Zach Lowe about the Blazers

[riverman]

Layman is the 5th option on offense in our starting unit....Porter is 2nd or 3rd on his team...that's the difference in their stat lines...If Jake had Porter's role on our team he'd pad his stats more in my view

 

[illmatic99]

I don't think Layman would ever be able to do this in the NBA:

 

[Scalma]

I don't think Layman would ever be able to do this in the NBA:

What did Porter do there that Layman couldn’t also do?

 

[crandc]

Damn, I love Damon (no hetero).

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I wonder what part he doesn't like?

Oh, now I think I understand why Turner wouldn't like this trade: 'He (Porter) operated as something of a point forward in Georgetown's offense, executing his team's sets to perfection, constantly reading and probing the defense, and facilitating exceptionally well from the high post. His court vision and passing ability is exceptional for a player his size, and he really sets the tone for his teammates with his unselfishness in always looking to make the right play. He makes simple extra passes to open shooters on the perimeter, finds cutters diving to the rim with perfectly timed bounce passes, and moves the ball ahead in transition decisively to get his teammates easy baskets that don't register in the boxscore as assists. - Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Otto-Porter-6528/ ©DraftExpress

 

[dviss1]

I like Porter.

But if it came down to rolling with "State Farm" and giving him an expanded role, I'd do that first.

He's the thing, can't we do both?

Porter will still be as available as ever before the deadline. Why can't we kick the tires on Jake's expanded role until we decide?

 

[blue9]

LOL - ET scared his job will get took.
Although I do agree on the "nah" - that asking price is way too high!

 

[blue9]

Probably this part:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/p/porteot01.html

Decent player, but only a bit over average in terms of PER over his career at 15.5, and down to 13.8 this year. Is he worth an asking price of Moe, Meyers, Simons, and a first round pick? Even the Meyers haters should have to pause a minute about losing Simons' potential plus another first rounder. I agree with ET.

LOL - you got that right! ET wouldn't like a better player coming here and taking his job!
ET career PER = 12.
ET season PER = 12.

 

[blue9]

The conclusion I come to is that I’d rather see how Layman reacts to more touches rather than drop $80M or whatever on someone that may just be a glorified version of what we already have.

I'm with ya on this. But in the end, I think Porter would be the better player. I want to see Jake get more minutes and more touches, but I suspect his efficiency (and our winning percentage) would take a big hit if he were the 3rd option in the starting unit. But we gotta do this LIKE NOW so that we know whether we should make a pitch for Porter.

 

[blue9]

Oh, now I think I understand why Turner wouldn't like this trade: 'He (Porter) operated as something of a point forward in Georgetown's offense, executing his team's sets to perfection, constantly reading and probing the defense, and facilitating exceptionally well from the high post. His court vision and passing ability is exceptional for a player his size, and he really sets the tone for his teammates with his unselfishness in always looking to make the right play. He makes simple extra passes to open shooters on the perimeter, finds cutters diving to the rim with perfectly timed bounce passes, and moves the ball ahead in transition decisively to get his teammates easy baskets that don't register in the boxscore as assists. - Source: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Otto-Porter-6528/ ©DraftExpress

Bingo!

I like Porter.

But if it came down to rolling with "State Farm" and giving him an expanded role, I'd do that first.

He's the thing, can't we do both?

Porter will still be as available as ever before the deadline. Why can't we kick the tires on Jake's expanded role until we decide?

Bingo!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Good read!

 

[e_blazer]

LOL - you got that right! ET wouldn't like a better player coming here and taking his job!
ET career PER = 12.
ET season PER = 12.

You think that they would plan to have Porter take ET’s spot as backup floor General? I don’t see ET’s minutes being threatened at all. Porter would play starting SF.

 

[e_blazer]

Damn, I love Damon (no hetero).

Funny, but come on, crandc. Damon?

 

[hoopsjock]

Funny, but come on, crandc. Damon?

Maybe she's a big Damon Stoudamire fan?

 

[B-Roy]

Damian is already the best Blazer ever. Fight me. He embodies everything about Portland as a city.

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Damian is already the best Blazer ever. Fight me. He embodies everything about Portland as a city.

Green font?

 

[Scalma]

I'm with ya on this. But in the end, I think Porter would be the better player. I want to see Jake get more minutes and more touches, but I suspect his efficiency (and our winning percentage) would take a big hit if he were the 3rd option in the starting unit. But we gotta do this LIKE NOW so that we know whether we should make a pitch for Porter.

That’s pretty much where I’m at. I know Porter is better than Layman, but I’d like to find out how much better. Only way to truly tell is if Layman gets an expanded role.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Why wouldn't Porter work? He's as sure of a fit as there is. That's not much of a risk, asamd considering we'd trade $21M of middling role players, I don't see the downside.

You don't see a downside, which assumes we get a new owner who has the same spending habits as Paul Allen.

On the flip side - what is the upside to the deal? How much does Porter actually improve the team?

 

[crandc]

Funny, but come on, crandc. Damon?

Oh fuck. e_blazer, I have obviously had my head buried in Thanksgiving. I guess that sounds better than getting senile!
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Hell, you know who I mean!

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Damian is already the best Blazer ever. Fight me. He embodies everything about Portland as a city.

I saw some people Bring up Dr. Jack and man thats hard to fight with in my opinion. I picked Dame, but those are two amazing guys...

 

[blue9]

That’s pretty much where I’m at. I know Porter is better than Layman, but I’d like to find out how much better. Only way to truly tell is if Layman gets an expanded role.

Even if Layman impresses with an expanded role, I suspect Porter would also elevate his play if he were on our team. The only way to prove definitively is to trade for Porter and play both Porter and Layman and see who produces better results!
But I do understand being gun-shy on that contract. For once I don't really care about the finances because (a) we're screwed anyway, and (b) we've been eating it with Turner and Meyers for two years now - at least Porter wouldn't take TWO YEARS to barely half live up to his contract!

 

[e_blazer]

Oh fuck. e_blazer, I have obviously had my head buried in Thanksgiving. I guess that sounds better than getting senile!
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Hell, you know who I mean!

I do, indeed, and I agree that he is my favorite Blazer ever. Just an absolute winner from attitude through performance.

 

[B-Roy]

You don't see a downside, which assumes we get a new owner who has the same spending habits as Paul Allen.

On the flip side - what is the upside to the deal? How much does Porter actually improve the team?

Here is our contract situation. Basically, we have over 40 million/year tied to Turner/Harkless/Leonard over the next year. In 2020/2021 we will only have Dame/CJ/Nurk and the capholds of Zach/Caleb, along with all the rookies we keep from this year forward. That is immediately 90-95 million of our cap taken up. The salary cap is expected to be ~118 in 2020. So that leaves us with ~22 million in capspace to chase free agents with during that year. That isn't enough for a max contract, and given Portland's history with free agents, it's very likely we end up with scraps.

So the question is, since Turner/Harkless/Leonard are already taking 40 million in cap for the next two years, will we perform better if we convert any number of these players (along with a pick probably) into Otto Porter? Or is there someone on the market that is a more realistic get using these contracts (lol) and has the upside to make this team better? Or are we just better with Turner/Harkless/Leonard? Also consider that Porter, Dame and CJ's contracts all expire in 2020/2021 so if everything falls to shit, we can hit the reset button that year without carrying his ~28 million a year contract on the books into the future.

My answer is yes, but I don't expect a trade with salaries this big to go down while the ownership situation is still not settled yet.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Porter is a 40% 3pt shooting, better ballhandling Aminu.

He'd be an enormous upgrade here.

 

[BonesJones]

You could compare Porters best season with Layman this season and it still wouldn’t convince me he’s that big of an upgrade.

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The conclusion I come to is that I’d rather see how Layman reacts to more touches rather than drop $80M or whatever on someone that may just be a glorified version of what we already have.

Layman's also barely played. It's a 250 minute sample size that you're buying too much into. Also, birth can play the 4 so I don't see how it'd restrict Layman. Itd just send him to the bench where he'd play just as much and actually get more shots and scoring opportunities.

Also, Porter is a great defender. Layman is average at best. Porter has shot 44% from 3pt for an entire season. We can only dream that Jake shoots that.

 

[illmatic99]

Maybe we should rethink this whole don't trade Zach thing. If not, get this guy some semblance of big man coaching at least. He is more foul prone than Oden in his first summer league.

 

[Pridan]

Aminu and Porter being able to switch positions would be great for match up versatility.

 

[B-Roy]

Maybe we should rethink this whole don't trade Zach thing. If not, get this guy some semblance of big man coaching at least. He is more foul prone than Oden in his first summer league.

He started playing worse once injuries hit and he had to start playing mostly 4 next to Meyers.

He's not a 4. Maybe long term the Blazers want him to develop into a 4, but as it currently stands his effectiveness on both sides of the floor is diminished when he's not playing the 5 spot.

 

[KingSpeed]

I mean we're paying CJ max money to be a middling SG.

Ask the Bucks and Knicks if they think CJ is s middling SG.

 

[TBpup]

Ask the Bucks and Knicks if they think CJ is s middling SG.

CJ gave up more than he scored. So he may not be middling on offense but on defense, he gave up 32 to a guy who averages 13.