Hickson is not worth more than MLE

[magnifier661]

I think a lot of the disagreement here is that some people are looking at it from this years perspective, while others are looking at it from the next several years perspective.

Hickson is a great rebounder, and has helped us tremendously in that role. However, let's say the Blazers sign Pekovic this off season. Hickson out rebounds him by 2.5 a game, but Pekovic's PER difference is light years better than Hickson's.

At PF, Hickson has a PER of 28.9, but his PER against is 27.9, while at center his PER is 21.1 and PER against is 20.9, or a net on court advantage of 1.0 and .1 respectively

Pekovic on the other hand has a PER of 19.8 and a PER against of only 13.3 for an on court advantage of 6.4

Personally, while a risk, I'd rather not try and re-sign a player who is basically a wash on the floor and instead try to sign a player who really helps his team win

But if we could find a player like Pekovic and still keep Hickson as a back-up PF; we would be in awesome shape!

 

[Mediocre Man]

But if we could find a player like Pekovic and still keep Hickson as a back-up PF; we would be in awesome shape!

But we can't because of Hickson's cap hold.

 

[Mediocre Man]

We actually have a player on our D league team that had a 14.2 PER as a seldom used C for Toronto last year. I personally think he would add a lot to our future

 

[magnifier661]

But we can't because of Hickson's cap hold.

Unless we were able to find a player like that via trade before deadline.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Unless we were able to find a player like that via trade before deadline.

That a team is willing to give up for a player they likely can't re-sign in the off season

 

[BBert]

But we can't because of Hickson's cap hold.

And there's the rub.

 

[magnifier661]

And there's the rub.

Yeah it sucks and management is going to have some serious decisions this summer.

 

[BBert]

We actually have a player on our D league team that had a 14.2 PER as a seldom used C for Toronto last year. I personally think he would add a lot to our future

Alabi? I was thinking about him yesterday -- laying in the weeds and if we trade Hickson and filler we can call him up. And I would.

 

[magnifier661]

This is the time we need Ha Sing Sing more than ever!

 

[Mediocre Man]

Yeah it sucks and management is going to have some serious decisions this summer.

Or this trade deadline

 

[magnifier661]

Or this trade deadline

I still think trading Hickson before the deadline is going to be a really tough sell. His contract isn't at the amount for a team to give us quality.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I still think trading Hickson before the deadline is going to be a really tough sell. His contract isn't at the amount for a team to give us quality.

I agree wholeheartedly, but if the team has decided it needs to move on, a late first or whatever is better than nothing

 

[magnifier661]

I agree wholeheartedly, but if the team has decided it needs to move on, a late first or whatever is better than nothing

The one team I think maybe interested, would be the 76ers. I think they are willing to give up Hawes for Hickson and Jefferies (just to cut and shed salaries).

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cyrrkk8

If they renounce Hickson; they would have a salary of 39 mil; which would give them 21 mil to toss at some free agents.

Or they could resign hickson for 8-9 mil and resign Bynum. That's a pretty decent front court.

 

[tester551]

Hickson is a top 5 rebounder in this league...if we didn't have him our rebounding problems would be much worse..I'm not relying on Leonard for anything, maybe that's partly why I'm so enamored with keeping JJ!

I think this might be more of an Aldridge issue than a possitve for Hickson. If we look back a few years.... Pryz, Camby, and now Hickson. What do they all have in common? All were VERY good rebounders playing next to Aldridge.

 

[mook]

Hickson played at the end of last year without LMA and was the focal point of the offense at PF (for 10 games that LMA was out). He didn't have the luxury of Aldridge demanding so much attention. He was the one demanding attention and he did really well. In fact he showed off some range (not LMA range mind you but he wasn't just getting it done on putbacks and dunks).

I REALLY doubt LMA is moved. Of course the smart money is to bet that doesn't happen. With that said it is entirely possible that if he was moved we would have the pieces we want much quicker then just moving someone like Hickson.

Yeah, if we could line up a 3 team deal where we receive somebody like Marc Gasol and a nice secondary player and Memphis clears contracts and gets picks (rumor is they want to go cheap) I could see us trading Aldridge. I'm not saying we have to go that route, but of our two starting caliber PF's, Aldridge is infinitely more tradeable thanks to his skills, size, and below-max contract with Bird Rights.

Hickson isn't nearly as good, but the end deal could work where Hickson gives you 60% of the productivity of Aldridge at PF but we also get 300% the productivity with a new Center acquisition (and maybe somebody decent for our bench). Normally it's a bad deal to trade talent for depth, but Hickson makes it somewhat unique in that we almost certainly lose him for nothing this summer if we don't plan on signing him to a good deal.

 

[Denny Crane]

Hickson can't be traded without his consent.

If I were him, I wouldn't accept any trade.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Hickson can't be traded without his consent.

If I were him, I wouldn't accept any trade.

Why on earth not? If Portland tells his agent they will not re-sign him in the off season he loses nothing by getting traded except the possibility of some high profile games in the playoffs to increase his value.

 

[Denny Crane]

Why on earth not? If Portland tells his agent they will not re-sign him in the off season he loses nothing by getting traded except the possibility of some high profile games in the playoffs to increase his value.

Because he's maximizing his PT and value and ability to get the biggest contract where he is.

 

[BBert]

Because he's maximizing his PT and value and ability to get the biggest contract where he is.

Well, poop. You may have a point. I hate when that happens.

 

[PapaG]

the Blazers have a negative net rebound rate with him in the lineup, and they actually rebound at a better rate when he's not on the floor.

That's an amazing stat. I wouldn't have guessed it.

 

[PapaG]

Because he's maximizing his PT and value and ability to get the biggest contract where he is.

Stotts had him on the bench for the last 5 minutes of the game last night, though. JJ is a great hustle player, but he makes some plays that are just baffling. You take the good with the bad with a hustle guy like Hickson, but you can't depend on him as a starter, and you wonder if he'd willingly take a 7th man/first big off the bench role on anything other than a legitimate title team (if even that).

 

[Denny Crane]

The risk for him would be to get traded to a Sacramento situation again. How'd he do there?

 

[Mediocre Man]

The risk for him would be to get traded to a Sacramento situation again. How'd he do there?

So maybe Stotts continuing to bench him late might motivate him for a change of scenery?

 

[Denny Crane]

So maybe Stotts continuing to bench him late might motivate him for a change of scenery?

That's up to Stotts. Stotts needs to do what it takes to win, no?

 

[Mediocre Man]

That's up to Stotts. Stotts needs to do what it takes to win, no?

He is, by putting Hickson on the bench in the 4th quarter