Game 38: Portland Trailblazers (13-23) vs. Dallas Mavericks (21-16) | 6:30pm CST

[KillerLeft]

Ok, maybe I wouldn’t trade Grimes for Herb Jones.

[Chicagojk]

Guys..grimes may be a finishing player

[KillerLeft]

Guys..grimes may be a finishing player

He’s a lot more of a two-way than DJJ, that’s for sure.

[Chicagojk]

Portland fans need to be happy. Ha

Seriously they need to move Ayton and Grant. They have an interesting young nucleus. Quite a bit behind Houston but some interesting players. Ayton is so frustrating. Was so good against us last game. Tonight was missing in action and looked like he didn’t want to play.

[KillerLeft]

Tough to say, but this feels like a good win, where the team is now. They were very few points during this game when I thought this was going to be a victory.

[KillerLeft]

Portland fans need to be happy.  Ha

Seriously they need to move Ayton and Grant.  They have an interesting young nucleus.  Quite a bit behind Houston but some interesting players.  Ayton is so frustrating.  Was so good against us last game.  Tonight was missing in action and looked like he didn’t want to play.

Agreed on all counts. It’s a shame they blew the second pick on Henderson. If that had hit, they’d be very interesting, indeed.

[Chicagojk]

Nice win Mavs. Wasn’t pretty but they do what they needed. Portland did what most young teams do late. Mavs took advantage. Hardy was great in first half but I think Lively was the best mav tonight, exactly what I want to see with a short handed team

[DL2RimRocker]

Lively is obviously my favorite Mav but PJ is becoming a very close second.
The guy is just solid as a rock every game and brings so much in many ways.

Grimes has become a solid piece too and I'm wondering if he will be better served as a great piece of the rotation come PO time, or a great trade piece to acquire an elite defender like Jones to take our SL to another level.
Right now, I'd say Herb Jones is about the ONLY player I would even consider trading Grimes for and I'm not so sure I'd even be onboard with that considering his offense and age difference.
I'm just beginning to think Grimes might become too expensive to keep and I'd hate to lose him for nothing.

[DL2RimRocker]

This is the exact type of energy Omax needs to provide.  The offense will come.  But if he can provide energy he will get more minutes and the res t of his game can grow.

I hope that is the case but I'm not so sure it will come to fruition no matter how much energy OMax provides.

I still can't understand why Kidd hasn't given him more minutes.... especially when players like PJ and Naji were out.
His defense is decent, and he seems to get his hands on a lot of balls when crashing the offensive boards. 
Like you said, the offensive skills seem to be there but will only get more polished if he gets more PT and experience.

Hell, if they aren't going to play him, send him back to the G-League to continue to build those offensive skills.

To me, his game and qualities remind me a little bit of Aminu and I think that could be his ceiling if given the proper development.