Enzo The Baker said:
Guitarsoup said:
Rumor is that Denver wants to trade for Zach LaVine and are willing to get rid of Michael Porter to do it.
Would anyone be up for getting in on that to get Porter? He has had injuries in his past, but has only missed 21 games over the past 2.5 seasons, many were end of season before playoffs.
He is shooting 51/39 this year for 19/7/3 - showing a better ability to pass it. Defensively, he's pretty average, but has good size.
The 6'10 high level movement shooter is the exact archetype I think we need between Jeremy and Wemby. Plus he rebounds well.
He has two years left on his contract at 25% and 24%. Not ideal, but not awful.
General framework:
Chicago dumps LaVine and Vuc, gets Ingram and their pick back. Keldon's declining contract isn't great and neither is Collins, but both are easier to move than LaVine.
NOLA gets their center and out of the tax, plus they dont have to deal with Ingram anymore.
Spurs get a 26yo 6'10 movement shooter with a ring, and get off the Keldon+Collins contracts.
Wemby/Bassey/Mamu
Porter/Barnes
Sochan/Champagnie
Vassell/Castle/Branham
Paul/Tre Jones/Wesley
Use our two firsts on a backup big and a backup to Vassell. Porter makes about the same as Collins+Keldon, so the cap doesn't change significantly.
I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with that trade in terms of what we give up. But I don't like that salary and contract length for a player a savvy championship team is trading off for an unproven winning injury-plagued player. That's pretty telling.
Denver is just so locked in by paying Porter and Murray over market value. And Murray somehow got another max extension. I think they would rather move Murray, but rules won't let them move him, so if they want to shake things up and get a secondary ball handler that is an elite shooter, this is the only way.
I also don't think I would call the Denver front office saavy. They screwed the pooch on those two contracts, traded their future firsts for Payton Watson and Julian Strawser, and traded Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to draft Zeke Nnaji then gave Nnaji a big contract extension he didnt earn and now he looks like dead weight. And because of those bad moves, they are out of picks and they had to let Bruce Brown and KCP walk for nothing. Bad management got them there.
Porter's contract isn't great, but basically the same as Keldon+Collins for a high level off-ball shooter. Thats a massive upgrade for us at a position of need. The tricky part will be getting him to sign a 15-20% contract in 2 years like Devin.
Because Gordon, Braun, and Porter dont create and Murray is struggling, Denver has been in a tough spot and need the creation that LaVine can bring. And Murray, Braun, and Gordon's defense should ideally compensate for LaVine's awfulness.
Porter doesn't create his shot as much, but since we can play him with Wemby, Sochan, Castle/Paul/Tre, and Devin, that doesn't really affect us the same way it does Denver. And we clearly need a forward with shooting gravity.