Trade & FA 2024-25:

[mvossman]

That misses a major part of the story in Philly, and perhaps the biggest one.

Yes, Philly didn't want to re-sign him, and tried to get value by trade instead. But the reason wasn't scapegoating. Instead it was because they needed floor spacers around Embiid, and MT was awful at that. Didn't shoot, and didn't make them when he did. They eventually took him out of the rotation and moved him.

That's still a significant risk if you get him -- he's still very weak on the offensive end (though he has improved slightly in POR, but not by much). He's a good defender, although a bit different in the way he defends, which is the appeal.

I agree with the idea that POR might be glad to see him go, as he's making 11M, but mostly a backup who scores about 5 ppg, weak rebounder, rarely gets to the rim or dunks, and only plays about 23 mins.

I think you might be underselling his improvement in shooting from Philly to Portland a little bit.  In the two years at Philly when he was 2nd team all defense he was shooting 31% from 3 while taking less than 4 shots per 36 (and not doing much else offensively).  Since moving to Portland, he is shooting over 35% on over 5 shots per 36.  That is going from completely unplayable offensively to a little better than DJJ 3 point shooting.