The most realistic Portland Trail Blazers rebuild with Larry Bird

The Trail Blazers disappointing season ended finishing as the 8 seed in the Western Conference and being swept by the overpowered Golden State Warriors. In the 2015–2016 season, they were the 5 seed and had high expectations for the 2016–2017 season but it didn’t turn out as expected. With 2 great young guards the future of this franchise is very bright. This team’s cap space is definitely one of the worst in the league. As they are set to pay 9 players over 6 million and 4 players over 10 million in the 2017–2018 season. Two players the blazers signed in last year’s offseason include Evan Turner and Allen Crabbe both being paid over 16 million. With Allen Crabbe’s great 2016 playoff performance this signing looked good at the time. We believe the Trail Blazers should look into trading Turner and Crabbe. The Trail Blazers have been in trade talks with the one and only Phil Jackson and are looking into one of the most prestigious players in the league, Carmelo Anthony. The trade would most likely include one of there 3 first round picks in this upcoming draft and Evan Tur ner ($17,131,148) and Ed Davis ($6,352,531). With the exceptional play of Jusuf Nurkic and his great play performance, the options are expandable for a backup Center trade. The Knicks are in need of a backup Center, because they are most likely going to trade or release Joakim Noah and his huge salary. Also, it is very good that the Blazers have lots of upcoming draft picks including three first round picks in the 2017 Draft (15th, 20th, and 26th overall picks). These three picks are great for the Blazers because their weak Power Forward position and a lot of bench help.

We believe that the Carmelo trade would look like this.

BLAZERS RECEIVE:

Small Forward: Carmelo Anthony ($24,559,380)

KNICKS RECEIVE:

Small Forward: Evan Turner ($17,131,148)

Center: Ed Davis ($6,352,531)

15th overall pick in the 2017 Draft

Future first round pick in the 2019 Draft

The Knicks would clear up $1,075,701 out of their cap room with this trade. We talked about how Ed Davis would be a good fit in the Big Apple filling the backup center spot, but how would Evan Turner provide a role to them? Evan Turner provides a starting small forward spot which the Knicks would need if they were to trade Melo, and he provides good ball handling as he has had point guard experience at Ohio State. Even though the Knicks are projected to take a point guard such as Dennis Smith Jr. with their 8th overall pick, they still need good ball handling. If the Knicks didn’t trade for a Small Forward, There starting Small Forward would be upcoming second year player Mindaugas Kuzminskas. We believe that Kuzminskas is not ready to start yet. Which brings up that 15th pick idea. The top 3 prospects at #15 for the Knicks are Luke Kennard, Isaiah Hartenstein, Harry Giles. We believe that at the #15 pick the Knicks will address the backup Power Forward position bringing in another international player in the 7’1 Power Forward, Zalgiris Kaunas. With the 20th pick the best shooter in the draft, Luke Kennard will be available. We believe that the 6’6 sharpshooter with guard capabilities out of Duke will be the selection by the Blazers. This allows the Blazers to open up trade options for Allen Crabbe.We believe that the perfect team for Crabbe would be the Grizzlies. An Allen Crabbe deal would look like this:

GRIZZLIES RECEIVE:

Shooting Guard: Allen Crabbe ($19,332,500)

2017 second from the Blazers

TRAIL BLAZERS RECEIVE:

Small Forward: James Ennis ($3,028,410)

Power Forward: Jarell Martin ($1,341,600)

In this trade, the Blazers free up $14,962,490. The Blazers took in $761,565 from the Melo trade meaning they have freed up $14,200,925. Now that two of the biggest contracts are off the team, they are off to $127,412,342. The Blazers only have two bad contracts now, Meyers Leonard ($9,904,495) and Maurice Harkless ($9,662,921). The Trail Blazers also have the 26th pick in the 2017. The Blazers take the 6’10 Power Forward out of Michigan, D.J. Wilson. Wilson provides a good frame and size at 240 pounds, 6’10, and a 7’3 wingspan. Wilson also provides good defense and shooting. The Blazers new additions in Carmelo Anthony, James Ennis, Jarell Martin, Luke Kennard and D.J. Wilson. They could be looking like a contender at this point but, can they beat the Warriors? No they can’t, Not yet though. With some good draft picks and the Warriors can’t sign both Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. The last 2 players with horrible contracts on this Trail Blazers roster need to get rid of. A team that could use a backup Power Forward is the 76ers. So a deal like this would go down:

76ERS RECEIVE:

Power Forward: Meyers Leonard ($9,904,495)

2018 Trail Blazers second round pick

TRAIL BLAZERS RECEIVE:

Small Forward: Robert Covington ($1,015,696)

This gives the Trail Blazers a backup Small Forward to replace Maurice Harkless. We both believe that their most likely wouldn’t be a team willing to take on Harkless and his contract. After the NBA Draft, the Blazers team payroll would be $118,523,543. Their lineup would look like:

PG: Damian Lillard

SG: C.J. McCullom

SF: Carmelo Anthony

PF: Al-Farouq Aminu

C: Jusuf Nurkic

PG: Shabazz Napier

SG: Luke Kennard

SF: Robert Covington

PF: D.J. Wilson

C: Festus Ezeli

SF: James Ennis

SF: Maurice Harkless

PF: Jarrell Martin

PF: Noah Vonleh

SF: Jake Layman

SG: Pat Connaughton

PG: Tim Quarterman

We believe that the Blazers still have a lot of players that are expandable such as newly acquired Jarrell Martin and James Ennis. Also Maurice Harkless is expandable but as we said it may be hard to trade him. This roster that we have assembled has top 5 seed potential in the Western Conference.

NETS RECEIVE:

Small Forward: Maurice Harkless ($9,662,921)

2021 1st round Trail Blazers pick

TRAIL BLAZERS RECEIVE:

Point Guard: Isaiah Whitehead ($1,074,145)

We found a good trade to ship off Harkless. The only bad contracts left on this team now are Al-Farouq Aminu and Festus Ezeli. The Blazers team payroll is now $109,934,767. Whitehead and Napier will be competing with one another for the backup point guard position, but a sleeper pick would be the 6’7 Tim Quarterman to backup Lillard. In conclusion, we fixed an awful team payroll from $141,613,267 to $109,934,767 in just a matter of four trades and two first round draft picks. We also made them possible contenders for the West and a huge shot at being a top five seed in the West. The Blazers would still have some decisions to make with guys like Noah Vonleh, James Ennis, Jarrell Martin, etc. Thank you for reading our article and make sure to check out more articles on the Foul Shot. This has been DACA Productions and Larry Bird, peace.