越野开拓者走一根绳索前进

这Portland Trail Blazersare having a rocky start to the 2021-22 NBA Season the same way Santa is having a busy December. It seems like developments are constant: injuries, slumps, systemic adjustment, executive turnover. All have plagued the roster over the last three months.

在混乱和13-18的记录中，人们开始质疑如何（或是否形容）。这就是当今西装外观的Edge Mailbag的主题。

戴夫，

您看到我们会变得更好的希望吗？我们可以采取任何措施来保存它，还是注定要失去很多失败？看着Dame在那里失去比赛，我感到非常难过。我们可以扭转吗？只是把它放在那里。

Jules

是的！这是NBA。总有选项。休息一下。开拓者将采用一种或另一种方式。

真正的问题是时间范围。视力根据镜头的焦距而不同。

立即改进

当然，这是每个人都希望的。乔·克罗宁（Joe Cronin）以某种方式将设计奇迹贸易，使开拓者重回相关性……或至少再次赢得胜利。

开拓者确实有球员悬挂。您已经知道他们的名字以及为什么会有。CJ McCollum在防守方面与Damian Lillard不符。他的技能和才能在公开市场上可能很有价值。Jusuf Nurkic和Robert Covington正处于合同的最后几年。无论如何，开拓者可能不会在本赛季过后保留任何一名球员，这使他们成为交换的主要候选人。Anfernee Simons和Nassir Little表现出了大量的才华，并且仍在签订新秀规模的合同。它们的价值与成本比率使他们对其他团队有吸引力。小拉里·南斯（Larry Nance，Jr。）并非不可能

开拓者可以找到正确的team for these players, though? And can they get an instant difference-maker in return?

符合这两个类别的单一明显举动是本·西蒙斯（Ben Simmons）涉及费城76岁的人。席梦思（Simmons）将滑入波特兰的小远处，将诺曼·鲍威尔（Norman Powell）改组为得分后卫，使开拓者队的首发阵容是利拉德（Lillard），鲍威尔（Powell），西蒙斯（Simmons），大前锋和朱苏夫·努尔基奇（Jusuf Nurkic）。无论开拓者都没有送往费城，这四个位置将被载人。

这将立即改变波特兰的防御。您还可以看到费城以正确的诱因来努力，尽管他们没有迹象表明到目前为止这样做。

在可能的开拓者交易所（Domantas Sabonis），迈尔斯·特纳（Myles Turner），杰拉米·格兰特（Jerami Grant）中讨论的其他名称肯定会有所帮助（尤其是格兰特），但鉴于西装外套所能提供的服务，或者不够可行。

除非克罗宁（Cronin）能够达成奇迹交易，即每年其他27个NBA特许经营者希望（几乎从未收到），席梦思仍然是改变这支球队的最大希望。

Short-Term Improvement with Lillard

Even if this season is a loss, the Blazers aren’t done entirely. They need to answer two questions:

1. 达米安·利拉德（Damian Lillard）会留在特许经营中吗？
2. Over the next couple seasons, will Lillard resemble the superstar we saw in the past instead of the muted version we’re seeing this year?

If the answer to both of those questions is affirmative, the window for improvement stretches out to a couple years instead of a couple months. That gives the Blazers more options. They can make trades over the summer or at next year’s trade deadline instead of being forced to take what’s left on the shelves right now.

不过，他们并不完全是树林。他们仍然没有把桌子带到餐桌上。

这players we mentioned above, plus Norman Powell, are the only on-court assets the Blazers can dangle. Everyone else besides Lillard is on a minimum deal and has essentially zero inherent trade value. Unless the Blazers want to ink them to new (and possibly expensive) deals, Nurkic and Covington are only available for trades between now and February. Otherwise they’ll come off the books this summer.

简而言之，开拓者队将在2022年7月与小麦考勒姆（McCollum），小鲍威尔（Powell）一起进入2022年7月，这是非常合理的。有点瘦。

开拓者队明年夏天也不会有上限空间。他们已经以近1.07亿美元的薪水而陷入困境，这是五名活跃球员的薪水。它不包括Anfernee Simons的合格报价，更不用说他可能在受限制的自由球员中获得的任何要约了。它也不包括选择Nassir Little的选择。薪资上限预计为1.19亿美元。开拓者队将仅保留Lillard和上面的段落中的球员。他们将无法签下所有NBA球队所拥有的自由球员的自由球员。

更多的good news! The Blazers owe their 2022 first-round draft pick to the芝加哥公牛队. It’s lottery-protected. Their best hope of improving via the draft may be falling out of the playoffs and using that pick. If not, they’ll have to wait until 2023 for a first-rounder. They also owe second-round picks from 2022-2026 to a variety of teams. (Atlanta owes them one in 2024, so they have that.) In short, Portland won’t be able to use draft picks as trade bait unless they project them into 2024 and beyond.

If the goal is improvement over the next two seasons, Joe Cronin’s first task will be to clean up this mess. Few players, no cap space, and limited draft picks makes a pretty poor base to build upon. If that elusive Insta-Deal isn’t available, Cronin will have to clear cap space, acquire picks, or do something to give the franchise more wiggle room, then turn that room into quick-hit results. That’s not impossible, but it’s a big ask.

Long-Term Improvement Without Lillard

实际上，波特兰改进的最佳希望可能是通过预测达米安·利拉德（Damian Lillard）时代的预测。利拉德（Lillard）的合同持续到2024年，并提供2024 - 25年的球员选项。截至目前，他们只能依靠夫人在这个季节之后再陪伴两个赛季。之后，这是猜测。

如果他们不确定他们可以在两年内从根本上改善，那么波特兰可能应该开始为更长的增长做准备。这里的答案很简单：使用所有当前资产来纠正他们现在发现自己的手提烂摊子，然后重新开始。这将包括交易Lillard和McCollum。

当前玩家的交易贵妇应不在桌面上。我们已经看到了团队在没有他的情况下的表现。这样不好。开拓者无法立即获得利拉德的立即和同等价值。即使他们获得了好球员的回报，他们也不会没有他就获得冠军。

这y’d need to trade Lillard, McCollum, and whomever else for future draft picks and young prospects. The first-round pick they owe to Chicago is lottery-protected through 2028. They’d hope to ride the lottery as long as possible, picking up young stars and preserving cap space as whatever veteran salaries they got for CJ and Dame dropped off the books. Simons and Little likely would become the veterans on the team, perhaps joined by Powell, who could go either way (trade or retain).

至关重要的是要理解,保持里沃德nd McCollum past their “best by” dates will reduce the effectiveness of this approach, as the returns from their eventual trades would be lower. Even though the Blazers would be aiming for slow, long-term improvement in this scenario, they’d need to make immediate moves (read: no later than this summer) to maximize the potential for success.

Starting anew would require a major mindset shift for the franchise, but it’s also the most likely road to eventual success. Immediate improvement is a longshot. It’s going to be真的很难找到并执行本赛季的解决针头贸易。短期改进应该更容易，但是最后一位主管的主管花费了所有专营权的资产来进行这项工作。漫长的游戏是一个废话，但总是可用的。

谢谢你的问题！您可以随时将您的blazersub@gmail.com发送给！