Blazers have talked to San Antonio about Kawhi

[Natebishop3]

Could be, but I believe the story about Kawhi being pissed at the comments Parker and Pop made. They were being super passive aggressive. Was kind of surprising coming from a usual straight shooter like Pop. Parker is a French weasel so that wasn’t as surprising.

It's funny..... five years ago a team with Dame/CJ/Kawhi/LMA/Nurk would have been a legit championship contender.

Now? With the super super super friends in Oakland...... probably not.

 

[noknobs]

The only way I'd want to trade for Kawhi at all is if it's not a one-year rental. Other than that I don't see the point in even trading away guys like Simmons or Collins, let alone CJ. If it's only one year, you better think you can really compete against G.S. this year. And that's not even taking his injury into account.

 

[BigGameDamian]

The report points out that Leonard has expressed a desire to play in Los Angeles and that few teams have been willing to offer much more than future picks.

So did Paul George. LoL...

 

[Natebishop3]

The only way I'd want to trade for Kawhi at all is if it's not a one-year rental. Other than that I don't see the point in even trading away guys like Simmons or Collins, let alone CJ. If it's only one year, you better think you can really compete against G.S. this year. And that's not even taking his injury into account.

It all feels a little pointless until this reign of terror from the Warriors is finally over.

 

[illmatic99]

The only way I'd want to trade for Kawhi at all is if it's not a one-year rental. Other than that I don't see the point in even trading away guys like Simmons or Collins, let alone CJ. If it's only one year, you better think you can really compete against G.S. this year. And that's not even taking his injury into account.

Not sure about competing with GS, but a Dame-CJ-Kawhi-Nurk squad can win 60 games if it meshes well and is relatively healthy. OKC's risk with PG paid off-- not sure why we couldn't do the same with Kawhi. Worst case scenario, you have some salary cleared (since we need to ship out someone like ET or CJ as is).

 

[RR7]

Harkless, Collins, Layman, gets us there $$ wise.

Lillard/Baldwin/Simons
CJ/Curry/Trent/Stauskus
Leonard/Turner
Aminu/
Nurk/Swanigan/Leonard

Leaves us really thin up front, which would make letting Davis walk look worse(though not a big deal, if we've added Leonard). Add Beasley for the minimum? 9 man rotation of that starting 5, then Curry, Turner, Beasley, Swanigan off the bench.

 

[illmatic99]

Harkless, Collins, Layman, gets us there $$ wise.

Lillard/Baldwin/Simons
CJ/Curry/Trent/Stauskus
Leonard/Turner
Aminu/
Nurk/Swanigan/Leonard

Leaves us really thin up front, which would make letting Davis walk look worse(though not a big deal, if we've added Leonard). Add Beasley for the minimum? 9 man rotation of that starting 5, then Curry, Turner, Beasley, Swanigan off the bench.

Throw in all our picks and try to send Danny Green to Sac (along with one our million young guards as incentive). Helps SA clear more salary.

 

[noknobs]

Not sure about competing with GS, but a Dame-CJ-Kawhi-Nurk squad can win 60 games if it meshes well and is relatively healthy. OKC's risk with PG paid off-- not sure why we couldn't do the same with Kawhi. Worst case scenario, you have some salary cleared (since we need to ship out someone like ET or CJ as is).

No worse case is Kawhi misses a lot of games, we get bounced in the first round, Kawhi leaves for LA, and young guys we traded away emerge into very good players.

 

[illmatic99]

No worse case is Kawhi misses a lot of games, we get bounced in the first round, Kawhi leaves for LA, and young guys we traded away emerge into very good players.

Still think potential reward is far greater than the risk. Kawhi is a consensus top 5 player when healthy. Our young guys don't have ceilings higher than fringe starters.

 

[noknobs]

Still think potential reward is far greater than the risk. Kawhi is a consensus top 5 player when healthy. Our young guys don't have ceilings higher than fringe starters.

I guess I just disagree on the bolded parts, and at the moment the part that isn't bolded is a big "if".

 

[BrianFromWA]

I don’t, I just kno from this article that Neil hasn’t offered CJ... which is a joke

Aren't you one of those people who crushes him (as I do) for bidding against himself in the Harkless, Turner and Leonard contracts?
"I know from this article that Olshey hasn't offered Turner more than 18M/yr, which is a joke!"

 

[Wizard Mentor]

You know, if San Antonio was actually interested in CJ, we could expand the deal to include Aldridge, lol.

Kawhi and Lamarcus for CJ, Collins, Moe, Aminu, Simons, pick.

Then the TPE for Danny Green

Dame
Green
Kawhi
Aldridge
Nurkic

Them trying to force us to take LMA is holding up the deal...

 

[BrianFromWA]

Porter Jr. and what else? Most teams don’t think very highly of his back problems or else he wouldn’t have been 14.

Considering how risk averse San Antonio typically is, I’d be shocked if they were interested in MPJ, who probably can’t even play this year.

That said, if I’m the Blazers anyone but Damian is available.

Remember how they were the people leaking Batum's "health problems" so that he'd drop to them?
And I think that if Porter had been there at 18 he wouldn't have been at 19.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Part of me agrees, but part of me feels like SA deserves the benefit of the doubt considering their track record. Especially the fact that Pop spoke out and alluded to Kawhi's advisors as having the answers. And Pop is by all accounts one cool dude. Also, by saying NOTHING, it feels like Kawhi is really saying something. Being invisible and not being with the team during the playoffs is also fucked. But who knows...

There may be some truth to this but Kawhi has never been one for speaking to the media so, I don’t read much into him not defending himself.

 

[Gronk Brady]

Aren't you one of those people who crushes him (as I do) for bidding against himself in the Harkless, Turner and Leonard contracts?
"I know from this article that Olshey hasn't offered Turner more than 18M/yr, which is a joke!"

I don’t think CJ is overpaying for Kawai... even at a 1 year rental. Kawai is a top 5 players... your talking about having 2 all NBA 1st team players on same team if we acquire him... CJ is an undersized offense only ISO ball chucker... he is overpaid so even if Kawai left it’s a salary dump... and FYI, I don’t think Kawai would leave, I believe Dame gets him to stay... if other teams not offering much, then now is the time to offer CJ and get it done, while CJ still has “upside”

 

[Paine Tablet]

IDK, Vonleh is still a bit of a mystery. Per 36 he was averaging something like 14 pts, 13 reb, and taking 5 3pt attempts/game (.300, not good, but that could improve given the number of attempts). I would rather have Vonleh than Swanigan or K. Leonard at the 4.

He's hated Vonleh from the jump so any irrationality on the topic of Vonleh is most likely emanating from him.

 

[Paine Tablet]

Still think potential reward is far greater than the risk. Kawhi is a consensus top 5 player when healthy. Our young guys don't have ceilings higher than fringe starters.

Bullshit. Collins has at the very least the potential to be an above average starter and it's beyond stupid to speculate this early that the ceiling of Anfernee Simons is only that of a fringe starter.

 

[KingSpeed]

Sounds fun on paper but does anyone know if/when Kawhi will be able play? Has he recovered from injury yet?

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

I don’t think CJ is overpaying for Kawai... even at a 1 year rental. Kawai is a top 5 players... your talking about having 2 all NBA 1st team players on same team if we acquire him... CJ is an undersized offense only ISO ball chucker... he is overpaid so even if Kawai left it’s a salary dump... and FYI, I don’t think Kawai would leave, I believe Dame gets him to stay... if other teams not offering much, then now is the time to offer CJ and get it done, while CJ still has “upside”

I don’t know, I really don’t. This Kawhi thing is weird. He just gave up a season of basketball for an injury no one seems to know anything about. I certainly wouldn’t give up CJ for him, if he’s going to cause Locker room issues, or is just not going to play because he doesn’t feel like it. So say you get Kawhi for CJ next year Kawhi walls, and Portland gets what? It’s not like free agents have made it a habit to show up in Portland. A core of Dame, Kawhi, and Nurk is still not close to Golden state. In I’m not even sure if Dame, CJ, Kawhi and Nurk put them in contender status.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Bullshit. Collins has at the very least the potential to be an above average starter and it's beyond stupid to speculate this early that the ceiling of Anfernee Simons is only that of a fringe starter.

You think the very least for Collins is an above average starter? I am not at all sold on Collins yet. He shows signs of being a good defender, bu he’s got a lot of things to work on to even become a starter at all...

 

[illmatic99]

Bullshit. Collins has at the very least the potential to be an above average starter and it's beyond stupid to speculate this early that the ceiling of Anfernee Simons is only that of a fringe starter.

Why? What have you seen from either to suggest otherwise?

 

[Reep]

Sounds fun on paper but does anyone know if/when Kawhi will be able play? Has he recovered from injury yet?

This is the big mystery. There was one report that he had some tissue damage that wasn't repairing properly. If that is the case it could dramatically reduce his abilities on both ends of the court.

 

[Propagandist]

This is the big mystery. There was one report that he had some tissue damage that wasn't repairing properly. If that is the case it could dramatically reduce his abilities on both ends of the court.

It was said that he was going to attend the Team USA minicamp. I assumed that meant participate, right?

 

[Gronk Brady]

I don’t know, I really don’t. This Kawhi thing is weird. He just gave up a season of basketball for an injury no one seems to know anything about. I certainly wouldn’t give up CJ for him, if he’s going to cause Locker room issues, or is just not going to play because he doesn’t feel like it. So say you get Kawhi for CJ next year Kawhi walls, and Portland gets what? It’s not like free agents have made it a habit to show up in Portland. A core of Dame, Kawhi, and Nurk is still not close to Golden state. In I’m not even sure if Dame, CJ, Kawhi and Nurk put them in contender status.

The reality is that no team can beat the Warriors if they are healthy... but I think if we can make a run like Rockets did last season, that would be good enough for most fans... Dame and Kawhi easily match Harden and Paul at the very least... takes this team from a 7-10 seed with CJ as 2nd best player to 2-4 seed with Kawhi... and again, to be paying CJ 26-30 mil the next 3 years is ridiculous... he is a one way player, best suited for 6th man ala Jamal Crawford

 

[Propagandist]

You think the very least for Collins is an above average starter? I am not at all sold on Collins yet. He shows signs of being a good defender, bu he’s got a lot of things to work on to even become a starter at all...

You talking about Zach "Rasheed" Collins? lol.

 

[Propagandist]

The reality is that no team can beat the Warriors if they are healthy... but I think if we can make a run like Rockets did last season, that would be good enough for most fans... Dame and Kawai easily match Harden and Paul at the very least... takes this team from a 7-10 seed with CJ as 2nd best player to 2-4 seed with Kawai... and again, to be paying CJ 26-30 mil the next 3 years is ridiculous... he is a one way player, best suited for 6th man ala Jamal Crawford

Check it: K A W H I

 

[Propagandist]

The reality is that no team can beat the Warriors if they are healthy... but I think if we can make a run like Rockets did last season, that would be good enough for most fans... Dame and Kawai easily match Harden and Paul at the very least... takes this team from a 7-10 seed with CJ as 2nd best player to 2-4 seed with Kawai... and again, to be paying CJ 26-30 mil the next 3 years is ridiculous... he is a one way player, best suited for 6th man ala Jamal Crawford

(A healthy) Kawhi in Portland would change everything. Him and Dame seem like a match made in that heaven place.

If other teams are hesitant, Portland should just get the fuck in there and make a play. It's worth the gamble. This isn't Melo.

 

[KingSpeed]

The reality is that no team can beat the Warriors if they are healthy... but I think if we can make a run like Rockets did last season, that would be good enough for most fans... Dame and Kawhi easily match Harden and Paul at the very least... takes this team from a 7-10 seed with CJ as 2nd best player to 2-4 seed with Kawhi... and again, to be paying CJ 26-30 mil the next 3 years is ridiculous... he is a one way player, best suited for 6th man ala Jamal Crawford

But Rockets led Warriors 3-2 when Paul got hurt. Tells me GS is beatable.

 

[illmatic99]

I don't think people realize how good Kawhi is. If completely without question marks like contract, health, or agency, you couldn't dream of getting him for Dame + prospects in a trade, much less CJ, or our rookies/youngins. His value is so depressed now because of all of this nonsense that surrounds him-- and we're in a position where we can afford to take these risks. What do we really have to lose? If it blows up, we clear salary for good and start over in 2020-- some people here want to do that now as is.

If it works out and he's healthy and decides to stay, you have a duo in Dame/Kawhi that can compete with any other duo in the league.

 

[KingSpeed]

The reality is that no team can beat the Warriors if they are healthy... but I think if we can make a run like Rockets did last season, that would be good enough for most fans... Dame and Kawhi easily match Harden and Paul at the very least... takes this team from a 7-10 seed with CJ as 2nd best player to 2-4 seed with Kawhi... and again, to be paying CJ 26-30 mil the next 3 years is ridiculous... he is a one way player, best suited for 6th man ala Jamal Crawford

um we are 3 seed without Kawhi