If LMA wants to be the main guy then so be it. He will never win a title that way. He is not that good of a player almost the age of 30 to warrant being the "guy". He is better a number two option or three option at this point in his career. I believe Howard will take a step back in the offense department if LMA comes. We need him to be a defensive anchor and rebounder.
Again with the "we cannot lose Ariza stance", he is good. I just believe that we can attract a replacement for him for the cheap.
I take your point, but they still have a viable team, and if you add Aldridge, they are contenders next year. Parker, Duncan and Ginobli can still play. I'm just saying, the Spurs are an attractive organization to play for regardless of the short or long-term; and his kid lives there.
The only thing that makes the Spurs attractive is that his kid lives there. That will win over all the time. For that reason this maybe a waste of time. I just don't see how the Spurs can contend past this year with LMA.
I have to agree with you that LMA may take a discount. I have to disagree with you on Lenoard though. He seems to me the money chaser.
Yeah, I'm not really sure how much Parker and Manu have left in the tank. This season they had PERs of 15.9 and 16.2, with the league average being a 15.0, I think they are both easily replaceable or not providing a significant advantage. Duncan had an excellent season and Kwahi is obviously great, but I don't think Parker or Manu are anything to consider, especially if LMA is signing a 4 or 5 year deal.
Lets just see what happens in the next couple of weeks. We are just arguing over something that may or may not happen. I want Ariza to stay, but to pass on LMA, is just outrageous. LMA will solve almost all our problems at the PF position. I know losing Ariza will create a whole at the 3, but I trust Morey to find a replacement for Ariza.
It's not really that he's a money chaser. It's that he's young and coming off his rookie deal. You don't give discounts on your first big deal of your career. Who knows what could happen injury-wise, etc. So I would be floored if Leonard took a discount.
To me, it's all just fun debate, but I really wouldn't even go as far as to say we have problems at PF. D Mo developed as a legit create his own shot post guy with excellent defensive rotations. Smith (assuming he stays) provides the rebounding and defense off the bench we need while also able to create on his own and pass effectively. I think Jones gets moved, but if he doesn't he showed his value to step in and plug the necessary role when D Mo went down. LMA is a franchise caliber guy, so I'm not going to argue against acquiring a third star, but I would only do it in sign and trade form. Just not worth it to completely gut our team for him (losing virtually all our important role players from last year), which is what we'd do if we sign him outright.
Just got off LMA's wiki: In 2007, he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a heart ailment. He missed the rest of the 2006–07 regular season in order to monitor the problem and correct it.[42] Prior to the 2011–12 season, Aldridge once again underwent surgery to correct complications associated with his heart condition Is this something that could reoccur? Scary... Btw, his son is 6 years old right now. You guys think maybe his son could be a big Spurs fan...? It probably kills LMA if his son's favorite player is Duncan...
I believe LMA's kid lives in Dallas. Could be wrong. It seems Dallas is not his 1st choice. I wouldn't be surprised if he left Portland, but I wouldn't be surprised if he re-signed with them either.
We cannot sign him outright. The only way is through sign and trade. I guess we really do not have PF problems. If LMA does not come here DMO is going to have to step it up more. When need someone in the post that can help relieve Harden. We also need a pg, that can run a offense and shoot. It will be fun to see what Morey does in the next couple of weeks.
Right. My point with signing him outright was gutting our team by trading all of our role players (Ariza, Jones, Capela) for no return salary. Which still might be enough cap cutting to sign him outright which I guess was your point.
I am not advocating signing him outright. I am only advocating sign and trade. It will be near impossible to sign him outright. I am not at this stage in cheering for the Rockets overvaluing players on our roster. The only players that are untouchable to me are Harden and Howard. I did post a few day ago that Ariza was untouchable, but I softened my stance. As I said earlier, I do even believe Portland would want Ariza. In my opinion they would rather want DMO to replace LMA.