The Trail Blazers will entertain offers for center Hassan Whiteside, a free agent after the season, and The Athletic’s Jason Quick estimates the chances of him being traded at 50/50. Quick also dealt with a few other Blazers-related topics.
Their recent trade with the Kings which involved five players and two second-round picks was a solid one, according to Quick, because the Trail Blazers saved approximately $12MM and upgraded at the wing with Trevor Ariza replacing Kent Bazemore. Portland is unlikely to deal its first-round pick because president of basketball operations Neil Olshey covets draft choices, even if the draft class is considered weak, Quick adds.
We have more from around the Northwest Division:
- The Nuggets will continue to be without three rotation players when they face the Grizzlies on Tuesday, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets. Starting point guard Jamal Murray will miss his sixth straight game due to an ankle sprain while power forward Paul Millsap will sit out for the 11th consecutive game due to a knee injury. Backup big man Mason Plumlee will miss his fourth straight game due to a foot ailment.
- Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins get the blame when things aren’t going well with the Timberwolves but the players around them need to do more, Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes. Guard Shabazz Napier told Youngblood that the role players need to do their jobs better. “This team is so used to KAT and Wigs doing all the work that when it doesn’t happen, we just stand around,’’ Napier said. “That’s how it is. We just gotta find ways to help them guys out. … We all, the role players, have to figure out, how do we help them out better?’’
- Undrafted rookie guard Luguentz Dort has earned playing time with the Thunder for his defense while showing more of an offensive game, Maddie Lee of The Oklahoman relays. Over the last five games, Dort is averaging 7.2 PPG and 1.8 APG while shooting 5-for-12 on 3-pointers and making seven steals. “You can’t tell me he’s a rookie,” guard Chris Paul said of the two-way player.
Reading between the lines…
Buddy Heild got dropped to the bench today against the Wolves and lit them up for 42 and looked their best player.
He’s had a hard time with the front office not valuing him at the start of the season with his contract negotiations and then eventually they sorted that and ever since then he still looks like he’s often on the outer at the kings.
Personally I really like Heild. He’s 27, averaging 20-5-3 on 42-36-82 shooting percentages.
Many teams could do with a shooting guard upgrade and is this continues wouldnt be surprised to see him shipped off, but considering he’s just signed a new deal it might be easier for salary matching purposes that a deal is done in the off season.
As a Sixers fan, If we don’t atleast make the ECF then I’d be looking to ship Al Horford out considering he’s 33 and making about 28 mil.
It would give Simmons more shooting with Harris at PF, JRich at SF and Heild at SG.
Hield has been having a down year, and their defense is so bad, they need to try and do something. I dont see the move to bring him off the bench to mean much. They need a defensive wing next to Harrison Barnes
How about some trade with the Timberpuppies for RoCovington? They desperately need shooting and RoCo would give them fantastic D….DOn’t know the salarys but I’m sure they can make something work.
I’d hardly say he’s having a down year with those numbers. Last year was his best ever year and he put up basically the same numbers. So technically he’s having his best or second best season statistically.
Last year:
21/5/2.5 on 46/43/89
This year:
20/5/3 on 42/36/82
his efficiency is down by a pretty good amount
Still efficient tho not like he’s having a bad year he’s just having an average year
I’m not saying hes been bad, just jot as good. Hield impressed me a lot by his improvement from year 1 to year 2, 3, and 4. Obviously a lot on defense to get better at, but I appreciate his work ethic. He just needs a better defense around him. I’m slightly disappointed that Giles hasnt really been healthy this year, after being impressive, in my opinion, last year. I think he could give them some defense at the 5 spot that they have been missing
Ariza for Bazemore was a good trade. I think Bazemore just didn’t fit in well with the Blazers roster, but expect toughness there in Sacramento. Blazers having another good shooter plus saving some cash is a good deal.
Whiteside to CLE for Tristan Thompson and another player + cash, or to OKC for Gallinari might work. Or back to MIA for J. Johnson & Meyers Leonard.
If Portland gets Leonard then they’re going to go insane, and Whiteside returning to Miami would be incredible as well; could do so good alongside Olynyk at 4/5 positions.
Whiteside would never ever go back there after how they treated him.
You mean signing him out of the d-league after he was in Lebanon, developing him, paying him over keeping Dwyane Wade, and being more willing to acquiesce to him than they were for Lebron James? Awful treatment
Whiteside worked during that time to prove himself which resulted in him earning that huge deal. After that the Heat split him as a starter, off the bench and as a reserve.
He earnt the title as one of the leagues top 10 centres then was cast aside. He wanted out for years and was never given the chance up until this year and he’s proven to the Heat and fans that he is still a really good player.
Yes the Heat found him when no one wanted him and gave him an opportunity but ultimately he worked himself to being where he is now
Lol Whitesides best year came off the bench the year before he got paid. What are you talking about? He should have been coming off the bench the entire time. Heat were better in 4th quarters without him for multiple years. Which is why he didnt finish games. How are you going to try to tell someone that watched him every single night…and yes, Whiteside worked in his own time, but that doesnt mean he came to play. Heat had to try to convince him just to come out of the locker room at times…I can go on, but I feel like a broken record at this point…
Also, all he has proven is that he wont ever bring it, if he wont even do it in a contract year. Everyone knows that Hassan Whiteside is a game changer when he comes to play…he just doesnt
Whiteside is having a monster season!!!
I hope people start chanting “get those numbers” at him, b/c thats all he cares about, just like you apparently
You can’t be traded back for a year so Whiteside is not going to Miami.
I jokingly speculated on that exact Heat scenario, as they could use him in certain matchups, but you cant trust Hassan Whiteside will come to play
I think Whiteside has been amazing for the Blazers but if they do consider trading him I’d be thinking two options.
1. Getting in an older star on a huge bad contract so you dont have to give up to many picks.
(KLove, Harrison Barnes, Aldridge)
Or 2. Whiteside for 2 role players to add depth
(Zeller/MKG, ThadYoung/Satoransky, Iggy/Jones)
Obviously once Nurkic returns which isn’t far away Whiteside rips will decrease and once Collins is back it will decrease again. At nearly 30 mil and being in an expiring contract it does have value to teams wanting to clear cap space.
Of all those guys listed above I think Harrison Barnes would be the best return, the most likely would be Zeller and MKG.
Barnes would give this team another solid two way player with loads of experience. With Ariza and Barnes starting at SF and PF you’ve got two solid defenders and two good shooters to let Dame and C.J. work. Maybe you’d have to give up a first rounder with protections but I would do that for Barnes.
Yes his contract isn’t exactly the best but it would save the team some more money and more importantly it would have all your main players locked up on long contracts. Lillard McCollum Ariza Barnes Collins Nurkic Simons Little, only Melo would need extending which wouldn’t cost a heck of a lot
I personally think Zeller is a lot better than people realize…anyway, I think a Charlotte deal could make some sense for Portland, and Whiteside is from there, but not sure how it helps Charlotte, as most of their guys are expiring anyway, unless they were able to move Batum, which they wouldnt be able to unless Portland could aggregate Ariza, which they cant
Zeller is actually been decent this year.
I think it makes sense cause Whiteside is an upgrade on Zeller and they aren’t even played MKG really. Zellers deal is for another year after this year so you can choose to let Whiteside walk and clear that extra year or you can choose to keep Whiteside and extend him on a smaller deal.
I think the hornets have a good young roster but do lack a big centre that will help a lot with rebounding and defence in the paint, which are Whitesides biggest strengths.
Washington and Bridges are both kinda undersized forwards so by starting Whiteside with them he helps boxing out, helps rebounding and helps defend the rim. It allows those guys to play their natural games better
Zeller is a better defender than Whiteside, and I would rather hold him at his price if I’m Charlotte than try to sign Whiteside and also deal with him. That being said, just as I wish I could have seen what would have happened with Butler around him in practice, I’d love to see what would happen around MJ b/c for sure that stuff wont fly with him
Zeller sucks big time, Whiteside is so much better than it becomes very rude to mention both of them on the same sentence.
Zeller’s biggest issue is health. You obviously havent seen him play, or looked at his impact on that team when he has been, and hasnt been healthy the last few years. They’ve always been a lot better with him
Also, Whiteside is certainly more talented, but Zeller comes at half his price
The Blazers are over the cap and their future is in the hands of Damien and CJ. If you let whiteside walk, you lose out on 25m (i dont remember the exact $ amount of whiteside contract), where you could flip whiteside for a player like kevin love. Love will bring championship expereince, another offensive threat, space the floor and add more rebounding which will create extra shots for CJ and DL. In the west you need to add all the firepower you can get.
Whiteside for Love could work out really good for both teams.
It’ll still cost the Blazers Little and 2020 1st unprotected at the bare minimum for the Cavs to bite.
Those 2 Should really be enough to win games, they have had a cast around them. But it looks like they need a star caliber player like Butler.
They need winning players. They need help at the 4 next to KAT, and they could use another guard that can defend, and shoot. Big fan of Josh Okogie though, and I’m interested to see how Culver looks next year. He has some Butler in his game, though not as flashy. I think he could be a capable 2 way player.