Whiteside can not be traded.

[e_blazer]

Nurks not a FA til 2022.
Whitesides not gonna get 27M again but I highly doubt he’s getting 12, and also with as much as I would like to see Nurk / Whiteside. It seems so unrealistic to keep him, people are basically on one hand saying he’s great on then other hand saying he’s going to be ok taking a massive paycut and playing from the bench. I get that your argument is he’s got no choice theres no market for him. Neither he or Nurk have done well in the past coming off the bench. If the Market for him is that bad why do we want the Blazers to be the team that over pays him?
I dont know where Nurk will be at in his recovery but by next season he should be back to normal, clean break with no nerve damage it should be ok.

I really dont think they have a shot at going on any type of run this year unless something crazy happens and Zach, Nurk are both playing and playing very well by the time the playoffs come.

I agree with your first paragraph. I don't see the Blazers carrying both Nurk and Whiteside beyond this season. Zach is going to develop into more of a center as he goes along in his career, so tying up too much money in two other centers wouldn't make much sense. The Blazers will be in a position of being able to either keep Nurk and let Whiteside go for cap relief, or potentially working some kind of sign-and-trade deal with Hassan. I suppose it's also possible that they decide to re-sign Whiteside and trade Nurk. Given Hassan's age, I'd see that as a statement by the Blazers that Zach is their center of the future and Hassan is filler while Collins develops.

The second paragraph I think is premature. I think that it's pretty likely that Nurk is playing well by the playoffs. A rotation of Whiteside and Nurk is going to be something that's going to cost opposing coaches a lot of lost sleep. There's also the Hood injured player exception that could come into play since it will allow the Blazers to outbid other teams over the cap as non-playoff teams start waiving guys prior to the playoffs. Picking up a guy like Iguodala or another seasoned vet could really beef up the second unit.

 

[BlazerWookee]

If Love is prolific enough Nurkic and Baze for Love works on the trade Machine.

Do you have to take some sort of medication in order to post like this so often??

 

[HailBlazers]

One thing to keep in mind for people talking about cap space. The absolute most we can get is around $12 million (unless Hood leaves in which case it could get up to $18 million).

Meanwhile the Mid-Level Exception is expected to be over $9.7 million. So as long as they don't go too far over the cap with a trade and can still use the Full MLE the difference in player between having cap space and not isn't really enough to warrant wanting to preserve that cap space.

It all depends on the impact Portland has on Hassan. He came here for a career resurgence. If that happens in the playoffs and he deeply bonds with the team you have the makings of a bargain signing IMO, he's already made bank. Let's say the market is about $16M a year for him, 12 is only $4M less year.

 

[tester551]

How old do you think Love is...? Not that Im big into the idea of bringing Kevin Love in but he’s not “that” old... He’s 31, Whiteside is 30.

He's not that old, but there's a lot more that goes into it than just the number.

Love was never exceptionally athletic... however with his injuries and age, he's now in the bottom 25% of the NBA in regards to athleticism. Watching him play, he appears SLOW. He's talented, but it's been a steep decline for him.

Whiteside has the athleticism to keep up with the rest of the NBA. Even though they are roughly the same age, there's a drastic difference when watching them play.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

He's not that old, but there's a lot more that goes into it than just the number.

Love was never exceptionally athletic... however with his injuries and age, he's now in the bottom 25% of the NBA in regards to athleticism. Watching him play, he appears SLOW. He's talented, but it's been a steep decline for him.

Whiteside has the athleticism to keep up with the rest of the NBA. Even though they are roughly the same age, there's a drastic difference when watching them play.

Hassans pretty slow too. He’s exceptionally long though and that helps a lot. Love is definitely not my first choice, though I think his skillset is interesting.

I just think its strange that age of the two keep coming up,

 

[wizenheimer]

This is a great question. I'm not sure I agree that the only way Portland can contend would be to add a top 10 player in the NBA. To some degree we were contending last year, even missing Nurk.

a contender doesn't get swept in the conference finals...they actually contend. Portland was a pretender, and they had a advantageous track to those WC finals. As for Nurkic, he was fully healthy and playing well the year before when the Blazers got swept by the Pelicans. I know it's an unpopular opinion but my opinion is that Nurkic is not the key to Portland elevating over opponents selling out their defenses to stop Dame in the playoffs. Portland needs a guy who can take the ball from Dame when he's doubled and trapped, someone who can run the offense as well as consistently score. Another all-star level player and ball-handler. They don't have that. CJ can't run the offense and his scoring ability in iso-mode is overrated and often inconsistent.

The issue is that in 2016 we spent $228 million. If Whiteside and Baze walk, we'll have zero to show for those signings. Guys like Dwight Jaynes have claimed this trade-deadline is where the Olshey will be shown wise that the overpaid for nearly every free agent they signed, because they'll be "valuale" trade chips. I think that's a weak arguement, but walking away with nothing (including significant cap space) would have to be deemed a failure, right?

you're low-balling what was spent that summer:

CJ - 106M
Crabbe - 75M
Turner - 70M
Meyers - 41M
Harhless - 40M
Ezeli - 10M

342M....and not an all-star in sight. And truly, only one player with starting-level talent, and he'd arguably be better as a Lou-Williams type 6th man. It was lunacy and beyond stupid

I don't really care what Jaynes says; he was canzano before canzano. To me, the failure would be throwing more good money after bad, trying to salvage anything from that 2016 idiocy. Let that 2016 summer just die and become an object lesson about the foolishness of throwing all-star money at role players. Converting the expiring years of some of those contracts into a constantly injured player like Kevin Love while forcing Portland into the repeater tax would be failure. Love or Aldridge aren't going to turn Portland into a contender, especially if Portland is sacrificing the things that Whiteside is doing tor them, and he's doing a lot right now

Would you do, Bazemore and WS for Hayward and Marcus Smart? That would really make their bench legit and give them another option at the 3 while Hood recovers. If Zach and Nurk are healthy going into next year that seems pretty good, and it gives Boston cap space (though I'm not sure how much).

sure, that would be interesting. But you'll notice I said "realistic trades". Boston would not do that deal. I'd bet they wouldn't even do Whiteside and Portland's 2019 first for Hayward. You should be thinking Whiteside + Little + the 1st....this is Ainge Portland would be dealing with

converting Whiteside into Hayward or Bazemore into Smart are the kind of Blazer pipe-dreams I was referring to. Portland's 2 big expiring contracts are just a small part of the ocean of expiring contracts out there right now. You have to lower your sights, IMO, in order to really gauge the value of Whiteside/Bazemore trades

 

[Scalma]

At his age and reputation? Yes. As we've seen the past few years, centers are drastically losing value in the free agent market. I think Hassan will have trouble finding an offer of 12 mil per year.

Yeah, I thought Kanter would for sure get paid in the summer, and he’s three years younger with considerably less baggage. So if no one is going to pay Whiteside, he may as well stay where he’s happy. I also believe Portland has his bird rights, and considering the volatile nature of the position and how much the Blazers rely on their bigs defensively, I think he’d be worth dropping good money on, even as a backup.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

a contender doesn't get swept in the conference finals...they actually contend. Portland was a pretender, and they had a advantageous track to those WC finals. As for Nurkic, he was fully healthy and playing well the year before when the Blazers got swept by the Pelicans. I know it's an unpopular opinion but my opinion is that Nurkic is not the key to Portland elevating over opponents selling out their defenses to stop Dame in the playoffs. Portland needs a guy who can take the ball from Dame when he's doubled and trapped, someone who can run the offense as well as consistently score. Another all-star level player and ball-handler. They don't have that. CJ can't run the offense and his scoring ability in iso-mode is overrated and often inconsistent.



you're low-balling what was spent that summer:

CJ - 106M
Crabbe - 75M
Turner - 70M
Meyers - 41M
Harhless - 40M
Ezeli - 10M

342M....and not an all-star in sight. And truly, only one player with starting-level talent, and he'd arguably be better as a Lou-Williams type 6th man. It was lunacy and beyond stupid

I don't really care what Jaynes says; he was canzano before canzano. To me, the failure would be throwing more good money after bad, trying to salvage anything from that 2016 idiocy. Let that 2016 summer just die and become an object lesson about the foolishness of throwing all-star money at role players. Converting the expiring years of some of those contracts into a constantly injured player like Kevin Love while forcing Portland into the repeater tax would be failure. Love or Aldridge aren't going to turn Portland into a contender, especially if Portland is sacrificing the things that Whiteside is doing tor them, and he's doing a lot right now



sure, that would be interesting. But you'll notice I said "realistic trades". Boston would not do that deal. I'd bet they wouldn't even do Whiteside and Portland's 2019 first for Hayward. You should be thinking Whiteside + Little + the 1st....this is Ainge Portland would be dealing with

converting Whiteside into Hayward or Bazemore into Smart are the kind of Blazer pipe-dreams I was referring to. Portland's 2 big expiring contracts are just a small part of the ocean of expiring contracts out there right now. You have to lower your sights, IMO, in order to really gauge the value of Whiteside/Bazemore trades

I never said Boston or Portland would do that, just making a point where a GM’s job is to be creative with that stuff and there are possible moves out there.

If I get your point though, the Blazers are basically hopeless. Whiteside / Nurk arent winning them a title, Dame’s the only good player on the team and they literally dont have the pieces to bring in a top 10 player, because no one is giving them a top 10 player for what they have. So why does it matter if they keep whiteside or not?

 

[hoopsjock]

It all depends on the impact Portland has on Hassan. He came here for a career resurgence. If that happens in the playoffs and he deeply bonds with the team you have the makings of a bargain signing IMO, he's already made bank. Let's say the market is about $16M a year for him, 12 is only $4M less year.

The $12 million doesn't apply to Whiteside. The Blazers could give him a max contract if they want.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

a contender doesn't get swept in the conference finals...they actually contend. Portland was a pretender, and they had a advantageous track to those WC finals. As for Nurkic, he was fully healthy and playing well the year before when the Blazers got swept by the Pelicans. I know it's an unpopular opinion but my opinion is that Nurkic is not the key to Portland elevating over opponents selling out their defenses to stop Dame in the playoffs. Portland needs a guy who can take the ball from Dame when he's doubled and trapped, someone who can run the offense as well as consistently score. Another all-star level player and ball-handler. They don't have that. CJ can't run the offense and his scoring ability in iso-mode is overrated and often inconsistent.



you're low-balling what was spent that summer:

CJ - 106M
Crabbe - 75M
Turner - 70M
Meyers - 41M
Harhless - 40M
Ezeli - 10M

342M....and not an all-star in sight. And truly, only one player with starting-level talent, and he'd arguably be better as a Lou-Williams type 6th man. It was lunacy and beyond stupid

I don't really care what Jaynes says; he was canzano before canzano. To me, the failure would be throwing more good money after bad, trying to salvage anything from that 2016 idiocy. Let that 2016 summer just die and become an object lesson about the foolishness of throwing all-star money at role players. Converting the expiring years of some of those contracts into a constantly injured player like Kevin Love while forcing Portland into the repeater tax would be failure. Love or Aldridge aren't going to turn Portland into a contender, especially if Portland is sacrificing the things that Whiteside is doing tor them, and he's doing a lot right now



sure, that would be interesting. But you'll notice I said "realistic trades". Boston would not do that deal. I'd bet they wouldn't even do Whiteside and Portland's 2019 first for Hayward. You should be thinking Whiteside + Little + the 1st....this is Ainge Portland would be dealing with

converting Whiteside into Hayward or Bazemore into Smart are the kind of Blazer pipe-dreams I was referring to. Portland's 2 big expiring contracts are just a small part of the ocean of expiring contracts out there right now. You have to lower your sights, IMO, in order to really gauge the value of Whiteside/Bazemore trades

I just want to address one thing, the whole they had a “easy road to the WCF’s”, does that negate every one seed who wins a title since they get home court vs worse teams? The narrative that well they kind of fumbled there way into the end zone is just so people can be negative. No ones saying oh man GS only made the finals because they had easy roads there every year.

You honestly think a healthy Nurk or even a Healthy Kanter doesnt make them good enough to pull out even a game or two of the 3 they were up 15+? GS had injuries too and they were ready to be taken out as we saw a “good” but not great Toronto team won last year, of course by then they GS was missing Klay and KD, and DMC.

Is Denver a bad team? OKC had PG13 and WB, are those bad players? Would you be mad if the Blazers got PG13? He’s a top ten guy...

I just don't get the constant lets pretend they sucked last year and somehow beat a 48 win team and a 50+ win team by sheer luck of the draw.

 

[wizenheimer]

Yeah, I thought Kanter would for sure get paid in the summer, and he’s three years younger with considerably less baggage. So if no one is going to pay Whiteside, he may as well stay where he’s happy. I also believe Portland has his bird rights, and considering the volatile nature of the position and how much the Blazers rely on their bigs defensively, I think he’d be worth dropping good money on, even as a backup.

yeah, Blazers have Whiteside's Bird Rights

in fact, if I'm recalling the CBA correctly, the Blazers could sign Whiteside to a 1 year deal and there would still be full Bird Rights. That might actually be what they want to do in order to get to where they can use the tax-payer MLE so they don't get hard capped. (the CBA guys can chime in here, but I think if Portland uses any MLE over the tax-payer MLE they get hard-capped. And they won't want to be in that position)

the Blazers may very well need that tax-payer MLE to re-sign Melo

I'd rather have Kevin Love than nothing though. If those are the two choices. No one is saying they should trade Whiteside for some team garbage.

that seems like a false choice to me, or at least a choice lacking critical context:

Damian Lillard $31,626,953
Kevin Love $31,300,000
CJ McCollum $29,354,152
Jusuf Nurkić $12,000,000
Rodney Hood $6,003,900
Zach Collins $5,406,255
Anfernee Simons $2,252,040
Nassir Little $2,210,640
Mario Hezonja $1,882,867
Gary Trent $1,663,861
(Andrew Nicholson) $2,844,429
(Anderson Varejão) $1,913,345

128.5M....when the tax line could be in the 132M range. And that's only for 10 players. Worse, is that the following season Portland would be at 128M in salary with only 6 players, and they be in the repeater tax that year. And keep in mind that with Love, we're talking about a player who has missed 32 games a year over the last 3 seasons. To me, Love would just be a repeat of the 2016 disaster, only worse because of potential repeater tax

 

[wizenheimer]

If I get your point though, the Blazers are basically hopeless. Whiteside / Nurk arent winning them a title, Dame’s the only good player on the team and they literally dont have the pieces to bring in a top 10 player, because no one is giving them a top 10 player for what they have. So why does it matter if they keep whiteside or not?

that's a complete distortion of what I'm saying

I'll make it easy: making a bad trade is worse than making no trade. Right now, I don't see any realistic Whiteside trade that isn't a bad trade

 

[CupWizier]

Hassans pretty slow too. He’s exceptionally long though and that helps a lot. Love is definitely not my first choice, though I think his skillset is interesting.

I just think its strange that age of the two keep coming up,

A slow center is fine, but a slow pf in todays NBA is not a good quality. Love's negatives aren't his abilities, but his ability to stay healthy as he is often hurt and a Love in street clothes doesn't help anything.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

yeah, Blazers have Whiteside's Bird Rights

in fact, if I'm recalling the CBA correctly, the Blazers could sign Whiteside to a 1 year deal and there would still be full Bird Rights. That might actually be what they want to do in order to get to where they can use the tax-payer MLE so they don't get hard capped. (the CBA guys can chime in here, but I think if Portland uses any MLE over the tax-payer MLE they get hard-capped. And they won't want to be in that position)

the Blazers may very well need that tax-payer MLE to re-sign Melo



that seems like a false choice to me, or at least a choice lacking critical context:

Damian Lillard $31,626,953
Kevin Love $31,300,000
CJ McCollum $29,354,152
Jusuf Nurkić $12,000,000
Rodney Hood $6,003,900
Zach Collins $5,406,255
Anfernee Simons $2,252,040
Nassir Little $2,210,640
Mario Hezonja $1,882,867
Gary Trent $1,663,861
(Andrew Nicholson) $2,844,429
(Anderson Varejão) $1,913,345

128.5M....when the tax line could be in the 132M range. And that's only for 10 players. Worse, is that the following season Portland would be at 128M in salary with only 6 players, and they be in the repeater tax that year. And keep in mind that with Love, we're talking about a player who has missed 32 games a year over the last 3 seasons. To me, Love would just be a repeat of the 2016 disaster, only worse because of potential repeater tax

Ok, well Ive said Love isnt my personel preference. Youve said Nurk isnt making the Blazers a contender. Whiteside and Nurk, so what they keep Nurk and Whiteside they still arent contenders. You dont seem to have any ideas of ways to make them better. Say you’re NO do you actually have some plan to make them good enough or just keep harping there arent any good trade targets out there and the salary cap situation makes them screwed?

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

that's a complete distortion of what I'm saying

I'll make it easy: making a bad trade is worse than making no trade. Right now, I don't see any realistic Whiteside trade that isn't a bad trade

Do you see any realistic trade that makes them a contender?

 

[hoopsjock]

yeah, Blazers have Whiteside's Bird Rights

in fact, if I'm recalling the CBA correctly, the Blazers could sign Whiteside to a 1 year deal and there would still be full Bird Rights. That might actually be what they want to do in order to get to where they can use the tax-payer MLE so they don't get hard capped. (the CBA guys can chime in here, but I think if Portland uses any MLE over the tax-payer MLE they get hard-capped. And they won't want to be in that position)

the Blazers may very well need that tax-payer MLE to re-sign Melo



that seems like a false choice to me, or at least a choice lacking critical context:

Damian Lillard $31,626,953
Kevin Love $31,300,000
CJ McCollum $29,354,152
Jusuf Nurkić $12,000,000
Rodney Hood $6,003,900
Zach Collins $5,406,255
Anfernee Simons $2,252,040
Nassir Little $2,210,640
Mario Hezonja $1,882,867
Gary Trent $1,663,861
(Andrew Nicholson) $2,844,429
(Anderson Varejão) $1,913,345

128.5M....when the tax line could be in the 132M range. And that's only for 10 players. Worse, is that the following season Portland would be at 128M in salary with only 6 players, and they be in the repeater tax that year. And keep in mind that with Love, we're talking about a player who has missed 32 games a year over the last 3 seasons. To me, Love would just be a repeat of the 2016 disaster, only worse because of potential repeater tax

One important note: signing Whiteside (or Bazemore) to a one year contract would only retain their bird rights if they stay with Portland. Any one year deal with Portland in their cases gives them veto powers in any trade for the full season. Thus if Whiteside becomes a problem he might not be able to be traded easily.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

that's a complete distortion of what I'm saying

I'll make it easy: making a bad trade is worse than making no trade. Right now, I don't see any realistic Whiteside trade that isn't a bad trade

I never said they just make a bad Trade. Though honestly Id rather they traded for Love then WS walks at the end of the year even if Im not a huge fan of Love. He’s better than what they’d get with cap space. Cap space has traditionally not been the Blazers friend.

 

[Terry Stotts]

Guys, Mr. Olshey had a talk with me. If we don't start beating good teams he will need to trade Hassan. We have both been surprised at how good he is. But if we can't use his talent to beat good teams then we need to think about the next step. I dont know if you noticed but centers have been playing well against the Clippers. I'm sure you know, but Mr. Olshey still has ties to the Clippers and they told him they might need Hassan in order to compete in the playoffs because their competition all have good centers.

 

[hoopsjock]

Guys, Mr. Olshey had a talk with me. If we don't start beating good teams he will need to trade Hassan. We have both been surprised at how good he is. But if we can't use his talent to beat good teams then we need to think about the next step. I dont know if you noticed but centers have been playing well against the Clippers. I'm sure you know, but Mr. Olshey still has ties to the Clippers and they told him they might need Hassan in order to compete in the playoffs because their competition all have good centers.

The Clippers don't have the contracts to trade for Hassan, so no.

 

[wizenheimer]

Ok, well Ive said Love isnt my personel preference. Youve said Nurk isnt making the Blazers a contender. Whiteside and Nurk, so what they keep Nurk and Whiteside they still arent contenders. You dont seem to have any ideas of ways to make them better. Say you’re NO do you actually have some plan to make them good enough or just keep harping there arent any good trade targets out there and the salary cap situation makes them screwed?

in my view, NO kind of fucked up the roster last summer because he was still dealing with his 2016 summer. Whiteside and Bazemore are the last remnants of 2016 in terms of contracts. If Portland still had Turner, Meyers, and Harkless, everybody here would be just fine with letting those contracts expire in July, and then moving on with a reset of the cap. Sure, we'd be talking about what Portland might get in a trade(s) for any of those guys, but there would not be this giant hope of a miracle Whiteside or Bazemore trade. Like I said, less than 6 months ago, Bazemore's value was Evan Turner. It hasn't been raised from Turner to somebody like Marcus Smart 6 months later

Whiteside is a little different as he's putting up some big numbers, but he does have baggage. The problem is that Whiteside has been a huge factor for Portland and he plugs holes the Blazers would have problems plugging. I guess trading him away for a weak return could be a form of tanking though

 

[wizenheimer]

Do you see any realistic trade that makes them a contender?

at this point in time? No

so then, keep the powder dry and don't load up on any more bad contracts. Those never help. And don't make players "untouchable" in trade discussions

 

[wizenheimer]

One important note: signing Whiteside (or Bazemore) to a one year contract would only retain their bird rights if they stay with Portland. Any one year deal with Portland in their cases gives them veto powers in any trade for the full season. Thus if Whiteside becomes a problem he might not be able to be traded easily.

is that still the case with a 2-year deal with an option (player or team)?

 

[hoopsjock]

in my view, NO kind of fucked up the roster last summer because he was still dealing with his 2016 summer. Whiteside and Bazemore are the last remnants of 2016 in terms of contracts. If Portland still had Turner, Meyers, and Harkless, everybody here would be just fine with letting those contracts expire in July, and then moving on with a reset of the cap. Sure, we'd be talking about what Portland might get in a trade(s) for any of those guys, but there would not be this giant hope of a miracle Whiteside or Bazemore trade. Like I said, less than 6 months ago, Bazemore's value was Evan Turner. It hasn't been raised from Turner to somebody like Marcus Smart 6 months later

Whiteside is a little different as he's putting up some big numbers, but he does have baggage. The problem is that Whiteside has been a huge factor for Portland and he plugs holes the Blazers would have problems plugging. I guess trading him away for a weak return could be a form of tanking though

I think the problem in this conversation is that when past moves that screwed us are mentioned that does nothing to figure out where to go from here. Olshey can't change anything he's done from this point so to keep harping on previous decisions, even though it's mostly correct, does nothing to answer the question of what to do with Whiteside or what moves to make going forward.

Bazemore's value was Turner without giving up any assets. Attaching a pick or a young player changes Bazemore's value.

 

[hoopsjock]

is that still the case with a 2-year deal with an option (player or team)?

Yes. Hood has veto powers this year, for example.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

in my view, NO kind of fucked up the roster last summer because he was still dealing with his 2016 summer. Whiteside and Bazemore are the last remnants of 2016 in terms of contracts. If Portland still had Turner, Meyers, and Harkless, everybody here would be just fine with letting those contracts expire in July, and then moving on with a reset of the cap. Sure, we'd be talking about what Portland might get in a trade(s) for any of those guys, but there would not be this giant hope of a miracle Whiteside or Bazemore trade. Like I said, less than 6 months ago, Bazemore's value was Evan Turner. It hasn't been raised from Turner to somebody like Marcus Smart 6 months later

Whiteside is a little different as he's putting up some big numbers, but he does have baggage. The problem is that Whiteside has been a huge factor for Portland and he plugs holes the Blazers would have problems plugging. I guess trading him away for a weak return could be a form of tanking though

The idea would be if Boston were to do something like that would be cap-space for them (let's face it Boston's chances of getting FA's is better than Portlands). They'd get rid of the massive overpay of Hayward who's a solid player but not a great player. I don't think they do that. I think the Blazers went after Whiteside because they knew they had no one else to hold down the Starting Center spot while Nurk was out.

For as good as Whiteside's been, the Blazers are still struggling to beat good teams, could the recent success spill over into some confidence and lead to wins vs better competition. If I were the the GM it wouldn't be some "miracle" trade for a star. I'd be looking for a Backup PG type say someone like George Hill, and a PF/SF type to help solidify the roster going into next year. I'm not sure they can find one or both of those anywhere, but there may be some team desperate enough they want a few months of whiteside to make a run this year. I think the Blazers should scrap the idea of trying to make a run this year and be looking for players that have future value (I'd rather it not be some guy on a gigantic contract like Love or Blake). I think I have a different opinion than you on where the team is at though. I think they could contend now, everyone was healthy and they had a true 6th man type on the bench.

Nurk / Zach / Hood / CJ / Dame is a good starting 5 (not great), but if they had Melo and one other solid bench player I'd think they could make it tough on just about anyone.

 

[tester551]

Yes. Hood has veto powers this year, for example.

However, if the team can negotiate a 2 year deal, with a minimum guarantee the 2nd year ($1M) then they don't have teh veto power.

 

[wizenheimer]

I think the problem in this conversation is that when past moves that screwed us are mentioned that does nothing to figure out where to go from here. Olshey can't change anything he's done from this point so to keep harping on previous decisions, even though it's mostly correct, does nothing to answer the question of what to do with Whiteside or what moves to make going forward.

yeah, that's not going to work for me because part of my S2 entertainment is beating up on Olshey. I'm not giving that up, especially around Christmas

Bazemore's value was Turner without giving up any assets. Attaching a pick or a young player changes Bazemore's value.

it doesn't change Bazemore's value; it just adds another asset to the trade

problem is deciding what value that pick has to Portland. By the end of the year, it looks like the Blazers will be about .500....maybe a 17-17 record. IIRC the trade deadline is around Feb 7...? Ok...just looked it up it's Feb 6

between Jan 1st and Feb 6 Portland has 17 games. 10 of the 17 are on the road. 11 of those 17 games are against teams with winning records, and the Blazers are currently 1-10 against teams with winning records....yeeeeeeesh!

the Blazers could easily be 5 or 6 games below .500 when the trade deadline rolls around. That would give their 1st really good value, but it would also be good value for Portland. Lottery protection in a trade might mean Portland was giving up a 15th-19th pick. The last time they did something like that was the Afflalo trade, and I'd sure hope Portland got a better return than that

 

[CupWizier]

Guys, Mr. Olshey had a talk with me. If we don't start beating good teams he will need to trade Hassan. We have both been surprised at how good he is. But if we can't use his talent to beat good teams then we need to think about the next step. I dont know if you noticed but centers have been playing well against the Clippers. I'm sure you know, but Mr. Olshey still has ties to the Clippers and they told him they might need Hassan in order to compete in the playoffs because their competition all have good centers.

sorry fake terry, but the Clippers have one of, if not the deepest roster in the NBA and have a serviceable center. Do you not remember the Blazers trading away a young talent to get a center to compete against Shaq? Didn't work out very well did it?

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Nurks not a FA til 2022.
Whitesides not gonna get 27M again but I highly doubt he’s getting 12, and also with as much as I would like to see Nurk / Whiteside. It seems so unrealistic to keep him, people are basically on one hand saying he’s great on then other hand saying he’s going to be ok taking a massive paycut and playing from the bench. I get that your argument is he’s got no choice theres no market for him. Neither he or Nurk have done well in the past coming off the bench. If the Market for him is that bad why do we want the Blazers to be the team that over pays him?
I dont know where Nurk will be at in his recovery but by next season he should be back to normal, clean break with no nerve damage it should be ok.

I really dont think they have a shot at going on any type of run this year unless something crazy happens and Zach, Nurk are both playing and playing very well by the time the playoffs come.

We know Whitside can play well for the Blazers, so he is worth the $12 million we could pay him. Other teams would not know if their leader could get the most out of him as Lillard has. If the market isn't overpriced for Whiteside then offer to resign him. If bidding gets to $20 million then let him walk.

It's the same scenario as Rodney Hood. We heard talk he would earn $20 million then he signed for $5 million.

Maybe Whiteside leaves for nothing. That's how free agency sometimes works. Its fine for the Blazers to keep him past the trade deadline.

 

[noknobs]

I love the numbers Whiteside is putting up but I think a lot of people are forgetting just how well Nurk was playing and how improved our defense was the moment he got here. At the end of the day our defense has been awful this year, regardless of the number of blocks we get. Since Nurk won’t be able to play full minutes the two of them could be great together this year, but after that Whiteside is obviously gone. So when the trade deadline comes it’ll come down to what our expectations are for the remainder of the year and whether we want to go all in. He’s been great though.