Can Asik play the 4?

[Mediocre Man]

I said in the rumored deal thread that him being able to play the 4 or not is another discussion, so I thought I would start that.

In my opinion, we need a vet who can play both spots well

 

[magnifier661]

I said in the rumored deal thread that him being able to play the 4 or not is another discussion, so I thought I would start that.

In my opinion, we need a vet who can play both spots well

He could if we had a stretch 5. I don't know really.

 

[Mediocre Man]

He could if we had a stretch 5. I don't know really.

We don't though. We have Lopez.

So I guess I am asking, can Lopez and Asik play together?

Same question for those that want Hawes. Hawes is a stretch guy on offense, but can he defend 4's?

 

[Strenuus]

Eh... It'd be like having a better Freeland on the team. No offense really.

 

[Strenuus]

We don't though. We have Lopez.

So I guess I am asking, can Lopez and Asik play together?

Same question for those that want Hawes. Hawes is a stretch guy on offense, but can he defend 4's?

I am def. for hawes... more for his stretching the floor abilities... his defense isn't the greatest, but it is passable.

 

[julius]

If they traded Freeland (and I'm assuming Meyers), he'd have to. I think he could.

The team would need a 2nd big man (or Robinson to improve quickly).

 

[magnifier661]

I guess the real question is can Asik play with Freeland or Lopez for 10 minutes a game? I'm sure it wouldn't be worse than Leonard.

Lopez could drop down to 28 minutes a game, giving Asik the opportunity to get 20 minutes at 5. Maybe another 8 minutes at 4?

 

[Strenuus]

If they traded Freeland (and I'm assuming Meyers), he'd have to. I think he could.

The team would need a 2nd big man (or Robinson to improve quickly).

Talk about Mo having to jack up a ton of shots if that is the case!

 

[magnifier661]

Talk about Mo having to jack up a ton of shots if that is the case!

It would be really interesting to see a Lopez/Asik front line. Talk about rebounding!!!!

 

[Strenuus]

It would be really interesting to see a Lopez/Asik front line. Talk about rebounding!!!!

Very true.

Asik/Wright/Mo/CJ our second unit? That's not terrible.

 

[magnifier661]

Very true.

Asik/Wright/Mo/CJ our second unit? That's not terrible.

CJ truly is our missing piece. That is of course he can play to his advertise. He's like a Lillard-light! But you put Two great rebounders in, then shit gets real quick!

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

We have a stretch 4 in Aldridge; could Asik play half of his minutes with Aldridge? Use him like we use Mo Williams, kind of. I gotta think how this would work....

 

[Strenuus]

CJ truly is our missing piece. That is of course he can play to his advertise. He's like a Lillard-light! But you put Two great rebounders in, then shit gets real quick!

At the very least, CJ is our measuring stick to see what we do at the deadline. I still think we get a back up defensive big. We are in win now mode.

If we got A lopez/Asik frontcourt even for 10 minutes on our second unit, that will be huge. Even Asik/Freeland I think could work (Asik at the 5, Freeland at the 4).

The big difference is that Lopez is a team player and will bring Asik in and tell him to get his shit straight and rebound for the team. I think that's a big reason why Asik and Howard (underneath it all) didn't work.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I thought the whole reason for Asik being shopped is he can't play effectively with Howard on the court.

I don't see Hoston sending Asik anywhere but the east. OKC, SA, Clips and the Blazers could all use Asik, but if Houston is in win now mentality, they don't trade Asik to a contending team in the west.

 

[ponderguy]

I said in the rumored deal thread that him being able to play the 4 or not is another discussion, so I thought I would start that.

In my opinion, we need a vet who can play both spots well

I nominate Taj Gibson. He would be a great fit next to Leonard and could play next to Freeland. Might be able to sell the blazers on something like Gibson for Robinson

 

[magnifier661]

I nominate Taj Gibson. He would be a great fit next to Leonard and could play next to Freeland. Might be able to sell the blazers on something like Gibson for Robinson

I would shit egg rolls if Chicago did this. Taj would be a great addition with playoff experience. His age would work out well for this team as well.

There really isn't a player in Chicago that is "untouchable", but I doubt they would like T rob for Taj

 

[TBpup]

I nominate Taj Gibson. He would be a great fit next to Leonard and could play next to Freeland. Might be able to sell the blazers on something like Gibson for Robinson

Taj would be very good as an active backup '4' but I don't think he has much of an outside game which is the issue with T-Rob. Now he is a much more accomplished player and used to being an impact guy off the bench but I'm wondering if he would fit the offense....haven't seen enough of his game to know for sure.

He's tremendous on help defense and does a good job of crashing the boards and keeping plays alive.

FWIW, Freeland/Meyers combined for 15 (25%) of the Blazers rebounds against the Clippers and as Meyers gets more comfortable, the kid does have a nice offensive touch. Interesting to see him subbing for Aldridge instead of Lopez and going 'Twin Towers' for a small stretch.

 

[Draco]

This question was emphatically answered by the Rockets early this season.

 

[BrianFromWA]

To clear up something from earlier (that was in the podcast that got hit with "technical difficulties--thanks, SouthEast! ):

We are a non-taxpaying team, and if we were just bringing back Asik his 8.3M cap hold would be below the 9.8M threshold, so we could take back 150% of what we send out. Since Asik's hold is $8,374,646, we have to at least send out $5,516,431.

Notable "tradeable" Blazer salaries:
Lopez 5,904,261
Robinson 3,526,440
Wright 3,000,000
Freeland 2,897,976
Mo 2,652,000
McCollum 2,316,720
Leonard 2,222,160
Claver 1,330,000
Crabbe 825,000
Will Barton 788,872

 

[BrianFromWA]

And the trade restriction on Robinson is b/c of the rule outlined in Coon's CBA #98

A team cannot reacquire a player they traded away during that season (a season being July 1 - June 30). If he is waived by his new team, then he cannot re-sign with his original team until the one-year anniversary of the trade, or until the July 1 following the end of his contract, whichever comes first.

Even though the trade was agreed to "last" season (June 30), since it was for cap space, the trade became official on July 10. So Robinson can't be traded back to HOU until next summer, and even if we waive him (for whatever reason), HOU can't resign him.

 

[BrianFromWA]

To clear up something from earlier (that was in the podcast that got hit with "technical difficulties--thanks, SouthEast! ):

We are a non-taxpaying team, and if we were just bringing back Asik his 8.3M cap hold would be below the 9.8M threshold, so we could take back 150% of what we send out. Since Asik's hold is $8,374,646, we have to at least send out $5,516,431.

Notable "tradeable" Blazer salaries:
Lopez 5,904,261
Robinson 3,526,440
Wright 3,000,000
Freeland 2,897,976
Mo 2,652,000
McCollum 2,316,720
Leonard 2,222,160
Claver 1,330,000
Crabbe 825,000
Will Barton 788,872

Forgot to finish the post--if more players are added, and we start bringing back more than 9.8M, then we're limited our outgoing + 5M. If we bring back more than 19.6M, then it's limited to 125% + 100k.

 

[Kaydow]

I thought the whole reason for Asik being shopped is he can't play effectively with Howard on the court.

I don't see Hoston sending Asik anywhere but the east. OKC, SA, Clips and the Blazers could all use Asik, but if Houston is in win now mentality, they don't trade Asik to a contending team in the west.

Agreed. Especially when the rumored package doesn't make them better. They want to win more than they want to dump Asik and his huge contract. The only way I can see a deal between HOU/PDX is if the Blazers sweeten the pot. Maybe Meyers, CJ plus Claver and/or Barton. If I'm the Rockets, CJ could be a playmaker off the bench. After Harden, who's their best playmaker? I would say Lin. They have shooters, but not guys who can get their own shots. With Beverly out for a while, Lin moves into the starting line-up and you have no playmakers off the bench. I don't even know if the Rockets would look twice at this. Tough to say how CJ is viewed around the league at this point. I know several of us Blazer fans are excited to see him in action. The Blazers aren't trading Lopez, this we know. So tell Asik that he'll be given an opportunity to win the starting job. It's hard to imagine that right now with the way Lopez is playing offensively with the first unit (his passing, screen sets, rolling to the basket, ability to shoot open 15 footer, etc.) really make them difficult to defend. Asik isn't anywhere close to as versatile offensively. But hypothetically if you start Asik it doesn't mean that Lopez won't get minutes with the rest of the starters later in the game. Any way you slice it, if Asik comes to PDX, he's going to get minutes & so will Lopez. If Hou did ask for CJ in the package, would you do it? I'm torn on this. I'm pretty high on CJ (maybe more than most), but I'm getting tired of have to score 115 points every game to get a "w". There are some things we can do schematically to get better on D, but only so much. We need a defensive anchor.

 

[Buffalo Blazer]

Asik and Lopez cannot play together. Without spacing, there is no ability to penetrate because the middle would be clogged up with defenders, so it would actually hurt guys like CJ and Mo.

 

[maxiep]

How did Asik and Robinson play together last year?

BTW, we could have eliminated all this uncertainty by keep our second round pick instead of sending it to Chicago.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think you have to play Robinson with Asik because Freeland isn't much of an offensive threat at all, and Asik has virtually no offensive game to speak of. Playing Freeland and Asik together could be catastrophic