SB Nation User Blog: two4larue

Brother Wendell weighs in on DLee, Ric Bucher tweets on Odom

two4larue — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:20:50 -0000

Brother Wendell weighs in on DLee, Ric Bucher tweets on Odom

"It’s a Catch-22 for Portland. You never have to draw-up a play for Lee and he fits the "toughness" mentality Portland seeks in the frontcourt. He simply gets after it. But coming off the bench isn’t of any interest in the least to Lee. Who knows? Maybe Kevin Pritchard and Nate McMillan sell him on it. Or maybe $9 or $10 million reasons will change his mind."

Evidently Portland has also spoken with Lamar Odom's agent

http://twitter.com/RicBucher/status/2489196139

David Lee in the land of the giants (with poll)

two4larue — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:41:22 -0000

Now that Turk is gone, David Lee is the most-coveted FA big man available, and you could see the Blazers were trying to put together a "long" front line this week, so maybe they’re still working in that direction?

But if KP is really targeting Lee, where would his minutes come from, assuming Joel/Greg are healthy and playing 48+mpg? Well, you’d have to consider a “triple towers” lineup for at least 10-12 mpg (LMA / Lee / C at the 3,4,5) The nice thing about Aldridge playing "SF" is that can defend pretty well, out on the perimeter (if you remember, he did a nice job when he had to switch out on point guards, last year) There aren’t a whole lot of SFs that LMA couldn’t stay in front of, and of course he would KILL THEM on the other end.

So, if Nate/KP were just contemplating starting a 6’10 / 6’11 /7’0 lineup (Hedo / LMA / C) how much more of a “stretch” would it be to play a LMA / Lee / C lineup for 5-6 minutes a half? The three daddy-long-legs could pack the paint and rebound the heck out of the ball, and we know that LMA and Lee can both run the court extremely well.

Will KP go after the “BPA” on the FA market and then leave it up to Nate to make the pieces fit? (I know, this idea smacks of the Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant and Jermaine O’Neal "PF logjam" that ended with Jerm being dealt for Dale Davis.) WIll history repeat itself, or will the quest to matchup with the “length” of the L*kers lead Portland to offer Lee the most $$$ of anyone in the NBA?

Poll

Go big, or go home?

Next target...Shane Battier? (with poll)

two4larue — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:01:41 -0000

Following the "Turkish defection" at least we have some more insight re: what the Blazers are interested in, because of their "1st" choice (Hedo)

They want a veteran with high BBIQ who can make the players around him better. And we know KP/Nate value good outside shooting. Shane isn't the penetrator and creator that Turk is (few big men are) but he is an excellent perimeter defender (and "another coach on the floor" by all accounts)

Houston also just signed Ariza, so there is some "duplication" of talent between Trevor and Shane, although there's no reason the two of them couldn't start at the SG/SF positions. (Indeed, that's probably Adelman's current plan, now that Artest is gone)

The good news is KP has his cap-space "back" (though it never really left) and he can do an unbalanced trade. Now for the bad news: it's going to cost KP some actual talent to pry Battier away, and there's really no "bad" contacts on the Rocket's ledger (besides TMEC, or course) to use as "leverage"

Would Houston accept Outlaw+Bayless for Battier? Shane has 2 years remaining on his deal [6,864,200; 7,354,500] and the salaries would match, not that it really matters, now. Would Portland consider trading Rudy+capspace for Shane? How about Batum? What about Joel?

As much as I like the "idea" of Battier I'm not sure I could "sign off" on those last 3 options

What about you? Can anyone think of a deal that wouldn't "hurt" too much from a Blazer's perspective that would also "make sense" from Houston's point of view? Or, do you think that Shane is the "wrong" target?

Poll

Should the Blazers try to acquire Shane Battier?

Surrounding Roy and Hedo with...shooters? (w/poll)

two4larue — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:21:32 -0000

I know most of you are still in denial about Turk but I'm hearing that KP is serious about bringing Hedo onboard and that's got me thinking about the makeup of the roster. With Brandon and Hedo handling the rock, what kind of PG does Portland really need?

Answer: someone who can shoot 3 pointers. Like Steve Blake

This also made me think about the pre-draft talk re: Steph Curry. Maybe the Blazers had made their minds up about going hard after Turk this week, and were already thinking about "what kind" of players they needed to surround Roy and Hedo with, which made Curry a priority target?

We know that Rudy, Blake and Martell (assuming his foot's OK) will help space the court and knock down treys. Bayless? Not so much. Outlaw is likely heading out the door. Maybe a deal including Travis and Jerryd is in order, but not for the kind of PG that we've all been thinking about. Not for "another" player who needs the ball in his hands to be successful (because with Roy and Hedo, we've got two "creators" and that's almost "too many"--after all, there's only one b-ball) The Blazers could be thinking that they need another veteran PG who can defend and shoot it well, from distance.

Note: I don't think Kirk Hinrich will be available, now that Gordon's a Piston. So we'll have to look elsewhere.

Which PGs shot the best 3pt% last year?

Jameer Nelson

Eddie House

DJ Augustin

Steve Nash

Mo WIlliams

Steve Blake

Keyon Dooling

I'm going out on a limb and saying that Portland is going to be more interested in acquiring someone like Eddie House or Keyon Dooling than they are at bringing in another PG who needs the ball in his hands all the time.

Poll

Who's with me?

Devin Harris and the BSEC (updated with poll)

two4larue — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:07:56 -0000

Everyone remembers the RLEC, right?

Well, I was listening to Ian Thompson being interviewed by Vance and Jaynes on 95.5 this afternoon and he said something that caught my attention. Thompson said that KP may be thinking about acquiring a large expiring contract as part of a lopsided trade. (Thompson called it "trading into their cap-space")

Say what?!

I think what he was getting at is, it would be a good idea to have "another RLEC" in hand next spring when the rest of the GMs are fishing for cap relief heading into the 2010 FA period

So, what does this have to do with NJ and Devin Harris?

As we've been speculating, the Nets appear to be in massive rebuilding and salary dump mode. Reports persist that they are shopping Harris and his LTC. And we all know that KP has been interested in Devin for awhile.

But what's this about a BSEC, you ask?

Bobby Simmons is owed a whopping 11,242,667 this year. But this contract is EXPIRING next spring.

Now, I know what you're thinking ('cause I thought it, too) 19 mil is a lot of scratch for a great PG and an overpaid SF that Portland doesn't really need. But when you consider the potential benefit of having the "BSEC" down the road? "Everything becomes clear"

OK, I've had some time to read the responses, and here's my "update"

Portland’s cap-space could be used to make that 19 mil a little more "reachable". Since the Blazer’s will be under the cap in a few days, that means they only have to send 11-12 mil to NJ to take back the 19 mil of Harris and Simmon’s combined salaries (and I think this would also create another trade exception)

Outlaw and Blake and Przybilla's combined salaries would easily take care of that amount, but NJ probably won’t want to deal with Joel’s 7.4 mil player option for 2011 (but you never know, he might opt out and they’d get the salary savings, anyway. But since they’ve already got Lopez, I’ll keep just Przy in PDX where he belongs)

So, here’s the proposal:

Capspace 8,000,000
Blake 4,000,000
Outlaw 3,600,000
Bayless 2,143,080

That brings the total to: 17,743,080
Harris plus Simmons = 19,642,667
The difference is 1,899,587

Now, I could plug Rudy’s 1,165,320 into that deal and get pretty close. But I’m not going to do that! It would be ‘way too easy, and I’d like to play some hardball with Thorn and show off some more of my “out of the box” thinking ;^)

Does everyone remember the trade exception that KP got for in the Diogu/Ruffin trade? Well, “what if” Portland used that TE in a completely seperate deal and acquired a player (we’ll call him “X”) and that player just happened to have a 2-3 mi/year contract? What do the rules say about KP putting this newly acquired “player X” into the above “equation” to bring Portland’s total closer to 20 mil? It may take a little longer to get the Harris-Simmons deal consummated, but then the Blazer’s bench wouldn’t be completely gutted in the process.

So there’s the proposal: Outlaw, Blake, Bayless, player X and all the capspace for Harris and Simmons.

Poll

How do you like me, now?

3-way trade proposal between Portland-New Jersey-Minnesota

two4larue — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:09:35 -0000

Once again, I took an hour and ran some numbers to see if there was a way to get Devin Harris. This deal also involves Ricky Rubio going from the Wolves to the Nets.

All of the numbers (except the team totals, below) are from storyteller's excellent website

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/09-10salaries.htm

Here are the details:

FROM NEW JERSEY TO PORTLAND
Devin Harris [8,400,000]

FROM PORTLAND TO NEW JERSEY
Travis Outlaw [3,600,000] Jerryd Bayless [2,143,080]

FROM PORTLAND TO MINNESOTA
Joel Przybilla [6,857,725] rights to Victor Claver

FROM MINNESOTA TO NEW JERSEY
rights to Ricky Rubio, Oleksiy Pecherov [1,547,640]

FROM MINNESOTA TO PORTLAND
Ryan Gomes [4,017,500]

FROM NEW JERSEY TO MINNESOTA
rights to Terrence Williams

MINNESOTA gets Przybilla, the rights to Terrence Williams and Claver.
Incoming salary 5,310,085
Outgoing salary 5,565,140

NEW JERSEY gets Rubio, Outlaw, Bayless and Oleksiy Pecherov (7' center)
Incoming salary 7,290,740
Outgoing salary 6,852,360

PORTLAND gets Harris and Gomes
Incoming salary 12,417,500
Outgoing salary 12,600,805

Note: I would be willing to sweeten Minnesota's "pot" with draft choices and/or cash, but not with Rudy or Batum! Otherwise, I think everybody's getting a fair return for their assets. I know, it's tough to let Joel go, but as you can see, KP would have nearly all of his cap-space left to fill the backup center position.

Fire away, because I know this one will be controversial...just the way we like it.

Poll

Well how about it, armchair GMs? Do we have a deal?

Devin Harris: the proposal (with poll)

two4larue — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:14:27 -0000

Note: I originally posted this as a response to a fanshot. But after putting all the time into it (and realizing there were still a few typos to fix, grr!) I thought that this modest proposal might be worthy of it's own fanpost. Enjoy!

The question was "why would the Nets even consider trading Devin Harris?

First off, I'm assuming that NJ wants to clear as much cap-space as possible, heading into next summer’s FA period. They just dealt Vince Carter, and the largest remaining contract on their books is Harris. Rumor was, they were shopping Harris before the draft, in hopes of moving into the top 5. Who did they want? On the Talkin' Ball program, Jaynes and Quick thought that NJ might want Rubio; they could then “sell” Ricky to their fans next season, while playing a bunch of low-priced kids (along with Lopez) and bide their time before making a huge splash in 2010 free agency (as11osu has been talking about them potentially having the room to sign LBJ, Wade, and Bosh.)

So with that as the backdrop, here’s my proposal:

The Blazers send Outlaw, Blake, Rudy and the rights to Victor Claver to NJ for Harris, and one (or several) of the following Nets players with non-expiring contracts.

Keyon Dooling, Yi Jianlian, Eduardo Najera, Josh Boone, Sean Williams or (perhaps) Courtney Lee

(I’m not going to take the time to discuss dollars, because Portland will be under the cap next Wednesday--when Harris will no longer be BYC--and these salaries won’t have to match, anyway. If you want to review the $ details, go to storyteller’s superb website)

http://www.storytellerscontracts.info/resources/09-10salaries.htm

Again, this is not as much about "talent" as about saving NJ money. (Well, it is about Harris’ talent, he would be awesome in a Blazer uniform, truly the last “piece” of their championship puzzle!)

The other nice thing about putting Oultlaw and Blake’s combined 7.6 mil expiring contracts into this deal is that (depending on how many of those Net's contracts KP would have to accept, if any) the Blazers would still have room under the cap left over to pursue a pretty nice FA big man. How would getting both Harris and Bass sound? Or McDyess? (I like Jeff Foster, but that’s another trade topic altogether)

So yeah, I realize I’m making a lot of assumptions, but they are based on New Jersey’s recent behavior and the well-known lure of the upcoming 2010 FA period. Don’t “write off” Devin Harris as being untouchable, that’s all I’m saying. The Nets may have much bigger “fish” in mind, next summer

To conclude, here’s a potential Blazer depth chart, assuming this deal were to be completed

Harris / Bayless / #3 PG

Roy / #2 SG / Webster / Batum

Batum / Webster / Bowen?

LMA / Bass? McDyess? Foster? / Pendergraph / Cunningham

Greg / Joel / Foster?

“#3 PG” and “#2 SG” could be one of those Net’s players (listed above) or they could come via future trades or FA signings. But please remember, the Harris-Roy starting backcourt is “the thing” to focus on, here. Don’t "just" lament the players the Blazers would be letting go to make the deal work.

Poll

Let me have it, just be gentle. Would you trade Outlaw, Blake, Rudy and Claver for Devin Harris and change?

Is Devin Harris "the" target? (with poll)

two4larue — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:12:31 -0000

I've been listening to some radio interviews and trying to put 2+2 together. I heard that Portland is trying like heck to move up in the draft, as high as the first 5 picks range. Then this AM Sean Deveney (of The Sporting News) told the MSP boys that NJ was looking to deal Devin Harris to move up in the draft. Coincidence?

Would you deal Rudy (etc) to move up to #3,4,5 (etc) and flip that pick to NJ for Harris?

(I'd do it)

Poll

Would you do it?

Yes

313 votes

No

100 votes

413 votes | Poll has closed

Givony's notes on Blair, Casspi

two4larue — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:34:00 -0000

-We’re hearing that DeJuan Blair is in pretty good shape at the moment, and he continues to have very strong workouts that are easing the concerns teams have about his knee. Blair’s draft range looks pretty steady between 12 and 16, although he will work out for teams above and below those picks. Don’t be surprised to see a team like Oklahoma City or Portland try to make a move for him on draft night, as both organizations are reportedly very high on him.

-One team that might be interested in moving down in this draft is New Jersey, as they are reportedly very high on Israeli Omri Casspi, but may not want to invest such a high pick on him.

http://www.draftexpress.com/blog/Jonathan-Givony/#Early-Entry-Withdrawal-Deadline-Rumor-Mill-3260

NJ is at pick #11.

KP could set up an arrangement to deal Sergio, #24 (and other picks?) to NJ for #11, assuming Blair is available at 11 and Casspi is still on the board at 24.

Edit: my bad, I didn't see Norsktroll's excellent Fanshot on this same topic, down below.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/6/16/911095/daily-dejuan-blair-indiana-workout

Ian Thomsen’s comments on Courtside

two4larue — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:58:12 -0000

This is a paraphrase, I didn't record the interview

"I don’t think Nate McMillian wants to run. He won’t want to hand the keys to Ricky Rubio. Nate likes the San Antonio model. You run when it’s there but he values the half court offense."

"Jason Kidd said that towards the end of his career, he’d like to play 20 minutes per game as a reserve and serve as a mentor. About a year ago Nate told me he thought Kidd was the best defensive PG in the NBA "

"Everybody in the league knows how highly Kevin Pritchard values Jerryd Bayless"