Who would the Blazers protect in an Expansion Draft?

Seattle’s pursuit of an NBA franchise has been in the news lately. WithChris Hansen’s purchase of additional landfor a prospective new arena, and insider information suggesting that the联盟向西雅图扩张开放if the new facility does materialize, the return of the Sonics has begun to feel like a real possibility for the first time in years.

On the surface, a new team in Seattle would seem to be a good thing for the Portland Trail Blazers, but another NBA team might actually be an extreme nuisance for the Blazers as it would trigger an expansion draft.

篮球业务总裁尼尔·奥尔希（Neil Olshey）竭尽全力，创造了一名阵容，并在大多数合理的合同上拥有年轻的才华。扩张选秀可能会花费奥尔希（Olshey）的一位球员，并破坏了团队建立的深度。

考虑到这一点，让我们考虑开拓者如何处理虚构的扩展草案。他们会选择保护哪些球员？

Primer on Expansion Draft Rules

For details on the expansion draft process,check out this link. To summarize the basics:

• 每个现有的NBA团队都保护八名球员
• The expansion team gets to select one unprotected player from 14 teams
• 每个团队只能输掉一个球员
• 不受限制的自由剂被认为是不隶属的，因此不需要受到保护
• 无法选择未签名的选秀权，因此团队无需在海外藏匿的人才上浪费保护
• 团队没有立即为失去的球员赔偿but do get a trade exception equivalent to the drafted player’薪金

从历史上看，扩张专营权选择年轻球员廉价薪水 - 正是构成波特兰大部分名册的球员类型。这为现任团队创建了战略游戏；他们可以留下才华横溢的，但年龄较大和/或昂贵的球员没有受到保护，以保护自己的前景。

Who would the Blazers protect?

The big question - who would the Blazers protect in an expansion draft?

无法接触

Damian Lillard

CJ McCollum

The Blazers are built around these two and they will be protected under any circumstances. No further conversation needed.

Un-protectable

Shabazz纳皮尔

帕特·康纳顿（Pat Connaughton）

Tim Quarterman

格兰特·杰雷特

杰克门外汉

Greg Stiemsma

Napier has looked competent during the pre-season,康纳顿has shown flashes of potential in limited minutes, and the Blazers have hopes for Layman, but none of these players is an essential part of the roster.

The hard choices

现在事情变得艰难了。The Blazers have nine additional rotation players, but only six protected spots remaining.他们没有灰色的退伍军人，他们的优势太低了，无法使一支新团队感兴趣，而且没有人会签订真正笨拙的合同，他们会吓tafting着起草的通用汽车。

Here’s a best guess of how the protections would play out:

“Easy” Choices

Al-Farouq Aminu: Aminu plays a vital role for the Blazers’ defense and has been passable on offense. His contract is steeply discounted and he has fit in well with the team.Verdict: Protected

艾伦·克拉贝（Allen Crabbe）：今年夏天，几个重建团队在限制的自由球员中垂涎的克拉贝（Crabbe），奥尔希（Olshey）最终决定他值得高价。即使在目前的薪水中，克拉贝的射击和向上的职业轨迹也会吸引起草的通用汽车。他还是开拓者立即和长期计划的一部分。Verdict: Protected

埃德·戴维斯（Ed Davis）：戴维斯签订了一份伟大的合同，但在本赛季之后只有一年。他是每个球队都需要的角色扮演的类型，但是他的防守和篮板是可以替代的，伦纳德和冯利的好处可能使戴维斯成为一个奇怪的人。Verdict: Not protected

Festus Ezeli: If Ezeli can stay healthy he will be exactly what Portland needs at center. Unfortunately, his contract and the ambiguity around his return to the court have made it seem that health will always be an issue for Ezeli. The Blazers would leave him unprotected knowing that Seattle would probably also be scared off by his injuries.Verdict: Not protected

Noah Vonleh: Vonleh may have been on the bubble a month ago, but his strong showing in preseason has jump-started the Vonleh hype train again. He’s exactly the type of high-upside, rookie-contract player Seattle would want. He’s also the only player the Blazers have with theoretical untapped All-Star potential.Verdict: Protected

拔牙

After those decisions, one player from the Harkless/Leonard/Plumlee/Turner foursome must be left unprotected. Quite frankly, there is no obvious answer.

Moe Harkless：Harkless是一份相对廉价的长期合同，是该球队上赛季最有效的阵容的一部分。但是，他也是Crabbe在翅膀上等待的Crabbe最可靠的。

Meyers Leonard：伦纳德（Leonard）的三分球，传球和偷偷摸摸的防守篮板有助于开拓者在球场两端。由于他的比赛不平衡，他有批评者，并且有人担心他永远不会“把它们放在一起”。他的长期合同很有吸引力。

Mason Plumlee:失去起始中心可能会导致开拓者本赛季的问题，但是如果奥尔希担心重新签约李子，他可能会倾向于让他不受保护。

Evan Turner:特纳的合同是最高的，1700万美元的贸易例外可能在合并交易中很有用，但他也作为第三名球员的重要角色。

就我个人而言，我会和Harkless一起去，并希望Crabbe在本赛季防守上飞跃，但是有充分的论点使这四名球员中的任何一个都没有受到保护。将戴维斯（Sub Davis）放到受保护的列表中，并使其中两个没有受到保护的球员可能是有意义的。

结论

我将保护符合lowing:

1. 利拉德
2. 麦考卢姆
3. Vonleh
4. Crabbe
5. Plumlee
6. 阿米努
7. Leonard
8. 车工

This would leave Ezeli, Davis, and Harkless available to the imaginary Seattle team. Ezeli would be avoided, but either Harkless or Davis would certainly be gone in this scenario.

The takeaway message from this exercise is that an expansion draft would be brutal for the Blazers, no matter who is chosen. One of their strengths this year, especially during the regular season, will be depth. The team is built to withstand injury, and be able to match up against almost any team in the league. Losing one player for nothing would undermine the planned flexibility of the roster construction. Even after the obvious choices are made, Olshey would have to think long and hard about which eight players to protect.

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Readers - tell us what you think in the comments. Which eight players would you protect?

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Eric Griffith | GoBlazers87@gmail.com | @Deeringtornado