That makes no sense...why trade when the value is at it's lowest. A team in Portland's situation who is looking for youth and picks will want to trade now. Because the longer they wait the less they will get. They will have very little leverage in the trade deadline of 2014 if everyone knows he is not resigning with them. It would be different if Portland wasn't sure if they were going to trade him...but if they know they are trading him, and making decisions based on that fact (as the beat writer for blazers implied) then this years deadline is the time to do it. To your other point there is no incentive for blazers to do the deal now over later in the season. It gives them time to evaluate their own needs and scout players they might want back in trade.
That's not true. Melo and Howard brought back plenty of value in a trade. They would not lose any value waiting until next off-season and they make the playoffs.
We will be one of the major bidders in the summer of 2014. Why? Asik and Lin will have one year left on their contracts by then. Would be nice assets in S&T deals or at worst, easy to dump expiring contracts.
The point of the trade I said is upgrading Mathews to Waiters long term (portland could probably get something else small out of it as well), with Bynum being an injured expiring to actually make their run home worse (hence "Riggin' for Wiggins". Teams want to lose this year.
Howard got VERY little...ridiculously little for the type of player he is. Melo did receive a lot, but that was because the knicks were idiots and bidding against themselves. Howard got less then melo, and at the time Howard was definitely a higher rated player. (before last years down season)
My point is that they need a center...there is no indication that waiters is even an upgrade either. Bynum will not ever be a part of deal in this situation. So even if they were interested in waiters...bynum would be the deal killer. I would imagine.
Netting LMA would be amazing. My only reluctance would be due to his trouble staying on the court and of the injured list. Everything else is pretty much great. Good fit, awesome rebounder, pretty good defender at his position, and great attitude even on a losing team like the Blazers. No doubt I'd bring him on board, but the bigger question (of course) would be for how many assets exactly. Good post megastahr.
Well TJones has been beasting in Orlando lol, maybe the Blazers have a change of Heart before the season starts and Dmorey can pull it off
This makes sense on so many levels. We are lucky that Aldridge has Texas ties and he's hinted that he likes Houston. It seems very likely that we would have to trade Lin + Asik to make the salaries work. We will almost certainly be downgrading at the point, since we probably won't be able to afford more than a a 1-2 million dollar player. Bev is ok but still very unproven as a starter. But I suppose he or somebody else will play the role of cheap role player like Mario Chalmers, Shane Battier, etc. Portland doesn't need Lin but he will be useful as an expiring and can be a plus backup behind Lillard. The question is, would they take: Asik / (DMo or Jones) / Lin / 2 first round picks for Aldridge ? That's a significantly better haul than what Memphis took for Pau Gasol (Marc Gasol turned out well but you have to factor in the uncertainty of whether he would pan out), and has essentially the same cap benefits.
At first thought I couldn't imagine Morey moving Asik + TJones/DMo + picks at the deadline for LA unless something egregious happened. Then I remembered he totally gutted our 1st and 2nd PF's and our primary G off the bench at the deadline for an underperforming rookie and a past-his-prime SG/SF. Of course, we all know what happened. My point is this: Is it a good idea to make such a fundamental change to a contending roster at the deadline? More specifically, how will our franchise players respond to this? Championship squads require some serious chemistry and that only comes with continuity (Duncan/Manu/Parker) and/or an incredible locker room (KG/Pierce/Allen). D12 and Harden both mentioned that they would like to be involved in roster decisions. I'm sure they would want LA, but what if D12 doesn't want to pay the cost of his insurance policy and maybe one his friends on the squad? The bottom line is that there is a fundamental difference in the approach a GM has to have to build a contending roster (Morey) vs. a championship roster (Pop/R.C. Buford). It's not just about spending money (Magic, Nets) or attracting big names (Lakers). The stakes are higher, your options are much more restricted and each move has substantial repercussions. Can Morey adapt? I sure as hell hope so.
So Dwight is more of a defensive threat. Dwight took his team to the finals, did Aldridge? LA is a really good player, but he is not a better all-around player than Dwight.
So basically, they're doing the practical thing and rebuilding on the fly as we did in the hopes of finding or developing stars. The age bracket is pretty much the same as ours as it stands but without a true franchise player. Since they mentioned Lillard and Batum, a rough comparison would be Harden and Parsons. That's 22 and 24 vs 23 and 24 respectively. No real discrepancy there. They'll be contemporaries for their careers with the usual caveats. What I'm not sure about is why don't the posters suggest shopping Aldridge around now? I mean, if they're saying that he's not in their long term plans, why keep him till his contract is up? Wouldn't it make more sense to shop him around now for future assets so that their rebuilding starts sooner rather than later? If they dumped him now, they'd at least stand a chance at the Wiggins lottery. We've got assets we can exchange now that would serve both teams well if that's what they're after. I'd even argue that it'd be easier for them to trade whatever we give them to add to their asset pile for LMA. Another thing to consider would be the the report in another thread of passing on Smith in preparation to resign Parsons as early as next season. If that were true, then it's really doubtful that LMA is even in the plans because of what it'll cost unless Les goes all Prokhorov on us and decides to sign both.
Waiters is to Matthews what Harden was to Martin, Matthews is a 26 yo spot up 3 point shooter, that's all he is or will ever be, Waiters is a 21 yo all round attack mode guard trying to feel his way around the nba (got much better as the season progressed). If you're looking at rebuilding, you're not really looking at any spot as much as you're looking to try and upgrade your talent. Asik to a rebuilding team is an asset to upgrade youth on someone desperate for a center, If Portland give up on Aldridge, their playoff mode doesn't start until 2015 or 16, whereas Cleveland are trying to go playoff mode this year.
Sounds to me like Parsons is the perfect contract for them. He'd be a free agent in 2015 when they have the cap space, but his caphold would be microscopic, and they'd have his Bird Rights, so they could be players in free agency and then re-sign Parsons once their caproom is spent. And, since we don't have lotto picks to offer, I find it hard to imagine we could pick up LMA without giving up Parsons -- at least this offseason.
We will definitely look to accquire another max player...that was documented pretty well on many levels. Les himself said...I have enough money but I do not have enough championships. You can rest assure that Les presence at the meeting with dwight was to ensure he would pay for a championship.
They definitely wouldn't turn down Parsons, but they have Batum at SF. Would they pay nearly redundant players almost 30 mill?
Have to disagree. Expiring, yes, but each getting paid $15,000,000 (All Star money). This one of the few teams that could afford it. Would they want to? Another question.
