Anybody watching Dwight on TNT?

[Rastapopoulos]

 

[BlazerWookee]

Fuck Dwight Howard.

 

[Reep]

No thank you. This was only two years ago. (two 16-year-olds in his hotel room)

 

[Pinwheel1]

• Can Aminu be a full-time'4'? Would he wear down because at times he would have to guard big PF's like Aldridge, Blake, Jefferson?
• Can Meyers develop consistency and enough of a low-post move to abuse 6'7" SF's when they switch out on him or go small?
• Does Ryan Anderson fit in this equation anywhere? He would certainly space the floor.

I am not sure there are very many full time PF's out there. One that can guard the perimeter and D up inside against bigger/ physical forwards. So either way you need two different types at this position.

Meyers IMO is a back up Center on D, and a spread 4 on O.

Anderson will get more than 13 million. Not sure he is worth the money he will get. As much as it pain me to say, if we got Dwight, we should dangle Plums and filler to Atlanta for Millsap. But this is all just fantasy IMO.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Doesn't the Portland area have a lot of teenaged runaways? Could be a major draw for Howard.

 

[craigehlo]

Can you sign both Dwight and Anderson? Would Anderson accept whatever is left over after you sign Dwight?

Anderson is plan be if we can't get a top FA like Whiteside, Dwight or Horford. I think he's a nice fit, but we still need to add interior toughness with a Biyombo or Mahinmi.

 

[illmatic99]

Marvin Williams brings a lot of the same things that Ryan Anderson does, and will come for cheaper.

He also has northwest ties (from WA) in case we need another thing to lure him.

 

[B-Roy]

Anderson....please no. Any player that is going to start next to Lillard and CJ has to be a positive on defense, to make up for those two defensive short comings. Hiding one guy is bad enough, we have to hide 2. Anderson means we have to hide 3. We're not winning a title like that.

 

[santeesioux]

We all saw David West take less money to go to what he thought was a winning situation, maybe we could talk Ryan Anderson into 13 mil or however much if we get Dwight.

 

[Eastoff]

The year Dwight and Parsons were both in Houston, they came to every home game they could of my son's high school football games because someone tweeted to Dwight that he should adopt the team as his own. He did, and was EXTREMELY cool with everyone, standing up, cheering, high fiving people, and generally just being a big kid. For the record, Parsons was really cool as well. Dwight did the same thing this year, and sent the school a giant thank you note and funded some huge project in congratulations for winning the state championship.

No idea what he is like in the locker room, but he does seem like a nice guy

Maybe he was trolling for girls.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

yea but

Lol to this I'd say "Scoreboard bitch"

 

[e_blazer]

I've always felt that Howard loved being a star more than he loved working to improve his game. If he's the best Olshey can do this summer, then okay. But I really hope it isn't.

 

[blue9]

Okay, so let's say we sign Dwight.

We still need a power forward that can space the floor.

If we get Dwight, and he plays well, Vonleh will be sufficient at PF. I'm not on the Vonleh bandwagon, but I wouldn't have any problems with him starting if we got a C like Dwight, Cousins, Towns, Drummond, etc.

Dame/CJ
CJ/Crabbe
Harkless/Aminu
Vonleh/Plumlee
Howard/Meyers

 

[blue9]

0/50 player combinations used by Stotts this season featured both Plumlee and Davis.

That's definitely NOT true. They didn't play long stretches together, but I often saw them on the court at the same time.

 

[B-Roy]

If we get Dwight, and he plays well, Vonleh will be sufficient at PF. I'm not on the Vonleh bandwagon, but I wouldn't have any problems with him starting if we got a C like Dwight, Cousins, Towns, Drummond, etc.

Dame/CJ
CJ/Crabbe
Harkless/Aminu
Vonleh/Plumlee
Howard/Meyers

Where is Ed Davis?

I would think it would be more like:

Dame/CJ
CJ/Crabbe
Harkless/Aminu
Aminu/Plumlee/Vonleh
Howard/Davis

Meyers gets phased out, plus he's coming back from injury.

 

[blue9]

Where is Ed Davis?

As much as I like Ed, I think both he and Aminu need to be traded.

 

[B-Roy]

Aminu has been our third best player in the post season, especially when you consider both sides of the ball. He's shooting 39% on close to 7 3PT attempts per game. Crazy. I'm coming around to Aminu being starter quality, but I think it has to be at the 4.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Aminu has been our third best player in the post season, especially when you consider both sides of the ball. He's shooting 39% on close to 7 3PT attempts per game. Crazy. I'm coming around to Aminu being starter quality, but I think it has to be at the 4.

Yep. Harkless is better at the 3 than Aminu and a better option there yet Aminu is the better overall player (that might change in the very near future) but you have to play him at the 4 to get that benefit. Not sure Aminu can start at that 4 position long-term and night in and night out though.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Okay, so let's say we sign Dwight.

We still need a power forward that can space the floor.

Man.... if Dallas strikes out this summer, and if Parsons were to go somewhere else, I would make a pitch to Cuban. Mark, you're not going to win another ring for Dirk. It's not happening. Send him to us for Plumlee/Vonleh and we will get him a ring. Do it Mark. Do it for Dirk.

Dame/??
CJ/Crabbe
Aminu/Harkless
Dirk/Davis
Dwight/Meyers

Enter Meyers as the PF who can stretch the floor

What about plumlee at PF? Might seem like there's no spacing but imagine plumlee in the high post lobbing it to dwight. Easy money.

Plums cant stretch the floor, but we do have a big already on the roster that can and might end up with MIL

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Aminu has been our third best player in the post season, especially when you consider both sides of the ball. He's shooting 39% on close to 7 3PT attempts per game. Crazy. I'm coming around to Aminu being starter quality, but I think it has to be at the 4.

I agree with all of this. You play these games to see who responds, and unexpectedly performs above and beyond. That's why this is more important than a late lotto pick.

 

[B-Roy]

Yep. Harkless is better at the 3 than Aminu and a better option there yet Aminu is the better overall player (that might change in the very near future) but you have to play him at the 4 to get that benefit. Not sure Aminu can start at that 4 position long-term and night in and night out though.

Until Harkless develops a reliable three point shot, he has no argument over being a more effective player than Aminu, regardless of position. Only thing you can say is that Aminu makes more brain-dead decisions (Harkless does at times as well) but that isn't enough when you consider that Aminu plays better overall defense and spaces the floor.

But I'm glad we have both.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Until Harkless develops a reliable three point shot, he has no argument over being a more effective player than Aminu, regardless of position. Only thing you can say is that Aminu makes more brain-dead decisions (Harkless does at times as well) but that isn't enough when you consider that Aminu plays better overall defense and spaces the floor.

But I'm glad we have both.

I agree Aminu is better overall player. He does not play better than Harkless at the 3 though so we will just have to agree to disagree there. I was really hoping people wouldn't only respond to one half of the post. I would like people's thoughts on Aminu being able to survive long-term in the NBA at the 4 position. Can he battle with some guys like Griffin, Millsap and Love over the course of the season? One nice thing is the only one he would see more than twice a year is Griffin.

 

[B-Roy]

I agree Aminu is better overall player. He does not play better than Harkless at the 3 though so we will just have to agree to disagree there. I was really hoping people wouldn't only respond to one half of the post. I would like people's thoughts on Aminu being able to survive long-term in the NBA at the 4 position. Can he battle with some guys like Griffin, Millsap and Love over the course of the season? One nice thing is the only one he would see more than twice a year is Griffin.

He really doesn't though. Aminu does play the 4 in our starting lineup, but they routinely switch on the perimeter and fill a similar role on defense. Part of Aminu's seeming ineffectiveness at the 3 is because he played next to Vonleh and another non-floor spacer in Davis/Plumlee. Harkless looked even more ineffective in the limited minutes he played at the 3 next to two non-spacers, hence why Stotts rarely if ever went to that lineup. If the Blazers had another proper floor spacer at the 4, Aminu would be a better compliment than Harkless to play next to said player.

So yeah, I maintain that until Harkless develops a 3 point shot, he really has no argument over Aminu, especially in Stott's offense.

 

[Natebishop3]

Enter Meyers as the PF who can stretch the floor



Plums cant stretch the floor, but we do have a big already on the roster that can and might end up with MIL

Meyers isn't a power forward. We tried that experiment and it failed.

 

[riverman]

Meyers isn't a power forward. We tried that experiment and it failed.

I think the point was Meyers is a stretch 4 on offense and a 5 on defense if he's used that way

 

[BlayZa]

To answer all the posts at me:

I was saying having Meyers at the 4 to help space the floor, he just needs to hit 1 or 2 threes to help clear it out for penetration or pick and rolls, etc.

Plums doesn't do that.

with that post you seriously need to consider changing your name to Str3nnus, re-edit it and change it to 10-12 swish3s

 

[BlayZa]

also, after seeing the games vs. the warriors and how much of a bowl of spaghetti our picks n screens are on the perimeter, and considering where meyers likes to play on attack + his overwhelmingly clueless nature of reading the game, he'd either massively be in the way and/or be riddled with fouls very quickly.

tbh id love it if ed davis was 7'1" and another 20-30lbs heavier - he's so mobile, scrappy, gets cheap under the hoops conversions and loves being in the warzone.

I'm not sure if Dwight is the guy we need, but he's along the lines of what we need. Hopefully our performance this year will sway some potential new players into giving us a chance and legitimately want to build something special.

BUT - we need a consistent fix to the GSW and the clones that will no doubt follow their plan.

One question i had was in that OT - where the fuck as the hard foul on Curry at any point? I mean he was getting offensive boards, layups - all kindsa shit. I hate to use the time machine, but old school guys like charles oakley esque players would never have let that 5mins go with that type of performance without chinchecking him at some point.

 

[KingSpeed]

As much as I like Ed, I think both he and Aminu need to be traded.

You're crazy. Those guys are our two best value contracts on the team. Davis is one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA and Aminu is showing that his playoff jump in Dallas wasn't a fluke. He's a clutch playoff performer. You don't trade those guys.

 

[PDXFonz]

That's definitely NOT true. They didn't play long stretches together, but I often saw them on the court at the same time.

Then why isn't it listed... I don't remember seeing it at all.

 

[blue9]

I would like people's thoughts on Aminu being able to survive long-term in the NBA at the 4 position. Can he battle with some guys like Griffin, Millsap and Love over the course of the season? One nice thing is the only one he would see more than twice a year is Griffin.

No, Aminu is far too dumb to be a starter. I don't care that he's (finally) playing well - dumb players should not be starters. Also, Aminu's defense is overrated. He's not bad by any means, but there isn't a player in the league that thinks to himself "Oh no, I have to go up against Aminu tonight." Except for his penchant for losing his man (which, thankfully, he hasn't been doing in the POs) and committing stupid fouls, he's a slightly above average defender - nothing special. The only thing that's good is the fact he can switch on screens.

As much as I'm NOT on the Vonleh wagon, I prefer starting Vonleh at PF if we're able to get a C like Howard/Cousins/Drummond/etc. Vonleh doesn't have 1/10th of Aminu's confidence, but he's a smarter player - and if he ever gets confidence he'll be a better player.

Unless we pull off a miracle Harkless is our starting SF next season. I'd LOVE to get a star SF, but there really aren't that many, and the few that exist aren't donning a Blazers jersey anytime soon.

But if Harkless is our starting SF then we need a new starting C and PF. We can't start Harkless/Aminu/Plumlee or Harkless/Vonleh/Plumlee, or even Harkless/Vonleh/Howard...well, not unless either Vonleh or Harkless make an unbelievable jump over the summer. If either Harkless or Vonleh become a reliable outside shooter then Harkless/Vonleh/Howard could work.