Zach Lowe on the overpaid and overrated Guests in win-now mode (:lol)

[spursistan]

Not sure why my thread on their shitty offseason was deleted ..so much for easing on censorship on this forum ..If you didn't like the use the word shitty in the title, just replace it and don't bin the whole thread..

801439213258469377

[spursistan]

overpaying galore for a bunch of average unproven players only to get off to 8-8 start.


Evan Turner (4ys/$70 million)
Allen Crabbe (4ys/ $74 million)
CJ McCollum (4ys/ $106 million extension)
Maurice Harkless (4ys/$40 million)
Meyers Leonard (4ys/ $41 million)


and when they didn't:


Festus Ezeli (2ys/$16 million) who is clearly a damaged goods since no one touched him in free agency and is yet to step a foot on court..

[spursistan]

It will take time. Portland will be fine on offense regardless; they're 11th in points scored per possession. They were fine without Turner. There are reasonable ways to justify Portland's spending spree -- I dived into their long-term trajectory over the summer (http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17875192/zach-lowe-most-intriguing-nba-players-watch-jabari-parker-michael-kidd-gilchrist-myles-turner). But he was always going to be semi-redundant as a third ball-handler, even if McCollum and Lillard are dangerous off the ball, and you don't pay $70 million to fill the minutes when one of them hits the bench -- especially since those minutes shrink in the playoffs.


The Blazers are in win-now mode with Lillard and McCollum in their primes, but it's unclear how much they really have to trade. They have an extra first-round pick from the Cavs, and some need to offload a big contract in the face of what could be hilariously huge tax payments starting next season. Harkless and Aminu are valuable trade chips, but they are more valuable to the Blazers as players. Crabbe and Turner look untradable


The bolder move would be to sniff out the trade market on McCollum. He and Lillard form an undersized duo; there may be a hard ceiling on how far a team can go leaning heavily on both of them. But McCollum is damned good, and the Blazers have shown no interest in flipping him.



Portland is still in wait-and-see mode on all this. They should be. It's early, and Turner is a tricky fit. This was never going to be a 50-plus win powerhouse. The realistic scenario was to hang in the mid-to-high 40s, grow through continuity, and land on some development that would catapult them up in two or three years -- Lillard reaching a new level of superstardom, a young guy popping, or some trade that works better than anticipated. This should still be a solid playoff team, but 20 games in, the route to something better is a little cloudier.

[lefty]

THANK YOU ZACH LOWE WE DIDNT NOTICE

ANOTHER AMAZING PIECE OF JOURNALISM

[spursistan]

Giving up 34 pts to Kevin Love in first quarter 8/10 3PT :lmao

[K...]

THANK YOU ZACH LOWE WE DIDNT NOTICE

ANOTHER AMAZING PIECE OF JOURNALISM

You could be paid 1 million to write "today's nba" every night, that plus 5000 more words

[spursistan]

overpaying galore for a bunch of average unproven players only to get off to 8-8 start.


Evan Turner (4ys/$70 million)
Allen Crabbe (4ys/ $74 million)
CJ McCollum (4ys/ $106 million extension)
Maurice Harkless (4ys/$40 million)
Meyers Leonard (4ys/ $41 million)


and when they didn't:


Festus Ezeli (2ys/$16 million) who is clearly a damaged goods since no one touched him in free agency and is yet to step a foot on court..

One of the most disgusting NBA off-season moves by a team in recent memory... :lol

[Kawhitstorm]

One of the most disgusting NBA off-season moves by a team in recent memory... :lol

They were supposedly collecting assets like Philly was except role players in their mid 20s with bloated contracts.:lol

[spursistan]

They were supposedly collecting assets like Philly was except role players in their mid 20s with bloated contracts.:lol
Their only way out of this mess is through trading CJ Mccollum..No one is going to take on Turner/Crabbe contracts..

[Kawhitstorm]

Their only way out of this mess is through trading CJ Mccollum..No one is going to take on Turner/Crabbe contracts..

Nets wanted Crabbe & offered D-Mo a contract while turning a blind eye about his back problems so if they wanted to dump Crabbe then the Nets would most likely take him for a 2nd rd pick.