Exclusive 2022-23 Portland Trail Blazers Roster

[SharpeScooterShooter]

He said it, but he’s putting a roster together that is going to be good enough not to be good enough. And not good enough not to be bad enough

 

[B-Roy]

I believe OKC still has cap space left for this season. If we wanted to help NY clear more space, we could guarantee Bledsoe for around 14.7, send him to OKC. NY sends a pick to OKC and a pick to us, and they send us Burks and Noel. We get tradeable contracts, a backupb3/2, a backup 5, and a future asset. NY clears over 19 million immediately. Okc gains an asset for taking on salary.

They can also send a 1st to send Fournier into Boston's TPE that was made from trading Fournier.

Lol.

 

[maxiep]

problem is our guys making 1-5 mil are mostly scrubs or heavily undervalued youngins who other teams won't care for. Like in reality, what kinda trade value do Watford/Keon have?

I think Nas, Hart or even Ant would have to be a part of any package, depending on the quality you get in return. The Bledsoe chip is a good one as that's immediate cap savings to go along with youth.

 

[HansenYang]

Don't think Ingles will be signing here. He was a throwin to make a trade work. Never played here. Having his bird rights is irrelevant because no one would want to pay him that much. Too old to be a plus defender. We can do better on the free agent market.

1) Ingles was not a throw in. Portland went out of the way to include Utah into the trade to swap Alexander-Walker for Ingles. Portland took back an extra $10M last year to get his contract.

2) Having his bird rights is relevant. Once the MLE is used, Portland could only spend ~$4M as a contract on him (I think he'll resign for ~$8M). This would not be possible without the bird rights. Also, I believe most players would re-sign with the incumbent team as long as they are happy there (and the money is close). This gives Portland a small leg-up on the competition.

3) I don't think he was ever a + defender... But Ingles does do a lot of little things that helps a team win. I think more than anything, we need his savvy vet experience.

4) I certainly HOPE we can do better on the FA market. The point is that we have more than 1 spot to fill. A good MLE FA + Ingles would be ideal.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Still curious why the Grant deal isn't official yet...

even the Mavs/Wood deal became official today.

Its very common for draft day deals to be pushed officially into July, allows the team more flexibility with other transactions. If there is no possible advantage to that teams complete and make it official in June.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

He said it, but he’s putting a roster together that is going to be good enough not to be good enough. And not good enough not to be bad enough

Many years your complaints of this type have validity.

But when Cronin drafts one of the highest upside players who is a month older than 18 and likely to contribute nothing next season.... no I don't agree with your sentiment at all.

Lets see what final roster the Blazers have and give them until the trade deadline to pick a firm direction. They actually have some young assets to do a quality rebuild if we move on from the Dame trying to win era, or cash in more of those young assets if our vets overperform and we go full out trying to win now.

It makes a lot of sense to not fully commit one direction or the other now, while we don't really know how our vets or youth will perform.

 

[HansenYang]

Fanspo is broken. We can't send 19M and receive 30M back.

Yes we can if the trade is combined.
Grant goes into the TPE.
Noel goes into the value sent out by Bledsoe.

The rule is you can't 'aggregate' a TPE with a player (ie - combine our $20M TPE + Bledsoe's $20M contract to take back a $40M player).
You CAN use both the TPE and outgoing salary to get multiple players in return as I described above (as long as they are 'slotted' into the appropriate exception).

Fanspo is not broken. In the link above they show that Grant salary <-> Bledsoe. Then they have Noel being received using the $20M TPE. It's a legal trade.

 

[RR7]

Yes we can if the trade is combined.
Grant goes into the TPE.
Noel goes into the value sent out by Bledsoe.

The rule is you can't 'aggregate' a TPE with a player (ie - combine our $20M TPE + Bledsoe's $20M contract to take back a $40M player).
You CAN use both the TPE and outgoing salary to get multiple players in return as I described above (as long as they are 'slotted' into the appropriate exception).

Fanspo is not broken. In the link above they show that Grant salary <-> Bledsoe. Then they have Noel being received using the $20M TPE. It's a legal trade.

That's correct, but in the example given, they suggested we would retain our TPE.

 

[HansenYang]

That's correct, but in the example given, they suggested we would retain our TPE.

Not possible to retain the $20M TPE in full.
After the Fanspo trade - Portland would still have ~$10M left after taking Noels contract. So they would retain a PART of the TPE.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I think Nas, Hart or even Ant would have to be a part of any package, depending on the quality you get in return. The Bledsoe chip is a good one as that's immediate cap savings to go along with youth.

Bledsoe doesn't provide any immediate cap savings. His contract has to be guaranteed to match in a trade.

It's amazing how often posters cite these old strategies from the 2011 CBA.

 

[Scalma]

Do trades happen after the draft and before FA? Hoping to see some movement within the next week.

 

[maxiep]

I actually think we'll be better than we look on paper. Every single trade we made was a clear talent downgrade, yet after the trades we were more competitive. In fact, I can remember we would trot out our "tanking" lineup and we would compete. Suddenly, we had to invent another injury to make ourselves worse. Then the next guy would step up and we would compete again. It took sitting Nurk, Ant, Winslow and even limiting Hart and McLemore to finally get a team that would reliably suck every night. That gives me hope.

I think Stotts relied on superior talent for his scheme. Billups' scheme seems to rely much more on grit. Just my $0.02. I could be wrong.

 

[maxiep]

Bledsoe doesn't provide any immediate cap savings. His contract has to be guaranteed to match in a trade.

Good to know. Thanks. I thought we could trade it and they could buy him out before the 10th at the $3.9MM.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Good to know. Thanks. I thought we could trade it and they could buy him out before the 10th at the $3.9MM.

They can, but then it only counts as $3.9 million going out in the trade.

If we want to use it to match more dollars in salary for the trade it has to be guaranteed at a higher amount between 3.9-19 million.

 

[B-Roy]

I actually think we'll be better than we look on paper. Every single trade we made was a clear talent downgrade, yet after the trades we were more competitive. In fact, I can remember we would trot out our "tanking" lineup and we would compete. Suddenly, we had to invent another injury to make ourselves worse. Then the next guy would step up and we would compete again. It took sitting Nurk, Ant, Winslow and even limiting Hart and McLemore to finally get a team that would reliably suck every night. That gives me hope.

I think Stotts relied on superior talent for his scheme. Billups' scheme seems to rely much more on grit. Just my $0.02. I could be wrong.

I mean, it was like a 5 game sample size. Even bad teams have stretches in an 82 game season where they look good.

 

[B-Roy]

Yes we can if the trade is combined.
Grant goes into the TPE.
Noel goes into the value sent out by Bledsoe.

The rule is you can't 'aggregate' a TPE with a player (ie - combine our $20M TPE + Bledsoe's $20M contract to take back a $40M player).
You CAN use both the TPE and outgoing salary to get multiple players in return as I described above (as long as they are 'slotted' into the appropriate exception).

Fanspo is not broken. In the link above they show that Grant salary <-> Bledsoe. Then they have Noel being received using the $20M TPE. It's a legal trade.

One thing I'm not sure about, can we guarantee Bledsoe for 10M, trade him for a 10M player and then the receiving team has to waive him? Or does it have to be either 3.9M or the full 19M?

 

[RR7]

One thing I'm not sure about, can we guarantee Bledsoe for 10M, trade him for a 10M player and then the receiving team has to waive him? Or does it have to be either 3.9M or the full 19M?

We can guarantee him at a higher amount to use as salary.

 

[blazerfan11]

I actually think we'll be better than we look on paper. Every single trade we made was a clear talent downgrade, yet after the trades we were more competitive. In fact, I can remember we would trot out our "tanking" lineup and we would compete. Suddenly, we had to invent another injury to make ourselves worse. Then the next guy would step up and we would compete again. It took sitting Nurk, Ant, Winslow and even limiting Hart and McLemore to finally get a team that would reliably suck every night. That gives me hope.

I think Stotts relied on superior talent for his scheme. Billups' scheme seems to rely much more on grit. Just my $0.02. I could be wrong.

The difference is chemistry/playing together and better defense.

 

[B-Roy]

We can guarantee him at a higher amount to use as salary.

But he must be waived afterwards correct?

 

[HansenYang]

Bledsoe doesn't provide any immediate cap savings. His contract has to be guaranteed to match in a trade.

His contract only has to be guaranteed enough to make a legal trade... so the only flexibility it provides is that you can adjust the guaranteed amount to maximize the salary matching envelope requirements.

The other team has to be able to take in all $19M of his contract (regardless of how much is guaranteed).

One additional possibility with Bledsoe's contract - is he MIGHT be willing to negotiate a buy-out. For instance, he is guaranteed $4M regardless. If Portland comes to him and says, we have a trade but it is contingent upon you agreeing to a buy-out at $5M - then in theory Portland could guarantee the contract up to $19M - make the trade - then the other team officially negotiates a buy-out at $5M. The other team dumps $15M+/- in salary. Bledsoe gets an extra $1M in salary.

 

[HansenYang]

One thing I'm not sure about, can we guarantee Bledsoe for 10M, trade him for a 10M player and then the receiving team has to waive him? Or does it have to be either 3.9M or the full 19M?

To take Noel's contract - Bledsoe only has to be guaranteed for ~$5.3M.
Since Detroit would be taking on that contract - it would be a legal trade.

 

[B-Roy]

To take Noel's contract - Bledsoe only has to be guaranteed for ~$5.3M.
Since Detroit would be taking on that contract - it would be a legal trade.

Pistons need to be 19M under the cap to take the deal, but it gets waived after, and the actual cap hit is 5m?

 

[HansenYang]

Pistons need to be 19M under the cap to take the deal, but it gets waived after, and the actual cap hit is 5m?

Since Grant would be going out, they would only need to be $7M under the cap for it to go through.... (Bledsoe $19M + Walker $9M - Grant $21M = $7M)

but yes - Cap hit for Detroit would be ~$5M to eat Bledsoe's contract

 

[BankTeller]

Since Grant would be going out, they would only need to be $7M under the cap for it to go through.... (Bledsoe $19M + Walker $9M - Grant $21M = $7M)

but yes - Cap hit for Detroit would be ~$5M to eat Bledsoe's contract

Could you do a four team deal where the following happens?
1) Blazers send out Bledsoe and some 2nds to HOU, get back Noel, Thybulle (Covington TPE), 2023 DEN 1st
2) 6ers send out Thybulle + some 2nds to HOU, get back Gordon
3) Rockets send out Gordon, get Bledsoe and NYK players + some draft compensation
4) NY sends out Noel and 2023 DEN 1st + other parts to HOU, get Bledsoe (and pays the partial guarantee)

Didn’t think too much about all the parts, but that’s the jist of it. How would you feel about Thybulle + one year of Noel?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

1) Ingles was not a throw in. Portland went out of the way to include Utah into the trade to swap Alexander-Walker for Ingles. Portland took back an extra $10M last year to get his contract.

I'm not convinced. Alexander-Walker had $5 million dollars guaranteed for the next year and if we didn't want him then we cleared cap space in the coming season by trading him. And we got a second round pick out of it also. I don't think Ingles has any sense of belonging in Portland or wanting to stick around.

 

[Scalma]

Noel is pretty much the ideal prototype to backup Nurk imo. Just someone that can protect the rim and switch in space in case we need to play matchups. It’s why I was interested in pretty much every rim running/protecting big in the second round. Bamba makes sense as well, as does Jalen Smith, but he may be too expensive. And I also still like Eubanks.

 

[LayneStaley]

To take Noel's contract - Bledsoe only has to be guaranteed for ~$5.3M.
Since Detroit would be taking on that contract - it would be a legal trade.

Adding Noel and Thybulle to this team would get me excited.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I still don’t get how, but adding Thybulle would be awesome. All league defenders are great

 

[Chris Craig]

Could you do a four team deal where the following happens?
1) Blazers send out Bledsoe and some 2nds to HOU, get back Noel, Thybulle (Covington TPE), 2023 DEN 1st
2) 6ers send out Thybulle + some 2nds to HOU, get back Gordon
3) Rockets send out Gordon, get Bledsoe and NYK players + some draft compensation
4) NY sends out Noel and 2023 DEN 1st + other parts to HOU, get Bledsoe (and pays the partial guarantee)

Didn’t think too much about all the parts, but that’s the jist of it. How would you feel about Thybulle + one year of Noel?

Noel, Thybulle, and a first for Bledsoe and 2nds?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I still think the Blazers are trying to acquire John Collins. Stay tuned.

If I don't stay tuned will that stop them doing it? Cuz that's what I want.