It feels like we're one PF away from being really good

[BigGameDamian]

Targets?

Spendy targets:

Kelly Olynyk
Nikola Mirotic

Khris Middleton?

 

[Nikolokolus]

An Olynyk/Plumlee combo would be money.

What kind of money would that be? Rubles, Drachmas, Rupees, wooden nickels?

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Crabbe/Vonleh would have to be packaged IMO.

Mirotic is having a bit of a down year -- 10/6/13.9PER

He wasn't really that good last year and he's been pretty terrible this year. He shot 40% last year and is shooting 38% this year.. That's awful for someone who is 6'10". Crabbe/Vonleh is too much for him.

I'd love mirotic.

Why?

 

[BonesJones]

Boston sends some picks to Sacremento, we send a first to Sacramento, Boston sends a first to Brooklyn (the deal makes BKN worse, BOS has Brooklyns pick)

BOS gets their allstar, BKN gets a 1st back and saves $4M a year, SAC gets picks a young pieces.

Lillard (30) / Collision (18)
McCollum (34) / Crabbe (9) / Lillard (5)
Aminu (23) / Harkless (12) / Crabbe (13)
Lee (24) / Young (24)
Plumlee (24) / Davis (24)

 

[BonesJones]

I think Thad Young would be really easy to acquire with cap space, plus we always seem to trade with Brooklyn. David Lee is another guy I'd test out.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

LMA is a top soft forward. Get er done Neil!

 

[crowTrobot]

Crabbe/Vonleh would have to be packaged IMO.

Crabbe is going to get paid next year, hopefully by us

 

[BlayZa]

Aminu is 6'9" with long arms, he's not too short to play PF these days. He can defend most PFs in the league pretty well.

I dunno about having a PF that weighs the same as one of our SG's. he can defend ok, but would get regularly abused at legit PFs - he's at his best at SF where he can have more freedom on help D.

 

[HailBlazers]

I'm 100% over the Vonleh starting craziness, wtf is the point in starting him when he avgs like 17mins a game? and plz dont say experience unless you call underperforming against every starting player he matches up against, improvement. he'd get a lot more traction/impact in the 2nd unit with myers.

TBH im not sure we need a whole lot, other than time, and figuring out wtf the optimal lineup actually is.

Generally it's easier to play with a first unit, like Meyers before him it helps running with starters and every little bit of confidence he can gain will pay dividends in the long run. The whole point is to give him as much burn as possible and it's easier to play him early on in the game as he can get stuck on the end of the bench otherwise. Considering what we gave up to get him I'd say it's pretty important we ensure game time experience for him as its really the only way to develop a young big.

This season is more about development than winning overall.

 

[maxiep]

Just looking at our roster, it seems like a really good power forward is the last piece that we're missing.

Dame/CJ/Crabbe is a really solid guard rotation.

Aminu/Harkless is a nice small forward rotation.

Plumlee/Davis is more than enough to get the job done at center.

The hole is at power forward. Leonard really seems like he should be playing center, and Vonleh is at least a couple years away from contributing. So either through the draft, free agency, or trade, if we could add a legit power forward, I think this team could really make some noise.

But who should we target?

Are you out of your mind? We have one quality starter on a championship level team. McCollum and Aminu are backups on a playoff level team. This team is beyond terrible. We're only winning through hustle and chaos.

 

[blue9]

I go back and forth on this. Could we get away with playing aminu at the 4 as our green and draft (if we learn to get our tank on) a Brandon Ingram type?

Or is aminu at the 3, and grabbing an elite pf the answer?

I don't think we need an elite PF, but we also can't have Aminu in the starting line up. He's not a starter.
Ed Davis - if he could develop a 10-15' jumper - could be a fine starting PF. If could get that jumper he could be similar to Haslem.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Some of the names thrown out in this thread are NBA "Dinosaurs", and don't really fit Stotts system, in particular:
http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/240285/The-NBAs-Dinosaurs

Interestingly, Kanter and Monroe are poster children for the Dinos, and we tried to get both of them.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Are you out of your mind? We have one quality starter on a championship level team. McCollum and Aminu are backups on a playoff level team. This team is beyond terrible. We're only winning through hustle and chaos.

McCollum a backup on a playoff team? Only if that playoff team was the Bulls, the Warriors, the Heat, or the Rockets. Last I looked there are 16 playoff teams but even if you are only thinking just the West then there are 8 total and only 2 teams wouldn't start him over their current guy. He is 6th in SG PER, 4th in SG Value Added, 4th in Estimated Wins Added, and tied for 3rd in SG scoring for the whole NBA.

 

[MickZagger]

McCollum a backup on a playoff team? Only if that playoff team was the Bulls, the Warriors, the Heat, or the Rockets. Last I looked there are 16 playoff teams but even if you are only thinking just the West then there are 8 total and only 2 teams wouldn't start him over their current guy. He is 6th in SG PER, 4th in SG Value Added, 4th in Estimated Wins Added, and tied for 3rd in SG scoring for the whole NBA.

Yeah someone must of been a little sauced up last night when they posted that.

 

[maxiep]

McCollum a backup on a playoff team? Only if that playoff team was the Bulls, the Warriors, the Heat, or the Rockets. Last I looked there are 16 playoff teams but even if you are only thinking just the West then there are 8 total and only 2 teams wouldn't start him over their current guy. He is 6th in SG PER, 4th in SG Value Added, 4th in Estimated Wins Added, and tied for 3rd in SG scoring for the whole NBA.

Is your goal to be a 45-win team that just makes the playoffs? Because that's what you get with two guards that can't play defense. McCollum is best off the bench as instant offense in a three guard rotation.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

Is your goal to be a 45-win team that just makes the playoffs? Because that's what you get with two guards that can't play defense. McCollum is best off the bench as instant offense in a three guard rotation.

Can't? That is false opinion imo. So, please stop pretending what you see us get as absolutely what we will get.

Both Dame and CJ have come a long way on the defensive end this season. Do they still have far to go? Probably. But shows they want to get there.

Both guys outscore their counterparts on average more than they give up on D.

I think I will leave this up to POR Brass and Coach. They would know if CJ is best for us starting or coming off the bench better than you or I in this case.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

We are in kind of a pickle with the PF position.

Meyers is a stretch 5, Plumlee is a 5, Davis is a Haslem type backup 4, Vonleh and Alexander are too young.

We are almost forced into playing small ball if we want to keep Aminu at the 3. So we need to look at players who fit the kind of game Michael Beasley played to fit our 4. I think Jabari Parker would be a good fit but we still lack rim protection.

 

[BonesJones]

Thad Young and David Lee. Both are acquireable. Both fit a need. Young is athletic and can run the floor. Lee is a low post scorer.

 

[Tunchi]

Is your goal to be a 45-win team that just makes the playoffs? Because that's what you get with two guards that can't play defense. McCollum is best off the bench as instant offense in a three guard rotation.

But Cj is damn near better than Dame

 

[riverman]

CJ could be 6 man of the year and get an allstar nod ...just because he doesn't start the 1st qtr, he'd play the same minutes and end most games. I like defense in the first qtr of a game so the bench can build on a lead. Dame can look to score early and Crabbe has length on defense. I think Vonleh is going to make huge progress toward being a better PF

 

[riverman]

As someone posted here, if CJ doesn't start, he may bolt if given the chance. More than likely he'll be starting from here on out.

 

[santeesioux]

Thad Young and David Lee. Both are acquireable. Both fit a need. Young is athletic and can run the floor. Lee is a low post scorer.

Trading for Lee would be one of the worst things we could do. He's at the end of his career and would take up valuable development time from guys like Meyers and Vonleh. If I'm going for an old guy I'd try to pry a Gasol from the Bulls.

 

[Sinobas]

I dunno about having a PF that weighs the same as one of our SG's. he can defend ok, but would get regularly abused at legit PFs - he's at his best at SF where he can have more freedom on help D.

Abused in what way? By who? Rodman was one of the best rebounders in history at 6'7 210. Buck Williams was 6'8 220. Then you've got bigger guys like LA that are pussies inside. It's about attitude.

And don't even give me the BS that those guys are too small for the game today. They played during the toughest, most physical era, and battled guys like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, who are a hell of a lot tougher than anyone in the game today.

Aminu's rebounding% has been better this year than "big boy" Meyers Leonard. And that from the SF position.

 

[riverman]

Trading for Lee would be one of the worst things we could do. He's at the end of his career and would take up valuable development time from guys like Meyers and Vonleh. If I'm going for an old guy I'd try to pry a Gasol from the Bulls.

Wrong Gasol

 

[Sinobas]

It seems to me that Aminu would be better as a PF, just because he doesn't have the ball handling skills you like in a wing. But he is a decent 3pt shooter, which is something Stotts likes in his PFs.

Funny thing about his defense, with the Mavs, his defensive rating was really good inside. -7%, but not so good on the perimeter +4% on 3 pointers. With the Blazers his inside defense has been a wash, but he's been -5% on 3 pointers.

 

[BlayZa]

Abused in what way? By who? Rodman was one of the best rebounders in history at 6'7 210. Buck Williams was 6'8 220. Then you've got bigger guys like LA that are pussies inside. It's about attitude.

And don't even give me the BS that those guys are too small for the game today. They played during the toughest, most physical era, and battled guys like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley, who are a hell of a lot tougher than anyone in the game today.

Aminu's rebounding% has been better this year than "big boy" Meyers Leonard. And that from the SF position.

Rodman is hardly the norm. He was an anomaly. For this to make any sense are we to expect Aminu to play like the Rodman of today? Yes there have been smaller guys that can rebound, very tall PG's, undersized SG's etc but the ones that stand out, as you mentioned, were best in class.... u think Aminu will give us likewise?

I'm not saying he couldn't play there, OR the guys you quoted weren't great, BUT to use those as examples of "ERR you're wrong cause the best rebounder we've seen recently did it so Aminu can/will makes sense' is a bit of a reach bro.

 

[Sinobas]

Rodman is hardly the norm. He was an anomaly. For this to make any sense are we to expect Aminu to play like the Rodman of today? Yes there have been smaller guys that can rebound, very tall PG's, undersized SG's etc but the ones that stand out, as you mentioned, were best in class.... u think Aminu will give us likewise?

I'm not saying he couldn't play there, OR the guys you quoted weren't great, BUT to use those as examples of "ERR you're wrong cause the best rebounder we've seen recently did it so Aminu can/will makes sense' is a bit of a reach bro.

It negates your assertion that you have to weigh so much to play inside. And weight is the only argument you made, but plenty of guys have done well inside who are smaller than Aminu, and plenty are worse who are thicker and/or taller.

His defensive rebounding % is over 20%, which is very good for a SF, and would probably be higher if he were playing more inside at PF. As a comparison, Lamarcus' career defensive rebounding percentage is 19%.

 

[BonesJones]

CJ could be 6 man of the year and get an allstar nod ...just because he doesn't start the 1st qtr, he'd play the same minutes and end most games. I like defense in the first qtr of a game so the bench can build on a lead. Dame can look to score early and Crabbe has length on defense. I think Vonleh is going to make huge progress toward being a better PF

Thing is, CJ is amazing out of the gate. Go look at his 1st quarter stats. I think you build an early lead by coming at in all out attack mode offensively, and build confidence defensively based on what is done offensively

 

[riverman]

Thing is, CJ is amazing out of the gate. Go look at his 1st quarter stats. I think you build an early lead by coming at in all out attack mode offensively, and build confidence defensively based on what is done offensively

I just think Dame and CJ often cancel each other out in the first qtr...let Dame spark the starters and Crabbe defend the 2 guards, then bring CJ in halfway through.It's something I've wanted but it looks like Stotts likes them together

 

[BonesJones]

Trading for Lee would be one of the worst things we could do. He's at the end of his career and would take up valuable development time from guys like Meyers and Vonleh. If I'm going for an old guy I'd try to pry a Gasol from the Bulls.

He's only 32, and his game isn't based on athleticism. I just think he needs more PT. This year he's averaging 17pts, 10reb, and 4ast per 36 on 48% FG and 79% from the line. That's about identical to his career numbers, so I don't think he's dropped off much. He's the low post scorer that we need, and if he doesn't when out, his contract expires and were fine.