Just going to disagree with a few things here. Ezeli's second year was a team option, so he's done. Aminu's no all star but him at $7M a year is pretty damn good, and I have no problems with Harkless at $10M per.

The rest though, ugh. Everyone knew ET was a WTF signing, I don't think a single person (even POR homers like me) liked it at all when it happened. It totally reeked of "Well, we have to do something." Crabbe didn't make any sort of leap that is naturally expected with that kind of salary jump; he did shoot quite a bit better from 3 but $18.5M per is rough. Leonard is WOAT and my loathing of him makes me think that's the worst one, even though it's probably not.

What's funny is BlazerFan is now on the radio going on and on about how some package of these distasteful contracts could entice CLE to trade them Love. This is probably my favorite time of year, like the 10 days before the draft, to listen to strong-feelings CasualFan hot takes on the radio.

That is the right way to sign a questionable big man. You have to pay more money to get somebody 7 feet tall, but don't commit to years.

LOL, that's the only way I supported the signing. My first thought was "OK, worst case scenario is he is an injured bum, doesn't play at all in year one, and POR can wash their hands of him after that." And here we are, worst case scenario!

Portland would be totally screwed if they didn't get a first for taking Top Ten Nurk.

I'm curious to see what they do. Do they use their mediocre picks to dump salary? Or pay massive luxury tax bills for a team with a ceiling of like a 5th seed?

Enter, the Brooklyn Nets.

Woj says Paul George told the pacers he's leaving after next ear

Wonder if they decide to trade him for love

Trading him for Love would be terrible imo. They need to tank hard and do a rebuild while still on Turner's rookie deal. Trading George for Love moves them from the 6-8th seed treadmill to the 8-10th seed treadmill.

Looking at the Pelicans:

Davis 24M 3 years
Cousins 17M 1 year
Solomon Hill 12M 3 years
Asik 11M 3 years
E'Twann Moore 8M 3 years

total 86M this year.

I could see them trading Cousins for 3 solid rotation players. Get good NBA players with Davis and see what happens. The Celtics could do it easily.

Cousins to Boston still makes sense and I figure it has to be an IT reason why it hasnt happened

Not sure if this is the right thread to discuss the matter (maybe this belongs in the Draft thread) but doesn't the Paul George announcement severely undercut the Celtics' chances of drafting Doncic?

Surely the Pacers will try to trade him to the Lakers this season in order not to lose him for nothing (well, they will get very little for him now, but little is better than nothing).

Yes, and Pau Gasol's contract keep grinding my gears for that very reason. What were they thinking with the team option?!

At least the team got some motivational speeches out of it sorry

I'm pretty sure he just sucks. He did some dumb things, the team got hot for a season which caused him to do even dumber things and now they're taxed out with a meh team.

GG

Yeah, excited about the Sixers.

Saw that pic referred to on Twitter as "Mount Trustmore", which seemed both awesome and appropriate.

Paul George trades should happen just will be weird to see who takes him. I guess Cavs will try to make it work and give up some future picks in the hopes for a championship this year, but probably will be looked back as a bad deal for Cavs if they give up some decent assets (especially since they'll be dogs to GSW still).

Paul George going to Clippers makes the most sense to me but I just don't see how it happens

Cle doesn't have any decent assets, except the obvious.

haven't did research, but do they have any future picks they can trade? That would be what Indy wants for George, I'd think.

2018 Cle 1st should have value just on the chance LeBron walks

They can't care about things long term. This is a bron or bust team. When bron is done, Cavs are done for a while. They can be the nets for a while.

Asik can be stretched, no way Boogie is getting traded until near the deadline and that's only if it's obviously not working and/or he says he won't sign a deal.

Mount Trustmore is great

https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/sta...12131680071680

*suspenseful music*

Make it happen Demps. Benson is dying soon, give the old man some excitement.