[Jason Quick] Trail Blazers' list of concerns after Game 1 should include the future of LaMarcus Ald

Why Kawhi Leonard will be the NBA's most intriguing free-agent recruiter this summer

 

No doubt Spurs will have the cap room to sign LMA, he may even take a little less in YR1, with an opt-out for YR2 to get the big 2016 money. Issue is the Spurs may have to part with a few of their role players (Joseph, Baynes, Bonner) to make it work, but obviously it's more than worth it.

If you're Houston or Dallas I imagine you throw the kitchen sink at LMA to prevent a division rival from continuing their dynasty. I just expect it to be either Portland or the Spurs.

 

After Portland gets swept, there is no way he resigns.

Houston or San Antonio will fight to the death for him.

Houston's future looks a bit more bright and a team of Harden, Howard, and LMA is significantly better than Leonard/LMA 4 years down the line...

 

Houston does not have salary cap room to sign him. Les and DM should not gut out the team for LMA.

I believe that the Spurs will be the favorites to sign him.

 

I think we all know Morey can make it work if he has to.

 

The fact that cyberx mentioned LMA as a Morey target naturally gets our attention, and such an acquisition would be awesome. Especially if it keeps him out of San Antonio's hands. Or Dallas.

But it would take some combination of Ariza + Papa + Dmo or Tjones (likely the former) and a threat from LMA's agent to bolt for nothing (Dallas or S.A.)

We'd have to give up a lot. And jump through some hoops.

I won't hold my breath, but I won't put it past Morey, either.

 

Pending on a deep run.

I would rather keep Terrance and Smith.

I think Smith should stay here as long as Dwight does because those two are a lethal offensive option when Harden is sitting.

 

Can the Spurs sign Aldridge without Duncan and Manu taking massive paycuts? Will they have any money left for Green? What about Parker? He's locked up for over 10 mil a season for several more years. Can he hold up?

The Spurs are not the slam dunk that article makes them out to be. I could see Aldridge going there, but let's not start printing Finals tickets just yet. Hell, they still need to beat the Clippers first.

 

I think if the Spurs can't advance past the Clips or if the Rockets beat them in Rd 2 then we could edge the Spurs out as a more attractive destination than SAS.

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...ers_owner_paul_allen_and_a_lonely_saturd.html

 

Simmons & Lowe on BDL

BS: Aldridge in Portland, that has gone as depressingly as it could go for the Blazers. Don't you feel there is a real chance he leaves?

ZL: Yeah. He's been non-committal in his latest comments. ... We've been hearing whispers for weeks the Texas teams, including San Antonio, will go after him. (Portland) It's the sneaky unstable summer situation. ... If he leaves, you could move Nic Batum. Then...I don't know. Neil Olshey is a good GM. He doesn't want to be trapped in mediocrity.

BS: Celtics would be in on Batum. Spurs would be in on Batum. All the smart teams would be in on Batum. His contract is not that bad. This Portland situation is bad. ... Long term, where is this going? Real threat to leave.

ZL: When you say he can look at Portland and ask "What is the long term picture?", also look at the Western conference. Of the teams that can get him, who will be better than Golden State in the next couple of years? That's where Kawhi's emergence changes things for the Spurs. They can point to him and say we have one foundational piece for the next half decade. You come be another one and we have something.

...

ZL: Houston will try. We know Houston will try. Daryl Morey really wants a stretch four and almost got Bosh. They don't have the cap room but they can sign-and-trade and do all sorts of tricky things. That would be an unbelievable team. Houston is a really good team as is and we haven't seen them whole. If you put Aldridge on that team, they could win 65 games next year.

BS: Spurs can get rid of Tiago Splitter. Houston has different ways to shed salary. (NOP, Terrence Jones)

ZL: That gets back to the players having control of the process. All the balls are in the air at once. You're not attached to a certain amount of cap space. If Aldridge tells Portland and San Antonio "I'm going to San Antonio, that's where I want to go", everyone involved will do the necessary steps to make it happen. There's always moves to make. Houston, last year, sometimes you make too many moves and it backfires but they recovered fine. It's a hard dance to do but you do it.

BS: I hated that Lin trade. I felt it was a little panicky. Didn't that allow them to get Corey Brewer and Jason Terry?

ZL: I'd have to look. They got a trade exception somewhere.

BS: That worked out slightly better than we thought.

 

Why would Spurs get rid of Splitter? He would form a good duo with Aldridge.

 

Bill was talking about opening up [more] cap room if needed.

When people write about cap situations and how can the Spurs...you even wrote about how they can fit Aldridge, what they'd have to do. The one part people sometimes forget, yeah, you have the cap space you'll have but you also have the opportunity to maybe trade a piece or two to open more cap room. If you're the Spurs, you can get rid of Tiago Splitter if you really needed to. 2 years left at 8/9 a piece. That's not a bad contract for Tiago Splitter. Even if you had to give someone a number one pick to shed that salary, you'd do it. Same with Houston. Houston has different ways to shed salary if they wanted to. (NOP, Terrence Jones)

 

Because Splitter is borderline worthless and doesn't do anything well.

I don't know if you mean he'd be a good backup at PF (too expensive) or a good full-time C (which is crazy).

 

Splitter is a full-time C. Aldridge at PF.

Splitter is actually pretty darn decent and was a major factor in the late winning streak the Spurs had. He's just been injured.

Aldridge is 30, but with Pop (and whoever he mentors to become the next coach) he has 9 more years.

 

The Spurs have $34M tied up so far for next year in 5 players under contract (Splitter, Parker, Diaw, Mills & Kyle Anderson). Signing RFA Kawhi Leonard at a max deal would be another $16M, and put them at $50M. Re-signing Duncan at this year's rate, ($10M) would put them at $60M. I think Ginobili retires. Even so, I don't see how they sign Aldridge without moving someone with the cap around $68M. There just isn't enough cap space left. Max money for Aldridge is $19M.

Moving Splitter would free up $8.5M. Moving Diaw would free up $7.5M. They certainly don't need both if the sign LMA. Moving Parker would free up $13.5M. So it looks like the Spurs would have to make at least one major trade (Parker) or two smaller trades (Diaw & Splitter) to shed enough salary to sign LMA to a $19M max contract. That still doesn't leave enough for Danny Green unless he'll take MLE money (and he probably would).

If Duncan and Ginobili both retire, it gets easier for the Spurs from a cap space perspective, as they can move Diaw or Splitter and sign LMA outright. I still think Duncan plays one more year, but Ginobili retires.

 

They held off signing Kawhi last year so they could do something this year. I don't exactly know how that works. But i believe theyll sign a max player before signing Kawhi if Tim and Manu retire.

 

^^^^

But why would a max player want to go there and play on a team without Duncan? Because of Leonard? LOL