Latest Jerami Grant Trade Rumors! | Blazers Uprise Live

Latest Jerami Grant Trade Rumors! | Blazers Uprise Live

What’s going on everybody? Welcome in to a special edition of Blazers Uprise Live. I’ve been saying that a lot lately, but we still got free agency coverage for you tonight. Soon we’ll have summer league games. Looking forward to that. And soon we’ll have Eric Brandt joining the stream. He’ll be here in about 20 minutes or so to break down the latest across the NBA. Shout out to you if you tuned in for either of our streams. Last night, I had a solo stream. I talked about the Damen Lillard situation and how I think the Portland Trailblazers should make an effort to bring Dame home just for a one-year deal and buy him out if he wants to at the deadline if he wants to go ring chasing and as if if his rehab goes well. Shout out to you who are there for that. And then we had an episode of Hoops Crush as those guys went into the Dame situation, the possibility of bringing him back. He’s still a free agent today. And there was actually a report today from Chris Haynes that we’ll talk about. And we’ll also talk about a Blazers player that has a new destination. It’s Jabari Walker as he signs with the 76ers. And surprisingly, it’s on a two-way contract. A two-way contract. So, the Blazers obviously had no interest in bringing Jabari Walker back on a normal contract. he has to settle for a two-way in what is probably a good situation for him. So, I’ll break that down and we’ll talk about maybe a little bit more about the DeAndre Aton signing with the Lakers yesterday. I did cover that in our stream yesterday as well, but we got full coverage of NBA free agency for you guys. So, make sure to hit that like button, hit that subscribe button if you’re not subscribed to the channel already. We’re going to have summer league watch parties. Those should be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to that. And during the season, we have postgame shows after every Blazer game breaking things down. So hopefully you guys are having a good week. Hopefully you have a three-day weekend. I have a three-day weekend, and I need a three-day weekend after everything that went into the last week and a half prepping for the draft, prepping for free agency. Uh my my life’s a little crazy. So, I’m looking forward to a three-day weekend this weekend. You can let me know what plans you guys have in the live chat. And we’re going to talk some basketball, man. We’re going to talk some basketball. We’re going to talk about if Jeremy Grant is ever going to get traded. Will the Blazers ever trade Jeremy Grant? I’m going to save that conversation for Eric. Okay, I’ll stall for Eric. You still have some free agents out there. Jonathan Kaminga is still a free agent, a restricted free agent. There has been rumors about a potential sign and trade with him going to the Sacramento Kings. You have Quinton Grimes. Quinton Grimes, he’s still a restrictive of restricted free agent. I wonder when that’s going to get resolved. He definitely deserves more than a full- exception, but I don’t know if there’s a team out there that can actually give him that sort of offer sheet. So maybe he has to settle for a little bit less on the open market. Today, you really didn’t have much in the way of actual NBA transactional news. As you can see, three hours ago, Sham’s latest tweet was about Jabari Walker. I would love to get a Shams tweet during the stream, but I’m not counting on it. I guess the biggest news you had today was Jackson Hayes. He’s going back to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers had been tied to free agent Al Horford with the Boston Celtics looking like they’re going to have a down year next year and Al Horford getting up there in age. There’s been a lot of rumors about the Warriors and the Lakers potentially getting the longtime Celtics big, but with the Lakers signing Jackson Hayes today, you have to wonder if they’re still in play for Al Horford or not because they have eight and they have Jackson Hayes. It looks like that’s going to be their center duo next season. And I’ll just say this, it’s really funny to see Lakers fans going through the honeymoon stages of acquiring DeAndre Aton, just like it was funny to watch Blazer fans do it two years ago, talking about how the new situation, the Laker situation is going to turn DeAndre Aton into an all-star. How DeAndre Hatton’s finally going to figure it out in LA. He’s finally going to break out. This is finally the situation he needs. And it just reminds me exactly of everything Blazer fans were saying when the Blazers traded for DeAndre Aton two years ago. And Suns fans warned Blazer fans during that time about DeAndre Aton’s issues. And now I see Blazer fans on the timeline warning Laker fans to not get too excited with DeAndre Aton. actually saw a tweet that was referencing some defensive analytics for DeAndre Aiden, talking about how he’s uh an a great defender in like four different weird analytical areas. And to me, it was like a perfect example of why you can’t trust defensive analytics. It was from Basketball Index that has all these interesting analytics. I mean, the analytics are cool to look at, but you can’t put too much stock in them. And Basketball Index is a uh is created and ran by Laker fans. So, uh, yeah, the Blazers defense, I saw people bringing this up. The Blazers defense after DeAndre Aton got hurt was like fifth best in the league. And they were a far better defensive team with him off the floor. The Blazers per 100 possessions, as we have discussed multiple times, the Blazers were five points better defensively per 100 possessions with Donovan Klingan on the floor. Now we’ll get to see Donovan Klingan start and I’m super excited for it. Super excited for it. Now, as far as other news goes, it’s kind of quiet, man. This was a quieter free agency. I don’t think there’s going to be a a whole lot of chaos. There’s been Malik Monk rumors, and it sounds like he could be headed to Detroit, but outside of that, I don’t know what other team would look to trade for him. Maybe it’d be a three-team trade with the Kings sign and trading for Jonathan Kaminga and Monk going to a third team and maybe that team sending assets to Golden State. I’m not sure. But right now, it’s it’s kind of a weird time. It’s kind of a weird time where you’re not having much trade action, but there’s a lot of rumors that are circulating, but they’re the type of rumors that you it’s hard to put too much stock into them actually panning out and meaning anything. So, right now it’s just kind of wait and see mode for the NBA. It’s wait and see mode for Damen Lillard as he is still a free agent. And there was actually a tweet today from Chris Haynes that said, “Free agent star Damen Lillard is open to signing with a team this off seasonason under the right terms and conditions as he continues rehabbing. He is receiving ample interest but is in no rush to make a decision. So, I guess we have another game saga this summer that’s not going to conclude anytime soon. Now, those right terms and conditions seem to me to be he wants to rehab in the Portland area. And I am all for bringing Dame back on a one-year deal, letting him be around the team, mentor the team, rehab in the facility, and then if he’s close to full health and close to returning around the deadline or late February, and he wants to buy out to go ring chasing with the contender, the Blazers should respect that and buy him out and then he can go ring chasing. He can get the best of both. can mentor the Blazers young players, be around the organization, rehab in Portland, and then go ring chasing at the end of the year. I think that’s the best situation for him. And I think the Blazers should absolutely do it. They still have two open roster slots. They have to fill one of them, and they they might leave the other one open for for trade purposes. I don’t know. Uh they’ve left a open roster spot before, but the Blazers have obviously not been active in free agency like they haven’t been active in free agency since they signed GP two weeks. So I’m all for that, but it sounds like he’s not going to make a rash decision. Now Mike Richmond on locked on Blazers did say that Dame wants to return to Portland. And the context of it, I don’t know if it was like right now or just at some point, but it is no secret that Dame wants to be a Blazer at some point in his career before it’s over. He wants to return to the organization that he built a legacy with. Could it be right now? I don’t think it’s likely. I don’t think the Blazers are looking to bring him back. I think it’s it’s more likely he signs a two-year deal with a team like the Boston Celtics. He’d be a great fit there. They of course have the down year with no Tatum this year. He’s recovering from an Achilles just like Dame is, but you could have both those guys coming back in the 2026 2027 season and with their defensive core. I think Dame would be a fun fit there. He kind of could follow Drew Holiday from Milwaukee to Boston and then Drew Holiday comes to Portland. Those guys are in a little I don’t know. Those guys are weirdly copying each other. if Dame goes to Boston, you know, and then maybe Dame goes from Boston back to Portland for the final year of his career and they’re just following each other. I don’t know. I don’t know. Um, but at the end of the day, like the Blazers have the best 2029 first between Boston, Milwaukee, Portland. I don’t expect that Boston pick to be good. They’ll find a way to bounce back. They’ll still have Tatum, Jaylen Brown, probably Payton Pritchard, most likely. Uh, like they’ll have pieces. They’ll have pieces. I don’t know if they’ll be contenders, but I don’t expect them to be a lottery team by 2029. Unfortunately, I think if you’re the Blazers, you just have to hope the Miles Turner and Dame Bout stuff completely backfires and Giannis wants out by like 2027. And honestly, if Yiannis asked out right now, it might actually be a little too early for the Blazers to get a really good Milwaukee pick in 2028, 2029. Like, they’d have some time to try and bounce back. I like the idea more of things really going south with Milwaukee with Giannis in 2026 2027. Like just just hold out a little bit longer. Hopefully this situation doesn’t pan out. And it’s not to root against Milwaukee specifically. It’s not to to root against Giannis staying in a small market. I like when the stars want to stay in small markets and and deal with the struggle, but the Blazers would greatly greatly benefit from the Milwaukee Bucks being a really bad team in 2028. The Blazers have the right to swap first round picks and then they get the best 2029 first between Boston, Milwaukee, Portland. Then they have right to swap picks in 2030 as well. So if if the Bucks are a bad team, then it’s going to be great for your Portland Trailblazers. So can’t help but root for the downfall of the Bucks, at least in those years. But as far as Dame goes, I don’t expect a decision particularly soon. And as far as NBA trades go, I I don’t really know what’s next. There’s a lot of rumors, but it just feels like rumors that could easily fall through and there’s not a whole lot of action the rest of the offseason, but you still have to figure out like where Jonathan Kamingo is going and how much money Quinn Grimes is going to get. Those are the two big dominoes. You also have Chris Paul that he’s still deciding on where to go. Apparently, the Bucks have interest in him. Anyway, I’ll take questions from chat. Uh hopefully Eric will be here soon. I want to save the the Grant conversation. I want to save the Grant conversation. And honestly, it’s not going to be much of a conversation. Any word on Delano Banton is the question in chat. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the 14th roster spot and the Blazers just bring him back. It’s funny how how there was people calling him an untouchable player early in the season and he’s just been sitting there rotting on the free agent market. I think it’ll end up somewhere. I don’t know if it’s the Blazers, but the Blazers also reportedly had ties to uh Chris Bucher and might be interested in him. I actually think Chris Buchche would be a pretty decent signing if they did not have Jeremy Grant taking minutes at what should be the backup four because Buché can play the four or the five and he’s a decent three-point shooter. The Blazers need three-point shooting. And with a rotation at center with Klingan and Robert Williams the third and Yon Hansen, it would be nice to have somebody that would slot in at the four, but could slide up to the five and could shoot the three. That would give the Blazers more insurance at the five. It would kind of help their their shooting issue. Brche 36.3% from three last year. He was 34% the year before or um 34% for his career. He was 33% the year before. So, like he’s not the greatest shooter, but he’s shown that he’s capable of knocking down threes. So, like I wouldn’t trade Robert Williams the third for him. Chris, um I don’t think Buché is going to sign for more than like the by annual exception which the Blazers have. It’s about 5 million. You can use it once every two years. It’s not the MLE. He might only get a minimum. He might only get a minimum. Dro says, “Tory, how much revenue do the Blazers earn with Lillard versus without?” This should be an easy move. Come back money. Um, I mean, Dame not playing isn’t really going to boost their revenue, but Chris Buchet would be an interesting signing. I just don’t see where he gets the minutes with Jeremy Grant on the roster. King Sammon chat brings up Antonio Reeves. The Pelicans waved Antonio Reeves today and it was honestly surprising to me. He’s a guard out of Kentucky. Last year he’s a rookie. They took him with the 47th overall pick. He played 44 games as a rookie. He played 15 minutes a game. He’s he averaged seven points. He shot 39 and a half% from three, almost 46% from the field. He’s decently efficient as a like scoring 65 bench guard per 36 last year if you want to extrapolate it out. Uh 16.6 points, three and a half boards, two assists, true shooting percentage of 58%. He’s not a good defender. Like he wasn’t like he was necessarily a good player, but like he scored efficiently and he’s a scoring guard and he was a rookie. Now he he was an older rookie, but he’s 24 years of age. Like that’s the type of guy to maybe take a swing on and see if he can improve going into year two and just is an interesting scorer. You know what I mean? Like I’d rather have him on a 2-way than Caleb Love. I don’t know how old Caleb Love is, but he’s an old rookie as well. He was in college forever. Antonio Reeves is just a more efficient scorer and kind of a similar player. Like they’re just guys that get shots up and go they they go get buckets. So, I wouldn’t hate taking a flyer on Antonio Reeves, but I think it’ll get picked up somewhere on a two-way, especially if Jabari Walker is getting two ways. If Jabari Walker is getting two ways, I know I I wasn’t the highest person on Jabari Walker, but he’s good enough to be on a normal roster contract, and I feel like that’s just a sign that the NBA needs to expand. There’s enough talent out there that the NBA can add 30 normal roster spots with two teams in expansion. Fully believe that. Anyway, you still have Ryan Rollins out there as like a bench guard. Not that he makes a whole lot of sense for the Blazers, but I think he’ll be a good pickup for whatever team picks him up. Uh, we got a trade idea in chat as well. The Heat get Jeremy Grant. Washington gets Matis in two Portland seconds and Portland gets Kisper and Roier. Um, Miami probably needs more value back, but I don’t know what else. I think that’s a I think that’s actually a pretty solid trade idea. It’s just like how do you get Miami to want to take on that contract because they’d probably rather just have cap flexibility in the future, especially with it being a potential free agent destination. So that’s why I think Miami would say no. But like Batis in two seconds to Washington for Kissper, I don’t think Kissper factors into their plans long term and the Blazers have plenty of defense. They need a knockdown three-point shooter, preferably somebody that could play the two or the three. And Kispert’s that guy. Washington has been stacking expiring contracts uh that expire this year with Chris Middleton, CJ McCollum, and Marcus Smart. That’s like $75 million of salary coming off the books, like $85 million coming off the books, something like that. So, if they can get another expiring contract for Kisper, who’s starting a four-year deal, making about $14 million a year, then that’s just more money that they’d free up next off season to really go and be creative and flexible building around their young core, who they just added Trey Johnson to. You got Bub Carrington, Bal Koulibal, and Keshan George was okay as a rookie. Alex Sar, of course, a second pick from last year. So, Kasper’s like the one guy, the one trade target that I feel like makes a lot of sense for the Blazers to go after and makes a lot of sense for the team he’s on to trade. Now, the trades the Blazers make are never ones that you expect, and it’s never for the player that everyone thinks makes sense. You know, there wasn’t an ant trade to Boston. Nope. Or there wasn’t an ant trade to Orlando. Nope. It was an ant trade to Boston for Drew Holiday. Right. Last off seasonason it was Denn Odia out of nowhere. The Blazers always make the surprising trades. So I feel like Kisper will never be a Blazer just because that trade actually makes sense on on the surface. But yeah, I would love I would love Cory Kper to be a member of the Blazers as a Gonzaga fan, but also I think he fills a need and I think the Blazers it’s kind of malpractice that all they’ve done this off seasonason to address what I think is maybe their biggest need, which is a lack of three-point shooting, is to trade Anthony Simons for Drew Holidayiday, who’s not as good of a three-point shooter. They’ve just made it worse. Now, you can hope for internal improvement, but that’s the biggest problem with the Blazers moving forward. And I think if they have another move to make this off seasonason, if Cronin stops taking a vacation, you know, if he comes back from the beach or wherever the hell he’s been since the draft, it would be good on him to find a way to get some shooting on this roster. There were some guys in free agency that could have made sense. Luke Canard, I know he’s a guard, but he’s a lights out shooter. He signs with Atlanta. Great signing for them. And then you have Duncan Robinson. He gets signed and traded to the Detroit Pistons. He makes about three years about $16 million a year. Yeah, it was 48 mil. So $16 million a year and he’s a knockdown shooter. Now, I think that’s a little pricey for him, but I wouldn’t have minded if Cronin maybe got a little aggressive with a contract offer to go out and get somebody that addressed a major need with this team as they’re actively trying to be good next year. I don’t really understand the whole move for Drew Holiday without a follow-up move to add some shooting because the move for Drew Holiday, yes, he’s a good mentor for the core, but also it’s the type of move that’s like, yeah, we’re trying to be a little bit better next year. We’re trying to be elite defensively. We’re trying to be competitive. And they’ve said as much. It’s no secret that the Portland Trailblazers want to be a playoff team next year, at least a play-in team, and they want to be as competitive as possible without mortgaging the future. But the lack of a follow-up move for some shooting just doesn’t really make sense with that mindset that they have. And that’s where I think this year more so than last year, more so than the year before, I mean, the year before was weird because they were trying to build around Dame and then Dame demanded to trade after they did nothing. But like last year they were still more in rebuild mode, so you kind of understood it. And they may and they did make a move for Denny Oia, right? This offseason, it makes no sense to just draft Young Hansen after trading Anthony Simus for Drew Holiday and then just call it an offseason. Now, if they do sign Chris Buché with Jeremy Grant on the roster, I think it’s completely pointless because you have Jeremy Grant as what should be your backup for and Chris Buchet is not a good enough shooter to be somebody that like you really value playing for that need. I like Buché is a four five that can shoot if Grant’s off the roster to provide some center insurance and hopefully shore up the shooting a little bit. But if you’re going to keep Jeremy Grant on this roster, makes no sense to sign Chris Buchet. Like you should absolutely be going after absolutely be going after a wing that can shoot. But I mean, this is just kind of what Joe Cronin does. He He makes a trade. Okay, he makes a trade. He drafts a player. He maybe cuts a player and then he goes on vacation. Then he goes on vacation. I mean, even when Dame demanded a trade, it’s like he went on vacation for a month and then came back and uh, you know, finally traded Dame in uh, September. It was a good trade. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have waited, but July July is not a Joe Cronin month. We got Cobbin in chat. Jeremy Grant is being so slept on, which is great for us. What do you mean? Rebound sleep on Jeremy Grant. making shots inside the ark. Really slept on Jeremy Grant last year. Jeremy Grant was was straight up awful last year. Straight up awful. And somehow it’s like him coming off the bench, she’s going to bounce back when he’s not really used to that role. He already struggled to adjust to an offensive system that didn’t prioritizing. Sorry, let me let me restart. Jeremy Grant struggled last season to adjust to an offense that wasn’t prioritizing isolating him an obscene amount of times each game. He admitted as much in his exit interview. Chanty even hinted at it as well in his exit interview. So, if Grant can’t even adjust to an offense that’s not funneling through him, you’re going to tell me he’s going to be a good bench player. I don’t understand that. I don’t understand that. And here’s the thing with this game is like people say, “He had a down year. He had a down year.” He already sucked at a lot of things even when he was good. And it’s almost to the point where it’s like if you’re not using him as a high usage offensive option, which the Blazers absolutely should not, he’s not a particularly good role player. That’s the thing is you can kind of overlook the rebounding and the lack of passing and some of the defensive issues, not being able to get through screens, like the lack of physicality defensively. Like you can kind of you could kind of overlook that stuff when he’s scoring 20 points per game efficiently, but there is no way he should be scoring 20 points per game next year. Even if he’s playing well offensively, even if he’s playing well offensively, he should not have that much of a role. So when you lower his usage and he doesn’t do all these other things well, then it’s like, what’s the point? He’s not really helping you win in that case. So, I’m I’m I’m having this discussion with somebody in chat that says, “You don’t think he can shoot the three for us this year? Come on. We don’t need to pay $32 million and be stuck on a three-year deal with over hund00 million left for a guy that struggles at everything except for three-point shooting. He could attack the year before, but if his role is reduced, he’s not going to be as much of a slasher and creator.” And the thing is when he tried to do that last year, he sucked at it. So that is quite the price tag for a guy that’s just a three-point shooter. A career 36 three-point shooter. 36% three-point shooter. He was a 36% three-point shooter last year. It was like right in line with his career average. When he’s been used as a role player, he’s been able to get to like 39%. But I mean, really, you can go find that for much cheaper. Like th this is a problem. This is a problem. Remember that? That’s the guy that said we’re getting Laravia. I don’t think that was the guy that said we’re getting Laravia. But like at the end of the day, Jeremy Grant is is not good at enough things to be like a good bench role player in my opinion. He’s just not. And that’s fine if you’re not the team paying him. So anyway, I’ve stalled long enough without Eric. He told me 20 to 30 minutes. It’s been Let’s see here. Oh, he said he’s not going to be home for 20 to 30 minutes. Okay. He didn’t say he was going to be ready. That’s my bad. That’s my bad. But as far as rumors and stuff go, hit the like button. By the way, we we do not have enough likes on the stream. Okay, this is what stalling looks like. This is professional level stalling. Okay, like the stream if you want Grant traded. Okay. Anyway, Tori, will you take Ruining Connect for JG, but you also need to give the Orlando pick? I am not a fan of that. Like, why are you trading your highest upside assets to get off Jeremy Grant? Doesn’t really make the team that much better. I like Connect, but like I’d protect that pick maybe, but I also don’t think the Lakers do that. Like, why would they care about that pick? They’re trying to be good next year, but they’re also trying to save money for next off seasonason, so it just doesn’t really like doesn’t really matter. Um, I think if a team trades for Jeremy Grant, it’s not actually going to be the Lakers. All right. I mean, they make sense, so it could be. But I think it would be like the Kings out of nowhere if they strike out on Kaminga or the Hornets in a three-team trade where like Miles Bridges goes somewhere else and they decide like what the hell we’ll pay Jeremy Grant. I don’t know. I don’t know why. Like it’d be a dumb move for either of those teams, but that’s what the Blazers have to hope for is a dumb move. But I mean, he’s a he’s an awful contract. You look at what some of these role players go for this off season. Like D’Angelo Russell went for two years $13 million total. That’s like $6.5 million a year. Jeremy Grant was not better than D’Angelo Russell last year. Jeremy Grant would probably go for something similar. Like he’d probably go for like6 to10 million a year. Just look at the other signings across the league. So like what team’s going to want to pay him $32 million a year? It’s It’s a terrible contract. It’s a terrible contract. The Blazers stuck between a rock and a hard place. And they did it to themselves. They did it to themselves. It doesn’t really make sense to trade a first round pick to get off Jeremy because what does that create? Does it create enough value that’s greater than the first round pick you attached to him? Probably not. So, it’s tough. It’s tough. Like, you can’t buy him out. He makes too much money. If he was in the last year of his deal, like you could because it’s just on your books for the last year. But he’s not. He’s not any truth to we helped buying out eight and so Ellie takes on grant arrangement. I mean probably not. Probably not. But yeah, so as far as trade rumors for Jeremy Grant goes, there really isn’t any. There really isn’t any. There was a rumor today from Evan Cidery and it’s basically what we expected. It’s that the Blazers have been trying to offload Jeremy Grant, but can’t find any takers. And I told you guys this offseason the Blazers were absolutely going to try and trade Jeremy Grant. It was obvious with their exit interviews. The writing’s been on the wall. They have two forwards that are better than him, cheaper than him, younger than him. And if they could not trade Jeremy Grant, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. It basically meant his contract is too much of a negative a negative asset. There was people out there that still wanted to act like it was not a bad contract. There there there was there was a specific radio host that wanted to act like it wasn’t a bad contract. He was the same guy that was acting like Norman Powell was a bad contract making $18 million a year a couple years ago when the Blazers gave him up for nothing, but he’s acting like the Germany contract is uh is not a negative value. And we’ve been saying this for months. You should not be surprised. I know it sucks. I know it sucks, but I’ve been saying this since January that he’s a negative he’s a negative contract. So, I mean, just look at the way other fan bases, other people that cover the league talk about him when they start talking about his contract. That’s how you know. That’s how you know. It’s easy to get like stuck in the bubble, maybe in the echo chamber. if you only talk to Blazer fans, if you only see stuff posted by Blazer fans in regards to players that are on your favorite team, but when you start paying attention to what everybody else says, like at least people that know what they’re talking about, right? I’m not sitting here going to to Laker fans on Twitter to gain any insight. But sometimes when people that know what they’re talking about start talking about Jeremy Grant the way they’re talking about Jeremy Grant, it is kind of eye opening. It’s like, yeah, I mean, this is how he’s viewed and this is why he’s still here. Anyway, I’ll read chat. Let me see. Let me see if Eric’s going to be joining us. I was not prepared to go solo today. Who shoots the three ball for us next year? I don’t know, man. Joe Kern hasn’t done anything to address it, but they shouldn’t stop him from trading Jeremy Grant’s awful contract. Maybe a trade with Phoenix. They probably dumb enough to get something to happen. So apparently there’s a rumor like they’re talking with the Heat about a Bradley Beal trade. I don’t know why the Heat would trade for him, but maybe it’s like Rojier plus Wiggins. In which case, if you’re Phoenix, would you trade Roger for Jeremy Grant? I mean, the the Suns have to give up a pick to get Miami to do that, right? Like anything that offloads Jeremy Grant for an expiring contract straight up is like a Hail Mary at this point. It’s a Hail Mary. It’s not really realistic, but it’s like maybe Miami for some reason really wants Beal. Not even really wants, like maybe they’re just willing to pay him that contract if they if they trade Roier and Wiggins and get a pick back from Phoenix. And then you’re sitting there as Phoenix with um Andrew Wiggins and Terry Roier. Maybe maybe they’d be willing to trade Roier and like another salary they don’t really want for Jeremy Grant. I think with the shooting issue, the Blazers are doing what Chad Co says in chat. They’re hoping for a higher shooting percentage from Henderson, Sharp, repair, etc. Well, I wouldn’t throw repair in there. I don’t think he’s going to factor into the rotation next year, but um Sharp especially cuz Scoot was like 35% last year, so maybe Scoot can be like 36%. Camaro was like 36%. Adio was 36% almost 37%. Sharp needs to also be like 36%. From three and some of that shot selection and some of that is becoming more consistent as a shooter. If you can have four guys in the starting lineup shooting 36% from three, like your spacing isn’t too bad. Or maybe Drew starts in front of Scoot and Drew basically like shot 35% last year, but a lot of them were open threes. He when he didn’t shoot like hardly any threes when somebody was 0 to 4 feet and then when closest defenders were four to six feet he shot like 29%. But the year before that he shot 44% when defenders were four to six feet away. So basically you just want Drew Holiday to be a good enough shooter where it forces teams to guard him and he can space the floor. I think he’ll kind of bounce back a little bit as a shooter. Um and I think he’ll shoot well enough to get defenses to respect him. I think part of it was he was in Boston where their offense was so good like he didn’t need to take contested shots. So he basically was only only used to taking open shots. He basically would not shoot if there was a defender close to him. In Portland, he’s going to probably have a little bit more of a green light and be a little bit more comfortable taking those shots. At least that’s my hope. But the rest of the roster is kind of like, you know, I mean, your centers, you’re not expecting them to shoot. If you trade Grant, I don’t know who the backup wing is. Like, I think Thyel’s going to play next year. Can Thybball shoot consistently enough on enough volume for teams to take it seriously? Because even though he shot well in spurts, it still feels like teams don’t really take him seriously as a shooter. Like that’s the thing. You need to be around 36% as a team at least. Last year the Blazers were I’ll look this up. Give me a second. Oh, we finally have Mr. Brand finally have Mr. Brandt. All right. What’s going on? I’ve just been I didn’t plan on uh wasting all my solo material yesterday just to have to solo again today, but um yeah, I started a little earlier for once. Uh what’s going on, man? How you doing?
Oh, pretty good. Just had a uh birthday dinner since uh we were streaming on my birthday last week. So, was at Benny Hana. took a little longer than I was expecting. Nice. Nice. Um I don’t know how much of the stream you’ve listened to, but feel free to like
I’ve listened to most of it.
Yeah. Feel free to dive into any part you want to respond to. I’ve kind of covered everything that I figured we’d cover today anyway, so we can like go back and retouch upon any of it.
Mhm. Um, I will say if if any form of a even if it’s Vincent uh Vincent Clea and Vanderbilt’s contract, if any part of that is on the table, you have to take it, right?
Yes. Yeah. And because there was uh I didn’t hear this, but people were saying that Mike Richmond said that the Blazers were not interested in doing that because they didn’t want to take back Vanderbilt’s contract, which is so stupid and shortsighted. Like,
yeah,
what why would you not want to take back the same length of contract that’s three or a third of the the cost of germs? Like, that makes no sense why you wouldn’t want to do that.
Yeah. So if that’s the case, it’s just another example of the Blazers misplaying their hand when trying to sell someone. You know, it’s like they apparently want two first and Ruie for Jeremy last off season. That was a misplay. And now if you’re sitting here being stingy about getting back one contract that’s three times cheaper, that’s the same length for what is a bad contract, then what the hell are you doing? That’s completely silly. Completely silly. So yeah, like they absolutely have to take that. And if they’re sitting there saying like, “No, every contract needs to be expiring.” Guess what? You’re going to end up with zero expiring contracts for them because you’re not going to be able to trade them. Yeah. I just don’t get what they’re expecting because there’s not another team that has the expiring contracts that would be willing to trade
those for him. or the teams that would probably take Jeremy don’t have the way to like match salary like the Lakers could without like kind of gutting the core of their team. So, it’s just it’s weird, man. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t jump on that if that’s available. And I don’t know why the Lakers wouldn’t do that either. They’re not that doesn’t hurt them at all. It It actually helps them, I think. So, um, and then you can always buy out, uh, Vincent or Cleba. I mean, Clea would be your best shooter actually, so you might not want to buy him out. But, um, hasn’t his fall fallen off though, like Pasco?
Yeah. But, I mean, like, just in theory, he would he would be our best shooter, but like
um, but yeah. So, then if you want to like you’d still need to probably address the forward position. I guess Vanderbilt could be that guy. And maybe you move Vanderbilt at some point for more of a long-term younger piece at the three or the four that you could kind of get behind as being a a future guy. But um I I don’t know, man. That seems like are really only out for a while unless Grant somehow magically has a really good year. But then I could see them not trading him too if he has a good year and we’re doing well. So, um I don’t know.
Start next year, man. Like that’s my biggest worry. He cannot start next year. If they start him next year, it’s basically just saying to me like we’re trying to showcase him again. Don’t make that same mistake. It did not go well last time. All right. Um and you’re starting him over like they’re not going to start him over ADA or Kamar like they’d start the three forward lineup. The thing is, you got three guards that all deserve minutes. So, you’re cutting into minutes for either Drew, who you just traded Ant for, or Scoo or Sharp. And that’s a mistake cutting into any of those guys minutes for Jeremy Grant. So, he can’t start next year. He cannot start next year. I will I will lose my mind on the first postgame show of the year if that game Jeremy Grant starts and the Blazers are healthy, right? Obviously, if somebody gets hurt, like, okay, yeah, you can start him. But he should not be starting when this team is healthy. I think that would be a disaster. Don’t waste your time trying to showcase a guy who is clearly a negative contract and clearly not going to play up to that contract. And like you’re you are stuck in a hard place right now, but you kind of put yourself there. Now you got to deal with it. Yeah. Well, no, remember it’s Dan’s fault. I saw that in chat earlier when I was watching tonight.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, I don’t know how many times we got to try and dispel that narrative, but yeah. Shout out to Jed out.
Beat you to it with a $5 donation. Says, “As a diehard Spurs fan, love your guys content.” Thank you, Jetted Out. It’s always cool to hear from fans of other teams that enjoy our content. So, we really appreciate the donation.
Appreciate that. Yeah, we try to be knowledgeable about the entire league, not just the Blazers, but obviously Blazers will always be our focus.
Yeah.
Um, man, Spurs, as a Spurs fan, you got to be
stoked about getting Dylan Harper, man. Like, how how crazy would it be to be like if the Blazers had the Spurs luck the last couple drafts with like
want to talk about it, dude?
I don’t even want to talk about it. No offense to the Spurs fan that donate, but yeah, I’m a little little jealous of what y’all got going on. Uh, think about how close we were to having that be our reality, though.
Why?
What? One ping pong ball two times, man.
Yeah. Yeah. Eric basically is just poking my wounds right now, chat. He’s just um pouring salt on the wounds. Um, I’m just gonna I’m just going to ignore that. Going back to the shooting conversation we were having. Uh the Blazers last year were 34 point what is nice ceiling light. You know you can turn off your your webcam for a second but nice.
I thought it’d be more fun if I didn’t.
That was so fun. Um um
the Blazers last year shot 34.2% from three. Okay. That was good for 26th 15th place. 16th place was 36.4. I think the goal for the Blazers is to try and be an average three-point shooting team. And you hope like who shoots 36ish% from three on the team. Denny Tammani did last year. Scoop got close last year. Um, Jeremy, I think as far as the shooting, like
not Chris Murray,
not Chris Murray. I think the shooting literally comes down to can sharp improve and get in that range and who’s the backup three. Like the thing is with Jeremy on the team, like he’s probably the backup 34, right? So you got one like you got a three guard core, you got a three forward core, right? Right. And then you got your centers on any given night. It could be like an eight-man rotation. Johny probably will play 10 guys and play find a way to play Chris Murray so we can get some Cedar Rapids references. But if you think about it as like an eightman core, really the only thing holding this team back for being an average shooting team if those guys kind of keep up their shooting is Sharp because he takes a lot of threes and does not shoot well. Um, so like how can he bump it up? Like Drew last year on a bunch of open shots was close to 36%. That’s the other guy I haven’t said. And the year before he was 42%. So I kind of hope he gets back like 36% 37% whatever, right? Um he’s not going to get as many open shots, but I think um you know he’ll he’ll have more of the green light to shoot maybe a little bit more contested shots. It’s going to be interesting to see how that affects him. But like that’s the hope for it being a a average shooting team is like everybody is average cuz none of those guys is like I guess Jeremy the past couple years was a 40enter but like outside of that none of those guys you expect to shoot 40% from three. You just hope that everyone outside the centers is just like at least average and that way you can be an average three-point shooting team. Yeah, I still think they need one person to be more of a lights out shooter, but it would make it a lot easier if you instead of they’re going to play Thiball next year. Instead of Thable if you had a more knockdown three-point shooter. Mhm.
It would make it a lot easier to be like a good enough shooting team.
And if Buckets is still out there,
yeah, hopefully he’s a better player than that. But um like cuz if Sharp’s having an off night shooting the ball and you need some floor spacing cuz other guys have it going, you should have an option to throw in the game that’s like a three-point shooter. But that’s the thing is like who’s that option off the bench at a wing? Matis Thyel. It’s Matis Thyel like and I know I know he’s had hot stretches, but I don’t trust him as a shooter. He’s not somebody deep like he’s an average shooter at best just like everybody else. He’s a career 34% three-point shooter. So, I’d rather have a guy that you know will knock down threes.
Caleb Love.
Yeah, 32% shooter in college. So, yeah, good good luck there. But
that’s college lines too close for him. He’s got better range. What are the odds you think Jeremy gets traded at this point? I know I asked you this recently, but let’s just reiterate this. What is the chance that Jeremy gets traded before opening night? Um, what did I say? 75% no before. It’s probably it’s probably still that 75 80%.
I think it’s 80% is what I say. Chat, you can let us know. But like the only the only thing I’m really wondering is like who’s going to be the 14th signing because the Blazers have 13 players under contract. do have to sign another player and one of their two free agents is gone shockingly on that two-way to Philadelphia. Jabari Walker is gone.
Surprised he only signed for a two-way. But that shows you, Eric, that like the Blazers didn’t want him back. Yeah,
they could have easily had him back on like a minimum. That’s the only reason why I don’t say it’s higher than 75 to 80% for Jeremy because they’re operating like a team that is going to need a couple roster spots. So, it just it makes too much sense to do that trade I talked about earlier with the Lakers. And it makes sense considering they haven’t been linked to any of the remaining free agents like at all. There hasn’t even like a whisper that we’re even talking to free agents, let alone um actually trying to sign one. So, um it it’s that’s the only the only reason why I’m like still holding out hope that the Laker thing is true because um like I I just I don’t see what else they’re waiting for to fill that roster spot or to to kind of fix the roster problems with that just adding the shooter now that especially now that almost all the shooters are are locked in or taken up. So, um, outside of trading for like a Kasper, like you mentioned earlier, I I don’t really know what else they’re going to do because, um, but I mean, if they’re going to trade for someone like that, it could have already happened already. It’s not like they have to wait for something to happen. So,
and he fits into the mid-level exception. So, the technically the Wizards wouldn’t have to take back any salary. Yeah. Um,
that’s true. Um, but I think like if they’re just taking back and expiring like they’re fine with it. They’re stacking expirings. So, yeah, that’s just more salary off the books. That’s that’s hopefully the pitch, right?
But it’s like I think other teams would have maybe done that by now. So, maybe you have to throw in seconds. But, shout out to Bruce Davis for 32 months says, “Hi, Tori. Eric, anyone you both want with a mid-level exception?” I mean, there’s no free agent left really for that. Um, but like trade-wise, Kisser is a guy. Uh, thank you for being a channel member, Bruce. I will tell you what I like the perfect rest of the offseason based on what we’re talking about. Okay, it’s Jeremy to the Lakers for Vanderbilt, Cleba, Gabe Vincent. You find a way to flip Vanderbilt to a third team for an expiring contract where maybe that team also gets back a second or two for Vanderbilt, but like a team that’s kind of in a bad situation that would just take Vanderbilt’s contract. So, I think the perfect destination is Milwaukee. for Meechic, right? Um, and you just add a better player because they they just need to find as many ways as possible to get better. So, you know, you flip Vanderbilt for Mechic, maybe toss Milwaukee a second. I don’t know. I mean, Milwaukee might be desperate enough to do it regardless. They just took on $22 million of dead money the next five months. Um, so basically, you’re trading Jeremy for three expiring contracts. Meich, Cleba, Gabe Vincent. Um, you maybe buy you maybe buy one of them out, you trade another one of them for Kispert or maybe you throw in a couple of seconds and then you have one roster spot left and then you do what I talked about last night with Damon. You sign him to that 15th roster spot and if he wants a buyout late in the season, you uh you you do it. He can go ring chasing if he’s ready to return. He mentors the young guys in different ways than Drew mentors the young guys. Drew is a good defensive mentor. Dame’s a good like pick and roll offensive mentor, vocal locker room leader type guy. Drew is a little quieter it seems. Um, so then you’re going into next season and you don’t have to deal with Grant. You got Kispert on the roster for shooting purposes. You got off Grant’s contract. You got Dame there mentoring guys. I think the only question would be like who’s your backup for? But Tammani can slide up like so Kisper if he’s playing all the minutes at the three and Tammani starting at the three, Avdia at the four.
You can stagger Avdia and Kamar and Kamar can slide up.
Well, also if we have Drew still I mean there’s going to be times where Drew scoop and Sharper on the court together too. So that eats up a little bit of minutes.
Yeah. Yeah, that too. So yeah, I think you know, and if if there’s a minimum signing out there that Dame goes somewhere else and there’s a minimum power forward out there, that maybe makes sense. Sure. But I don’t really know who that would be. Um Trevan says, uh, well, Milwaukee’s demon will be gone by December. I meant five years. Five years, not five months. Um, Vando Vando would be cool, too. Keep though. Just wish you were more healthy. I mean, he’s not a shooter and he’s a defender. He’s kind of like not what we need. I could see them liking him though, just not his contract. Yeah.
Yeah. Um it’s just wild to me like I’ve finally gotten used to like we have defense, we need shooting for for a decade it was the opposite, right? Like you know we needed better shooters than Amino and Harkness, but like so I guess maybe with them it wasn’t quite so much, but it’s just completely flipped. Like we got defenders, we need shooting and We had just hasn’t added it.
We had a team at one point with uh Dame, CJ, Norm, Anthony, Carmelo. Like we had shooters like
Yeah. Yeah. You know what’s funny is like like think about who they’ve signed and drafted, who Cronin has signed and drafted. Who is the best shooter out of all of them? I know you’re leading this to say Scoot, right?
I mean, who who else? It’s two weeks. It’s Sharp. It’s Scoot. It’s Cling and it’s Yong. Moses Brown. I don’t know.
Yeah, that’s the other side is Moses Brown. So, like he traded for Jeremy, he traded for Denny, he traded for Tobati, right? But like siding or draft picks, like he has never gone the way of a shooter. And even Denny bringing him in, there was shooting questions. Tammani bringing him in, like there was shooting questions. He just doesn’t bring in shooters, man. He just doesn’t bring in shooters. It’s It’s just never been a priority for him. And it’s super weird. See, I was convinced that this off season would be
because they do have like seemingly a onetrack mind. It just it’s still on defense, I guess. But um I I thought for sure both draft and uh free agent if they signed anyone it would be to address the shooting need and uh they just went all in continued on defense. So um you you trade your biggest three-point shooting threat for um a really good defender. So
they’re they’re leaning into that, man. It’s they’re going they’re going the opposite. zigging when everyone else thought they should zag, you know.
Yep. We got AJ forgetting last year he says Denny shot 37% from three with the Wizards though his final season. But like the three years before that was was he was like 30% or worse. So when we traded for Denny it was like was the 37% legit or was it um a hot
and then he got off to a bad start and everyone thought oh man it was an outlier. Luckily, it came back towards the end of the season because he went on like an insane stretch where he was shooting like 50% for a month or Yeah. Yeah. Um, good question in chat. How concerned are we with Shaden’s motor? Does he want to be great? I That’s one of those things where I’m not worried about it because I just think like he’s always going to be questionable in that area and he could still be a good player, but it will probably hold him back from being like a superstar. Um, and I’ve kind of accepted that. I still have hope that maybe he could like overcome that and become great, but I’m kind of just like he’ll probably become like a fringe star and Blazers will need to find their star elsewhere and that’s fine. Like that’s kind of my attitude towards it. So that’s why I wouldn’t say that I’m worried. I kind of accept that is just part of who he is. Yeah. It’s it’s so weird because it’s not like he Because most guys you would say that about it’s like how much do you love basketball or whatever and he seems to like it’s like life revolves around basketball. He seems like a quiet guy. Doesn’t really do much off the court, you know, like it seems like he wants to be here. He wants to play basketball and all that kind of stuff. So it it does seem weird to me that he has those question marks. Um, but I will say that was my biggest question about him before that draft even happened was is he is he is he the type of guy who can be that player who like we all think he could be with that elite skill set. So, um, the shooting splits are also troublesome that he hasn’t been able to figure out his three-point shot um, since his rookie year. um he had that finger injury and it’s been downhill ever since. Um so it’s like it’s tough because you could very easily turn it around and it’s going to all look silly. I would not be surprised if that happened, but I think until that does, I think you do have validity to questioning whether his motor is good enough for him to to reach those levels that people think he could be. Yeah, you could have sent the way SGA did though. I mean, they’re just different players and I don’t know, like SGA has never had the motor questions that Sharp has. Yeah.
SGA SGA by year three, wasn’t he already a star? Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, he was good. He was the Thunder leading scorer in his first year there, right?
Uh he was 19. Yeah. Yeah, I think that would
but
I’m pretty sure that was the leading scoreer because they had Chris Paul lead and average more than 19.
Yeah. Year three only played 35 games, but he averaged 24 points per game and six assists.
Yeah. So that’s that’s better than Sharp. Like Sharp’s behind that trajectory. Um
but I I get what you’re saying. Like SJ’s like kind of a quieter dude, but he competes defensively. Like he’s always kind of competed. Um Tristan says he hasn’t done anything to show he has a bad attitude. Absolutely. Yeah. And that’s that’s where the distinction is like he I was trying to say like he’s he seems like he likes basketball. He seems like he’s a good dude and all that kind of stuff. So it’s not a question of like his attitude or or problem. It just seems like he’s sometimes just kind of like it just doesn’t have that ability to like dominate all the time when he’s in the game. He he he seems to like disappear a little bit. And hopefully that’s just, you know, being a young player and learning how to play basketball in the NBA and stuff like that. I mean, like I said, he’s still only what, 20? He’s about to turn 22 or something like that. um like so this could all look silly and but he’s like 24 25 and and like a solid player but um I I do think you do have to wonder if if that’ll be the reason he never achieves that.
Yep. Um shout out to uh to Blueface Sammy because he actually has a good free agent suggestion for the Blazers. Uh air coffee.
Yeah. 6’7, shot 41% from three last year in 72 games, played 24 minutes per game, shot three and a half threes per game or 36 that is five threes per game. Like would wish for the volume to be a little bit higher, but the last years he shot 38 and then 41% from three and can do a little bit off the bounce and is 6’7 so like can play that back up three. Um I’m surprised he hasn’t been been signed yet. I mean, he’s probably holding out for more and not going to get more, but like he’s a he’s he would be one of the best minimum signings, I think.
Um, he averaged almost 10 a game last year for the Clippers and played a lot for them. Was like a regular in the rotation. So, I I’d take a flyer on him for sure. Yeah, they would probably play.
Yeah, I was surprised that the Clippers didn’t Yeah, probably. Probably. also we don’t we don’t have to we don’t have to type in caps. We don’t have to type in caps. Um I can read your comments without the the caps lock button being on. We uh there’s a button on your keyboard that says caps lock on it. Okay. And there might be a light that’s like lit up because it’s on. What you’re going to want to do is you’re going to want to press down on that button and release. Nice. Nice. My advice helped. Good. We love it. Anyway, um I saw somebody in chat earlier say like, “Is Jeremy getting traded?” Uh just to reiterate, the latest Jeremy Grant trade rumor is that he uh the Blazers can’t trade him. You know, that’s the latest. Trying desperately.
They’ve been trying. And I told you they’re going to try. He’s going to be a negative contract. I’ve been When did I start saying he’s a negative contract? Like, when did I start saying that with my chest? January. I mean, we’ve pretty much thought that since he signed, but it’s definitely been
You still held on
since last since last off season. Um, we thought that was the if you’re talking about like the graph where it shows value versus um like play, it was pretty obvious that the maximum level would be last off season. Um, you weren’t going to get a better time to to unload him. Um, so yeah, it’s probably I think he started it either last off seasonason or shortly after the season started. What about Alec Burks? He’s too much of a guard, not enough of a wing.
Yeah, he’s too small for the three, and he’s just kind of old. I don’t know. I mean, I guess he’s 66. Listen to 66. So, I guess it’s not horrible, but that just feels like an OSHA sighting, you know? That really feels like an OSHA sighting. Yeah. I mean, the last five years, four of the years, he shot 40% from three and he’s listed as 66. I mean, I Yeah. Yeah. For a minimum, like, why not? What’ you say? He was closer to like 6’4, though.
Yeah. He always felt like 6’4 to me. Antonio Reeves. I mean, Reeves is Reeves is like 6’4 and skinny. He can’t play the three. I like him. I think he’d be a good flyer for a team for sure, but uh if you can get him on a two-way, I would.
A bunch of people like that have asked about Brandon Boston Jr., um I don’t really know if he’s like the type of player the Blazers should go after, though. He He’s a career 33% three-point shooter. was 35% last year. He’s not a shooter. And he’s also like doesn’t really pass, doesn’t really rebound. I mean, I guess he I don’t know. He averaged 3.3 assists per 36, 4.9 rebounds. I guess that’s fine for like a wing, but um he’s just not a shooter. He’s not what the Blazers need. His contract isn’t doing him any favors. cuz he’s stuck on a team he doesn’t want to be on. Well, he can give up all the money if he wants. Trade Grant to the Pacers for Jurus Walker or Nobby Toppen. They would never do that. They’re in a first rounder. They still wouldn’t do that. They just let Miles Turner walk because they didn’t want to pay the tax because they’re being super stingy. So, they’re not about to trade Jarus Walker and Obby Toppin for Jeremy Grant. Man, if we traded Jeremy though, Jerus would be that guy. If we could get him to back to be our backup form, man, that would be so nice.
What What if uh comment that
be perfect?
What if Malik Beasley is found not guilty? I mean, there’s your shooter. Probably get him on a minimum.
I know. Yeah. There you go. And then we’re watching him like a hawk next season. Um, so, um, Landon says that Mike Richmond also said he had talked to someone close to Dame and that Dame wants to come back here where his preferred destination. I don’t know if you mentioned that already. Yeah, I did.
Um, yeah. Your thoughts? I feel like Dame is I don’t know. I I could I could definitely see him just thinking, you know what? I just want to be back in Portland. I should have never left. I I just want to finish my career there. I could definitely see that. Now, do the Blazers want that? That’s be kind of dumb.
That’s the question. He brings in the fan base like assuming he’s out for the year. You try and find a way to trade Drew next off season and then you bring Dame off. Maybe I don’t know. It feels weird to say, but like assuming Scoot breaks out. Like that’s the thing this year, right? It’s it’s bring Drew off the bench in my opinion. That’s what I would do. like gives Scoot every opportunity to break out and either he breaks out and then like if Dame’s cool with it, you bring him off the bench as like the best sixman in the league league and fills your shooting need and he can still get like 30 32 minutes a game getting up there in age. You probably shouldn’t be playing 36 minutes a game. He can take over your offense for stretches, right? Um, and if Scoot like sucks next year, then I mean that’s a contingency plan where like you start game again and maybe at that point you move on from Scoot after giving him the chance to fully break out and giving him every opportunity to to run the offense. Move on from Scoot, run it back with Dame, Drew, Sharp, Denny. If you start scoot and give him the keys to the offense all next year and he really really struggles, then at that point going into year four, then it’s a different conversation talking about bringing him off the bench compared to like never giving him that opportunity when he’s looked good starting in year two and I think deserves the chance to start. Especially considering like the team with him on the floor last year statistically you can make the argument that the team was better with him on the floor last year and he had enough moments to start going into year three. So, I think year three, he needs every opportunity. I’d start him ahead of Drew. Absolutely would start him ahead of Drew. I don’t think the Blazers will do that. So, I think they’ll they’ll handle this situation poorly. Um, but I mean, you’re talking about a really really talented player, like an all-star caliber player that you can get on the cheap that wants to be here, like that maybe could still be an all-star caliber player once he returns. I mean, hopefully. I don’t know. It’s like the type of gamble to take, right? Like even if he wasn’t Damen Lillard, like if it was somebody else that wanted to be here, like I’d still be just intrigued by the chance to add that that level of talent. You don’t really get that opportunity if you’re Portland. So yeah, like going into next year, it’s like you got some stuff to figure out, but the players have always had stuff to figure out with their rotation, so might as well do it for a player that’s freaking talented.
Yeah. So that was the other part. I don’t know if you mentioned this too, but Richmond said that he if he came back, he would think he was a guy here again and wouldn’t be willing to
Yeah.
take a limited role. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but
yeah. I mean, yeah.
Have you seen the pictures of the the Golden State Warriors projected lineup with Steph, Dame, uh, Butler, uh, Horford, and Draymond? Draymond. He’s the oldest lineup in history. I don’t want to see him go to Golden State. That would
I don’t want to see him either, but that would be it would like Golden State and Lakers and it’s just like no. As Gregory says team hunk. Yeah.
Yeah. Um Yeah. Yeah.
It seems like Horford’s going to go to Golden State because uh Lakers resigning uh Jackson Hayes today. seem like they are resigned to the fact that they’re not going to get get him. I’m just wondering what the hell happens with Kaminga. Yeah. Yeah. Kaminga Grimes. I Goody hasn’t signed yet either, right? All the big restricted free agents haven’t gotten their deal. And now other than Brooklyn, I don’t think there’s anyone who can pay him that much money. So, unless you find a sign and trade, are those teams going to lowball them until they accept the qualifying offer or take a lower contract than they were expecting? I don’t know.
Yeah. Yeah. I’m glad free agency isn’t over, but it kind of feels over, you know. It kind of feels over. I I’m happy the Blazers have to sign another player. I’m at this point I’m just gonna be irritated if they just resign Delano Bannon for their 14th roster spot and that’s it for the rest of the offseason. I am gonna be irritated. Yeah.
Now if they go sign some absolute scrub, I’m all a little irritated. But you could definitely see that though. Yeah. Like if they sign a Delano Banter or like a Moses Brown type of dude, I would be irritated. They have to they have to do something. So I just I want some more news, man. Especially like I got a three-day weekend. Would love for a grant trade or something to cover. We’ll see. We do have summer league coming up in a little over a week. So, the Blazers summer league schedule. They do end up playing five games. Um they have four scheduled originally and then the fifth.
We got the night game for everyone.
Yeah, I like that though. Um
yeah. No, it’s good. So, July 11th, we’ll have uh try to have watch face for all these. Uh July 11th is a Friday, 8:00 PM, and then 7:30 on Saturday. Uh Friday is against the Warriors. So, you’ll see Alex Tui and Will Richard. You’ll see those guys. I might as well might as well preview it this way. Hold on. Let’s go to Golden State. backtoshes Horford to Denver would be crazy. Yeah. Know if they’re going to lose Jonas Valentinis that would be Yeah, that’s that’s wild that he left. He gets traded to Denver. He’s like, “No, I’m out
going overseas.”
Yeah. I wonder if that was just in the works and it just it didn’t it wasn’t because he got traded to Denver or if he just
Yeah. really didn’t want to go there. I don’t know why he wouldn’t want to go there. Yeah. I don’t know why either. would have been a good situation.
Super weird. Super weird stuff. But um and then on so on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Pacific tip off time against the Grizzlies. So I I hope Sephard’s going to play. He was recovering from that injury last year. So I think there’s a chance that he might not play is what I heard. But you also got Javon Small, Jamaim Mhack. We’ll see who else is on their summer league roster um Saturday. So, we’ll have a live uh watch party for that. Um and then let’s see where was the schedule? Let me find it. Uh where did I Oh, there’s an ad on it. That’s why. And then the 15th is against New Orleans. That’s on a uh that’s on a Tuesday 700 p.m. So my I don’t know if you and Crushables want to go live for that. Maybe that’s uh you stream because I’ll have a wreck at least the first hour of that or maybe I rush home. Um I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. A lot of these games go live a little bit later anyway. But the Pelicans, that’s going to be a fun game because they have a couple of very interesting rookies. You got Jeremiah Fears, Derek Queen, who they gave their unprotected pick next year for. Uh Micah Peavey with the 40th pick. You do have Hunter Dickinson, Yong Hansen. Hopefully he uh cooks Derek Queen and Hunter Dickinson. I don’t like Hunter Dickinson, but that’s on the 15th. And then on the 17th, they will play the Houston Rockets July 17th. So, I don’t know if Reed Shepard’s going to play, but that of course would be interesting. Um, unfortunately, uh, their 2025 draft looks like this. Looks like that. So, but we’ll cover those games, of course, and that’s what we have on tap. Anything else you want to really get into on this stream, Eric? Or do you just want to take questions? Oh,
for those asking in chat, it looks like Jonas Valentunis is going to sign with uh I don’t know how to pronounce it, Pantheopius in Greece. Um and uh he’s just gonna forgo the remaining two years of his contract and go sign with them overseas. Um yeah. Uh, so we’ll see if he actually does it. I guess there’s still a chance he might not, but it seemed like it was a pretty done deal.
Yeah. Kind of reminds me of when Miritic went back overseas. Valentine’s never been on a winning team, right? Has he ever been on a winning team?
Was he Raptors when they were good like back with D Rozan?
Yeah. And he was also, right? So that was up until the year they won the championship, I think.
And then they was also on the Pelicans, I believe, the year we traded him CJ, right? When they made the playoffs and
I don’t remember. I think he was on that team still because it was only last year when he left the Pelicans.
Yeah, I don’t remember. Let’s see the AI chat summary. Viewers in chat discussing potential trades and player acquisitions for the Portland team, particularly where’d it go? I was reading it off. Damn, it disappeared. Said something about Lizard.
It didn’t stay very long.
That’s annoying. Wait, if I refresh it again, will it uh
If you just switch from like top chat to live chat or back, it’ll
Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Sometimes. Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know. Um but yeah, we’ll go live if like anything Blazer related happens tomorrow. Um assuming I’m not with my family. Like go live later in the night maybe. Um, but uh even if they sign like a minimum guy, might as well go live since I’m not going to be working. We got a three-day weekend coming up. So, I’ll have you guys covered with that. So, if they sign a Mirror Coffee or someone like that, we’ll we’ll go live. So, make sure you tune in. We’ll talk about things. We’ll break it down.
What if it’s Delano Banton?
Okay. If they resign Dano Banton, you’re gonna come on to Rage a little bit.
Oh. Should we go live if they resign Dano Banton? Only vote yes if you’d actually show up for the live stream. I’m not streaming to nobody just because it’s Delano Banton. There’s a poll in the chat voting it. Should we go live? If they resign Delano Banton. Only way I do it is if we have uh 70% of the votes say yes. Maybe we’ll do twothirds. I would say that’s a pretty insignificant resign to have a string for. However, just the symbolism of that pretty much being conclusive evidence that that’s all we’re going to do this summer is
uh trade for Drew, draft Young, and then uh resign Banton. I mean that and call it an off seasonason. I think that uh I mean it would be one of those negative streams again. But
yeah, I mean most people are actually saying no. Maybe I go live for like 30 minutes if I’m bored, but it’ll be on my own valition. Sarcadian says, “I mean, you went live to let us know there are no new rumors.” So, lol.
We go live Monday and Thursday night.
This is our normal Thursday night show. We also broke down the other stuff. Jabari signing with Philadelphia. Um, free agent update. Yeah, we go live every Monday and Thursday night. But I’ll be really happy if I see Delano Bandon signs elsewhere just because it means like, oh, Cronin is going to have to actually sign a new player.
He has to pick up his phone. He has to he has to do some work. You know, he’s probably on a beach somewhere doing it.
Wake up. telling his assistant GM, “Go find somebody to fill the 14th roster spot with.” And don’t don’t tell me who it is until training camp. I’ll find out then. But at least it’ll be somebody new. At least we get something new. I’m down for the show, but making the show for the signing pass.
Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I like using this uh this graphics package at least. That’s why I wanted to go live yesterday. I’m not gonna waste the work. So, um it’d be cool to update the uh the cards as the season goes on, too, as well. These these team cards that we have. So, that’s probably something I’ll do and we can use them. The studio says, “I think we signed a summer league guy.” Yeah, maybe we’re just waiting to see some find out who a Summerl gem is. Finder Antonio Blakey.
Yeah, maybe. Maybe. But um yeah, we’ll have you covered if anything happens. And our next stream otherwise will be on Monday, Monday night. Uh when we have Summer League games, we do not generally stream. uh at least for our Monday Thursday show. We just stream during summer league games. So, next week we’ll have Monday, Thursday the 7th and 10th. Um and then when summer league starts, we’ll stream the 11th, Friday the 11th, Saturday the 12th, Tuesday the 15th, and Thursday the 17th. And then if there’s a fifth game, we’ll have like a fifth game that weekend, and then the 21st of July, we’ll be back to Monday, Thursday the rest of the off season. So, it’s basically one week. We won’t stream Monday, Thursday. We’ll just stream some other games. And one of those games is on a Thursday. So, that’s our schedule coming up.
Anything else, Eric?
And for a couple of those weeks, you’ll have guest host or solo.
Which weeks? When are you gone?
Uh, the first two weeks of August.
Yeah. Yeah, we’ll figure it out. Um, and maybe I’ll take a week off. We’ll see. We’ll see. But yeah, we’ll keep you posted. Um, anything else you want to talk about though?
No. Thanks everyone for watching. Uh, Tori’s got hot plans, I guess, at 10:30, right?
No, I want to go to Fred Meyer.
Oh, you want to make it before they close.
All I’ve had today is nectar juice bar. I had a peanut butter smoothie bowl, which is really good, by the way. I recommend. But, uh, yeah, I I definitely want to get some food. So yeah, I’m gonna go to go to Fredmire. You going to a grocery store is an upset.
What do you mean an upset? I go to Fredmire all the time now.
I I know. Now it’s different. You’re a little
Now I’m
family man out. Now Now I’m old. And there’s your ringtone. Is Tori a hipster? No. Um I miss Door Dasher Tori. What do you miss about Door Dasher Tori? What’s What is Door Dasher Tori on stream? The hat. You bring back the hat. Windco is so much cheaper. Yeah, but it’s further away. And I like Fredmire. And there are fireworks popping off. I don’t know if you guys can hear him through the mic. Is your source telling you some news? That’s a great question. Is that your ringtone for your source, Eric? No, that was actually Rich. I was like, who the heck’s texting me at this late night? But it’s Rich.
Why is Rich Rich texting you and not texting in chat?
I don’t know. Maybe he forgot we were on or something.
Brutal. I miss when Rich was here.
Um, he texted me like he was Joe Joe Cron. Do you want me to read it?
Sure. We’ll end the stream with So, so keep in mind this is not him talking. This is what he thinks Joe Cronin’s gonna say. You know, we were very active. Had a lot of calls, a lot of conversations with a lot of people. We just didn’t get there on any deals we particularly liked, but we were certainly active and aggressive with our free agent calls. And we we feel really good about how they went. That’s all he texted me. He just texted you that no context.
No context, though.
That’s funny. New second idea. What would Joe say? Um, see I don’t think he wants to at this point I don’t think he wants to say he was aggressive and didn’t get anything done because that just makes him look like a failure, you know. Um, it’ll be a lot of like, you know, we just we’re not going to make basically along the lines of we’re not going to make a move for the sake of making a move. We’re going to wait for the right opportunity and um to get this roster better and we’re happy with what we have. That part’s definitely correct, but it would be basically more so like, “No, the right opportunity just didn’t come along.” I really want someone to ask him the next time he’s available, what happened to those seeds you planted.
Yeah. What happened to the free agent battle and planted seeds that you talked about before? Maybe the Drew thing was a seed that was planted and sprouted into a tree. Zero. There’s no way. Boston knew that they were gonna fail in the playoffs and Tatum was going to get an Achilles.
I mean, they kind of knew that they were going to cut salary, right? I don’t know. If you win another chip, do
Yeah, they got new owners. New owners just be like, “Cool.”
I mean, they could they could have gotten there with Borzinga trade and kept Drew. Yeah, but the seed planted could could have been listen if you guys trade Drew, we would like him and you know we have Anthony Simons. And then come the offseason boss’s like all right fine we’ll do it. K’s like yes. And then he trades for Drew and then a bunch of people are saying like why did they do that? He’s a terrible contract. And then Joe was like damn I I’ll play it off. I’ll play it off. I have until July 6th to come up with a way to to pitch this as perfectly as I can to the fan base. Thank goodness the trade can’t go through until July 6th. Oh yeah, he’s got to talk about that. I was thinking maybe he was his thought process is, you know, if I don’t make a move then I don’t have to have a press conference because I didn’t sign anyone. Yeah. No, he has to have that press conference still. So, might as well make a move. We’ll have you covered if they do. Appreciate you guys.
Go ahead.
Which reporter is gonna awkwardly ask Drew if he wants to be here? Ventress. God, I’m sorry. Ventress’s questions, man. They they they’re kind of funny. Like, he has some weird questions.
Do you do you yell when you make a defensive stop? Why do you yell when you dunk? Anyway, I wouldn’t know. I don’t yell when I dunk. Mostly because I’m just surprised. Um, but yeah. Anyway, we’re out of here. Hopefully you guys have a good rest of your night. Hopefully you guys have a good three-day weekend. Stay safe over the Fourth of July if you’re celebrating. Um, and enjoy the rest of your Thursday night. Probably have a couple videos coming this offseason. There’s a couple that have been edited about like the Drew trade that I still need to drop and keep forgetting. So, stay on the lookout for that stuff. Hit the like on the way out of here. We greatly appreciate it. Subscribe if you’re new. And we’re out of here. We will catch you next time. Until then, as always, peace out. Go Blazers.

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