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The Portland Trail Blazers Might Not Trade Malcolm Brogdon. Is this Solid Planning or Lunacy?



The Portland Trail Blazers Might Not Trade Malcolm Brogdon. Is this Solid Planning or Lunacy?

In today’s show the latest reporting around Malcolm Brogden has the Blazers keeping the veteran point guard in Rip City what does it mean if they do it and is this a good idea welcome to lock on Blazers let’s get into it you are locked on Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part

Of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up world it’s your past first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond you listen to another episode of Locked on Blazers put a locked on podcast network available wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube coming at you each and every

Weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make it your first listen tell your friends to do the same it’s locked on Blazers your team every day in today’s show I have gone to the rumor mill and harvested the latest Rumblings the latest Scuttle butt

From all across the league as it pertains to the Portland Trailblazers and the latest reporing all centers around Malcolm Brogden and the fact that the Blazers are maybe just straight up going to keep him past the trade deadline and after all this speculation months long from the moment he arrived

In training camp Mal brogon won’t indeed be traded huh round up the latest news um talk about an interesting nugget from Jake Fisher that the Blazers hope to be this year’s Houston Rockets that’s an aspiration we’ll unpack that in the second segment and then finally I like I’ve been adamantly against keeping

Malcolm Brogden and I and I want to advocate for the devil um someone who rarely needs Advocates but um I want to just explore whether this might just be okay because it’s worth exploring the Nuance that’s what we’re going to do in today’s show let’s start with the latest

News reporting from Mark Stein and Jake fiser suggest that Malcolm Brogden is sticking around let’s start with the reporting from Mark Stein let’s start with a little bit of context uh Malcolm Brogden has $22 million contract for this season and he’s has is under contract for next

Year it’s not like he’s going to become a a free agent this summer it’s not like the Blazers are going to lose him if they don’t trade him he’ll just still be on the team uh that’s not or on the roster I should say so like there isn’t

This sort of urgency lose him type of thing it’s just that with the Blazer situation with anony Simons and Scoot Henderson and eventually Shaden sharp should he get healthy in the in the medium short medium or long term have a lot of young guards that need playing

Time when all four are healthy it’s probably just straight up too many uh guards to play um it reduces the effectiveness of Shaden sharp because he doesn’t have the ball in his hands and you are sort of you know organizationally committed to scoot Henderson and uh anrey Simons is both

Better and younger than brogen so brogen seemed like the odd man out and since the moment he got here uh in fact when the trade was first reported by Adrian wowski he reported that the Blazers would look we’re going to keep Rob Williams who came over in the Drew

Holiday deal but we’re going to look to deal Malcolm Brockton and then Malcolm Brock push back against that in Camp said I don’t want to go anywhere and then recently he told Jason quick of the athletic like I like it here I would I don’t want to be traded like I’m

Portland fits me and I’m and I’m happy to be here and yet the speculation from the moment he arrived and from from aent rowski and from this podcast you’re listening to right now was that the Blazers not only should trade malcol brog but they had to they had to and I’ve been consistent

That they have to and now the reporting suggests that maybe they just aren’t going to and I’ll unpack my feelings as the show goes along um but let’s just start with sort of the the factual reporting and then we’ll get into the sort of deeper opinion held and and

Often shared right here um so markstein who who writes the Stein line it’s a substack newsletter it’s it’s it’s great go subscribe it’s it’s worth the money um says that Brogden has been lobbying to stay in Portland um and citing the recent story from Jason quick that I just referenced in the athletic

And even going as far to say Stein says that that brog is hopeful that he could get a contract extension with the Blazers um if not trading Malcolm brogen is one thing if they were to sign him to a contract extension I really would lose

My mind it would just make no sense no sense you just only have it’s it’s like a um you know the there’s only so much guarantee of money and opportunity in minutes and chances to dribble you can you can distribute on one basketball team it would be wild um but beyond

Beyond the sort of contract extension stuff but Brogden has been lobbying to stay he likes it here he wants to stay as as reported by Jason quick I stated by Brogden since training camp the Blazers released a little preview of or like a what they call an ISO like a

Little these little uh sort of videos are really good the do a really good job with him and and brog was particularly good and in that video he said that he like asked to be here he wanted to be here and when when Joe Cronin came to

Him and said hey we could look to find you another home he said no please you know let me stay here I want to be here I want to be somewhere where I’m valued as a veteran all those things but Stein reports and I’m going to quote here he

Says the prospect of a longer stay than anticipated in the Pacific Northwest for the 31-year-old has gained Credence that is Mark Stein who who who who does not write like a robot like some others who break news in the world um in the NBA world that is uh he that

Is Stein’s way of saying sounds like brogen ain’t going anywhere hm very curious Jake Fischer someone young young breaking news reporter he’s like my I don’t know why I got to call him young uh that’s more about me than it is about Jake uh but a breaking news reporter who

Works for Yahoo sports and worked a couple other places but currently for Yahoo was on the dunked on podcast this one is behind a pay wall you got to go get it but luckily for you I fished it out I’m I’m not going to I’m going to

Read the big pertinent part but like go you know if you want to keep Sports journalism alive sadly you have to pay for 10,000 subscriptions maybe one day you won’t but this is how it works except lock on Blazers free every day wherever you get Podcast and also on

YouTube Jake fiser on Nate Duncan’s podcast on dunk on behind the pay wall said and I’m going to quote here following the following Portland is hoping to follow a pretty similar Pathway to Houston this year I think they want to be the Rockets this year and I think Portland is also

Thinking we don’t necessarily need to go out and sign Fred ran vet and Dylan Brooks if we already have Malcolm Brogden and Jeremy Grant huh huh adding more Credence to this idea and to to steal a Stein word adding adding more more evidence more data to the idea that the Blazers just straight

Up are not compelled to trade Malcolm Brogden hm I have long been of the of the opinion that they have to trade him and that it would be a mistake not to trade him and I still feel that way I don’t I I I think it would be um you know I I

Don’t think Malcolm brogen’s trade value is going to rapidly increase what’s going to change is like the sort of um the factual situation regarding the marketplace so in the segment I want to talk about the marketplace and what might shift but I think what Jake fer hits on

There is that the Blazers are pursuing being the Rockets this year which is a team that added veterans to its young core and is attempting to be good they’re not tanking towards the bottom of the standings they are in the middle let’s unpack that rocket stuff because to me that sounds

Bizarre perhaps stupid and perhaps motivated by something Beyond basketball reasons let’s talk about all that in the second segment first want to wish you a happy Super Bowl to all who celebrate is the week of the Super Bowl the big game is Sunday and it’s it’s really um if

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Market for Malcolm BR just isn’t very good and I think that is a big sort of sticking point like maybe maybe that’s the motivation is is outside of their control to some extent but what fiser mentioned and I think what is troubling me here and kind of what’s What’s

Um stuck in my craw I think is the phrase I’m going to use what’s stuck in my craw right now is the idea that the Blazers want to be the Houston Rockets what what what the Houston Rockets are 23 and 26 they’re in 12th Place in the Western

Conference they are on excuse me 11th Place uh the Warriors won they’re basically effectively tied but we we’ll call we’ll give them a generously 11th Place in the Western Conference they’re 23 and 26 they’re 11th Place in the western conference outside of the playin what kind of aspiration is

That what kind of franchise goal is to look at a team that is three games under 500 without a path to be like truly a playoff team significantly below the true contenders in the west and a little bit better because they did add Fred Van vet good basketball player they did add

Dylan Brooks good defensive player they did add Jeff Green great old head to a young a talented young core so they could go 23 and 26 and that’s the goal that’s the team you look at and say that could be us Hey Joe look at them over there that could

Be us oh if we only had one more wish we could be 23 and 26 and 11th in the west what what the Rockets spent three years drafting in the top five 2021 2022 2023 three years in the top five Jaylen green Jabari Smith Jr am man

Thompson uh Jaylen green might not be the guy but I think ja Smith Jor is is looks like a very good NBA player I I’m a Believer in aan Thompson becoming a pretty darn good NBA player too Jaylen green if if nothing else mostly scores sometimes inefficiently

But he’s playing his best basketball of late no doubt about it in addition to those three years in the top five they acquired enough other draft Capital via trades of Russell Westbrook and or Chris Paul and and James Harden and Russell Westbrook and um to have three other picks in the top

20 in those years one they you know they traded future draft Capital to acquire Alber shenon who looks like a star he’s their best player he’s really stinking good uh tar een at 17 in 2022 and cam Whitmore who looks like he’s going to be

Very good and one of the best picks in the draft at number 20 uh you recall the Blazers tried worked out six dudes for the third overall pick and cam Whitmore is one of them and then cam fell to 20th Whitmore the 20th pick in 2023 so that’s

In three seasons six picks in the top 20 the Blazers in Theory are following a somewhat similar path they are they pick seventh with Shaden sharp in in uh in 2022 they last season they picked third with with Shaden sharp this they’re likely to be somewhere in like that five through

Seven range again this year they could they could bump up in the lottery for sure but I think Memphis is really is really coming for him in terms of leap frogging them for a worst record uh they’re going to have to lose about three three to four more games on the

Blazers down down the stretch of the season and and I think it’s is doable considering memphis’s health challenges so the Blazers would have three straight years in the top seven they’d have some other first round picks in there um with you know for for their troubles including Chris Murray and they’re

Likely to have two first round picks with the Warriors pick this season so then they’re probably going to end up with you know three picks in the top seven and two picks in the top 25 across three drafts depending on your feelings about how good um tar Kamara and Jabari Walker

Are going to be and whether you really squint and see an excellent basketball play with Ryan ruper like maybe you’re higher on the Blazers core young players than I am and I think that’s fine like you’re entitled to that opinion and this isn’t the space where I’m going to say

Like you know it’s um disparage the young core I I don’t think um I maybe don’t think there’s like a a star necessarily in in the in the like non scoot sharp crowd but um there’s some solid NBA players to be sure I don’t think that’s dissimilar to

What the Rockets have done the previous three years say the blazes are a year by behind him but why would you Short Circuit the post Dame era the Rockets started this by trading Malcolm brog or excuse me the Rockets started this by trading James Harden and spending three years in the

Tank then they cycled back up then they made their push they didn’t trade their franchise player and spend one year down and say let’s go for it after they after they moved off from a franchise icon they they took you know three crap years I’m maybe not in favor of for like

Selfish podcast reasons that the Blazers are bad for three straight Seasons but I think for why would you Short Circuit the post Dame era after one season and say let’s hold on to a decent and malcol brog is decent he’s a good basketball player a decent 31-year old point guard

Who takes away minutes from the other young core so we could be the 11th best team in the west why is that a reasonable Pursuit why would anyone want that it makes so little sense to me in a like if that’s the model and and Jake fiser said this on another podcast

As well but importantly Jake fiser has said this publicly twice he’s someone who breaks news he’s someone who who’s he does a really good job I think as anyone who in the news breaker world of like kind of setting the scene behind the scenes sometimes fiser will report

Things that are like this haven’t happened but these discussions happened and I think that’s more interesting and more valuable than than the I only break news as it happens news Breakers news Brokers of the world the nuts and bolts the how the sausage is made is much more interesting

To us learning about how this all works you recall that uh both Stein and fiser reported that the Rockets had interest in in Rob Williams and the rockets traded for another backup injured backup center in Stephen Adams it’s how it’s made matters to me now Fisher says that the Blazers are eyeing

Being are eyeing being the Rockets holding on to veteran players that are good Jeremy Grant is good Malcolm Brock is good these are these you know two of the Blazers three best players they’re legitimately helpful malc BR is way freaking better than scoot Henderson it’s not a question it’s

Not a question he’s way better than him at both sides both both offense and defense he’s way better than him but is the point to go 23 and 26 and be on The Fringe of a playin team is the point to race back to the middle I can’t imagine that is what Joe

Crona wants to do it strikes me as it absolutely as a thing that ownership would desire I’d haven’t agreed with everything think Joe Cronin has done you know I think he um I think he’s weirdly polarizing I think people either think he’s really really good or there’s a

Strange sect of the fan base that thinks he’s like extremely stupid um and always like the the middle is so easy to find and I’m always stunned when people can’t find the middle I think he’s been pretty good I think he’s made some mistakes some things I wouldn’t do um some things

I haven’t loved and then for the most part I think he’s been pretty good at building this thing um you know if if if um scoot Henderson turns into to be a really good player it’s going to feel a lot better if Shaden sharp turns into a

Really good player it’s going to feel a lot better if neither of them do it’s going to um feel a lot worse but I think like he’s mostly taken the right steps although maybe not always in the ways that I would have and and um and I think

He’s done some public lying that is like unnecessary um but I think Joe is too smart and too committed down the rebuild path to want to chase being the Rockets next season this strikes me as a call from ownership this strikes me as someone who sees empty seats in the Mota Center and

Counts ticket receipts and counts butts in seats and counts per capita income at a game and all the thing that people who run a business do and says what if we were a little bit better you think we would sell tickets if we were a little bit

Better okay let’s be a little bit better I’m I’m not reporting that I I’m this true tinfoil hat nonsense but that strikes me as something that comes from ownership because it doesn’t make any sense why would you want to be the Houston Rockets why the year at you trade Dame

And you spend a year as a bad basketball team and then you cycle back up and say we’re going to be not good our goal is to be not good we’re not going to be bad we’re not going to be good we’re going to be we’re just going to be squarely

Stuck in the Middle we are going to pursue that middle as as as strongly as we can we’re going to hold on to players that keep us in the MD middle for because there is some virtue in being in the middle what I think it’s okay to want to

Be okay I think it’s very right for fans to cheer for wins like I’m I support it if the Blazers were good I wouldn’t putoo them if Blazers were 23 and 26 the podcast would be more fun and I’d have I’d have more listeners man I have more

Money in my pocket I am not poo pooing wins I’m poo pooing the logic that would Chase those wins what see Beyond stupid to me like a like a kind of a next level of stupid I can’t quite grasp but why not the devil rarely needs Advocates but I am bravely going to

Advocate for them now join me in the third segment and I will tell you why maybe this is fine maybe this is fine maybe this is totally fine uh and this is the right thing to do and this is just a totally reasonable approach to the situation and wanting to

Be 23 and 26 is a totally cool aspiration that you should be um rooting for in the first 49 games next season that’s what I’ll tell you all about in the third segment join me there first I want to tell you that this episode and this show is sponsored by

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Visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA still a pass firsts point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you are still listening to locked on Blazers I earnestly don’t think I understand the logic um coming from reported by by Yahoo sports Jake fiser a reporter I

Trust uh implicitly and also now that you hear that me say it in the podcast explicitly but what if I just let’s flip it for a second allow me you know what one of the things I I try to do on this podcast is um if I’m you know if I feel

A certain way I tell you how I feel but I also want to offer you Nuance I want to offer you understanding I want to give you the sort of the logic behind things because just screaming I don’t get it doesn’t actually make you smarter and my goal for you listening to this

Podcast is you that you to be you know you to feel like a smarter fan so what if they don’t trade Malcolm Brockton on Thursday you’re listening to Tuesday February 6th show uh where you know the deadline is noon on Thursday so like it’s a it’s a coming

Uh what if they don’t over the next two and a half days trade Malcolm Brockton what if they don’t I I won’t particularly like it but I don’t think it would be as I mentioned in a podcast I recorded last week I was Friday’s episode of last week like it’s not the

End of the world it’s not it’s not the end of the world it’s not what I would do but it’s not the end of the world you know if Shaden Sharp’s not healthy down the stretch of the Season you need three guards to play they need guys who can

Handle the ball it’s only if they have four fully healthy guards that malcol BR becomes this like untenable Log Jam and moving forward like having Malcolm brog and on the team past the trade dead deadline doesn’t mean that you need to um he does he’s on the roster in the

Fall it means that you just get a chance to S of revisit the market in the off seon and maybe it’s the market maybe right now you know I think the long guest on you know speculated uh price for Malcolm brog on this particular podcast was a protected first round pick

And I thought you know when when Terry Rosier was traded for basically expiring money and protected first- round pick I pointed to that and said that’s about the market I expect from malcol Brock that’s the market Setter and you know maybe they can find it out there you

Know you’re not going to get that intriguing young player you’re not going to get um this you know a young Prospect but you might get a draft pick the placers don’t really need another draft pick in 20124 they already they’re already likely to have two first rounders and they have two second

Rounders they don’t need five rookies that’s that’s not appealing to them they they they like they can’t quite um they can’t quite move forward with that so they would need a pick in the future draft and maybe teams are unlikely to give away picks in the F in the future

Because you just never know they’d much rather give one away when they kind of know hey here’s what we are in February so we have we’re really comfortable what we’re we’re going to be when the season ends in April um and especially if we make this trade and we’re willing to

Give up the pick in the immediate future as opposed to down the line when things are uncertain and yada y y right and and in theory the 2024 draft is is like worse than the 2025 draft um that stuff always remains to be seen right people thought this draft was incredible and I

Think this rookie class has struggled a little bit uh in general wy’s pretty good I think it’s safe to say he’s pretty good but like um you know so perhaps the Blazers either haven’t been offered that protected first or have only been offered they protected first

In 2024 and they’re say like that’s not really what we need we don’t need that we we need picks down the line so maybe the you end up when you get these negotiations and obviously deadlines per actions we’ll see what happens when they get there but like maybe it’s the money

To make it work in a couple second round picks that’s probably not appealing enough to trade Malcolm brogen maybe the market is dictating that you hold on to him I think that would be a reasonable response I don’t think you have to Malcolm brogen doesn’t need to be traded

So poorly that you take a bad deal right certainly don’t extend him as as maybe he wants everyone wants more money I I get it I want more money too that’s why I’m ruin for the blazes To Go 23 and 26 next year so I get 800 more listeners

An episode or something like that um maybe less but um it’s it’s it is if the market is dictating that Brogden is not worth what the Blazers want to trade there’s no reason to just throw a throw away this sort deal right there’s no way to just just

To take a bad deal for the sake of taking a deal they can wait till the summer and if they wait till the Summer according to Bobby marks of ESPN a third of the league is going to be over the tax the first apron with with five teams

Already projected to be above the second apron those are like T like CBA terms that we don’t need to get too deep into but the first apron limits some of what you can do as a team it puts some Financial constraints on what you can do with roster building and the second

Apron is very restrictive and in fact there are punishments that push you to the back of the draft you can’t trade future dra if you know if you’re in the second apron team if you’re an expensive team for three out of five years you get dropped to the back of the draft just

Like uh naturally pushed or unnaturally pushed um to the back of the draft you can’t trade draft picks you can’t sign players on buyouts who were making more than the minimum like or more than midlevel but like you got to it it really limits it really limits you can’t

Take back more money in trades you can’t um you can only take back 110% versus 125% there’s a bunch of different Little Steps of being over the apron and if 10 teams are over that and there’s these new restrictive punishments and plus all the teams that are the apron is is like

A line above the tax line be even more teams that are tax teams already like maybe the Blazers can wait until the summertime with the new CBA clicking in and you know some teams are going to underachieve in in the postseason some teams are going to overachieve and that

Always changes the appetite for ownership to either take on more money or oh my gosh we have to we have to figure out how to be less expensive and the Blazers perhaps in that Marketplace could facilitate a better deal for Malcolm brog and than what is available

To them right now if the current market is underwhelming and you think your read on the situation is that a third of the league is going to be uh you know in those those punitive levels of the first or second apron then maybe you can you can holding on to

Malcolm brogs and his salary slot of $225 million could provide some value down the line the issue is that the Blazers are a tax team as they stand right now if they don’t trade Malcolm Brogden and they just move into the to next year with the 12 players under

Contract this is assuming that they don’t wave Jabari Walker or tar kamaro which I think is a pretty safe bet that they’re not going to outright wave them uh like 12 players under contract right now plus adding two rookies that they’re in the T they’re in the tax right there

With 14 players that’s not even ACC counting for the two second round picks like they’re a team that’s going to be up against it I think there is no chance the Blazers even with their aspirations To Go 23 and 26 in their first 49 games like there’s no chance that their

Attacks team next year that would be outrageous based on what we’ve sort of know about this uh Team so far and also like bad teams probably shouldn’t pay the tax because you you want to pay the tax when you’re good and you don’t want to start the clock etc etc um and and

Eventually you know every good team pays the tax that’s just to compete in the league you have to have an expensive roster um and we will kind of see in the early stages of this new CBA how much those punitive measures create a market for moving around salary in the

Summertime so perhaps this is fine perhaps the market is not there for Brogden and there’s a better Market in the future and the the new CBA world of the summer will allow the Blazers to get there and moreover or finally like Malcolm br’s good and having good players on the

Team is helpful because you’ll be a little bit better and the Blazers don’t want to be God awful I guess like they don’t want to be like they had a stretch in January they were really bad um and they’ve been a little more competitive recently they’re not trying to chase

Wins necessarily but they’re not um they’re not going to catch the truly terrible teams in the league and I think they’re comfortable finishing in that you know sixth or seventh worst record in the in the in the in the NBA and they’ll just figure it out from there

With the with a sixth or seventh worst record in the NBA there not a problem with with keeping good players um I kind of reject the notion this is like a straw man stuff but that’s that’s why I’ll put at the end I kind of reject the notion that like Malcolm brogen’s

Leadership is too valuable to get rid of um the Blazers have spent the last 2 years at the after the trade deadline actively mocking the value of basketball making up injuries for veterans and playing down the stretch with 10day guys they sign off the street with no

Intention to be part of the future in any meaningful way they don’t give a crap about these last games don’t let them lie to you they might this year care a little bit more but like the idea like Malcolm brogen has done his thing in terms of valuable leadership you

Can’t tell me the the Blazers actually care about games after the All-Star break I’ve watched them play them the last two years they don’t they don’t like they held Dam and Jeremy out because it snowed too much one day and then they just like made up injuries whole cloth for two straight years

Like there is there is no sort of sanctity of the game for this team over the final 25 games of the season I I I reject it outright that Malcolm Brogden is going to have some sort of magic the leadership Malcolm brogen has done will be completed as far as the Blazers are

Concerned by the time you get to the trade deadline the value he brings as a leader will be there and you can trade for an older person like you can trade for a veteran on an expiring deal and they can provide leadership if that’s something you’re worried about like you

Don’t like you can trade back for you you can find a deal that Nets you a vet in it right like if that’s something if that sort of institutional knowledge is something you desire there you don’t it’s not it’s not um it’s not black and white you don’t have to choose one way

Or the other you can you can um porc noos like you can you can ose both if you’d like so kind of seems like much to my chagrin that it might be a quiet deadline for your Portland Trailblazers and to that I say a frig it’s a family show a

Frig but I’ll have you covered regardless we will I will keep scouring the rumor mill and listening to podcasts behind pay walls and learning everything I possibly can learn to bring it to you right here free and in front of the pay wall you know just with some ads you got

To sit through you’ll be all right I promise you so what we do 5 days a week very get podcasts also on YouTube tell your friends about the program we’ll come back and do it tomorrow all week long five days a week I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you Soon

The latest reporting has Malcolm Brogdon likely to stay a Portland Trail Blazer after Thursday’s trade deadline. Is this a good idea? An astute read on the market? Absolutely nonsense? Plus, the Blazers might want to be this year’s Houston Rockets. The race for 11th place is on!

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27 Comments

  1. It’s like Joe did not learn from Olshey. Don’t half azz a rebuild. Need multiple stars to win a championship, Portland only gets those through the draft.

  2. Don't you worry guys, we still have Billups as a coach. He will not allow this team be medicore 😉
    Great pod Mike!

  3. I agree with Mike. I’ve heard all the arguments. I’ve seen all the discourse. None of it makes any sense to me whatsoever. Trying to be the Houston Rockets is dumb. Trying to be the Houston Rockets in the Cooper Flagg + Ace Bailey draft is flagrantly stupid

  4. Management has to do what they Gotta do but you got young players that need a lot of playing time

  5. Your take is not great in my opinion. Basketball is a team sport and it takes time for a team to gel the correct way. Scoot needs to earn his minutes not be given it. The team is finally starting to gel and you want to trade malcom and grant for WHO exactly because it’s ok to talk about but if trade actually goes down will it make us a better basketball team or just open up space for young players. Team needs to stay in tact in order to build something special.

  6. And let’s be realistic unless we are trading for a bonafide star we need to focus on staying healthy and building chemistry with the roster at hand. Look at magic roster that’s a home grown roster and they are just getting better and better that will be blazers soon if they keep same team and coaching. I know you have podcast and trade deadline tommorrow but your never saying who to trade for just go head and trade and get better . Let Malcom n grant play out year then re visit this conversation

  7. I was listening to the Lowe post yesterday and they were talking about how a lot of the really good teams are going to have a lot more draft capital open up during the summer, and how that could increase bidding prices in trades. They mentioned that “selling” teams might just wait till the summer to try and get more assets from teams going for it. Do you think the blazers are at all motivated by this

  8. Fact is you don’t know exactly what is being offered for who. It would not be a good idea to trade away assets for nothing. The players on this roster are not demanding to be traded like you know who. There is not a negative Nancy in the locker room that has everyone walking on eggshells. The vets on this team are quality bunch of guys. That is priceless on the rooks. Need to still finish fixing what Olshey did here and continue to build team chemistry.

  9. Billups is a winner, he doesnt like losing. I think the approach is to develop a winning attitude, so the vets will play, and you ease the young guns in. They may want to be the Rockets, but they don't want to be the Grizzlies, burn bright and die fast.

  10. Rockets or Pistons? From a fan’s POV, it’s not even close. The 6’ers Process was a multi year train wreck. Pistons are D League.
    Lottery odds and the uncertainty of the draft make going all the way down a poor alternative

  11. If this all points to Simons being moved………THEN O LORDY THANK YOU, MY PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED LONG THRIVE THE BLAZER ORGANIZATION. I dont care if you sign Brogdon to 5 year supermax as long as Simons is off this team.

  12. why the rockets!!! we need to be like the thunder and get rid of our paul george (hopefully ant when his contract is up) in return for a good young potential forward star and vets

  13. I dont think they should trade him because they cant seem to stay healthy and ya need 4 guards……if this team was healthy all year they may be alot better than their current record…..if he is a good leader and has a winning mentality i think young guys need to have confidence and winning attitude

  14. I think our rookies this season will make enough of a leap by next season that we'll be better than the Rockets record. Contenders are ageing around the league as well and I really like how the Blazers are using the G league over the trade market. We didn't have to trade for Duop Reath. In a market that struggles to attract free agents, I'm a fan of keeping the one's that want to be here around if they are rotation players. My logic says the crap shoot draft could just turn us into a 14 year playoff drought young team like the Kings were …not a quick turnaround like the Rockets claim to be doing. The West elite will see a decline that will factor into the win loss column.

  15. Here is a potential resolution. I 100% agree with you on the thought that the ideal move is to trade Brogdon.

    If we do end up keeping him, as long as Ant, Scoot and Shaedon get 30+ minutes a night and lots of opportunities down the stretch, I think it's okay.

    So far this year, Brogdon has ate up a lot of minutes and opportunities. If he is pushed to the side, then I think it would be okay to keep him. (I still would rather send off Brogdon tho lol)

    maybe we will have enough injuries anyways to give everyone lots of minutes/shots

  16. My only counter to your argument is we are for all intents and purposes 2 years into the "post-Dame era." We just started the process while he was still on the roster.

    That said, I'd rather be OKC, not Houston. Let's not settle for pretty good, but keep drafting/trading until we have the dudes to contend.

  17. That is a stupid take. You are getting upset over nothing. We need to tank next year to get Cooper Flag. I wouldn’t be surprised if we finish strong this year. Keeping Brogdon and Grant this year is good for the youngsters to learn from . That’s all folks! Someone will want Brogdon and Grant eventually but we shouldn’t give them up unless we get good value. Go Blazers!

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