Portland Turned Down #1 and #19 for LaMarcus Aldridge

Read this story on RightDownEuclid, a website I've never heard of:

(excerpt)

"LaMarcus Aldridge – It has been apparent for a while that the Trail Blazers have been interested in shopping their All-Star center, so a team like Cleveland that has been busily fielding phone calls in order to make this team better in the now naturally reached out to Portland in trying to put another premier player next to Kyrie Irving in the starting lineup. Chad Ford of ESPN reported that the Wine and Gold front office reached out to the Trail Blazers, offering them their Nos. 1 and 19 picks in this year’s NBA Draft. Portland quickly denied the offer and sent Cleveland on their way in trying to find another big that is more fulfilling than any other prospect in this year’s draft. Aldridge made a tremendous jump in his output from his freshman to sophomore campaign and has been a dominant centerpiece for Portland ever since. In his seven-year career, he has averaged 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks. In his second straight All-Star season, Aldridge averaged 21.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks – all numbers that sit around where he has been the past three seasons. Unfortunately, Cleveland could not entice Portland into dealing him. Seeing Cleveland go after an established big like Aldridge with both of their first-rounders proves that this team wants to win as soon as next season, and maybe this is a sign that Nerlens Noel’s injury – which could keep him off the court past the earliest return month of December – is becoming too big of a concern for the Wine and Gold."

 

If Cleveland wants LMA so badly, can we turn this into a 3-team deal that's advantageous for Portland?

HOU gets

#19 (from CLE)
#33 (from CLE)
#40 (from POR)

CLE gets

LaMarcus Aldridge

POR gets

#1 (from CLE)
2014 1st Round pick (from HOU)
Omer Asik
Thomas Robinson

We dump TRob and Asik's salaries and absorb no money in return.
Now, is Portland looking for cap relief or would they mind taking on Asik and Robinson's salaries?

 

Just shooting from the hip over here.

 

That'd be a good starting point. Kyrie Irving and LMA would instantly make them relevant.

 

Well, Portland probably wouldn't accept. But in terms of the Rockets....shedding Robinson's salary allows us to go all in on Howard. Shedding Asik's then allows us to go after Paul. Now if we can just get rid of Lin.

 

...and how precious is our 2014 pick if we end up with Dwight Howard? We'll be picking 25 or later.