Howard a possibility still?

[Natebishop3]

With AC, Noah, and one of Plums or Davis off the bench. Sign a few other minimum level players and that's a top 4 team in the west.

That's a solid 8 man rotation, which is all you need in the playoffs. We need another wing though.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Sounds like SPAM is back!

Oh yeah, after Paul Allen giving an impassioned speech at the end of the season? SPAM is back in a BIG way.

 

[Denny Crane]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16657295/dwight-howard-seeks-deal-24m-starting-salary

Source: Dwight Howard seeks a deal with a $24M starting salary

When Dwight Howard starts having his free-agent meetings Friday, he'll seek a contract starting at $24 million a season, according to a source.

Howard is expected to conduct his meetings in his hometown of Atlanta, with the Hawks and Celtics having secured the first discussions with the center.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Charlotte Hornets also have expressed interest in Howard, who declined a player option with the Houston Rockets at $23.2 million.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

That's a solid 8 man rotation, which is all you need in the playoffs. We need another wing though.

You mean like Layman?

 

[BonesJones]

If Dwight signs in guessing Parsons starts at $20M and Dwight gets a 4 year deal with a player option staying at $18M.

That means we need to clear $15M. Renounce Leonard, then trade Davis and Vonleh. Leaves you with Crabbe, Harkless, and Plumlee off the bench.

 

[illmatic99]

 

[BlazerBeav]

 

[Denny Crane]

I don't know about this. $24M is a lot of cap space to clear. It would really gut the roster. 8 man rotation is not ideal for an 82 game season.

 

[santeesioux]

I don't know about this. $24M is a lot of cap space to clear. It would really gut the roster. 8 man rotation is not ideal for an 82 game season.

How much is the room exception? Do you think we could convince Pau to sign for that if we got CP and Howard?

 

[Natebishop3]

I would be more excited about the Parsons/Howard thing if we actually had Parsons committed.

 

[blue9]

I don't know why Crabbe keeps getting thrown around as being renounced. It's a 2.7M cap hold (that's actually only 2.2M when you consider the roster spot hold) that will balloon into a 15M or so/yr contract. I get renouncing everyone else, I guess. But if you can't get a guy to take 1M less in order to keep a stud 6th/man 3&D guy, I mean, wow,

Yup - it's Neil's job to get Parsons/Howard to understand that:

(a) There is no meaningful difference between making $80M and $90M, and

(b) They will personally benefit from taking less so that the team can be stronger/deeper. They will be fresher for the Playoffs if they take less money, allowing us to retain our RFAs. Both Howard and Parsons have injury issues, so it should be worth $10M to them to have capable back-ups so they don't have to over-exert themselves during a grueling 82-game season. They'll at least make a portion of that $10M back due to deeper Playoff runs, and hopefully a Championship or four.

 

[Denny Crane]

How much is the room exception? Do you think we could convince Pau to sign for that if we got CP and Howard?

~$2.8M

I think Pau might take that amount, but more likely with the Spurs.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

How does a Dame-CJ-CP-Noah-D-Ho starting lineup look? Could that win 42 games?

 

[TBpup]

So what would Parsons' contract be if Dwight were to get even say $22M from Portland? They both might have to take a million or two less to play together in what would be a VERY interesting off-season.

 

[Mediocre Man]

How does a Dame-CJ-CP-Noah-D-Ho starting lineup look? Could that win 42 games?

Dude, healthy that's a damn solid starting unit on paper

 

[Mediocre Man]

So what would Parsons' contract be if Dwight were to get even say $22M from Portland? They both might have to take a million or two less to play together in what would be a VERY interesting off-season.

Would be the biggest off season in Blazers history FA wise. Not even close.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Would be the biggest off season in Blazers history FA wise. Not even close.

Maybe the biggest offseason period (maybe the 2006 draft is bigger?)

 

[TBpup]

How much is the room exception? Do you think we could convince Pau to sign for that if we got CP and Howard?

Who knows if Pau would come but if Portland were to be able to get both Parsons AND Howard, I think you would see at least the possibility of players coming here on a vet minimum or mid-level exception that we wouldn't have thought possible before.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Maybe the biggest offseason period (maybe the 2006 draft is bigger?)

Yep. good or bad, sickness and in health, you say goodbye, I say hello. It would be big.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Dude, healthy that's a damn solid starting unit on paper

It's like you've been away so long you don't even recognize my sarcasm anymore.

 

[blue9]

If we need to dump salary to make room then it would seem to make more sense to dump both Aminu and Davis and re-sign our RFAs. We still need a bench, and those cap holds are much smaller than Aminu/Davis salaries. Get Howard/Parsons to take a little less and we should be able to keep at least 2 of our 3 RFAs, if not all 3.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Yep. good or bad, sickness and in health, you say goodbye, I say hello. It would be big.

If we manage to get CP, Howard, and Pau... that's the biggest offseason period (2006 was really special at the time).

 

[Natebishop3]

I said at the time, Dame's quote yesterday sounded like he was talking about Dwight.

 

[0-Our!]

With no bench, back to the 2014-2015 season. Then again it was a pretty good year before Wes went down.

No matter how we scramble to piece together a bench, there's no way it will ever be THAT bad again

 

[Mediocre Man]

It's like you've been away so long you don't even recognize my sarcasm anymore.

Maybe you just suck at it?

 

[julius]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[TBpup]

Whether Portland has ANY shot at Dwight will be decided in the next hour as Parsons is 30 minutes into his meeting with Memphis.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

If we need to dump salary to make room then it would seem to make more sense to dump both Aminu and Davis and re-sign our RFAs. We still need a bench, and those cap holds are much smaller than Aminu/Davis salaries. Get Howard/Parsons to take a little less and we should be able to keep at least 2 of our 3 RFAs, if not all 3.

No, actually, they're not. Harkless' cap hold is roughly equal to Davis' salary, and Leonard's is roughly equal to Aminu's. Unless you think the RFA guys are significantly more valuable long term than the guaranteed guys (since they will be paid significantly more), you renounce the RFA's.

 

[0-Our!]

Yup - it's Neil's job to get Parsons/Howard to understand that:

(a) There is no meaningful difference between making $80M and $90M, and

(b) They will personally benefit from taking less so that the team can be stronger/deeper. They will be fresher for the Playoffs if they take less money, allowing us to retain our RFAs. Both Howard and Parsons have injury issues, so it should be worth $10M to them to have capable back-ups so they don't have to over-exert themselves during a grueling 82-game season. They'll at least make a portion of that $10M back due to deeper Playoff runs, and hopefully a Championship or four.

EXACTLY! Pitch to them (which IS ACTUALLY the truth) ^. IF they actually want to win & prolong their careers/not have miserable seasons/cut down on injuries, aches & pains... both of u take less $ so that we can put u together AND so that we can surround you w/ good players; also say to them: "you've both played for teams where you've not really liked some of your teammates, how much is it worth to you to play w/ those that you ACTUALLY respect & like?"

^ my sea change, we're @ a pt. now that we gotta make some noise & this seems to b 1 of the last ways to do it; IF this doesn't work... on to plan c BUT for now...

 

[blue9]

No, actually, they're not. Harkless' cap hold is roughly equal to Davis' salary, and Leonard's is roughly equal to Aminu's. Unless you think the RFA guys are significantly more valuable long term than the guaranteed guys (since they will be paid significantly more), you renounce the RFA's.

Really? Huh - I figured cap holds were in the $2-3M area. And if I recollect Aminu/Davis are both around $7-8M. I didn't realize cap holds were that high.

Still, I would rather dump Aminu/Davis and keep our RFAs. Crabbe, Harkless, and even Meyers all still have serious potential for improvement, while Aminu and Davis are what they are.

If we dump Aminu/Davis in order to land Parsons/Howard while retaining the RFAs that's a HUGE improvement over last season. It's essentially as if we traded Aminu for Parsons and Davis for Howard.