after getting a lottery talent at 25 last night in Little, we now have more trade assets then we have had in a very long time..
Young players on rookie deals:
Simons
Little
Collins
Trent (lesser value)
Collins is the only player there that would represent a significant asset.
Simons was a 24th pick who didn't play much at all his rookie year. Little just fell all the way to 25th pick and may have fallen further if the Blazers didn't draft him. Trent was a 37th pick who did nothing positive. Skal has shown almost nothing over 3 seasons and will be RFA next summer
Expiring contracts:
Meyers
Evan
Mo
there will be an ocean of expiring contracts this summer, and for damn sure, a bunch of them will be aggressively shopped.
personally, I think a whole bunch of Blazer fans are grossly overrating the value of Portland's expirings. It's going to be a heavily slanted buyer's market
Harkless might have a little bit of positive value as an expiring...just a little. So might Meyers. Turner, forget it.
IMO, in order to actually move any of those contracts, the Blazers would have to be willing to take on some significant long-term salary, and that would put Portland in jeopardy of being in repeater tax territory just when Dame's super-max starts. That's not a good situation at all.
You know which team might value Portland's expiring contracts the most?....Portland
Plus all of our picks I believe? Maybe missing a 2nd rounder somewhere in there in the next couple years?
here's the scoop:
"2020 second round draft pick to Brooklyn
Portland's 2020 2nd round pick to Brooklyn (via Orlando to Cleveland to Atlanta) protected for selections 31-55 (if this pick falls within its protected range and is therefore not conveyed, then Portland's obligation to Brooklyn will be extinguished) [Orlando-Portland, 7/14/2015; Cleveland-Orlando, 1/12/2016; Atlanta-Cleveland, 10/14/2017; Atlanta-Brooklyn, 7/13/2018]
2021 second round draft pick to Cleveland
Portland's 2021 2nd round pick to Cleveland [Cleveland-Portland, 2/4/2019]
2023 second round draft pick to Cleveland
Portland's 2023 2nd round pick to Cleveland [Cleveland-Portland, 2/4/2019]"
so then, they have a flexible trading option on their 2020 2nd it appears. They have their 2022 second roud pick; and they have all the 2nds after 2023. And all their future 1st's.
Unfortunately, the expectation would be that all of their 1st's and 2nd's would fall in the last third of each round. There's some value there but it's a lot less than average value
Olshey has done a good job restocking the cupboard with assets at the time those contracts became expiring.
I guess I could ask who everyone’s ultimate trade target would be and please share that BUT I wanted to give Olshey props. I’ve been down on him for a while now but he really has done a good job restocking and setting us up for a big move.
I don't agree that he's done that good of a job in building assets. Now, he's been limited because he's had poor flexibility over the last 3 seasons, but he's the one that buried that flexibility in 2016.
The best assets are (IMO):
* 1 - all-star level players you're willing to trade (none - I'm assuming Dame, CJ, and Nurk are off the board);
* 2 - young rotational players with upside on cheap contracts (one);
* 3 - rotational role players on good contracts (none);
* 4 - draft picks with potential to be lottery or mid-range (none)
only if you have rose-tinted glasses on can you look at that list and think it's a good collection of assets.
now, Olshey has the opportunity to improve that asset base this summer.He could re-sign Aminu for 5-8M/year on a two or three year deal with a team option; re-sign Layman for 3-4M/year (at most) with team-friendly terms; Use the tax-MLE wisely and have a player on another 'attractive' contract. That would help quite a bit. And then, guys like Simons and Little might play themselves into that #2 category above by the time the trade deadline rolls around. And much of that might pivot on how much of a stomach Jody Allen has for paying a big luxury tax bill next season
