Do we keep Henderson or Leonard?

[Schilly]

Charles Barkley (yes I know people think he's nuts) said on the TNT broadcast last night that Portland absolutely has to keep Meyers, nobody disagreed. I think Our angsty little vacuum here has a different view of Meyers than the less biased people around the league. We see a guy who should be able to do a lot of things and hasn't yet so we want him gone. The outsiders see the same thing, but still all it potential and will want to bring him in.

 

[illmatic99]

Regarding Leonard: if he is offered and accepts his QO, he becomes a UFA at the end of next season. If it doesn't impact our ability to sign the FA's we want that want us, and Leonard is amenable to either scenario, do you sign Leonard to the 4.2M QO, an Aminu-level ($30M/4y) deal, or neither?

If you can get Leonard for 6-8 mil/yr, you lock that shit up.

Very movable contract.

 

[Schilly]

Also I think it's ironic that I see a lot of people who want Meyers gone, describing the kind of player we need to add, without mentioning name, and what they are describing almost exactly is Meyers Leonard. Or they could be describing Ryan Anderson, but then if you want Defense, Meyers is better there.

 

[Trackjack]

I would renounce Hendo and wouldn't match anything over 8 million on Myers. Crabbe just completed is first real season and believe he will improve he would in the 9-10 million a year and Harkless would 7-8 million range.

 

[Scalma]

On a team full of inexperienced players, it was Henderson who looked most like a rookie in the playoffs. Couldn't inbound the ball, dribbled like he was 40 years old, missed all kinds of clean looks, from outside and inside. He had his moments, and is a pretty solid defender, but I think it's time to part ways.

 

[Sinobas]

I'd keep Meyers for cheap, but wouldn't sign him to anything substantial. He's a very limited player. He'll never be a big scorer in this league because he wants a 10 foot halo and a 10 second wind up to put up a jumper. And he gets lost on D.

Henderson is nice depth. I think he actually provides a toughness on defense that we don't have from any other guard. He's strong enough to play SF in a small ball scenario. Henderson's biggest downside, is that he's not nearly as good as he thinks he is. He really does put up a lot of Kobe shots.

 

[B-Roy]

I think you let Hendo go no matter what. This opens up more minutes for Crabbe and Harkless especially if you plan on adding another player to the rotation next year.

 

[andalusian]

Bigs take time to develop. Leonard's curve look a lot like Deandre Jordan's first 4 years - with less time actually playing (LAC was never a good time in DJ's first 4 years, he got to play more).

I would be shocked if Neil does not retain Leonard. The only caveat to this is if some team goes banana and offer him $10m+ per year. Anything up to that - and he stays a Blazers imho.

 

[MarAzul]

I think we win this last series if we have Meyers out there scoring and assisting and rebounding like he is capable of doing.

 

[B-Roy]

Here's the thing with Leonard:

1. He's out till December. Can't even practice. So does any team offer him the type of contract he wants?

2. If he doesn't get an offer he likes, would he really take the QO? What if the Blazers sign a guy that takes all of his rotation minutes? I think that is a legitimate concern for him.

3. If he does take the QO, he gets a no-trade clause, so any trade you want to make with him has to have his approval.

4. What's his price? Of all our guys, Meyers is the toughest to price.

 

[illmatic99]

Bigs take time to develop. Leonard's curve look a lot like Deandre Jordan's first 4 years - with less time actually playing (LAC was never a good time in DJ's first 4 years, he got to play more).

I would be shocked if Neil does not retain Leonard. The only caveat to this is if some team goes banana and offer him $10m+ per year. Anything up to that - and he stays a Blazers imho.

There's not much risk in signing him for a < 10 mil /yr deal.

The question is rather if we let him dangle in FA to max our capspace. There's like 20 teams with max capspace or something. Someone will throw him some big $.

 

[BBert]

Charles Barkley (yes I know people think he's nuts) said on the TNT broadcast last night that Portland absolutely has to keep Meyers, nobody disagreed. I think Our angsty little vacuum here has a different view of Meyers than the less biased people around the league. We see a guy who should be able to do a lot of things and hasn't yet so we want him gone. The outsiders see the same thing, but still all it potential and will want to bring him in.

So...some of us focus on what Meyers can't or hasn't yet done...while other observers consider what he can and may yet do?

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Blazers had a pretty crappy team defensive rating of 108. The injured guy had a worse rating of 109

The injured guy had the 6th worse PER on our 15 man roster.

Both are EASILY replaceable

If what you need is defense, then absolutely.

 

[MarAzul]

while other observers consider what he can and may yet do?

I sort of think of this as, what I see as, he will be doing.

 

[BBert]

Also I think it's ironic that I see a lot of people who want Meyers gone, describing the kind of player we need to add, without mentioning name, and what they are describing almost exactly is Meyers Leonard. Or they could be describing Ryan Anderson, but then if you want Defense, Meyers is better there.

Right.

OK, Meyers, you're gone.

Now. Who do we replace him with? And how?

chirp chirp

 

[BBert]

I would renounce Hendo and wouldn't match anything over 8 million on Myers. Crabbe just completed is first real season and believe he will improve he would in the 9-10 million a year and Harkless would 7-8 million range.

Seems reasonable.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

There's not much risk in signing him for a < 10 mil /yr deal.

The question is rather if we let him dangle in FA to max our capspace. There's like 20 teams with max capspace or something. Someone will throw him some big $.

If someone out there is going to throw him big $, then I imagine his agent knows that and won't let him sign a below-market-value deal. If he re-signs here early (QO or otherwise), it's because his agent has received indications that he can't get anything better.

 

[Schilly]

The one angle I really want to put out here is something that I think is very important. Timing, and the concept of how signings of any of our players affect our bottom line. Lets assume that we will likely have to renounce Henderson due to his cap hold and how that affects our ability to make offers in Free Agency. If we were to get a true full max guy (Durant/James) to agree to sign with us, then we might have to decide between Meyers or Crabbe. But if we are going for a less than max guy, or basically someone in the sub $27mil range we can keep both players without it affecting our bottom line. So if we identify the true max players this summer I really only see Durant and Lebron as full max players, some other guys will probably get in that territory, but I don't think Portland is going to go after guys in that range. I can see us absolutely going after someone in that $25-$27 range which would enable us to hang onto all three of Crabbe, Harkless and Leonard, as long as we sign that FA before we have to match.

Call it addition by addition.

 

[Denny Crane]

Henderson has a huge cap hold. I think we renounce him because he isn't going to agree to a small contract early. We will need his cap-hold removed to have MAX money to throw at a 10 plus year player.

I would take Leonard back at the Qualifying Offer. I think it is around 6 MIL for 1 year. He might sign it as well as he will still be injuried and might not play until December. Basically "Betting on himself" again.

We only need to renounce him by the time a FA signs with us and we need the room. We can keep his rights while negotiating with the FAs.

 

[andalusian]

There's not much risk in signing him for a < 10 mil /yr deal.

The question is rather if we let him dangle in FA to max our capspace. There's like 20 teams with max capspace or something. Someone will throw him some big $.

I would offer him a $7m/year for 4 years with a player option after year 2 - that way if he really blossoms he can opt out in 2 years to get a huge contract - and if not, he has a very respectable contract with financial security.

As I said however, anything up to $10m - I think it makes sense to match.

 

[Denny Crane]

My take is we want to keep both if the price is right. As little as you might think of Hendo, he's been a starter in this league. I'm fine with Crabbe as 6th man, 1st off the bench. However, if CJ or Dame misses a stretch of games, you are looking at Roberts or someone like him moving into the rotation. I'm a lot more comfortable with Hendo in that situation.

I'm not good with Hendo at $10M or some other ridiculous amount.

Leonard can still be something special. He's huge and has a 3pt shot. Those things in one player are not so easy to replace. He's gotten better since being drafted. Earlier in his career, a lot of fans thought he'd never turn into a useful player in the least.

 

[MarAzul]

My take is we want to keep both if the price is right. As little as you might think of Hendo, he's been a starter in this league. I'm fine with Crabbe as 6th man, 1st off the bench. However, if CJ or Dame misses a stretch of games, you are looking at Roberts or someone like him moving into the rotation. I'm a lot more comfortable with Hendo in that situation.

I'm not good with Hendo at $10M or some other ridiculous amount.

Leonard can still be something special. He's huge and has a 3pt shot. Those things in one player are not so easy to replace. He's gotten better since being drafted. Earlier in his career, a lot of fans thought he'd never turn into a useful player in the least.

Very logical.

 

[Schilly]

I like how Roberts played. We could do absolutely nothing but let Henderson and Kaman walk, and I think be better just from growth and experience of our young guys. The Blazers could run a Rotation like this and be fine.

PG Lillard/CJ/Roberts
SG CJ/Crabbe/
SF Harkless/Aminu
PF Aminu/Davis/Vonleh
C Plumlee/Leonard
Garbage time Connoughton/Montero/Alexander

That's not going to happen we are going to add pieces to this team this summer, as we should. If you aren't moving forward you are moving backward. The question becomes who do we target? Whoever we target and add, we have done exactly what we need to do, add assets for a larger trade.

 

[riverman]

I'm actually interested in how our rookies progress this off season...Connaughton, Vonleh and Montero...I have no clue about Alexander but the other 3 showed a lot of promise.

 

[Natebishop3]

We aren't getting Meyers for 7 or 8 million. Someone is going to offer him more than that. I'd say at least 12-13 million per year. There are simply too many teams with money, and not enough players to spend it on.

 

[andalusian]

We aren't getting Meyers for 7 or 8 million. Someone is going to offer him more than that. I'd say at least 12-13 million per year. There are simply too many teams with money, and not enough players to spend it on.

Time will tell. This is going to be interesting, for sure. Glad it is Neil's job and not mine to make this decision.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

We aren't getting Meyers for 7 or 8 million. Someone is going to offer him more than that. I'd say at least 12-13 million per year. There are simply too many teams with money, and not enough players to spend it on.

I think we get him for under 10 (slightly) easily now due to his injury. This is a guy who might not see the court until January.

And yes a lot of teams have cap space. But there are plenty of players in Meyers range for teams to blow their wad on.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Blazers will get Monroe and Parker this summer! Just watch.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Should the Blazers keep Roberts as the back up point guard, he is a true point guard, who can run the floor and shoot threes...then again he seems at times out of place, hesitant...hmmm

Who would we replace him with? I've heard Ish Smith's name, but he's not a three point shooter, a qualification to be in Stotts' rotation.

I would like a taller, more defensive-minded player as our backup PG.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Blazers will get Monroe and Parker this summer! Just watch.

I can definitely see us getting Monroe. No way we get Parker as well though without giving up CJ plus Vonleh imo.