[Bryan_Wilson]

Kinda long bear with me. Tried to group it in a way to make it less painful.

We might need to keep an eye on the Blazers as a candidate for either Bogut trade talks or to take some bad contracts from them. Blazers right now are barely hanging on to the 8th seed. And honestly their roster construction looks like a train wreck. They have Lillard and McCollum who take around 42-45 shots a game when you factor in free throws on fouled attempts. That's nearly half their shots a game. Lillard makes 24m+ and CJ starting next year will be making 23m+. They of course are not the problem... the problem is half their cap is spent on those 2, and the other half is spent on maybe the worst contracts collectively in the NBA.

**They matched an offer for Allen Crabbe to pay him 18.5m+ per year, and he shoots 7 shots a game. He's a great 3pt shooter and scorer but he doesn't have shots to justify that kind of pay, maybe it changes in the future but as of now he's even more overpaid than Wes Matthews.

**Then we have Evan Turner, a signing I still have no idea what their motivation was when they decided to give Evan Turner 70mill for 4 years. 16m+ for a guy who needs the ball in his hands, because he can't shoot... on a team where the ball is quite literally always in Lillard or McCollum's hands. He doesn't give you defense or anything like that so yeah, the signing makes no sense to me.

**Meyers Leonard was given a nice pay raise 4yrs 41m. Makes a little more than Powell. And as much as we complain about Powell, based on their performances this year the Mavs would laugh at a phone call for a straight up Powell for Leonard trade.

**And finally Aminu, who some people around here iirc went a little nuts when we didn't bring him back. Is making 8m+ or so for 2 more years after this. And has only played 11 games so far. In those 11 games he's playing his worst basketball of his career. Think about that, he was pretty raw as a rookie and in the 11 games this year he is worse than that.

I didn't even mention Ezeli signing with them because they have a team option next year and can dump him for nothing. He might not play a single second for the Blazers because his knee problem. But that's like 52million in contracts per year(not including Ezeli) that they are getting absolute shit production from. So are we willing to take a bad contract from them for assets? I don't think Crabbe can be considered a bad contract because he is a good shooter but I do think he is a poor fit for them. I think Turner is just overpaid period and it would definitely take an asset to dump him.

As for a Bogut trade, they only really have Plumlee and Ed Davis at the 5. They are maybe the worst defense in the NBA. Maybe we ask for Mo Harkless and a 1st. It would clear shots for Crabbe and playing time when Aminu is healthy. Or if we liked Crabbe do something like Bogut Simba and Harris for Crabbe and a 1st. They can waive most of Harris contract next year, bogut will clear their cap, and they will be free from Crabbe's big deal to get a more suitable FA. Plus they add Simba who might be a better fit with their playmakers then here. Any trade not involving Bogut could only really be done with Wes. Which would make for somewhat of a story book tale if he keeps playing well and ended up back in Portland where he probably fits best with their 2 playmakers who could use his defense. It would take more than a late 1 to trade them Wes and get back Turner though IMO.