The absolute best case scenario I can think of while keeping it reasonably realistic would be to acquire OG and Claxton and resign Grant, Matisse, Sky, and Eubanks.
The reason why I hope to get OG instead of someone like a Mikal Bridges is simply because we won’t have to give up as much to get him. With the way the raptors season ended and the firing of Nick Nurse, we all know there will be some big decisions to make in the front office regarding the roster and I think they might be a selling team looking to rebuild around Scottie Barnes. I think Blazers can get away with getting OG with like 2-3 first round picks and salary fillers, which would mean we keep Ant and Sharpe.
I don’t think I need to explain why Claxton makes sense for the Blazers. He’ll be a major upgrade over Nurk and is someone who will be able to anchor our defense really well. If we can get Nurk’s contract off our hands and get a young player with huge upside for a couple picks, I think it’s worth.
Finally, if all the stars align and we also get Wemby, I think we’ll be in the perfect situation with a couple young guys with insane potential as well as players that can help Dame win now. Even if we don’t get the first pick, this looks like a good spot to be in going into next season.
That’s a starting lineup of Dame, Sharpe, OG, Grant, Claxton with Ant (6th man), Wemby, and Matisse (who I think we should resign) coming off the bench. We’ll also have Drew and Mayes as third stringers in case of injuries. Honestly won’t matter how the rest of the roster shapes up to be at that point.
Ant coming off the bench and leading the second unit would make sense in this scenario and we’d have the potential to be a top 15 defense for the first time in years.
What do y’all think?
by Nimrit19
5 Comments
I would rather have Siakam, who might even cost about the same to acquire
I keep seeing Wemby playing center in this r/ predictions, but he won’t. He has more chances of playing guard than playing the 5, if you listen to his interviews and what he likes to do on the floor
The ways I’m seeing for getting OG would involve Simons, or Nurk, or maybe Sharpe + Little + other.
I think for me OG for Simons would be okay, because then 1sts + Nurk could go for a better big, but I dont really see an option for a big upgrade that would be available, so thats not my top option.
Simons + 1sts for Bridges seems like one of the best options.
Or Maybe Siakam, but his salary is harder to match. I think he’d take Simons + Little + KJ or something like that to get close enough in salary. Also seems like a gamble to have both Grant and Siakam, neither may be ideal at SF, but it could also work great.
Outside that, trading Lillard this offseason or by the deadline for a bunch of picks seems like it’d solve a lot of the problems. No more pressure to trade Simons or Sharpe, no more undersized backcourt, more time to see if Billups is good or if they need a new coach, and lots of draft picks to do something with. Would suck to let Grant go for nothing, and would suck to have Lillard gone, but other than that it makes a lot of sense
I’m not a Blazers fan but this feels like a 6-8 seed assuming Nuggets/Grizzlies/Kings/Warriors/Lakers/Clippers are all healthy.
Does anybody in this sun think it’s time to blow it up and basically just keep Simmons and Sharpe
U have one big guy and u wana sell him lol