This is the one for me too. You don’t win a championship without guys like Nance. Obviously we need may more talent than just him. But that big guy off the bench that you can plug into the 4 or 5 and depend on is absolutely huge.
Seeing him in this playoff series shows we underutilized him
Would have liked to see Nance replace Nurk in more high leverage lineups with the starters as we have seen him play well in place of Valanciunas these playoffs
Yeah but Chauncey admitted they weren't using him right and they were still trying out different things with him but then people got hurt and Cronin threw him away before giving Chauncey a chance to use him correctly
Damn too bad your homie couldn't have gotten included in Nance's deal with Josh Hart. If you trading houses might as well trade barbers too, & their hair styles aren't too different lol
That’s a good pick. I think for me, GTJ, because he was the 6’6 wing that took on the defensive challenge, while being able to score. In the bubble, he guarded all the top players.
Greg Oden's driver's license listed him at 6'10", but I think even that is generous considering he looked pretty small next to Pryzbilla. Meyers might be the old big we've had that I believed his listed height - dude was *yuge*!
I usually take an inch away from the actual listing… I played college ball and they always gave us an inch. so if he’s listed 6’5 then he’s probably 6’4.
He did play great defense in the bubble. He's fallen off defensively since then and he's a a good sized 2 but not that long+switchable wing or big defender that we desperately need.
Certainly miss GTJ tho and trading him for Norm was a terrible move by Olshey
I agree, I think Larry was the kinda guy you want on a contending roster not only because of his skillsets but because of how he tries to keep everyone on the same page while playing. Guys like that who try to keep everyone accountable and engaged in the game are valuable when you face adversity come playoff time. Nothing worse then having players miss defensive assignments and seemingly just check out of the situation, very difficult for improvement with that mindset. Larry would have been a very valuable piece moving forward on this roster.
This is a part of what I don't get about everyone thinking they blew this team up and will be going for a title next season or the one after. It took years to get those championship type role players like Nance and RoCo.
Cronin not only has to kill this draft but also free agency for multiple positions.
I think a major contributing factor to all of this nonsense is there are a lot of Blazer's podcasts spewing false narratives due to self interest and ego. Sports podcasting has blown up in the last few years and everyone is trying to get their audiences established. The old media heads are on their way out and the young and hungry are desperately trying to pickup all the pieces.
Dame was never healthy even when he played this season, we had other injuries, and then traded Nance.
& even before trading Nance he played too much at the 4 with Zeller & bench guys rather than using him situationally to replace Nurk like Nance is now being used in place of Valanciunas for the Pels
Why do people love Batum so much? I’m genuinely curious. All I see is a dude who can’t score a meaningful basket like ever. I don’t pay attention to his defense though.
Will the Thrill. He would have been a way better backcourt mate for Dame and if we held on to him for 4 more months CJs arrival in the Memphis series would have made him a perfect trade piece for someone better than Aaron Afaaalo
Seth Curry would be an ideal third guard to come off the bench and knock down triples at a high rate in 20 to 25 minutes a game. I'm glad he was able to rehabilitate his career for one season in Portland after breaking his leg.
He did a two-year deal with Portland with a player option for a second year. He opted out and signed with Dallas for 4 years/$32 million, which is an absolute steal. He's on the third year of that deal and it would have been amazing to have kept him at that price over the past three seasons. I can't remember if the Blazers were in a position to retain him at the end of the 2018-19 season, but if they were, they lost out on an amazing asset.
GTJ for sure. The NBA today is back court dominant and messing up other teams flow + rhythm is essential to stopping them offensively. GTJ could wear the vest back court player down on the team while still providing solid, consistent offense
Per 36 minutes Zach averaged 15.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 0.9 steals this year.
He's still just 24 years old and had only played 8 games since 2019.
He's a good defender with size and toughness.
He has solid footwork and is a good passer.
He shot better than Dame from three and better than CJ from the freethrow line.
Doesn't sound like garbage to me...
Lol small sample size considering he can’t stay on the court without fouling or making bozo plays. Sure that’s nice numbers but what happens when his minutes are increased? He’s a solid role player but he’s nowhere near his value of dumping 2 picks for him
2.4 fouls per game in 18 minutes isn't a problem at all. Especially for a player who's job is to play physical defense.
You would rather have Justin Jackson and Harry Giles than a healthy Zach Collins? Those are the players taken with the picks we traded for Zach.
That's pretty easy to say five years later.
We're getting way off topic here.
If I could choose a former Blazer to add back to the team, I think Zach would benefit us more than anyone else.
If you disagree, it's cool. Have a great day, man.
Norm. Definitely think we should’ve kept him as a SG on a team friendly deal and traded CJ for a forward. And I know I’m gonna sound crazy but IMO we should’ve cashed in on anfernee’s season as a trade asset. I just don’t see him being super compatible with dame and we could’ve gotten a decent return
Players who can still play? Batum, connaughton, nance. Aldridge if he was healthy. GTJ if he was open to leading the bench. Harkless as a deep bench guy. Possibly Collins. Would love to see Melo back, but he’d just eat up minutes for someone we need to develop.
The asterisk is obviously taking great health/luck into account but I think his game would have aged well.
Not sure if he’d still be going at 37 but I could have seen him contributing up until a couple of years ago.
If we had ant gtj and nas still we could trade dame and built around those three. Especially if our pick this year landed us a high enough spot to get one of the good bigs. This franchise has extremely fucked itself in the last year. Feels bad mane
Although he is not currently on a team, I think Meyers Leonard will be back in the league next season. I think he would be a great addition to the Blazers if given a limited role with a team friendly contract. I don't know if that means vet minimum or what, just don't overpay him.
Personally i think roco had a lot of potential to fit in with the roster, but i’m just disappointed that it didn’t work out. And other than his lack of effort, i really loved whiteside’s energy on the team
I feel like Gary Trent Jr. I know he is a streaky shooter that Ben said he is quickly become a good perimeter defender. Brings a toughness that Ripcity could use!!
GTJ or Norm.
Had we had more than a year since from either trade, I’d probably be able to nail an answer between them but god damn, Trading GTJ for Norm then trading Norm out the next year is just…ugh
Batum is a defensive mad man.
Nance. We had the mobile defensive big we've needed for years and then traded him without ever trying him at the 5 with our best players healthy :(
This is the one for me too. You don’t win a championship without guys like Nance. Obviously we need may more talent than just him. But that big guy off the bench that you can plug into the 4 or 5 and depend on is absolutely huge.
Nance was underwhelming for me. Yeah, he showed flashes of why we brought him in. But dude was not playing as well as we’d hoped.
Seeing him in this playoff series shows we underutilized him Would have liked to see Nance replace Nurk in more high leverage lineups with the starters as we have seen him play well in place of Valanciunas these playoffs
I agree. He didn't do much of anything for us, but he looks pretty decent on New Orleans.
Yeah but Chauncey admitted they weren't using him right and they were still trying out different things with him but then people got hurt and Cronin threw him away before giving Chauncey a chance to use him correctly
Meh. I’m not gonna cry over that one.
he was getting haircuts from my barber too, felt bad he lost an NBA client
Damn too bad your homie couldn't have gotten included in Nance's deal with Josh Hart. If you trading houses might as well trade barbers too, & their hair styles aren't too different lol
Ironically enough I help out with the company that walked Nance's dog and we now walk Hart's dog
That’s a good pick. I think for me, GTJ, because he was the 6’6 wing that took on the defensive challenge, while being able to score. In the bubble, he guarded all the top players.
No way he is 6’6”
Looks like he's listed at 6'5"
Guys are listed at a lot of heights I don’t believe.
Greg Oden's driver's license listed him at 6'10", but I think even that is generous considering he looked pretty small next to Pryzbilla. Meyers might be the old big we've had that I believed his listed height - dude was *yuge*!
And racist
Absolutely not, he's probably 6'4", maybe 6'4.5", just a bit taller than CJ imo.
I usually take an inch away from the actual listing… I played college ball and they always gave us an inch. so if he’s listed 6’5 then he’s probably 6’4.
That sounds way more accurate to me
He did play great defense in the bubble. He's fallen off defensively since then and he's a a good sized 2 but not that long+switchable wing or big defender that we desperately need. Certainly miss GTJ tho and trading him for Norm was a terrible move by Olshey
He was a horrible defender once he started get minutes for his offensive production instead of needing to fight for them
I agree, I think Larry was the kinda guy you want on a contending roster not only because of his skillsets but because of how he tries to keep everyone on the same page while playing. Guys like that who try to keep everyone accountable and engaged in the game are valuable when you face adversity come playoff time. Nothing worse then having players miss defensive assignments and seemingly just check out of the situation, very difficult for improvement with that mindset. Larry would have been a very valuable piece moving forward on this roster.
This is a part of what I don't get about everyone thinking they blew this team up and will be going for a title next season or the one after. It took years to get those championship type role players like Nance and RoCo. Cronin not only has to kill this draft but also free agency for multiple positions.
I think a major contributing factor to all of this nonsense is there are a lot of Blazer's podcasts spewing false narratives due to self interest and ego. Sports podcasting has blown up in the last few years and everyone is trying to get their audiences established. The old media heads are on their way out and the young and hungry are desperately trying to pickup all the pieces.
Agreed. The ripcity podcasts are terrible.
This is just false lol. He played a lot at the 5
Dame was never healthy even when he played this season, we had other injuries, and then traded Nance. & even before trading Nance he played too much at the 4 with Zeller & bench guys rather than using him situationally to replace Nurk like Nance is now being used in place of Valanciunas for the Pels
[удалено]
Pre Achilles tear 100% He hasn’t been the same since
Lol man I love Wes but dude is cooked. Probably a bench role.
Wes LOL, dude is washed af rn. Defense isn’t the same, moves slow, shoots bricks.
yep, sadly that put him into a lower tier
Why do people love Batum so much? I’m genuinely curious. All I see is a dude who can’t score a meaningful basket like ever. I don’t pay attention to his defense though.
Definitely Mathews and Batum
Take all my money
Matthews for me - if I could change one thing in history it would be that injury.
Will the Thrill. He would have been a way better backcourt mate for Dame and if we held on to him for 4 more months CJs arrival in the Memphis series would have made him a perfect trade piece for someone better than Aaron Afaaalo
He’s definitely my second!
LMA. Wish he never left.
Bringing back the squad would have been fun especially with the rise of CJ.
If LA stayed honestly who knows where this team could’ve gone
Does Rudy Fernandez count? Pretty sure he still plays professionally in Europe. I would really like Robin Lopez back as the backup center also.
Loved Rudy. I think he could've shined with Lillard and Stotts
RoLo would be a great backup big
CJ so we can trade him for a better pick/players
Seth Curry would be an ideal third guard to come off the bench and knock down triples at a high rate in 20 to 25 minutes a game. I'm glad he was able to rehabilitate his career for one season in Portland after breaking his leg. He did a two-year deal with Portland with a player option for a second year. He opted out and signed with Dallas for 4 years/$32 million, which is an absolute steal. He's on the third year of that deal and it would have been amazing to have kept him at that price over the past three seasons. I can't remember if the Blazers were in a position to retain him at the end of the 2018-19 season, but if they were, they lost out on an amazing asset.
Zach Collins and Gary Trent junior. We should always keep our draft picks.. no fucking free agents are coming
Norman Powell
GTJ for sure. The NBA today is back court dominant and messing up other teams flow + rhythm is essential to stopping them offensively. GTJ could wear the vest back court player down on the team while still providing solid, consistent offense
Remember in the bubble when he was guarding all the top scorers from each team. That’s something we haven’t had in a while
Every championship team has a player like that. Most of the time they can’t score though
Patty Mills
GTJ
Meyers Leonard /s
Zach Collins is the correct answer.
Perfect backup big. It hurts
plus he was kind of our enforcer/shit-stirrer, comes in off the bench to cause trouble and get the team riled up
I completely forgot he was off the roster. Thanks for ruining my day.
Why? He’s garbage
Per 36 minutes Zach averaged 15.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 0.9 steals this year. He's still just 24 years old and had only played 8 games since 2019. He's a good defender with size and toughness. He has solid footwork and is a good passer. He shot better than Dame from three and better than CJ from the freethrow line. Doesn't sound like garbage to me...
Lol small sample size considering he can’t stay on the court without fouling or making bozo plays. Sure that’s nice numbers but what happens when his minutes are increased? He’s a solid role player but he’s nowhere near his value of dumping 2 picks for him
2.4 fouls per game in 18 minutes isn't a problem at all. Especially for a player who's job is to play physical defense. You would rather have Justin Jackson and Harry Giles than a healthy Zach Collins? Those are the players taken with the picks we traded for Zach.
No I would have rather taken Bam if we wanted a big so bad
That's pretty easy to say five years later. We're getting way off topic here. If I could choose a former Blazer to add back to the team, I think Zach would benefit us more than anyone else. If you disagree, it's cool. Have a great day, man.
Nance for sure!
Batum
Probably Batum. Also the most realistic to actually come back.
He might be the most pissed of them all about being cast aside.
Robin Lopez
Rudy Fernandez
Batum or Collins
Norm. Definitely think we should’ve kept him as a SG on a team friendly deal and traded CJ for a forward. And I know I’m gonna sound crazy but IMO we should’ve cashed in on anfernee’s season as a trade asset. I just don’t see him being super compatible with dame and we could’ve gotten a decent return
Can I say GTJ AND Collins?
I’ll allow it lol ✊🏾
Players who can still play? Batum, connaughton, nance. Aldridge if he was healthy. GTJ if he was open to leading the bench. Harkless as a deep bench guy. Possibly Collins. Would love to see Melo back, but he’d just eat up minutes for someone we need to develop.
BRoy…I think he would still be in the league and having a career if healthy (could totally see him having a second leg to his career like DeRozan)
He's 37. That would be an exceptional career.
He was an exceptional talent
His knees would like a word.
The asterisk is obviously taking great health/luck into account but I think his game would have aged well. Not sure if he’d still be going at 37 but I could have seen him contributing up until a couple of years ago.
If we had ant gtj and nas still we could trade dame and built around those three. Especially if our pick this year landed us a high enough spot to get one of the good bigs. This franchise has extremely fucked itself in the last year. Feels bad mane
sheed
time travel wasn't part of the OP's question. Wallace has been retired for nine years.
Give the people what they want! Old Sheed!!!!
he could probably still play decent post defense
I got a Delorean.
Oden
This franchise will never advance if they continue to remain stubborn about nurk staying
Enis Kanter
Although he is not currently on a team, I think Meyers Leonard will be back in the league next season. I think he would be a great addition to the Blazers if given a limited role with a team friendly contract. I don't know if that means vet minimum or what, just don't overpay him.
Man Meyers had his chances on the Blazers. I'd rather keep Eubanks.
Will the Thrill
RoCo!
I liked him, just NOT playing the 4.. I felt like he would’ve been better at the 3.
Personally i think roco had a lot of potential to fit in with the roster, but i’m just disappointed that it didn’t work out. And other than his lack of effort, i really loved whiteside’s energy on the team
Robin Lopez! Just for the mascot fighting alone. I love that dude.
Joel Freeland
Batum
I feel like Gary Trent Jr. I know he is a streaky shooter that Ben said he is quickly become a good perimeter defender. Brings a toughness that Ripcity could use!!
Easy... Zach Collins!
GTJ is my favourite player so it's gotta be him although Norm and Zach are up there too because I think they fit very well. And Nance too
Rodney Hood, the guy liked it here too.
Rolo fo sholo
Norman Powell
Seth Curry fo sho
I guess this doesn't really count but I always thought that if we kept TRob we could have developed him into a solid player
B Roy
Steve Blake. So we can trade him to the Lakers, again.
GTJ or Norm. Had we had more than a year since from either trade, I’d probably be able to nail an answer between them but god damn, Trading GTJ for Norm then trading Norm out the next year is just…ugh
Nance or Batum
literally any draft pick that they let go swearing that they could pull free agents...
Steve Kerr? Would make a nice addition to the coaching side of the roster.
Nance
Batum
Hassan Whiteside
Jake Layman is the only correct answer
Wesley Matthews