Portland All-Jilted Sometimes You Dodge the Bullet and Sometimes It Dodges You Team (1 Viewer)

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my understanding is he demanded to be bought out...didn't want to play in Portland..we bought him out. ..

Nope. The place Francis refused to play was Vancouver when he was drafted, forcing his way to Houston.

The Blazers didn't want him, but his salary was necessary to make the trade work. He was coming off the worst season of his career, when he missed 38 games due to injury, and he had a shitty attitude, often clashing with Larry Brown in NY. The Blazers were building a young team and didn't want Francis and his attitude anywhere near the team. They supposedly agreed to the terms of the buyout before the trade was even completed and told Francis not to report.

BNM
 
In a sense, there is a little bit of the butterfly effect in play here. If we signed all those guys maybe we win a championship, maybe we have Ben Simmons, or maybe Robin Lopez is our best player and we are the bulls.

Looking back though, it sure looks like pretty much everyone we targeted in FA the last chunk of years would have been a horrible get.
 
In a sense, there is a little bit of the butterfly effect in play here. If we signed all those guys maybe we win a championship, maybe we have Ben Simmons, or maybe Robin Lopez is our best player and we are the bulls.

Looking back though, it sure looks like pretty much everyone we targeted in FA the last chunk of years would have been a horrible get.
Enis Kanter would've been great after Lamarcus left
 
disagree...he'd have flourished in Stotts system..guy is a double double machine at PF....way better than Monroe or Hibbert would've been. He's no center though.

Not sure if he would fit next to Nurk though. They both need to play close to the basket on offense and Kanter is a notoriously bad defender. I don't think I'd want him chasing stretch 4s on the perimeter. His best role on this team would be backing up Nurk, and I'd rather have Ed Davis at less than half the salary doing that.

Kanter is most definitely a center. His average FG distance is 3.7 feet (Nurk's is 6.0 feet). 90% of his scoring comes from within 10 feet of the basket. He wouldn't flourish in Stotts' system. He'd just get in Nurk's way. He also can't guard the power forward position. That's why he plays center in NY and everywhere else he's ever played.

BNM
 
Not sure if he would fit next to Nurk though. They both need to play close to the basket on offense and Kanter is a notoriously bad defender. I don't think I'd want him chasing stretch 4s on the perimeter. His best role on this team would be backing up Nurk, and I'd rather have Ed Davis at less than half the salary doing that.

BNM
I was referring to the time we made him an offer....way before the Nurk days but still I think a starting lineup with Dame, CJ, Mo, Kanter and Nurk would be a scoring, rebounding machine....Kanter fits next to a rim protecter like Nurk and Mo is a good defender. As it is I'm really happy with Chief and Big Ed
 
I was referring to the time we made him an offer....way before the Nurk days but still I think a starting lineup with Dame, CJ, Mo, Kanter and Nurk would be a scoring, rebounding machine....Kanter fits next to a rim protecter like Nurk and Mo is a good defender. As it is I'm really happy with Chief and Big Ed

No Kanter doesn't fit well next to a rim protector. No way in hell can Kanter guard the PF position. Nurk would be in foul trouble twice as fast as he'd have to guard both of the opponent's big men. On offense, Kanter can't spread the floor. He NEEDS to play within 3 feet of the basket to be effective. He'd just clog things up, get in Nurk's way and allow his defender to clog the paint making it difficult for Dame and C.J. to get to the rim.

Where Kanter would excel is someplace like BOS, where he could play next to a versatile player like Al Horford, who can create the spacing Kanter can't. That's also a good reason Kanter fits well next to Porzingis who can space the floor and guard opposing power forwards.

BNM
 
No Kanter doesn't fit well next to a rim protector. No way in hell can Kanter guard the PF position. Nurk would be in foul trouble twice as fast as he'd have to guard both of the opponent's big men. On offense, Kanter can't spread the floor. He NEEDS to play within 3 feet of the basket to be effective. He'd just clog things up, get in Nurk's way and allow his defender to clog the paint making it difficult for Dame and C.J. to get to the rim.

Where Kanter would excel is someplace like BOS, where he could play next to a versatile player like Al Horford, who can create the spacing Kanter can't. That's also a good reason Kanter fits well next to Porzingis who can space the floor and guard opposing power forwards.

BNM
well...disagree across the board...I think Kanter is a better PF than you give him credit for....it's all good....Kanter played really well next to Steven Adams in OKC....don't see the difference playing next to Nurk
 
well...disagree across the board...I think Kanter is a better PF than you give him credit for....it's all good....Kanter played really well next to Steven Adams in OKC....don't see the difference playing next to Nurk

Kanter didn't play next to Steven Adams in OKC. He was his back up and averaged about 20 MPG.

When OKC got Kanter from UTA at the trade deadline in 2015, they tried starting him at PF next to Adams for the final 26 games of the season. It didn't work so well. OKC missed the playoffs, and starting with the first game of the 2015-16 season, Kanter became Adams' full time back up. His two full seasons in OKC, Kanter only started one game - a game where Adams didn't play, and only averaged 20 - 21 MPG as Adams' back up

BTW, the reason UTA was so eager to trade Kanter - he was a poor fit next to Gobert.

BNM
 
I don’t think so; maybe he was going to be part of the Camby deal? But I don’t remember Davis ever being asked for BY Portland.

Id suggest a Most Regrettable Point Guard thread, to see if we can figure out whether Nolan Smith, Taurean Green, or Rumeal Robinson is the winner.

No... That would be Felton.
 
RE Our tremendous luck in not signing free agent bigs who sucked with their new teams:

I like centers and power forwards who can play defense and rebound. That's Nurk, Ed, and soon, Zach. Someone like Kanter was simply never worthy of wearing the Scarlett and Black.
 
RE Our tremendous luck in not signing free agent bigs who sucked with their new teams:

I like centers and power forwards who can play defense and rebound. That's Nurk, Ed, and soon, Zach. Someone like Kanter was simply never worthy of wearing the Scarlett and Black.

In spite of my posts in this thread, I'm not a Kanter hater. He certainly has his limitations, but he does two things very well - offensive rebounding and scoring within 3 feet of the basket. I thought he got totally screwed out of the 6th Man of the Year award in 2015-16 (he came in 3rd). He had an incredibly efficient season averaging 12.7 ppg and 8.1 rpg in only 21.0 mpg. He also had 8.1 WS and .226 WS/48, the highest of any bench player in the league (Ed Davis was 2nd with 6.7 WS and .192 WS/48 and came in 8th in the voting).

That said, back up center is Kanter's best position, by far. Playing with the second unit and averaging 20 - 21 MPG lets him use his strengths without his weaknesses being totally exploited by opposing starters.

Kanter is a MUCH more prolific scorer than Ed Davis (but with similar limited range) and a SLIGHTLY better offensive rebounder than ED (2nd in the league in ORB%, compared to Ed at 5th), but Ed is WAY, WAY better defensively, makes half as much, likes it here and is a good fit with his teammates.

Kanter doesn't suck, and will always be a good 6th man type big off the bench, like he was in OKC, but for THIS roster, I'd take Ed 1000 times out of 1000.

BNM
 
Aaron Afflalo at shooting guard. Okay, so he wasn't a totally dodged bullet, but at least Olshey's self-inflicted gun shot wound wasn't mortal. I mean, there was the expectation that Afflalo would help the Blazers in the 2015 playoffs and then re-up the next summer. Thankfully, he took his extraordinary talents elsewhere, with less than stellar stints for the Knicks and Kings, and is now averaging 3.3 ppg in 13 minutes off of the Magic's bench. Olshey stepped in some dog crap with that one, but at least scraped it off on someone else's front porch.

I think by that reasoning we could put Crabbe at SG. We leaped in front of the Nets to take that bullet, and they dove their hand into the wound and ripped it out and hammered it into their own chest, and stuffed some money in our shirt for our trouble.
 
I think some of you don't quite understand what the phrases 'dodged a bullet' and 'sometimes it dodges you,' means.
 
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