Ifeaanyi Festus Ezeli is in town and preparing to interview w Blazers

[JfizzleBlazer]

If meyers is gonna take the qualifying offer, i dont see them renouncing him.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

but doesnt that mean then we could offer mo 8m per and only take a .3 hit to the cap as is? renounce lenoard offer 13-14 per to ezeli sign crabbe over the top? does that work?

Yes but isn't it painfully obvious by now that POR Brass likes Leonard more than apparently many fans do? And Mo probably gets offer higher than that from another team that we have to decide whether to match on.

 

[MarAzul]

Havent read the whole thread so I'm not sure if its been mentioned.

If the Warriors lose Festus they are going to have a massive hole at the 5 spot. Might not hurt them that much since they will play small ball more often than not, but after losing Bogut, losing Festus could be a big deal.

Yes, no doubt a big deal. Three guys on that team now, last season averaged 58 shots a game between them. The Warriors average 87 as a team and that is high,
only two teams shoot more, Boston 3 and Chicago 1. So 12 guys get to divie up 29 more shots. This is going to be a fun team to watch and see how they work this out. I don't think they will all that successfully, especially if they have no bigs. The only other they have stays out on the perimeter to chuck threes. Ha! just what they need.

 

[TBpup]

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/20...s-one-of-the-leagues-efficient-rim-protectors

"Whiteside's deterrence index3 (44.1%) is smaller than Ezeli's (45.4%), who is second after Spencer Hawes (46.8%), and even Harrison Barnes (44.9%)."

Shot deterrence meaning takes a real beating if Spencer Hawes is #1.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Part of Hawes excellence is his ugliness.

 

[Chris Craig]

Tell me the Warriors aren't going to start Pachulia at center

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Part of Hawes excellence is his ugliness.

He has impeccable taste though

 

[chzbrgr]

Yes but isn't it painfully obvious by now that POR Brass likes Leonard more than apparently many fans do? And Mo probably gets offer higher than that from another team that we have to decide whether to match on.

I mean FUCK nards man at this point ive seen more outta harkless in 2/3 of a season than no D in 4 years. WHEN WILL WE LEARN WE CANT TEACH INSTINCS. fuck.

Anyways...
I mean he MIGHT get a better offer idk if anyone's giving him more than 9-10 per which we could easily match make it a 3-yr deal with a player option on the last year or something. thats in the best interest of all parties. I think crabbe might be to much to match from brooklyn and that would be a shrewd move which neil has been known to do

 

[BBert]

Not much. His cap hold is the lowest out of our 3 RFA's. Only 2.7 MIL. Which is why I think he is a lock to come back to POR on a matched contract provided someone doesn't throw him 18 MIL plus a year.

Leonard and Mo have cap holds in the 7.5 to 7.7 MIL area I believe.

Yeah I temporarily forgot that during my melt down.

 

[Natebishop3]

If fuckin bazemore can get 70 million I could see crabbe getting that kind of offer.

 

[42N8Bounce]

I'm okay if they renounce the rights to Harkless or Leonard, but if we have to renounce both of them, that would suck. I'm guessing Neil has a pretty good idea what those guys (including Crabbe) will be offered by other teams. That will be a big factor in determining who to renounce and how much cap space we have to make an offer to Ezeli. Also keep in mind the minimum roster charge for up to 13 players. We only have 10 guys under contract at this time.

 

[MickZagger]

17 mi for that schlub?

I would be hesitant to give him 10. That's even pushing it.

 

[Denny Crane]

If we sign Ezeli, it means his knees passed the exam and we have a guy who should break out given 30+ minutes.

I like Mo a lot, but it is probably an improvement to have Ezeli over him.

The starting lineup looks to be improved quite a bit:

Dame, CJ, Ezeli, Turner, Aminu

Bench:

Crabbe, Plums, Davis, Leonard, Connaughton, Vonleh

Aminu and Turner and Crabbe cover the SF minutes, so I think we're balanced enough.

 

[Natebishop3]

If we sign Ezeli, it means his knees passed the exam and we have a guy who should break out given 30+ minutes.

I like Mo a lot, but it is probably an improvement to have Ezeli over him.

The starting lineup looks to be improved quite a bit:

Dame, CJ, Ezeli, Turner, Aminu

Bench:

Crabbe, Plums, Davis, Leonard, Connaughton, Vonleh

Aminu and Turner and Crabbe cover the SF minutes, so I think we're balanced enough.

Gotta move a big. Probably plumlee. He's going to get overpaid next summer anyway.

 

[42N8Bounce]

$70M. That would be in the range of releasing Leonard. That would get us to about $15.7M first year, $67M over 4 years. To get more than that, we'll need to cut Harkless, Crabbe, Montero, and/or Alexander.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

He has no leverage. Not many if any teams who need a Center can pay him that. 4 x 10 for 40 is more than fair with his injury history.

 

[Sinobas]

Looks like he mixed his whites and reds in the wash again.

The worst thing is to mix whites and blacks.

 

[Scalma]

No way we get Ezeli for anything less than 15. If we do I will cry immediately no questions asked.

 

[LuckyShot]

$70M. That would be in the range of releasing Leonard. That would get us to about $15.7M first year, $67M over 4 years. To get more than that, we'll need to cut Harkless, Crabbe, Montero, and/or Alexander.

Fuck that. Pass.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Anybody else think it's odd that the Blazers didn't send anyone to the airport to meet him?

Blazers have been playing hard to get on this one from the getgo.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Give me Ekpe Udoh instead.

 

[Natebishop3]

I don't want to give up Harkless. I would dump Leonard in a second.

Dame
CJ
Turner
Aminu
Ezeli

With Crabbe, Harkless, Vonleh, Davis off the bench. That's still a VERY solid rotation. Extremely versatile. I left Plumlee off the list because I think we need to trade him. If Ezeli can get an offer like this, Plumlee is going to get some kind of stupid offer next summer.

 

[Sinobas]

Here's what I'd do. Sign Ezeli for 15 million per year. Renounce Meyers and let him walk. Resign Harkless and Crabbe. Trade Aminu for a 1st round pick.

 

[Natebishop3]

Here's what I'd do. Sign Ezeli for 15 million per year. Renounce Meyers and let him walk. Resign Harkless and Crabbe. Trade Aminu for a 1st round pick.

Gotta hold onto Aminu unless we can swing a trade for someone like Millsap.

 

[BonesJones]

What I'm hoping for is Leonard to take the QO like he's rumored to. That would clear about $3M in cap leaving us with $11Mish. Then trading Plumlee for a future 1st which would leave us with $13M. That means we could give Ezeli apx. 4/60. We would then Sign Layman, Trade for Napier, take care of Crabbe and Moe and then sign a very for the Room MLE

Lillard / _____ / Napier
CJ / Crabbe / Connaughton
Turner / Moe / Luis / Layman
Aminu / Davis / Vonleh
Ezeli / Meyers / Cliff

 

[Natebishop3]

What I'm hoping for is Leonard to take the QO like he's rumored to. That would clear about $3M in cap leaving us with $11Mish. Then trading Plumlee for a future 1st which would leave us with $13M. That means we could give Ezeli apx. 4/60. We would then Sign Layman, Trade for Napier, take care of Crabbe and Moe and then sign a very for the Room MLE

Lillard / _____ / Napier
CJ / Crabbe / Connaughton
Turner / Moe / Luis / Layman
Aminu / Davis / Vonleh
Ezeli / Meyers / Cliff

Yup. Gotta move Plums. I like the dude, but he's going to get stupidly overpaid next summer with the cap going up again.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

I like the presence he brings defensively. I don't know how many times I watched Portland going well offensively when the two teams faced only to have him come in and alter the game with his presence. He makes a difference defensively when he is on the court. And if he could stay healthy, he would be defensive difference maker. I don't think he's worth 70 mil nor am I sure I would rescind anyone for the ability to sign him...Maybe Meyers.

 

[Scalma]

Here's my question. Who we bidding against?

 

[Chris Craig]

Here's my question. Who we bidding against?

You ready....no one

 

[Pinwheel1]

Anybody else think it's odd that the Blazers didn't send anyone to the airport to meet him?

No it was an honest mistake. Ezeli called and said he was taking the MAX, and the Blazers thought he meant...... from the airport.