Blazers

[Phalanx]

I think Cronin tried to trade both at the deadline and had no takers. I wonder if Grant's contract is even tradeable.

I find that hard to believe. I think it's more likely that he's over valuing them and trying to maximize their trade value. He just needs to cut bait and pick a direction.

Yeah, I am just wondering if cutting bait is an option with Grant, or if picks or taking a bad contract back would have to be involved. Obviously, any player is tradeable for the right deal (see Raef LaFrentz). The question is if anyone wants Grant's contract at face value.

[Phalanx]

After losing to the Bulls (tanking) tonight, the number of teams who can pass the Blazers for the 9th lottery position is down to three, and of those three, only Phoenix seems to be actively tanking - the other two (Chicago and Miami) are in the play-in. All three are two ahead in the loss column. The Blazers need to keep that margin with them all so that there aren't any coin flips at the end of the season that Portland always seems to lose. Next up is San Antonio in a contest to see who can tank the hardest.

[pezsez1]

Nice to see we FINALLY tanked. Although I think it's kind of wild they waited until the 3 minute mark in a pivotal game for the play-in to do so. If they'd rather tank than be in the play-in (which is what they should be thinking) then why not focus on development after the all-star break? They could have had a legit shot at a top 4 pick with some franchise-changing dudes in that group. Now we'll just have a meh FRP. Any FRP is still better than none at all for a rebuilding team, but it still completely grinds my gears that this front office has so little direction.

[Phalanx]

The tanking likely started not long after they won 10 out of 11. There was a 4-game stretch right after that where they lost all four and I think that convinced management that they weren't going to get better than an 8-seed in the West. Since then, they have dropped a couple of spots in the standings (vs a couple of East teams), and with Toronto well out in front on the tanking operation (currently six games back), they were never going to catch them, so they didn't mind winning a few here and there to keep the guys developing positively. I suspect there is a gentleman's agreement with all these tanking teams so that losing on purpose is kept to a minimum, especially with Dallas getting fined a few years ago. Anyway, the game against the Spurs will be interesting. Both teams have a tremendous incentive not to win that game.

[Phalanx]

Blazers hold Avdija out vs the Spurs, but of course it made no difference. The Spurs fell far behind in the first quarter and manged to keep more or less the same deficit the rest of the game. Phoenix tanked their way to another loss in the meantime, which leaves the Blazers clinging to a half-game lead in the tankathon. I predict the Suns will either pass the Blazers or tie and then win the coin toss and Portland will go in to the lottery in 10th position. Could be worse I guess.

[pezsez1]

I didn't see any way we'd manage to lose to the Spurs. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact we're likely going to end up with the worst-possible lottery pick, but I guess that's better than no FRP at all. Such a disappointing year though, it's likely going to finish about as badly as it could have. Love the growth of some of our players, but that could have happened next year. This year should have been all about the draft and fans should have sucked that up and dealt with it.

My question going forward though is what will happen to Chauncy Billups. He definitely showed he can coach. Still not sure if he showed he's capable of coaching a playoff/contending team.

[Phalanx]

I didn't see any way we'd manage to lose to the Spurs. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact we're likely going to end up with the worst-possible lottery pick, but I guess that's better than no FRP at all. Such a disappointing year though, it's likely going to finish about as badly as it could have. Love the growth of some of our players, but that could have happened next year. This year should have been all about the draft and fans should have sucked that up and dealt with it.

I don't understand your disappointment. Over two-thirds of the team salary sat on the bench today and they still beat the Spurs handily. With their roster, the Blazers were never going to lose 60 games, and wasting another year of development in the attempt to gain at the most 5 draft spots is short-sighted, to say nothing of the team morale losing night after night. The Blazers are doing a good job of getting a decent draft pick while advancing the level of the team going into next year. The emergence of Avdija should make every fan happy, and Camara's development after being thrown in to a trade at the last minute is like getting an extra top 10 pick out of nowhere. When I think of the schmucks they sent to Phoenix to get Ayton and Camara, it's unbelievable. Nasir Little and Keon Johnson aren't even in the NBA anymore, and neither Grayson Allen or Nurk can break the starting lineup on two of the crappiest teams in the league. Meanwhile, Scoot and Sharpe, who looked a bit like possible draft busts at the end of last year, are both plugged in and coming along well. The Blazers have the makings of a well-balanced team that might even be worth spending into the tax to augment.

If Cronin can manage to dump Grant this offseason and replace his salary with someone more complementary to the current roster, the Blazers might be able to end the Groundhog Day nightmare that started the day they gave Lillard his first supermax deal. Instead of posting like Eeyore, you should be salivating over who they might acquire in trade and draft with their top 10 pick. I would love to hear opinions about what the team still needs in order to get them over the top.

[Merganzer]

I would love to hear opinions about what the team still needs in order to get them over the top.

I'm not sure which player particularly, but I look at the Detroit Pistons. Last season they finished 14-68, this season, after getting the 5th pick, their record is going to improve by about 30 games.

[Duck07]

I would love to hear opinions about what the team still needs in order to get them over the top.

The team needs to find a way to jettison 1 of Gr/Ant (likely with this years 1st) and bring back a backup Guard who can Pass/Shoot (ideally Simons first)
Hope that Scoot/Shae develop into the PG-SG duo going forward.
Move Gr/Ant+RW3 and for a quality PF who can Reb/Shoot. (Too many 3's/Wings, not enough 4's/Forwards)

Guards: Scoot, Shae, Trade Return, Banton
Wings/Forwards: Deni, Toumani, Trade Return, Tisse, Jabari
Centers: Ayton, Clingan, Reath

Chicago will likely be involved in some way in any deal so that Cronin can regain trading future 1sts in order to make the 2nd move off Gr/Ant.

[Phalanx]

Just a note: I was wrong about Keon Johnson. He has been playing 24 minutes/ game for the Nets and averaging 10.5 points. I wrote him off after Phoenix cut him, but he signed a 2-way deal with Brooklyn and now appears to be a rotation player. Good for him.

My own perceived Blazers wants are a backup (or starting) point guard who can hit the three and a power forward. Mostly though, I agree with Pez that the upper bound of talent needs to improve somewhere. Deni is a nice player on a great contract, but it still feels like the Blazers are missing an all-star to take them further into the playoffs. If Ayton brought it every night, it would make a difference.

I don't care as much about trading Simons since his deal will be expiring next year and he kind of fills my PG/Shooting hole in the meantime. Old man Grant's contract is the real atrocity on the team right now. The Blazers have him, a nice pick, and some wiggling room under the cap thanks to a couple of really nice contracts. It would be a great bit of GM work if Cronin could utilize these assets to bring someone with some star potential in, preferably in the front court to hedge against losing Ayton in the future when he doesn't get a max deal.

[Boom]

I would love to hear opinions about what the team still needs in order to get them over the top.

They need someone with All NBA potential.

[Duck07]

Cronin just got an extension, no word on the length

[pezsez1]

They need someone with All NBA potential.

This is exactly what we need, and it's why I'm so baffled about the organization not taking draft position seriously. We've shown we can draft well and this is a great class. The kind of player we need has never signed with the Blazers in free agency so it's hard to get excited about contracts coming off of the books -- we're more likely to use that money to overpay some dudes to stay put. Best way for Portland to get that kind of player is the draft.

For the past couple years I've been watching our young players and trying to peg who might be our next franchise pillar. Right now it's clearly Deni in the driver's seat, but I'm not even sure that he's good enough to be a true NBA All-Star type of player. I just know we won't contend for a title until that kind of player is on our roster. Even that 2004 Detroit team that won without a superstar had hall-of-famers like Rasheed Wallace and Chauncy Billups.

[Phalanx]

Cronin just got an extension, no word on the length

Cronin is a mixed bag. He understands the value of good contracts, which is why he gave all those picks for Avdija, but on the other hand, he is a full blown imbecile when it comes to originating his own contracts - Simons, Grant, and the Lillard extension. Has he figured out yet that every time he does a deal like those it severely limits his options in terms of the salary cap and trying to trade them? We'll see. I will say that the team was in REALLY bad shape when he took over - not sure how much he contributed to that. At least there has been roster and cap improvement since then.

[droop10]

I would love to hear opinions about what the team still needs in order to get them over the top.

I'm not sure which player particularly, but I look at the Detroit Pistons. Last season they finished 14-68, this season, after getting the 5th pick, their record is going to improve by about 30 games.

Pistons aren't necessarily a great example from the standpoint that their 5th pick, Ron Holland isn't a huge contributor. He's playing, but not at all the reason for their 30 game swing. I think a big part of it is that Monty Williams did an all-time terrible job coaching last year, and Cade Cunningham, who was a number 1 overall pick, has elevated his game to All-NBA level. They've also had a number of young top picks that have started to blossom, as well as doing a good job of mixing in some decent veterans to help teach the young guys.