Former Blazers Thread

[KingSpeed]

Vonleh started for the Knicks tonight, played 22 minutes, and scored no points.

Ed Davis had 8 points and 10 rebounds for Brooklyn in 20 minutes. Yikes, we might miss that. And Napier didn't play. Crabbe left the game after 2 minutes with a leg injury.

Last night, Pat C had 7 points in 15 minutes.

Let's see how these guys play over the course of the year.

 

[BigGameDamian]

The thread tittle should say The Untouchable Former Blazers Thread.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Batum:
26 mins
7 pts
12 rbs
7 assists
1 TO
2 stls
1 blk
+10

Who did we get for him again?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

When San Antonio plays Brooklyn you'll have a starting five of ex-Blazers (if Crabbe hasn't done too much damage to himself tonight).

 

[THE HCP]

The guy starting for the Knicks tonight I believe.

 

[THE HCP]

When San Antonio plays Brooklyn you'll have a starting five of ex-Blazers (if Crabbe hasn't done too much damage to himself tonight).

Watching that game right now. AC rolled his ankle REAL bad.

 

[julius]

The thread tittle should say The Untouchable Former Blazers Thread.

Man, you're gonna milk that cow until it's bone dry, aren't you?

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Batum:
26 mins
7 pts
12 rbs
7 assists
1 TO
2 stls
1 blk
+10

Who did we get for him again?

I liked Batum but he’s so inconsistant... Like some games he looks like an allstar, some nights you’d wonder why the Blazers were starting a g-league guy.

I feel like if he got traded back here, we’d remember pretty quickly how frustrating he can be.

 

[barfo]

To me, inconsistently good >> consistently bad

barfo

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Man, you're gonna milk that cow until it's bone dry, aren't you?

Michael Scott: “Thats what she said.”

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

To me, inconsistently good >> consistently bad

barfo

So you bit shifted to the right. Then got Aminu.

 

[Chris Craig]

The guy starting for the Knicks tonight I believe.

And some old dude who had hip surgery and isn't playing now

 

[Boob-No-More]

Batum:
26 mins
7 pts
12 rbs
7 assists
1 TO
2 stls
1 blk
+10

Who did we get for him again?

The right not to pay this:


for a guy who last shot above the league average from 3-point range 5 seasons ago. He has shot .324, .348, .336 and .333 from 3-point range the last four seasons, which really sucks for a guy who takes half his shots from 3-point range. Last year in CHO, he scored a total of 740 points and his last season in PR he scored 664 points. Al-Farouq Aminu is a better 3-point shooter, a better rebounder, a better defender and makes less than $7 million. Nic is a better ball handler and passer, but not $17 million a season better (this year, plus two more seasons at $25 and $27 million).

I get that Nic doesn't suck, but he is basically an average player that got a 5-year max contract during the summer of 2016. He basically gives you slightly better than Aminu production at Aminu + Turner cost. Unlike Aminu (1 year) and Turner (2 years) he will continue to be grossly overpaid for 3 more years.

BNM

 

[Rozay]

Batum:
26 mins
7 pts
12 rbs
7 assists
1 TO
2 stls
1 blk
+10

Who did we get for him again?

Batum is garbage. You know what we got for him? Dodging the possible stupid decision to re-sign him.

The guy can’t shoot to save his life. You guys hate on Turner but Batum is just slightly better than him and oh ya I forgot Batum signed for 120m again that’s a Max contract worth 120 freaking million dollars YIKES!!

 

[Rozay]

The right not to pay this:

View attachment 22670
for a guy who last shot above the league average from 3-point range 5 seasons ago. He has shot .324, .348, .336 and .333 from 3-point range the last four seasons, which really sucks for a guy who takes half his shots from 3-point range. Last year in CHO, he scored a total of 740 points and his last season in PR he scored 664 points. Al-Farouq Aminu is a better 3-point shooter, a better rebounder, a better defender and makes less than $7 million. Nic is a better ball handler and passer, but not $17 million a season better (this year, plus two more seasons at $25 and $27 million).

I get that Nic doesn't suck, but he is basically an average player that got a 5-year max contract during the summer of 2016. He basically gives you slightly better than Aminu production at Aminu + Turner cost. Unlike Aminu (1 year) and Turner (2 years) he will continue to be grossly overpaid for 3 more years.

BNM

I didn’t even read this before I responded. THANK YOU

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I liked Batum but he’s so inconsistant... Like some games he looks like an allstar, some nights you’d wonder why the Blazers were starting a g-league guy.

I feel like if he got traded back here, we’d remember pretty quickly how frustrating he can be.

Yeah, we don't miss him because we replaced him with rock-solid Evan Turner.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Batum is garbage. You know what we got for him? Dodging the possible stupid decision to re-sign him.

The guy can’t shoot to save his life. You guys hate on Turner but Batum is just slightly better than him and oh ya I forgot Batum signed for 120m again that’s a Max contract worth 120 freaking million dollars YIKES!!

Yeah, and not giving it to Batum meant we had plenty left over to give to Turner and Leonard! Phew! So glad we're not wasting Paul Allen's precious cash.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

With Murray's torn ACL, likely that Patty Mills will be starting. Looking forward to what he'll be able to do with this opportunity.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

The right not to pay this:

View attachment 22670
for a guy who last shot above the league average from 3-point range 5 seasons ago. He has shot .324, .348, .336 and .333 from 3-point range the last four seasons, which really sucks for a guy who takes half his shots from 3-point range. Last year in CHO, he scored a total of 740 points and his last season in PR he scored 664 points. Al-Farouq Aminu is a better 3-point shooter, a better rebounder, a better defender and makes less than $7 million. Nic is a better ball handler and passer, but not $17 million a season better (this year, plus two more seasons at $25 and $27 million).

I get that Nic doesn't suck, but he is basically an average player that got a 5-year max contract during the summer of 2016. He basically gives you slightly better than Aminu production at Aminu + Turner cost. Unlike Aminu (1 year) and Turner (2 years) he will continue to be grossly overpaid for 3 more years.

BNM

It's cheating to throw Aminu in there, because I'm also a huge Aminu-booster. I think that he's one of the bargains of the league. Plus he plays a different position from Batum.
Yes, of course Batum is overpaid. There's practically no free agent signed in 2016 who isn't (unless Aminu was signed then - in which case he really needs to fire his agent).
Batum was traded. The only reason to do that is if you got value for him. If you just wanted to avoid spending money on him, then let somebody else pay him more in free agency. Meanwhile we got Vonleh and Henderson for him, right? How'd that pan out? And Olshey used the money he "saved" to ATTEMPT to splurge the SAME AMOUNT on Chandler Parsons, and when that failed, he SETTLED for Turner.

Turner + Meyers Leonard $ > Batum $

(Oh, and Nic is a "better ball handler and passer"? That's putting it mildly. He averages more assists/minute than Kemba Walker. He's essentially their PG.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

With Murray's torn ACL, likely that Patty Mills will be starting. Looking forward to what he'll be able to do with this opportunity.

Apparently they're going to start Derrick White. But yes, no doubt Patty will get the bulk of the minutes.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

The guy starting for the Knicks tonight I believe.

Good for Vonleh. Maybe failing disastrously here lit a fire under his ass. But I bet his minutes will go progressively down as the season goes on.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Patty is the primo example of "ex-Blazers whom I'm amazed managed to carve out long-ish careers after we dumped them", but another one is Luke Babbitt. (He was Pat Connaughton before Pat Connaughton was Pat Connaughton.) Is he still with the Heat?

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Yeah, we don't miss him because we replaced him with rock-solid Evan Turner.

I never said a word about Evan Turner though at least in this context. I dont miss Batum because his inconsistency is frustrating. That doesnt mean I like Evan Turner. Technically we replaced Batum with Harkless and Aminu not with Evan Turner.

 

[hoopsjock]

Yeah, and not giving it to Batum meant we had plenty left over to give to Turner and Leonard! Phew! So glad we're not wasting Paul Allen's precious cash.

First off, Leonard was an RFA so his contract had nothing to do with whether or not Batum was on the team. Secondly, just because the execution was awful it doesn't mean that maximizing cap space was the wrong thing to do.

People complain when players leave for nothing in return. The Batum situation is kind of the opposite of the Crabbe situation. If we just let Crabbe go to Brooklyn instead of matching then we'd have people in here saying how dumb it was to let Crabbe walk because he averaged 13 points and shot 38% from 3 or whatever last year. Isn't shooting exactly what we needed? Since he played an extra year here though people are fine with him playing elsewhere.

My point is that whether it is Batum, Turner, Crabbe, or Leonard signing a mediocre player to a big contract is bad. At least by trading Batum we got a player who was cheap and could've potentially broke out. It didn't work out but I'd take that risk over either letting Batum walk for nothing or paying him that ridiculous amount.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I'd take that risk over either letting Batum walk for nothing or paying him that ridiculous amount.

But (again): Olshey turned around and offered CHANDLER PARSONS the same amount he could've paid Batum. And he turned us down! So basically, when you're a Portland, you HAVE to overpay to get FAs, or to keep your good players.
Find me another player (not still on his rookie contract) who is as versatile as Batum (point forward, possible (in Batum's case, actual) 5 x 5 threat) who ISN'T paid obscene amounts. The worst part is that Batum is EXACTLY the right player to play alongside CJ and Lillard. And I bet you big bucks that if he WAS on Portland, the three-point % that obsesses BNM would go up. The Hornets don't have the other scorers that we do so Batum has to jack up more bad shots.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I never said a word about Evan Turner though at least in this context. I dont miss Batum because his inconsistency is frustrating. That doesnt mean I like Evan Turner. Technically we replaced Batum with Harkless and Aminu not with Evan Turner.

No, we replaced Aldridge with Aminu.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

No, we replaced Aldridge with Aminu.

Sure I guess because he plays PF, but he’s more of SF/ PF role than LA who was a PF/C.

Thats really kind of a side point though. The main point was that Batum is incredibly inconsistent and I found him to be very frustrating, and saying that doesnt mean I like ET either. If it was my choice, id choose option c: Someone not them.

 

[Scalma]

But (again): Olshey turned around and offered CHANDLER PARSONS the same amount he could've paid Batum. And he turned us down! So basically, when you're a Portland, you HAVE to overpay to get FAs, or to keep your good players.
Find me another player (not still on his rookie contract) who is as versatile as Batum (point forward, possible (in Batum's case, actual) 5 x 5 threat) who ISN'T paid obscene amounts. The worst part is that Batum is EXACTLY the right player to play alongside CJ and Lillard. And I bet you big bucks that if he WAS on Portland, the three-point % that obsesses BNM would go up. The Hornets don't have the other scorers that we do so Batum has to jack up more bad shots.

Man when we think back on all the players Neil targeted and got rejected/matched by, his resume would look even shittier.

Hibbert
Spencer Hawes
Monroe
Parsons

I feel like I’m missing more but that’s just the ones I remember off the top of my head. Not gonna hold things that didn’t happen against him, but it also doesn’t give me any confidence that he knows what the fuck he’s doing (in free agency)

 

[hoopsjock]

But (again): Olshey turned around and offered CHANDLER PARSONS the same amount he could've paid Batum. And he turned us down! So basically, when you're a Portland, you HAVE to overpay to get FAs, or to keep your good players.
Find me another player (not still on his rookie contract) who is as versatile as Batum (point forward, possible (in Batum's case, actual) 5 x 5 threat) who ISN'T paid obscene amounts. The worst part is that Batum is EXACTLY the right player to play alongside CJ and Lillard. And I bet you big bucks that if he WAS on Portland, the three-point % that obsesses BNM would go up. The Hornets don't have the other scorers that we do so Batum has to jack up more bad shots.

Thanks for proving my point. Add Chandler Parsons to the list of players you SHOULDN'T sign to a big contract. Whether it's Batum, Parsons, Turner, Deng, Mozgov, Noah, Crabbe, Mahinmi, Biyombo, add whoever the fuck you want to the list but you don't sign those level players to big contracts. We would've been better off with value signings (which had been an Olshey specialty) like Garrett Temple, Dewayne Dedmon, Wayne Ellington, or James Johnson. You don't "HAVE" to overpay players, especially ones that aren't worth it.

Batum was awful his final year here. There is no other way to spin it. He shot 32.4% from 3 and 40% overall. That doesn't help Dame and CJ and certainly disproves your theory that he would shoot better in a different role. Batum is the ultimate tease of a player. Watch a Hornets game and you might think for about 10 minutes that Batum is one of the best players in the NBA. Watch the next 5 games after that and you'll forget he's even on the team since he disappears most of the time.

 

[Propagandist]

Man, you're gonna milk that cow until it's bone dry, aren't you?

Do you have a camera in my office or something?!?