Could he be? I mean obviously he could, but a) would the future success of the team be better served with him next to Oden in the frontcourt and b) could a more valuable player be brought back by trading LA? Outlaw's athleticism and all-around skills presents a difficult match-up for the opposition's PFs. His lack of size and strength would be a liability in other match-ups. I really like Aldridge. I'm more impressed with his commitment to defense this year. I think he'll be a very special player for years and years. Aldridge is the better forward now and will be an even better forward in the future. But, what doors are opened by making Aldridge available? Who is the better counterpart to Oden, Fernandez, and Roy? Another aspect that's been on my mind is the close relationship Travis has with Brandon and what appears to be an affinity for Rudy.
No. Never. Why? Outlaw is perfect in his current role and at his current contract. He's a bargain, actually.
I'd only give up Aldridge for a Tony Parker calibur young PG. Could an Aldridge package land us Parker? If he can, I think you have to. I don't like Outlaw as a starting PF. His lack of basketball IQ shows and often hurts the team. He's a nice spark off the bench but he's not a starter, IMO. If you were to trade Aldridge for a young big like say, Al Horford or Andris Biedrins, you have to at least ponder it.
And he couldn't be perfect in a new role with a new long-term, more appropriately priced contract? Just sayin.
No frickin' way! Outlaw would get abused by just about every starting PF in the league. Could you see him trying to guard Duncan, Garnett, Gasol, Davis West etc. No way. He would be huge defensive liability as he's very undersized for a PF - in both height and width. I would not trade Aldridge period, but if I did, I'd move Frye into the starting PF role and leave Outlaw in his current reserve role. Frye, for all his faults, if a better starting PF than Outlaw. Remember the last 10 games of last season when Joel was out with his broken hand? Frye started at center and actually played quite well. BNM
It was actually the last 5 games where he played more than 25 min. and he produced. 13 pts 9 rebs (60 fg%) 16 pts 7 rebs (80 fg%) 15 pts 10 rebs (63 fg%) 15 pts 14 rebs (53 fg%) 22 pts 11 rebs (75 fg%)
Me too. I'm betting General Managers' ears all over the country would perk up. Tony Parker, Devin Harris, or Derrick Rose might be more easily pried away. Or, what about improving at the SF position and going after Tayshaun Prince or Danny Granger? Of course it all depends on how quickly players like Lamarcus, Martell, Nicolas, Sergio and Jerryd develop and play with what I call our nucleus, Greg, Brandon, and Rudy. Last year, I would agree with you. Playing as a SF, I would agree. This year you'd be hard pressed to find instances where he has actually hurt the team any more than say Brandon, Rudy, or Lamarcus. And just because he'd be inserted into the starting unit doesn't mean he has to be given starter minutes. Although I don't feel he would hurt the team by extending his minutes either.
So tell me how you really feel? I was actually waiting for this response. I'm wondering if Portland has the depth and diversity to make this happen and become a better near-future team? Channing Frye's role has almost disappeared. He's one of my favorite Blazers both off and on the court. He can play outside or inside. I've secretly pondered how good Frye can become. Situationally Portland could use both Outlaw, Frye, Batum (although almost everyone I talk to laughs at this next one), and Shavlik Randolph at the PF. Again, I want this known. I love Aldridge. I love the Blazers even more.
SF is the last thing we need to worry about right now. We are fine with the committee of Batum/Webster/Outlaw. Brandon and Rudy spend time at the three as well. PG is a gaping hole. Bayless isn't ready. It took Nash, for example, 5 seasons to solidify himself as a good NBA PG. Steve Blake is not a starter, period. IMO, Steve Blake is best suited as a backup PG on a good team. Sergio is improving but, like Bayless, he's not ready. Sergio isn't a good finisher at the rim and he's a streaky shooter (at best) right now. Tony Parker would vault us into the elite. He's a big enough upgrade I don't care who plays the four. Channing Frye was productive as a starting PF in NY and the time he started last year. He'd be an OK stop gap.
As much as I love those players, Batum has too much promise at small forward for me to be willing to move a very talented young big man for a small forward. Oden and Aldridge have the potential to be one of the great frontcourts in NBA history, and their games complement each other perfectly, on both ends. That's pure gold. Parker and Harris are extremely tempting (Rose wouldn't be available), but the team has so many fascinating guard possibilities to play alongside Roy--Fernandez, Bayless and even Rodriguez is starting to show potential. I'm willing to gamble on one of them turning into a really good starting guard to pair with Roy, in order to keep the Aldridge/Oden frontcourt intact.
I would never trade LaMarcus for a point guard. Never trade big for small. We have everything we need right now anyway.
I would agree but... If you can trade a good big for an elite guard, the don't-trade-big-for-small logic goes out the window.
Maybe in some other team's scenario, but not ours imo. The aspect of our team that I like the most is our size inside. LaMarcus is a big part of that. An elite point guard would deprive B-Roy of touches thereby cancelling out some of the other improvements he would make.
Not really. Tony Parker is exactly the type of PG Brandon could have. He's a scoring PG that can play off of Brandon. Tony can play off the ball as well. A Roy/Parker backcourt would be deadly. Aldridge is not Chris Bosh, folks. At the same age Bosh was beastin' putting up 20+ PPG and 10+ RPG. Aldridge is good but not in that elite class. He can be replaced if it means we can (massively) upgrade our PG.
Bosh was doing that on a fairly untalented Toronto team. Aldridge is playing with a number of excellent scoring threats (Roy, Fernandez, Outlaw) and is putting up 17 PPG and 7 RPG compared to Bosh's 22 PPG and 9 RPG. If Aldridge didn't have the other scorers on the team and wasn't competing with Przybilla and Oden for rebounds, 22 PPG and 9 RPG hardly seems out of his reach. I think Bosh is better, but not a lot better. He's not in a different class.
I disagree. Adding Parker and subtracting Aldridge would be a net loss for this team imo. Our current lineup does not have trouble scoring so it makes no sense to add another scorer while sacrificing defense and rebounding.
Sorry, I must've missed something... Did someone just say that you don't give up Aldridge for Parker b/c of defensive liability reasons? I'm not saying I'd do the LMA for Parker trade, and I'm probably against the Dirk for LMA trade (though it's a great scenario to get us someone else in a 3-way trade), but none of the anxiety I have is because LMA is a rebounding or defensive beast. He isn't either. He's a pretty gifted offensive talent who has the speed and agility to get up and down the floor, and a basically unblockable jump shot. He's not Dennis Rodman or 2003 Ben Wallace. I'm not trying to start another flame war, but could someone tell me objectively what (stylistically, not statistically) the differences between LMA and Channing Frye as our starting PF are? And then say what the differences between Parker and Blake are? I don't know for certain, but if it was Parker for LMA straight up (can't happen due to salary, I know), I don't think KP would hesitate. And he says he loves LMA.
http://www.82games.com/0809/08POR7C.HTM I just found this (Thanks, crowTrobot) that shows that Outlaw's MUCH better at the 4 than the 3. Maybe it's who he's been going against, but it's not close. His PER is slightly higher at SF (18 vs 15), but the opponent's gets crushed from 20 (?!?!?!) to 8 when he plays PF. So, see? When Travis does good things I give him credit. I think part of the problem is that Travis is playing about 20 mpg at SF and giving up a 20 PER (jives with what I've seen from him against Miller, McGrady, etc) and only 10 or so at PF, where (on paper) it looks like he's lockdown. Does anyone think the numbers will improve if he basically just takes Channing's minutes as the backup PF? Or is it an anomaly (both ways)? Does anyone think Webster's going to regress from his 16 PER Against of SFs?
He's not a defensive beast and is probably a sub-par individual defender. However, he's a help defense asset, IMO. I think he makes things tougher on opponents slashing to the hoop, and would team with Oden to make the middle pretty impenetrable. The Tim Duncan types of defenders are rare (and Oden seems to be one of those all-time great defensive talents). When you drop away from that elite class of help defenders, I think Aldridge is one of the still-uncommon help defenders who make things a little more difficult on the opposing offense.
Outlaw produces some oat the offensive end if he has the right matchups, but defensivly he gets thrown around like a rag doll by most power forwards. Literally. As for Outlaws production as of late, I believe it is like last year. He came into camp out of shape, and as he has started to get into shape, his game has come along with it.
