[kingofbumsParticipant]

what the hell happened? they were somewhat in the playoff race a few weeks back and now they’ve lost their 8th game in a row. yes for the most part of those losses they were without LA but damn they have been blown out even at home. are they having some late decision to toss their season away in hopes of getting a draft spot a few places higher? i mean if they lose the rest of their games, they could possibly slide into the top 10 for this years draft.

[TRC1991Participant]

extremely young team, give them time to grow..they do need to add some veteran presence this offseason though

[HitsterParticipant]

Portland had 4 NBA rookies on their roster this season and even though some of these guys were fairly experienced, they would still need time to blend. Aldridge has missed some of the recent poor run so that could attribute to the slide. Plus I noticed that Batum and Lillard are 3rd and 4th in minutes per game in the NBA this year and only KD has played more total minutes than Lillard in the entire NBA. As this is Lillard’s rookie year, I could understand him maybe tiring and the same with Batum so that could also explain the recent slump.

Portland have an excellent core of Aldridge, Batum, Lillard and Matthews plus a durable 5th starter in Hickson. Ideally next season the likes of Claver and Leonard take more minutes so the key players can play more reasonable numbers.

For this years draft, it would be interesting to see what Portland do, I’d rule out a PG and they do have a couple of young bigs so maybe another would not be logical so maybe a swingman or a combo forward who plays more SF would be my line of thinking. Oladipo if they could get high enough up the draft would be a nice pick up or maybe Glenn Robinson III who looks a Batum type intangibles player so could fit in nicely around him.

For the FA market, I cannot recall if B-Roy’s amnestied contract still counts against the cap as regards FA signings as that will mean they will have cap space or not.

[i’m jus so offendedParticipant]

Amniested contracts don’t count against the cap. That’s why the rule was created…

[the I in winParticipant]

Not having to give a player millions seems like a good reason to create the amnesty…

[benny15Participant]

oh the player still gets paid millions, it just doesnt count against the cap. the player union would never allow the owners to waive a player and not get paid his guaranteed money when he signed that deal.

[festar35Participant]

To me seems as though Lillard has hit a very late “rookie wall”, which is kinda expected considering how many minutes a game he logged. I fully expect them to bolster their bench this coming off-season and be a play-off contender again, behind Lillard and Aldridge.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Not sure if it is the rookie wall. With all the injuries (Missing LA for a few games and Nicolas Batum) that have occurred lately for the blazers he has had to take more responsibility as he was needed to be a scorer.

[HitsterParticipant]

Thanks for clearing up the amnesty issue, I could never recall if the rule was just to help teams with the luxury tax bill and not to create cap space earlier than they might have done so otherwise.

Portland will have around $15 million in cap space this summer so they can target a quality FA and maybe still resign Hickson. I wonder if they might let Hickson move on and maybe make a run at someone like Paul Millsap, he nearly joined Portland a new years ago and at 28 years old would bring experience but still have a fair few years ahead of him. He would not cost the earth maybe $35 to $40 million over 4 years.

[tblazer_NZParticipant]

Not sure Paul Millsap would work because LaMarcus Aldridge doesn’t like playing the 5 even though he should. Portland plays well with LA at the 5 and a stretch 4 in the game. Portland will likely have a lottery pick(12) which will eat into the cap space. I think Portland will make a run at Pekovic.

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