of course, Horford is also a much better offensive player, and it''s not even close. He's great in the pick and roll, pick and pop and in the paint.

Whiteside will be cheaper and have fewer suitors, but if there is anyway to get Horford, he has to be our No. 1 target. He would help this team in so many ways at both ends of the court.

I wont be disappointed of we get Whiteside. It will just mean Hordford wasn't interested.

With his history of knee injuries? Absolutely not! He hasn't played more than 46 games since 2012-13 and completely missed 2013-14 season after off season knee surgery.

BNM

 

He's spent more time in a suit sitting behind the bench than in a uniform sitting on one over the past three seasons. He's played in a total of 92 games over the last three seasons. That's not Oden bad, but it's awfully damn close. Too close for comfort, if you ask me.

BNM

 

I don't think Biyombo has priced himself out. His max is still affordable and if we were convinced that he could get similar defensive numbers as he's been getting in the playoffs plus work on his offensive game a bit, then he'd be a good 3rd/4th candidate behind Whiteside, Horford and maybe Howard. He's a rebounding monster which would suit a 3-point shooting team like Blazers very, very well. He's probably the most realistic candidate out there and if we went for him as No. 1 target then I'd probably expect Olshey to get this done. I'm more and more convinced with him during these playoffs, he's stepped his game up and with the history of players improving while at Blazers I could see good future for him.

Whiteside is still a better target, as is Horford but both will be very hard to sign.

 

Are you suggesting we max Biyombo?

 

Not sure. What's his max this year? I just meant that it'll be within Blazers cap range, no that we should be paying this really. I'm not sure what his max is though, I'm poor with this stuff. EDIT: His max is $21.5M. No, that's defo too high and no one will offer him that based on 5 games.

We have to spend the money somewhere though so if we get turned down by Whiteside and Horford (and we most likely will) then Biyombo is a decent option. Anything around $12M and he's bound to consider.

 

I did leave Plums out becaused his lack of an outside shot will hurt him at PF. He needs to be a C unless he develops a 12-15 foot jumper.

 

Exactly - Biyombo would be an upgrade to Ed Davis, but probably a +0 if replacing Plumlee.

 

I like Cole despite the hell I'll get from MM for saying so. He showed some skill out there, and deserves to start and play 24-28 minutes for a team.

 

Yeah, Aldrich would definitely be an under-the-radar typical Neil Olshey signing.

Of course, I'd much rather have Horford or Whiteside and even Dwight Howard may have a bigger impact but Aldrich is definitely underrated and under used.

One additional reason to go after Aldrich (if plans a, b and c fall through) is it hurts the Clippers (NO GOOD CLIPPERS!) . They FINALLY got a legitimate backup center to throw out there for a few minutes when other teams go to Hack-a-Jordan.

If you look at Aldrich's per 36 numbers, they actually compare favorably to Jordan's. His blocks per 36 are actually better, rebounds a little less and scoring a little more. Although Jordan is regularly near the top of the league in FG%, his offensive game is limited to dunks (his average FGA distance is 1.2 feet and the year he led the league in FG%, almost 92% of his shots were less than 3 feet from the basket).

Aldrich does have limited range, but he has some legitimate low post moves and has range out to about 10 feet. He's stronger and better at finishing around the basket than Plumlee.

Because he can actually make a FT, his TS% is basically the same is Jordan's. In terms of advanced stats, he actually had a higher BLK% and a higher PER than Jordan and a comparable WS/48. I'm not saying he's as good as Jordan, but he'll come a lot cheaper and may leave us enough left over to sign, or trade for, another significant piece.

BNM

 

1. Not a fan of a guy who's team got better when he left, and the team he went to got worse.

3. Even though I'm not a Monroe fan, saying he doesn't space the floor is absurd. Being an inside scoring threat helps space the floor.

 

If we sign BB to a max deal soccer moms would be jumping off ledges...

 

Another thing I like about Cole is that he's now had two straight seasons of 10%+ Assist %. That's pretty rare for a center, especially a backup one who is really just been told to be a finisher on offense. Perhaps there is some untapped playmaking potential there for Stotts to play with.

 

Horford has been a starting center his entire NBA career. In today's NBA there is no reason he can't continue to do so.

The only reason to move him to the 4 is if you have someone else on your roster that is a better 5. We don't have that. Ideally, I'd want a stretch 4 to pair with Horford. If Aminu can continue to improve his 3-point shooting, we may already have that - or we may already have that if we retain Meyers. Horford could pair well with either. With Hordford's versatility on defense, we could let him play center on offense and guard the other team's PF on defense when playing with Meyers.

BNM