From basketball star to head coach: Dwayne Wade
The Portland Trailblazers took advantage of the opportunity of expiring contracts to make wholesale changes to their coaching staff. Headlining is Dwayne Wade, the former NBA star who takes on his first head coach role at 44 years. Experienced assistant and former NBA great Jeff Hornacek takes over the top assistant chair, with 41 year-old Joakim Noah, who briefly played for Jestor's Lakers side, occupying the 2nd assistant spot to hone his coaching game and add some big man balance to a guard-heavy coaching team.
But that news felt comparatively minor to the shockwaves that echoed throughout Rip City when the Blazers front office announced they would not be matching the max contract offer sheet submitted to the Denver Nuggets and signed by 25 year old Jalen Brunson.
Jalen Brunson had his best season as a pro last year
Brunson averaged a career high 17.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 1.8 steals last season, then exploded in the first round loss to the Sacramento Kings for 18.3 points on 45.1% shooting, 48.1% behind the arc. Nearly everyone expected Portland to match all contracts that came his way. But then the Denver Nuggets, flush with cap space, offered a maximum contract and Portland stunned the CSL by declining to match the offer sheet.
"Look, Jalen is a great young player who hustles and extracts every single shred of talent he has," said a Blazers employee on condition of anonymity. "His playoff numbers are absolutely fantastic. But you look at his regular season efficiency - 41.1% - 41.4% literally every single year of his career, even though his 3 point shooting is skyrocketing every season. He's a good defender, good floor general, good scorer all due to his maximizing his ability. But he's not genuinely great in any area and certainly isn't worthy of a max contract.
Furthermore, we have a great defender in Aaron Holiday and a terrific 3 point shooter in Austin Rivers. Their skillsets complement each other very well and we'll be fine going forward with a Holiday/Rivers backcourt for this season while we work on Hamidou Diallo's preferences. Rivers takes over the combo guard role that was formerly Holiday's and becomes the shooter to make up for Holiday's lack of range."
But the biggest reason for the declined matching?
Currently, Portland is $1.8 million over the cap once Finn Delany signs his three-year second round deal.
Expiring Contracts
Clint Capela - $13.7 million
Nikola Mirotic - $11.2 million
Austin Rivers - $6.5 million
Kawhi Leonard - $4.1 million
Vasilije Micic - $1.4 million
Bonzi Colson - $800k
Total Expiring Contracts: $37.7 million - 1.8 million = 35.9 million cap space
With 35.9 million in space, they can pay Laurynas Birutis the 13.7 million and still have 23.2 million left over (slightly less than that due to draft pick, increases in salary on current deals, etc.).
With Brunson's matched contract:
13.6 million in Year 1: $15.4 million over the cap
14.2 million in Year 2: $23.5 million under the cap - 13.7 million for Birutis deal - 9.8 million (less than that due to increases, draft pick)
And in the summer of Year 2 to Year 3, Cheick Diallo's contract comes off the books, but then Hamidou Diallo is up for contract. Under a Brunson match, there's not a max slot available pre-Diallo the Younger signing if they don't sign anyone between Year 1 and Year 2 IEven with Diallo the Elder's contract going away, draft picks and raises would put the Blazers just below a max RFA slot) and signing will eliminate even the slightly above mid-level room. Under the non-match, there's a max slot available pre-signing and still mid-level space even after a potential max extension (if it were matched - clearly no guarantee).
"People focused on the short-term say we should have matched," said the Blazers source. "But then we have a very narrow window in which to find a player we like that's worth the money before re-signing Birutis, and we have to strike that summer. Long-term, this sets us up to be players for two years in a row as it currently stands, so even if we miss out on someone next summer, we still have at least the summer after that to find someone we like.
We did a soft reset that gives us a lower floor than what we would have with Jalen obviously, but we gave ourselves a much higher possible ceiling."
