It’s been 7 hours since free agency started.
There have been a ton of deals today, but people are freaking out because the blazers appear stagnant in making moves.
Do not be swayed by these naysayers and Debbie downers.
At our disposal, we have a BAE to spend (~4.5mil) and an MLE to spend (~12.5mil). (Cap nerds, correct me if my numbers are wrong)
If the season started today, we would have a starting PG, SG, PF, and C. And off the bench we have guards, undersized wings in Little and thybulle, and rookie wings in Rupert and Murray.
So in free agency, excluding trades, we can/should target starting caliber wings, and backup centers.
Here’s why today isn’t a big deal –
Most of the players in our target salary range and target positional groups are STILL available.
That’s right, most of the deals today have been guards or guys too expensive for us.
Take a look for yourself:
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/
Of the 40 transactions today:
– 18 have been guards
– 17 have been forwards
– 5 have been centers.
Let’s ignore guards, because we don’t need guards.
Of the 17 forwards:
– 6 of them were signed above the value of the MLE (one of them being grant)
– 11 of them were signed at or below MLE value.
The forwards signed today that we could afford:
– Herb Jones
– Joe Ingles
– Georges Niang
– Trey Lyles
– Taurean Prince
– Julian Champagne
– Keita Bates Diop
– Yuta Watanabe
– Olshey Brissett
– Cam Reddish
– Darius Days
Of the 5 centers signed today:
– 1 was signed above the MLE (Poeltl)
– The other 4 have an average salary below 4mil
The affordable centers signed today included:
– Kevin Love
– DeAndre Jordan
– Chimezie Metu
– Drew Eubanks
Now here’s where people really need to chill out…
– There are still 44 forwards unsigned
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/forward/
– There are still 35 centers unsigned
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/center/
Go ahead, click on the links and look at who’s been signed, what their value is, vs who’s still available.
It’s day 1. We know what we need from free agency and how much we can afford. The ones who have been signed today havent subjected us to any guaranteed failure.
by rock-or-something
24 Comments
Let’s get meyers back here on a minimum deal as backup or 3rd string center
Don’t we not have Thybulle yet?
I still don’t get why Grant is paid 160 million.
This list says people’s frustrations are valid
https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/teammates_and_opponents.fcgi?pid_select=Damian%20Lillard&pid=lillada01&idx=players&type=t
I think us fans are basing our reactions off previous off seasons. We are all anticipating the “we tried, we are happy with our roster. Grant was the priority”. This is exactly what we expect when we hope for the opposite from what the front office feeds us before the off season.
Good post. Give me Jalen Mcdaniels! Or Brooks even, I bet with Chauncey and Dame could feel his bad tendencies in a bit.
god bless your hope
Free agency was over when we paid 160M. Also the season and also the next 5 years.
We have a 40 win team that’s going to get bounced out of the play in, at best. If there’s any bad luck, injuries, this team will be lottery bound. Get ready for next summer where we pretend to build a contender around Dame, while Dame says he doesn’t want to be apart of a rebuild, while we run back the same roster for 2024.
I’m still fine with Grant getting 160 million. If people watched him at all during last season, they would realize he was literally our best player through the start of the season and far more consistent than Anfernee Simons.
It’s not like we paid him at the level of Tobias Harris or something. I just want us to trade for Zubac or sign BroLo/McDaniels. There’s still time to make moves.
Tired of the doomers. See y’all at the start of the season.
Premature? Possibly, as there is some time to theoretically pull a rabbit out of a hat and make things work. However, looking at the moves we are making, it really makes you question the feasibility of the stated intent of building a contender around dame. There just likely are not any moves that make us a contender and if that is the case, why are we signing jerami grant to a five year contract that will possibly limit us from building around shaedon, scoot, etc when they are peaking? This jerami grant contract might really suck in a year or two
Can you be my therapist
Any big moves we make is going to be through trade. Wild some people expected something big today
Copium
We also have Simons and Nas as trade chips.
along with the TPE. There is no sense in panicking as that would signal an overpay.
I think people are seriously underrating how much Scoot is going to help this team next year. He could very easily be 6th man of the year and raise everyone’s production as he is a superb playmaker.
Oubre and Plumlee feel like good targets to build a solid 10-man rotation.
Dame/Sharpe/Wing/Grant/Nurk
Scoot/Thybulle/Oubre/Murray/Plumlee.
We can then get a couple of vet minimums to help fill out the roster.
That team’s chances depend on Scoot and Shae, but that is true regardless.
Good post, waste of time. Lotta kids on here that just don’t understand
Front office needs to finally trade Ant
Any deal that doesn’t involve Scoot won’t move the needle for this team. 4 of the bottom 5 West teams have made upgrades already.
Didnt they try to get kelly Oubre one summer? Nows there chance lol
Went full Sinead with that…
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk)
It’s been seven hours, but the sixteen days haven’t passed yet. 🙂
Maybe he learned a lesson offering payton jr that bad deal the second FA started last year. He may be waiting to see how shit plays out w his cap space this time. Sometimes a legit player shakes free via a harden type situation etc. He really needs to get access to trading our future picks w Chicago to do anything big.
People are reacting to the Grant deal because it is a clear message that the team refuses to rebuild while fielding a team that is not truly competitive. If you are going to invest 5 years and $160 mil in a player, there needs to be a clear benefit *to the team* (not just Dame’s feelings). Grant is not pushing this team deep into the play-offs.
You take this rational shit outta the sub .
Reddit would never overreact what are you on about