Bargain Bin Shopping
In all professional sports, there is occasionally a stark contrast between supply and demand. Sometimes this is the agent’s fault; sometimes there just isn’t enough money available to pay all the talented free agents accordingly. Last year, Julius Randle, Seth Curry and Jabari Parker signed one-year deals to test the market again a year later. Most egregiously, Nerlens Noel turned down a four-year, $70 million contract extension in pursuit of more money… which ended up with him signing a one-year minimum deal with the Thunder. Portland sniffed out gold with Curry last year, let’s see if they can replicate that magic.
Montrezl Harrell‘s game just reeks of being the victim of 2020 free agency in the same vein as the aforementioned Randle. Harrell is a big man who can score at will and grab offensive boards. Cool, he should be worth a lot right? Well, no. He has virtually no jump shot and that’s not compatible with the modern NBA. But he’s just 25-years-old and is rapidly improving every year! Well yes, but he’s not and will never be a true rim protector.
Simply put, it’s incredibly difficult to properly gauge the value of players like Harrell and Randle before they’ve finished developing. For that reason, teams won’t throw stacks of cash at Harrell in fear of the possibility he under-performs and someone, somewhere in an office loses their job. The Blazers should capitalize on other teams’ hesitance and offer a short-term deal where Harrell will have a chance to prove his true value on a competitive team.
Oh, woe is San Antonio. How will they ever figure out how to pay the seven – yes you heard me, seven – quality guards on their roster? The answer is they won’t. In the next 365 days, San Antonio will be forced to determine which of the bunch are going to be a part of their future. At the moment, it looks like Dejounte Murray, Derrick White and potentially Lonnie Walker will headline the Spurs’ core of young guards heading into the future.
That leaves Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli and our subject of interest Bryn Forbes in the dust. He will already be 27 and cost too much money to justify retaining alongside all the other guards by the time 2020 free agency rolls around. His ability as a sharpshooter means he could serve as a Danny Green-esque player for a title contending team. As an added bonus, the return of Murray will also eat into Forbes’ play time next year, possibly lowering his asking price.
The subject of much intrigue in the NBA this week, Taurean Prince was moved to the Brooklyn Nets in a salary dump in order open up room for Brooklyn to pursue players like Kyrie Irving. Although Prince could serve as a valuable three-point shooting role player for Brooklyn next year should they be successful in their free agency ventures, it’s fair to assume the Nets do not currently have any long term plans for the impending restricted free agent.
As discussed earlier last week on Rip City Project, Prince is a very physically gifted player that would significantly open up the Portland Trail Blazers’ offense. Forcing other teams to guard Prince near the three-point line opens up much more operating room for Lillard and McCollum; if they choose to leave Prince open, both guards have enough vision and playmaking ability to kick it out to the open man. Starting a wing that can actually shoot three-pointers would dramatically affect Portland’s offense.
While most teams will be anxious to spend money on this summer’s free agents, the Blazers must be conscience that every long-term contract they sign this year is a dollar spent from next year’s budget as well. With a Western Conference Finals caliber team already put together, Portland must correctly identify the players that will push them over the edge in 2020’s free agency.