Portland has a big four and star court side attractions such as Bones guest star Eric Millegan. Why would they trade Lillard when they can just add LeBron for a BIG 5?
Ariza's prime spot is as a dirty-work guy for a team with 2 or 3 stars. But those teams can't afford his $15M salary because they have to pay 2 or 3 stars.
I'm not saying this will happend, but it's very possible that some of those teams with 30/40M to spend will end up without using most of their cap space, and they'll have to use the money somehow, the Sixers needed shooting but nobody forced them to pay 23M to Reddick, they just used the cap space, same thing can happen with Trevor, pretty sure he's considered highly valuable around the league, ch44 last summer said the Knicks themselves asked for Trevor in the Melo deal, and now that i think about this, he also said at the deadline that the most talked or requested name in the deals we were discussing was Ariza.
I continue to believe the Lakers are the favorite IF they can trade for a 3rd star. I do not see them as viable if it's just Lebron, PG and a bunch of unproven guys on rookie deals. After initially mentioning the Brow as an option, I now see how ridiculous that is. He has 3 years left on his deal and New Orleans can still resign Boogie. Why trade him now, and why for a package of talented but completely unproven young talent? Not happening. That's also the same problem I see with trading for Lillard. While they got swept, they are still a young team, and beginning next summer they can start to reshape their roster with Turner, Harkless and Leonard all having just one more year on their deals at that point. It really just comes down to Kawhi or Butler. Kawhi's availability depends on whether the Spurs will offer the super max. They probably will. Butler is probably more available than we would expect. Like Kawhi, he's on a 1 year deal. Also, he just got bounced in the first round of the playoffs, and with the salary commitments the Wolves have, it's unlikely they can improve the team significantly. If I'm Minnesota, I'd strongly consider a Ball, Kuzma, Hart and Deng deal for Butler (and nothing less than that would be acceptable, IMO).
Yeah, Davis will still be there for at least a couple of season, then Ainge will probably get him if he'll ask to get traded. As for Butler i don't think they'll move him this summer as long as Thibs is there, he's not going to coach a team of rookie scale contracts and...Wiggins lol...at least that's how i see it. And i don't see Butler asking for a trade yet, but if they'll underperform next season, he might do that at the deadline, or he'll leave in the summer anyway.
i agree that the lakers are the favorite if they can get a 3rd star.. but I think the lakers brass went into the offseason thinking it would be enough to entice lebron if they just got paul george. the 3rd star requirement is most likely a requirement laid down by lebron's people... bc essentially, lebron's other options all include bonafide stars, houston and philly in particular. a lot of these rumors linking the lakers to lillard, kawhi, etc. is likely coming from the lakers camp to prop up the value of their own assets... but i think it's highly unlikely that any team will bite on that package bc of deng+lonzo, no matter how valuable other teams may think of ingram and kuzma. you can sort of sense that the lakers themselves can sense the desperation now - pretty telling that jeanie buss tweets "you can never underestimate..." even when most people have considered the lakers the favorites. the lakers front office knows the situation is stacked against them and yet they can't let this offseason be another letdown. as far as jimmy butler being traded... while he might be available, unless the twolves fire thibs and decide on a completely new direction, it's too much of a risk to anger the minny fanbase after their first playoffs in so many years and also for giving up on jimmy butler just a season after the package they gave to the bulls. i'm sure they'll give it one more run with him.. or at least until next february.
there’s a thread on Reddit saying that a Spurs beat reporter went on ESPNLA earlier today and said that he believes that there’s a 50% chance that Kawhi demands a trade to the Lakers...gonna try and listen to that later Wasn’t there a report stating that Pop might not coach past 2020? Kawhi does feel like he doesn’t get enough shine playing in SA, and the whole handling of his injury situation was crazy. Can SA repair that relationship and convince him to stay?
If that's true (and i can kinda see it too) i wonder how he would feel about getting some shine in L.A...behind Lebron...lol.
I hope Ariza can get 15 per year. Hell his teammate is getting 20 and is buried on the bench cashing checks.
Portland is conceding that it’s current team as presently constructed is not good enough. Having said that if you put Dame on the market surely his value is better then a couple of rookies and a future first rounder or two?
I've been toying with the idea of a Paul George for Gordon + SnT Ariza. It feels fair, although I don't know how tampering would come into play with this. For this to work, George would have to opt-in, then someone like Woj would announce the deal but not provide the terms, or at least not the full terms. The tweet would read something like, "Paul George has been traded to the Houston Rockets for Eric Gordon and a 1st round pick. The trade will not be official until early July." Then everyone would start to yell that that's not enough salary. Then on July 1st, it would be announced that Ariza has agreed to a 3-4 year $40-$50 million deal with OKC, with the Rockets agreeing to a SnT. Again, not sure on the tampering piece. This really ends up working out for both teams. First, Gordon and Ariza should fit well with Westbrook, and OKC adds 2 shooters to the starting lineup of a team that desperately needs shooting. For Houston, you probably lower your total salary for 2018-2019 and you get a 3rd star. George slides naturally into the starting SF spot, Tucker starts at PF and you bring back Luc. Bringing in George also makes it super clear what the next steps in team building are...you keep Anderson and sign Tyreke Evans with your taxpayer MLE. You keep Anderson because his contract could actually be used to trade for a 4th star next year. You get Tyreke to replace Gordon's production off the bench and act as a 3rd primary playmaker. CP3 Harden / Tyreke PG / Moute Tucker Capela / Wright
If y'all could harass Eric Millegan to pay up on his bet that would be nice lmfao I could use that $500 right about now
@finsraider i think that idea on a sign & trade with OKC is more than fair...OKC would jump on that deal i think. Personally, i'd probably be ok with that, but man, giving them both Gordon and Ariza...i'd really hate that. I would actually prefer to give them Ariza, Nene and a 1st rounder, and then use the MLE on someone else instead of Evans. It's likely that we would have the tax MLE though, so, around 5M instead of 8.5, not sure who we would be able to get with that...would love to get Bradley but not sure that would be enough.
