Trashquez went for a late first and a second. So i would say at least two young high upside prospects and two firsts. This is ujiri we are talking about no dumars.
Normally a player would not want to play in Portland... But with Love you have to consider that Portland would be one of those things for love... "Portland's always where my heart is going to be. My immediate family still lives here. I love coming home. It's a place that I always have loved playing. I was looking at it today saying, 'This is the Rose Garden to me.' That's what I grew up with. It's a fun place to come and play, the crowd, the energy. The fans are always great, always tough but fun to play in front of. It's good to come home to Portland." So I can definitely see the Blazers being the front runner. Especially if LMA decides he wants to play for the Lakers and then Love options are... Cleveland...where he can contend but with a lesser role. Knicks...which I think most smart players are a bit cautious about. Portland...where he could come in as the redeeming hero if LMA goes.
I just did a trade on the trade machine and it worked. The trade was Trevor Ariza, Kpap, Terrence Jones, DMO, and Nick Johnson for LMA. What do you guys think?
Okay. Why does Portland S&T Aldridge? Well if Aldridge is committed on leaving, and has the options to just outright sign with teams such as the Knicks, Mavs, Lakers, then the Blazers would love to be able to do a S&T, so they can get at least some sort of value back for him. So no problems here. So then we have to come up with around 15 million to trade for Aldridge. Ariza - A value contract worth that could easily fetch a first round pick Papa (non guaranteed) Prigs (non guaranteed) Is roughly 15 million in contracts, enough to S&T for Aldridge. What use do the Blazer have for Ariza? Maybe not much if they are rebuilding, but they could very easily flip Ariza for a pick or young player. In fact, the S&T for Aldridge can be a 3 team deal with Ariza going elsewhere, with Blazers getting picks and or young players in return. Giving up other assets or "gutting the team", again Aldridge can just outright sign where ever he pleases, he has no obligation to do a s&t netting the Blazers any value what so ever. If Aldridge chooses Houston, the Blazer will be happy with whatever they get, over getting nothing. Even if they demanded our best trade asset in Dmo or else they'll just let him walk (highly unlikely), big deal? Are we really going to be missing Dmo with Aldridge in town? I don't think so, plus Dmo is expiring next year and we probably wouldn't want to pay him anyways. It's really quite simple, the most complicated about the whole thing is getting Aldridge to choose Houston, but once he does so, the rest will be a breeze. Example trade Blazers receive : Papanikolaou(cut), Prigioni(cut), Motiejunas and 3 future first round picks Hawks receive : Ariza Rockets receive : Aldridge (S&T, max contract) Boom. Aldridge wouldn't win with either the Lakers or Mavs btw. So IMO it's really between the Spurs and Rockets, if he cares about winning.
We just need a badass pg and someone who comes off the bench that can ice down dem boys from the 3 pt line
Heard that the Blazers wants to get G.Monroe... Rockets out：DMO,Kpap,TJones,Prigioni,Brewer,future 1st round pick Pistons out：G.Monroe,K.Caldwell-Pope Blazers out：L.Aldridge --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets in：L.Aldridge Pistons in：Kpap,Brewer,TJones,future 1st round pick Blazers in：DMO,Prigioni,G.Monroe,K.Caldwell-Pope
This all falls under what The Cat said earlier in the thread. If LMA wants to play here, nothing else matters. If Portland wants Ariza, great. If they don't want him, there are plenty of teams in the league looking for a defensive SF who can hit the 3 and has two years left on a declining-salary contract. When the new cap kicks in, Ariza will be making significantly less than the MLE. Think about that for a second, he will be making less than the MLE. That's the equivalent of making $4m right now. I would argue that the Sixers may take him flat out, end tanking mode and start making the playoffs now that they have prospects at every position. Detroit and Orlando could use him. We could trade him for Brendan Haywood, Jordan Hill, Jamal Crawford, Caron Butler and fillers, or Trevor Booker and fillers. There are lots of options, and at WOOOOOOOOORST it might cost us a future first rounder if we're desperate. What's a future first rounder worth from a team that has Harden/Howard/LMA? If LMA chooses Houston, it's not going to be Ariza's contract that stops us. Morey would be fired automatically if that happened lol.
It's all about leverage. We want LMA but only if the price is not to steep. Portland wants something in return for LMA and the more they think his choice is Houston the more they will want. So LMA has to convince them he will leave no matter what. Whether that's with SA or La or thru some SnT deal. The more the Blazers believe the more likely they or to agree to a Snt. But they won't do it for our trash. That's why a minimum is DMo or Capela. Anyone who thinks any deal won't include one of those guys is kidding themselves. If I'm the Blazers I'll ask for both and next years first. Then you can throw in some fillers to make it work. I think LMA's max is going to 20-21 mil. So you can do a SnT for 125%. That means we need to send out about 16 mil in salary to take on a max deal. Prig, Dmo, Kpap, and TJones add up to a little over 11 mil. That's 5 mil short. And if they don't want TJones that's 7.5 mil short. Ariza is the only way you make that work. It doesn't matter where those players go 3-team deal is okay but we can't take more than 125% back which pretty much means only LMA. So almost any deal has to include Ariza. Unless we also included a brewer or Terry Snt just to make the numbers match that is even more unlikely. Ariza is likely gone if we get LMA and DMo or Capela plus probably next years first if they don't buy LMA wanting to sign with LA.
Windhorst: Aldridge is gone. Where is he going? San Antonio? Dallas? Los Angeles? It'll be on of those three. Spurs have never been a FA destination. Now, they'll open up a spot. There is interest in the Blazers doing a S&T for Splitter. Lakers & Mavs will get in there.
I think LMA could be a smokescreen...DM will get his courtesy meeting but he got his real target on his vest
Been saying chasing Aldridge is a waste of time. Re-sign our guys and upgrade PG, look for another shooter. That's all we need.
Yep. Lull and Beverly. The truth be told what really killed the rockets in the playoffs was not having a 27 year old Beverly and his tenacious defense.
It's worth looking into, but I certainly wouldn't spend too much time on it if I'm Morey unless Aldridge lets it be known immediately that he's interested in coming here. I don't want a repeat of last year where the Rockets sat around waiting for Melo and Bosh to make their decisions and not only missed out on those two, but Lowry and Parsons as well. If the Spurs get him in a sign-and-trade involving Splitter, that means Duncan is playing center full-time. Can he do that for an entire season at age 39?
rezdawg I agree with most of what you say. The Rockets are the longest shot to sign LMA just due to the fact that not only does LMA have to chose Houston but Portland has to be willing to play ball. Further is that the Rockets are going to have to give Portland something that they want on their roster and they are going to have to give it to them at a salary that is acceptable to them. SA and DA do not have to deal with Portland, all they have to do is convince LMA to sign with them. If Pops goes into a meeting with LMA and tells him that he will stay as long as LMA is on the team and if Buford guarantees he will resign Kawhi then it's entirely possible that LMA sees SAS as the place to close out his career. Dallas on the other hand is going pretty hard and DeAndre so I don't know how that will effect any effort that they throw at LMA. Having said all of that... The one thing I disagree with you about is the Rockets gutting the team via a S&T for LMA. The Rockets would need to send Portland about ~16 million dollars to get LMA back with a ~19 million max deal. KPapps 4.7 mill Priggs 1.7 mill (only 290,000 is guaranteed) That is 6 million dollars in salary they can drop immediately. Now toss in Trevor at 8.2 million and one of either DMo, Capela or TJones and the money works. That is 4 players going back to Portland for LMA. The question is would you be willing to sacrifice your best defender (Ariza) and would Portland want that package? If Brewer were willing to accept a S&T to Portland and they wanted him at the right price you could substitute him for Ariza.
Well said count. I told the same thing to several hardcore Spurs fans and they got real quiet LOL. Can Duncan play center of course he can, but will it where him out for an entire season of course it will.
K-papas contract might come in handy for a trade to SA in helping them clear space. They are having to unload some decent players to make room for Aldridge.
