Blazers

[Phalanx]

Sounds like Ayton agreed to a buyout at $10 million less - $25.5 million. If he tries to recoup the difference, even more will come off the Blazers cap hit. So I guess we are rooting for an Ayton bidding war rather than just a minimum-salary signing. It would be cool if taking the highest bid was part of the deal, but that seems doubtful.

This still sucks, but that is a better discount than I thought it would be, and lends more credibility to the idea that they could still pursue a free agent wing.

[Duck07]

Sounds like Ayton agreed to a buyout at $10 million less - $25.5 million. If he tries to recoup the difference, even more will come off the Blazers cap hit. So I guess we are rooting for an Ayton bidding war rather than just a minimum-salary signing. It would be cool if taking the highest bid was part of the deal, but that seems doubtful.

This still sucks, but that is a better discount than I thought it would be, and lends more credibility to the idea that they could still pursue a free agent wing.

My brief understanding is that the buyout is the number going on the cap and if he clears waivers after 48 hours, there is zero financial incentive for a team to sign him on a 1-year deal for anything other than the absolute minimum so the incentives are likely more about role, playing time, fit, etc. Unless of course a team were to sign him for a multi-year deal which is in the implausible waters category of discussion like Brooklyn deciding to claim him off waivers for the full 25.5 for their salary floor problem which I don't think was solved with the MPJ trade. The Cap Hit of that 25M won't change based on the amount he signs with a new team for the year, the only way to change that 25.5 would be to stretch it out 8.5 the next 3 years.

[Phalanx]

It is probably only academic, but it actually is possible for the cap hit to be lessened in the unlikely event that Ayton signs for more than the vet minimum. Any amount over that minimum is divided by two and that is the number that comes off Portland's cap. You are right that there is no incentive for the signing team to do this, other than in a competition for Ayton's services if he was trying to help the Blazers out, which again seems extremely unlikely, particularly in light of negative details about Ayton that are starting to leak out of the Blazers' camp.

[Duck07]

Bucks have just waived and stetched Lillard. WOW.

Who wants to talk about that deal now!

[Phalanx]

Oh man, Lillard is getting waived on Bobby Bonilla Day. I thought Ayton was a huge cap hit. $113 million down the drain. Wow. The Jrue trade is even more interesting now. For the first time since his rookie contract, Lillard has a two year window where he can't ruin a team's luxury tax situation. Well, other than Milwaukee, who will have a $23 million anchor around their necks for the next five years.

Still think he will make that 100th Anniversary team?

[pezsez1]

Best-possible situation for Dame. He'll likely be able to choose his team for the next two years. Or he can chill in Portland near his friends and family and focus on rehab. Cronin should immediately offer a vet-minimum contract. (After he clears waivers.)

And yes, a torn achilles doesn't retroactively knock him out of the Top 75 list.

[bellsduck]

Best-possible situation for Dame. He'll likely be able to choose his team for the next two years. Or he can chill in Portland near his friends and family and focus on rehab. Cronin should immediately offer a vet-minimum contract. (After he clears waivers.)

And yes, a torn achilles doesn't retroactively knock him out of the Top 75 list.

OMG please do not bring him back.

[Phalanx]

If I was Cronin, I would make a big show of bringing him back on a two year deal for the vet minimum and then trade his butt again as soon as he heals up. Oh man, that would be beautiful after all the crap he pulled with Miami, etc.

Please Giannis, just stay in Milwaukee a little bit longer so that the rebuild happens right when Portland is exercising those pick swaps.

[Phalanx]

And yes, a torn achilles doesn't retroactively knock him out of the Top 75 list.

Lillard will go down as one of the most overpaid players in history, slightly below Raef LaFrentz. Since he somehow got voted onto that list, he has either lost in the first round of the playoffs or missed the playoffs completely every year since, and now he is ending his career with a massive salary stretched over five years in Milwaukee. You think his legacy won't be tarnished by that? He is going to be a joke in Milwaukee for years to come. 'The Lillard Trade' in that town will live in infamy. $23 million over the next five years along with all those traded picks over roughly the same span is going to make that team really hard to resurrect, and it can all easily be attributed to Lillard. He was already last on that 75 list, I don't think he ever makes one of those again.

[pezsez1]

If they brought back Dame there's zero chance they'd trade him again. I know that's your big fantasy, but it would never happen.

Not sure they would though, because ironically now it's Jru's contract that's going to be an albatross. Bringing back Dame would make a ton of sense if they could dependably move Jru in a couple years from now (with Dame staying on as the veteran presence). But Jru's contract is pretty bad, and he's old, and it's hard to see anyone wanting a 36-year-old Holiday for that kind of money. Meanwhile, we still have Scoot, and at this point he's our future, and he still needs minutes.

But if they were confident in being able to move Holiday, or if they could buy him out and stretch him? Then yeah, absolutely bring back Dame. We finally have a balanced roster where he wouldn't need to always carry the load and he'd instantly provide the shotmaking we desperately need.

He was already last on that 75 list, I don't think he ever makes one of those again.

You're right about this, but not for the reasons you think. It would be illogical to believe that no other player will ever make that list, and with Dame being #75 he'll obviously be bumped.

[StevensTechU]

Best-possible situation for Dame. He'll likely be able to choose his team for the next two years. Or he can chill in Portland near his friends and family and focus on rehab. Cronin should immediately offer a vet-minimum contract. (After he clears waivers.)

And yes, a torn achilles doesn't retroactively knock him out of the Top 75 list.

OMG please do not bring him back.

Have to agree. I sometimes wonder if Dame's mentorship/precedent killed Anfernee's development.

[pezsez1]

I sometimes wonder if Dame's mentorship/precedent killed Anfernee's development.

If anything killed Ant's development it was Stotts always riding the starters too hard.

The truth though is Ant just wasn't that good. Took him years to not look like a deer in headlights and once he stopped being tentative he just wasn't really great at anything except for streaky shooting.

[Duck07]

Lillard has no role on this team for the next two years but there's a world in which he recovers somewhere else and recognizes he can prolong his game by accepting a role here as a #8 rotation backup PG who feasts on 2nd units.

[StevensTechU]

I sometimes wonder if Dame's mentorship/precedent killed Anfernee's development.

If anything killed Ant's development it was Stotts always riding the starters too hard.

The truth though is Ant just wasn't that good. Took him years to not look like a deer in headlights and once he stopped being tentative he just wasn't really great at anything except for streaky shooting.

Yea I don't know that I agree. Anfernee was a teenage ball of clay when Portland drafted him, and his game developed into a dribble-heavy 3-point launcher who plays no defense. He's a poor man's Lillard with better hops. I don't think that's a coincidence.

[Duck07]

For the life of me I will never understand athletic basketball players who play bad defense. The knowledge is so minimal and it's all effort