Official: you be the GM (what would you do)

[OregonHuskerMan]

I mean, all this being said, there's no way we land him with Dame and LMA off the table. They'd get much better offers. So it's not an argument from me on whether we can realistically do it, but more would I. ANd I'd absolutely add him to the team. OKC had 2 players in Durant and Westbrook with USG%s in the 30s, and had Harden at 22, all getting over 30 minutes a night. Dame at 25, LMA and Love both at 29ish could find a way to make it work with just one ball.

That I agree with; probably won't happen if Dame/LMA aren't part of the deal, but in my hypothetical world where I'm GM, our whole team would be available to try and land him. I'd probably even do some shady back room deals if I was Paul Allen to land him. Toss them a few mill somehow. That said, I don't see people wouldn't want arguable 2 of the best offensive big men on the league on the same team. Our offense would be incredibly hard to stop, especially in the half court. Defense would still be an issue, of course.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

A 27 PER player should be doing better than Love is doing. Even Jordan alone made it to the playoffs. Minnesota isn't even that awful; I think that Love doesn't make his teammates better.

It's irrational, I know. I think Love is a loser, and will always be a loser because of the way he gets his stats.

His clutch stats, for example, are atrocious. http://www.82games.com/1314/13MIN14.HTM

128.5 DRtg in the clutch. That's ridiculous! 35% eFG on jump shots, which is his most common shot in clutch time (69% of his shots are jumpers).

You think going to LA in close games is a bad idea because he's a low efficiency jump shooting softy? Sure why not hire a second guy just like him!

 

[RR7]

A 27 PER player should be doing better than Love is doing. Even Jordan alone made it to the playoffs. Minnesota isn't even that awful; I think that Love doesn't make his teammates better.

It's irrational, I know. I think Love is a loser, and will always be a loser because of the way he gets his stats.

His clutch stats, for example, are atrocious. http://www.82games.com/1314/13MIN14.HTM

128.5 DRtg in the clutch. That's ridiculous! 35% eFG on jump shots, which is his most common shot in clutch time (69% of his shots are jumpers).

You think going to LA in close games is a bad idea because he's a low efficiency jump shooting softy? Sure why not hire a second guy just like him!

Because he's being asked to do something in those situations he's not good at, likely. Dame should be taking those shots, or setting someone up, anyways. Which alleviates that issue.

 

[Natebishop3]

A 27 PER player should be doing better than Love is doing. Even Jordan alone made it to the playoffs. Minnesota isn't even that awful; I think that Love doesn't make his teammates better.

It's irrational, I know. I think Love is a loser, and will always be a loser because of the way he gets his stats.

His clutch stats, for example, are atrocious. http://www.82games.com/1314/13MIN14.HTM

128.5 DRtg in the clutch. That's ridiculous! 35% eFG on jump shots, which is his most common shot in clutch time (69% of his shots are jumpers).

You think going to LA in close games is a bad idea because he's a low efficiency jump shooting softy? Sure why not hire a second guy just like him!

He's a stat whore. He does what stat whores do. Just look at JJ Hickson.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Because he's being asked to do something in those situations he's not good at, likely. Dame should be taking those shots, or setting someone up, anyways. Which alleviates that issue.

Unless he's always being asked to guard Wilt Chamberlain in clutch time, there's NO excuse for his DRtg.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Can you think of another available STAR? It's all about having star players in this league. Find me another available star and I'd be willing to look at other possibilities. Also, Kevin Love is one of the best players EVER (according to PER) to be traded (if he is).

Valid point, you take them when you can get them. They are not available very often. They say he is not available now, but I think that is a smoke screen in order to get better offers. Regardless we are not a good trading partner for them.

 

[Draco]

If I were the GM;

I'd get on the phone with Cleveland and let them know I'm interested in a sign and trade for Luol Deng. This could be either to themselves directly if they want to draft a SF such as Wiggins or we could join in on a 3 way for them to acquire a veteran star such as Kevin Love. I'd send out Wright, Claver, Crabbe, a sign and traded Watson, $1.7 million in cash to cover Watson's contract, and the most valuable piece our 2015 first round pick completely unprotected. The assumption is Watson would be cut from the roster and only included to match salary. All of the salary Portland sends out equals $6.9 million. Since Portland is a non-tax paying team we can receive ~150% salary back in a sign and trade or $10.3 million. All of the players Cleveland would be acquiring would be expiring contracts. Crabbe has value above his contract. The draft pick is the prized asset and worth more than the contracts. If Cleveland was building a trade package to Minnesota they could include those players and the draft pick. If they only want the cap space they could give the contracts and draft pick to a rebuilding team such as Philly for a future asset.

The draft pick would be unprotected for a few reasons; first of all that makes it a much more valuable asset, secondly it allows us the flexibility to trade other draft picks in future trades if need be. If we protected the pick for top 3 for three years we wouldn’t be able to trade a 2017, 2018, 2019 draft pick either. The chance of needing that protection is extremely unlikely so its better to improve the value of the asset we are sending out and leave ourselves more future trade flexibility.

We would have to be able to agree on a contract with Luol Deng. I would try to sign him to something starting at $10 million a season for three years which would come to $31.4 million. Some people will say that’s overpaying but when you look at all the teams with cap space and the void of starting quality players he will get that money or slightly more somewhere. Deng is a British guy who played in Chicago so I think he’d be fine with rainy Portland whether.

I’d then use the full MLE to sign Pelicans free agent Jason Smith as a veteran center. I’d sign a veteran PG with the BAE such as Luke Ridnour, hoping that CJ beats him out for the backup spot but knowing we have a capable option available. We would have two more veteran minimum salary roster spots, so I’d try to see if Chauncy Billups was interested in that role, and keep the final 15th spot open for training camp or veterans cut from other clubs.

That would give us a depth chart of:

Lopez/Jason Smith/Meyers
LMA/TRob/Freeland
Batum/Luol
Wes/Barton/Billups
Lillard/CJ/Ridnour

 

[RR7]

Unless he's always being asked to guard Wilt Chamberlain in clutch time, there's NO excuse for his DRtg.

Defensive rating as an individual stat with no context provided is completely worthless.

 

[Draco]

Defensive rating as an individual stat with no context provided is completely worthless.

Agreed, it’s a team performance metric.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Agreed, it’s a team performance metric.

Well shit, that's fine. He's probably with the starters, who all suddenly go to shit in the last 5 minutes of the game. Or, everyone on the opposing team suddenly, magically becomes Michael Fucking Jordan.

Or, Love is actually a bad defender.

 

[Draco]

He's a stat whore. He does what stat whores do. Just look at JJ Hickson.

Yeah I agree. Love leading the league in rebounding is a horrible thing. He turns his back to players with the ball just to start boxing out. Increase his stats but costs the team wins.

 

[RR7]

Well shit, that's fine. He's probably with the starters, who all suddenly go to shit in the last 5 minutes of the game. Or, everyone on the opposing team suddenly, magically becomes Michael Fucking Jordan.

Or, Love is actually a bad defender.

I'm not saying he's a great defender. Using his defensive rating is just simply a terrible way to look at it.

 

[PapaG]

Defensive rating as an individual stat with no context provided is completely worthless.

Yes, and the Wolves as a team were terrible with Love on the court at the end of games, and his offensive stats are terrible, too.

 

[RR7]

Yes, and the Wolves as a team were terrible with Love on the court at the end of games, and his offensive stats are terrible, too.

Yes they were. Not trying to argue that.

 

[Draco]

Now that I wrote that book of a post on how we could trade for Deng, with his mediocre 3 point shooting I’m wondering if he is a Stotts player. I wonder if we should target Pau with that package instead? Give the Lakers Meyers, Crabbe, other expiring deals and our unprotected 2015 pick to sign and trade us Gasol. The Lakers supposedly don’t want to give Pau a multi year deal, Pau wants to go to a winning team, and we could really use a veteran like him off the bench. He had a 19.3 PER last year and 21.5 for his career.

Pau really seems like a Stotts system player with well rounded skills and high IQ. LAL can keep their pipe dream alive of Love/Durant signing as free agents. Lakers could trade expiring and picks to the Wolves during the season. I could really care less about us helping them attain Love. Like the Knicks and Melo I think those two kind of deserve to be stuck in mediocrity together.

 

[Pinwheel1]

If I were the GM;

I'd get on the phone with Cleveland and let them know I'm interested in a sign and trade for Luol Deng. This could be either to themselves directly if they want to draft a SF such as Wiggins or we could join in on a 3 way for them to acquire a veteran star such as Kevin Love. I'd send out Wright, Claver, Crabbe, a sign and traded Watson, $1.7 million in cash to cover Watson's contract, and the most valuable piece our 2015 first round pick completely unprotected. The assumption is Watson would be cut from the roster and only included to match salary. All of the salary Portland sends out equals $6.9 million. Since Portland is a non-tax paying team we can receive ~150% salary back in a sign and trade or $10.3 million. All of the players Cleveland would be acquiring would be expiring contracts. Crabbe has value above his contract. The draft pick is the prized asset and worth more than the contracts. If Cleveland was building a trade package to Minnesota they could include those players and the draft pick. If they only want the cap space they could give the contracts and draft pick to a rebuilding team such as Philly for a future asset.

The draft pick would be unprotected for a few reasons; first of all that makes it a much more valuable asset, secondly it allows us the flexibility to trade other draft picks in future trades if need be. If we protected the pick for top 3 for three years we wouldn’t be able to trade a 2017, 2018, 2019 draft pick either. The chance of needing that protection is extremely unlikely so its better to improve the value of the asset we are sending out and leave ourselves more future trade flexibility.

We would have to be able to agree on a contract with Luol Deng. I would try to sign him to something starting at $10 million a season for three years which would come to $31.4 million. Some people will say that’s overpaying but when you look at all the teams with cap space and the void of starting quality players he will get that money or slightly more somewhere. Deng is a British guy who played in Chicago so I think he’d be fine with rainy Portland whether.

I’d then use the full MLE to sign Pelicans free agent Jason Smith as a veteran center. I’d sign a veteran PG with the BAE such as Luke Ridnour, hoping that CJ beats him out for the backup spot but knowing we have a capable option available. We would have two more veteran minimum salary roster spots, so I’d try to see if Chauncy Billups was interested in that role, and keep the final 15th spot open for training camp or veterans cut from other clubs.

That would give us a depth chart of:

Lopez/Jason Smith/Meyers
LMA/TRob/Freeland
Batum/Luol
Wes/Barton/Billups
Lillard/CJ/Ridnour

Cleveland needs to draft a SF like you suggest. Wiggins has the most upside and I think he will be the pick. I doubt Deng wants to stick around so it shouldn't take much of an incentive to get Cleveland to get involved in a sign and trade. I think most of us agree Nic can play SG, so adding Deng as a wing with Wes and Nic would make us a lot tougher.

Who are we competing against for Deng? Who has Cap space this year that needs a vet?

 

[Draco]

Cleveland needs to draft a SF like you suggest. Wiggins has the most upside and I think he will be the pick. I doubt Deng wants to stick around so it shouldn't take much of an incentive to get Cleveland to get involved in a sign and trade. I think most of us agree Nic can play SG, so adding Deng as a wing with Wes and Nic would make us a lot tougher.

Who are we competing against for Deng? Who has Cap space this year that needs a vet?

Yeah I'm not sure, seems like both Deng and Pau are interested in going to a playoff team. It would have to be teams with room under the luxury tax after all their other signings. I can't think the list is terribly long. The great thing is tax teams like Miami, Brooklyn, Knicks, Clippers, aren't eligible to receive players via a sign and trade so we don't have to worry about them. Supposedly Neil is a great salesmen so he needs to sell one of them on being a Blazer!

 

[Mediocre Man]

If I were the GM;

I'd get on the phone with Cleveland and let them know I'm interested in a sign and trade for Luol Deng. This could be either to themselves directly if they want to draft a SF such as Wiggins or we could join in on a 3 way for them to acquire a veteran star such as Kevin Love. I'd send out Wright, Claver, Crabbe, a sign and traded Watson, $1.7 million in cash to cover Watson's contract, and the most valuable piece our 2015 first round pick completely unprotected. The assumption is Watson would be cut from the roster and only included to match salary. All of the salary Portland sends out equals $6.9 million. Since Portland is a non-tax paying team we can receive ~150% salary back in a sign and trade or $10.3 million. All of the players Cleveland would be acquiring would be expiring contracts. Crabbe has value above his contract. The draft pick is the prized asset and worth more than the contracts. If Cleveland was building a trade package to Minnesota they could include those players and the draft pick. If they only want the cap space they could give the contracts and draft pick to a rebuilding team such as Philly for a future asset.

The draft pick would be unprotected for a few reasons; first of all that makes it a much more valuable asset, secondly it allows us the flexibility to trade other draft picks in future trades if need be. If we protected the pick for top 3 for three years we wouldn’t be able to trade a 2017, 2018, 2019 draft pick either. The chance of needing that protection is extremely unlikely so its better to improve the value of the asset we are sending out and leave ourselves more future trade flexibility.

We would have to be able to agree on a contract with Luol Deng. I would try to sign him to something starting at $10 million a season for three years which would come to $31.4 million. Some people will say that’s overpaying but when you look at all the teams with cap space and the void of starting quality players he will get that money or slightly more somewhere. Deng is a British guy who played in Chicago so I think he’d be fine with rainy Portland whether.

I’d then use the full MLE to sign Pelicans free agent Jason Smith as a veteran center. I’d sign a veteran PG with the BAE such as Luke Ridnour, hoping that CJ beats him out for the backup spot but knowing we have a capable option available. We would have two more veteran minimum salary roster spots, so I’d try to see if Chauncy Billups was interested in that role, and keep the final 15th spot open for training camp or veterans cut from other clubs.

That would give us a depth chart of:

Lopez/Jason Smith/Meyers
LMA/TRob/Freeland
Batum/Luol
Wes/Barton/Billups
Lillard/CJ/Ridnour

Would you trade Batum for that crap? They can get a much better offer

 

[Draco]

Would you trade Batum for that crap? They can get a much better offer

Batum isn't a free agent. If LAL or CLE can get an unprotected draft pick for a player they don't want to sign they'll be all over it.

I was thinking Houston might put similar sign and trade offers out there. Just realized big advantage for us with Pau is him and Dwight were epic fail

 

[tester551]

I was thinking about this last night before going to bed. The OCD side of me kept me up for a long time while I pondered this question. I am posting my idea here so I can "move on" and stop obsessing about something I can't control.

This is extremely aggressive off-season plan. I't plausible.... I know it is a long shot, but here it goes.

Draft EDIT - After crunching the numbers on salary below, I think Neil should just skip the draft portion. Left it here just for conversation.
1) Trade Claver to Philly for #39 in the draft & take Damien Inglis. Philly has 5 second round picks to go along with 2 top 10 picks. There is no way they would want 8 rookies (counting Noel) on the team next year. Claver is a "smart" player & a professional. He would be a good example for a young locker room. Portland is trying to get the best foreign prospect that they can leave in Europe for 1-2 years.

FA
2 & 3) This goes together because I think Neil would have to "sell" both players on this at the same time.

2) S&T Deng with Cleveland. I see Deng making around $9-10M per year on the open market. You sell Deng to come to Portland for a championship run. Portland can pay him that if they include Wes & Freeland in the trade. If Deng would agree with a $9M starting salary (4yr, $38M contract with the 4th year a team option) - Portland would have more flexibility on trade options.
IN - Deng + 2nd round pick
OUT - Wright & 2015 1st to Cleveland. Wright helps mentor Wiggens for a year.
Freeland + $2M in Cash to Phoenix for a TPE & 2nd round pick. They get a decent "hustle guy" and it only costs them $1M out of pocket.
Claver + $1M in Cash to Toronto for a TPE. They get a "free" look at Claver, who has shown to be a very smart player.
Portland moves Batum to SG & brings Wes off the bench. Batum, Deng, & Wes each get ~ 30 mins per game.

3) Use the Full MLE on Pau Gasol. He can get more than that on the FA market, but he has made a ton of money in his career. He takes the MLE and starting position on a contender. Pau has the flexibility to swing between C and PF, inside & outside. He would be great paired with LMA and good with Lopez. Each player gets ~ 30 mins per game.

4) Use the LLE on a PG. First choice would be Greivis Vasquez, but I think he will make too much. Darren Collision or DJ Augustin would be my next two choices. Whom ever the backup PG is, they need to have a decent 3p%.

5) Sign a SF to a vet min contract. Wesley Johnson, Al-Farouq Aminu, Dante Cunningham, Shane Battier, Caron Butler, Hedo Turkoglu would all acceptable.

The roster would end up like this (using 14 roster spots & leaving 1 open to allow for "fishing" for players using 10-day contracts):

C: Gasol (16) / Lopez (32) / Leonard (0)
PF: LMA (32) / Gasol (16) / T-Rob (0)
SF: Deng (32) / Batum (16) / Vet SF (0)
SG: Batum (16) / Wes (32) / CJ (0) / Crabbe (0)
PG: Lillard (32) / Collison (16) / Barton (0)

4 of the 5 in the starting lineup are/were All-Stars.

 

[Schilly]

Ok been thinking about this

Signings: re-sign Mo with NonBird rights, 2 years 3rd year TO, Sign Marvin Williams to MLE, Okafor to BAE.
Trades: See what I can get for a package of Freeland and Wright, add Crabbe if Necessary.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Ok been thinking about this

Signings: re-sign Mo with NonBird rights, 2 years 3rd year TO, Sign Marvin Williams to MLE, Okafor to BAE.
Trades: See what I can get for a package of Freeland and Wright, add Crabbe if Necessary.

What in the world is your fascination with Marvin Williams?

 

[Schilly]

I wouldn't call it fascination. I look at him as being a career starter who really is fringe and should be a 6th man. He was over hyped and failed to meet expectations for where he was drafted, but I look at what he does now not what pick was used to select him. He plays the position of what I think is our biggest need, as I mentioned has been a career starter. He also is right in that MLE range. To me he would be a more reliable consistent backup 3 than Wright and if we go small ball he can play the 4 as well.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Setting sights a tad lower (re: trading into the draft) I think Shabazz Napier would be a decent target.

He was the leader on that title team, a four-year guy who could step in right away.

18 PPG 6 RPG 5 APG 2 SPG
40.5 3PT%

 

[Natebishop3]

Setting sights a tad lower (re: trading into the draft) I think Shabazz Napier would be a decent target.

He was the leader on that title team, a four-year guy who could step in right away.

18 PPG 6 RPG 5 APG 2 SPG
40.5 3PT%

No.

More.

Rookies.

(unless you're changing the direction of the team)

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I'm all about upgrading the talent.

The bench could really use a guy like Napier.

 

[Draco]

Tester I like your ideas!

Yes sign and trade I think Deng will be available for one. My concern with Deng is his 3pt %, if we are paying him $10mil a year it needs to be the right fit.

I don't see any chance Pau takes MLE though. I'd try to do that sign and trade for Pau first or Deng second. Pau could start in place of Rolo he won a title as center of the Lakers. Lots of flexibility, and with his high basketball IQ he really seems like a Stotts player.

I'd also like to see Rolo and Wes locked up in extensions. I'm not sure if Neil will want to give multi year deals out to those potential bench acquisitios if our starters are in flux. With the salary cap going up in the next two years there will be tons of teams handing out overpaid contracts. I hope we don't get in a bind having to way overpay when we can extend them now.

Remember when Batum was eligible for an extension and we didn't offer anything over $5 million? That cost the team dearly as we had to pay $12 million the following summer.

 

[Natebishop3]

I'm all about upgrading the talent.

The bench could really use a guy like Napier.

We need vets man. If we make trades, they need to be for vets. If we sign free agents, they need to be vets.

 

[42N8Bounce]

Our key assets to deal with this summer are the MLE ($5.3M), BAE ($2.1M), and the non-Bird rights to Mo Williams for a potential sign and trade.

I see our biggest needs as:
1. Backup PG
2. Backup big (C or PF) - upgrade over TRob or Freeland
3. Add defense wherever we can get it.

I think we can address 1 & 2 by using the BAE & MLE and sign some combination of:
1. Livingston, Sessions, Stuckey or Brooks.
2. Blatch, Hill, Jason Smith, Humphries or Blair.

The key to a S&T is getting that right fit so it makes sense for both sides. If we're trading Mo, we need to find a team that:
A. Needs a backup PG
B. Has limited other options to acquire that PG.
C. Has another position where they have "excess" players.
D. Good salary match.

Charlotte only has Kemba Walker returning at PG. However, they have a ton of CAP space and have a lot of options.

Looking at Memphis -
A. They only have Mike Conley at PG. Beno Udrih is a free agent. No other PGs on their roster.
B. They are expected to be above the Tax level, so they have limited option to add players. They do not have the BAE available (used it last year), and will only have the tax-MLE of $3.3M available.
C. Looking at their depth chart, they are very thin at PG, a bit thin with Bigs, and they are heavy on Wings. As a matter of fact, they have two SG with Courtney Lee and Tony Allen. Behind that they have Pondexter and can re-sign Mike Miller with his non-Bird rights.
D. Courtney Lee (starting) is making $5.4M for 2 more years, and Tony Allen is making $4.8M for 3 more years. With Mo’s non-Bird rights, Portland can sign him up to $3.2M. Being below the tax, we can trade and receive back up to 150% of his salary, $4.8M.

We would need to add a player to our offer to open up a roster spot. Memphis would probably be looking to bring back a Big or Wing that makes around $1-2M to match salaries and balance their roster. That leaves McCollum, Barton, Leonard, Claver, and Crabbe. I’d be good adding any of those players to make the trade work, in this order – Leonard, Claver, Crabbe, McCollum, then Barton.

Mo Williams S&T to Memphis for Tony Allen.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Our key assets to deal with this summer are the MLE ($5.3M), BAE ($2.1M), and the non-Bird rights to Mo Williams for a potential sign and trade.

...

Looking at Memphis -
A. They only have Mike Conley at PG. Beno Udrih is a free agent. No other PGs on their roster.
B. They are expected to be above the Tax level, so they have limited option to add players. They do not have the BAE available (used it last year), and will only have the tax-MLE of $3.3M available.
C. Looking at their depth chart, they are very thin at PG, a bit thin with Bigs, and they are heavy on Wings. As a matter of fact, they have two SG with Courtney Lee and Tony Allen. Behind that they have Pondexter and can re-sign Mike Miller with his non-Bird rights.
D. Courtney Lee (starting) is making $5.4M for 2 more years, and Tony Allen is making $4.8M for 3 more years. With Mo’s non-Bird rights, Portland can sign him up to $3.2M. Being below the tax, we can trade and receive back up to 150% of his salary, $4.8M.

We would need to add a player to our offer to open up a roster spot. Memphis would probably be looking to bring back a Big or Wing that makes around $1-2M to match salaries and balance their roster. That leaves McCollum, Barton, Leonard, Claver, and Crabbe. I’d be good adding any of those players to make the trade work, in this order – Leonard, Claver, Crabbe, McCollum, then Barton.

Mo Williams S&T to Memphis for Tony Allen.

If Memphis is above the tax level, they cannot receive a player off a sign-and-trade. http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q23