You know what's fun right now? Just go to X, search up "Toumani Camara", and read his mentions. Love having a guy who's just universally liked and respected.
One thing that has surprised me is his ability to attack the rim. He finishes better than expected on difficult shots. His 10-inch hands are certainly a factor. And I could be wrong here but it seems he can finish with either hand. Of course, his defensive ability is the biggest surprise. I thought he would be decent, but not this good.
That's how most of us feel about you and anytime you string together two sentences that make sense. BOOM!
By the refs, too, it seems. They always seem happy to explain calls to him, as if they're talking shop rather than being attacked.
Smart, strategic, calculated defenders are so much fun to watch. They don’t have to try for blatant, obvious, dramatic intimidation. They do the job and let others know it will be a long game — guys like Tayshaun Prince and Shane Battier. All stars in their role. And all stars. He has a long way to go … but Camara is the current Blazers dude who can make all star teams. IMHO.
He does have a Tayshaun Prince kinda vibe about him. Both lefties, and came into the league older than the typical rookies. Tayshaun had a gawd-awful looking shot tho, but it was effective.
I just did it. Incredible. He has the most value on our roster. I wonder what we could get for him in a trade if we threw in Ant or Grant to make salaries work. Not sure I’d do it but he’s the guy on our roster who all 29 teams would want.
We could get more for Toumani than they did. Not saying trade him. Just saying he’s the guy we could get the most for. I wonder if Nico would’ve taken Toumani and Grant for Luka.
If Dallas truly is all about defense like they say they are, they would have at least considered it. Anthony Glass Davis isn’t available enough to be worth Luka.
Luca would be roasted by Blazer fans. His salary and lack of defensive effort would send this board into a bigger whine fest than it already is. He would never re-sign here.
They put up with Dames defense, they'd put up with Lukas. Btw, was watching the Tim Hardaway clip where he's roasting Nick Young, who was talking about how players in the 80's and 90's were bums (etc). Besides that Nick Young wouldn't have lasted a season to two with his skills, the players today probably *hate* playing against Toumani, and back then almost every team either had one of him, or played that way. (not saying all NBA defense wise, but just tough no nonsense and aggressive, the polar opposite of how players play today)
Maybe, but you build around it. Luka isn’t Simons. He is a superstar in this league. Luka surrounded by Avdija, Camara, Clingan and Sharpe is a solid team. Those wings and center make up for a lot of the defensive troubles of that backcourt
Neither is his future contract. He will be getting an estimated 60 million per year. That seems to be very important to Portland fans.
Is this about Simons again? If it is, it's illogical, simply because Doncic is about 4 tiers better than Simons, Doncic's average BPM is +7.6; Simons is at -1.3. Doncic's average winshare/48 is .175; Simons is at .056 when the NBA average is .100. Doncic and Simons entered the league at the same time, in 2018. Since then Doncic's total value over replacement is +36.1; Simons is +1.8. Doncic's total wins over a replacement player is 97.5. Simons total wins is 4.9. Doncic has provided about 12 wins/year over a replacement player; Simons about 0.6 wins. In other words, even with his offense, Simons is a net negative. And even with his defense, Doncic is a huge net positive but your post did get me wondering just how bad Doncic's defense is since I don't remember it being atrocious like you do this season, for Dallas, Doncic leads the rotational Mavs in defensive rating posting a 110 rating which is 4.3 points better than the team. This season, for Portland, Simons is the worst rotational player in defensive rating at 120 which is 4.5 worse than the team this season, Doncic is 4th in DBPM for the rotational Mavs at +1.4 which is 1.3 points better than the team. Simons is last on the Blazers at -1.8 which is 1.4 points worse than his team of course, this season could be an aberration for Doncic because he only played 22 games (there's no aberration for Simons as he has consistently been last on the team in def rating and DBPM since he became a starter) last season Doncic was 3rd on the team in defensive rating with his rating being 2.4 points better than the team. He was 2nd in DBPM with his mark being 1.7 points better than the team. And the year before that he was 2nd in def rating with a mark 3.7 points better than the team. And he led the Mavs in DBPM with a mark 1.8 points better than the team Doncic has a career DBPM of +1.2; Simons has a career mark of -2.2. Doncic has consistently been near the top of his team in def rating and DBPM. Simons at the bottom. So no, Doncic would not be roasted by Blazer fans for his defense because Simons has already showed them what bad defense really means
well, obviously Dame & Aldridge are probably exceptions; Andre Miller as well and Matthews too although those two might not fit your definition of "big contract" so that leaves guys like Evan Turner, Allen Crabbe, maybe Festus Ezeli, CJ, Powell, Simons, Grant. Those guys are certainly not the same as a Dame or a Doncic though, and there were legitimate reasons to gripe about those conracts
