Quick says look for a trade on draft night for a center

This is what I'm thinking. At least show us one year to see if he's the guy of past or a new start. Must sign him for 3 years though; so we can still have his bird rights.

 

Ok, trying to think out of the box

LA might have Howard leave and decide to amnesty Kobe. If the do that, they are just throwing in the towel to start a rebuild, but they still have Pau Gasol at 19mil for one season. If the Blazers traded Freeland and Sasha, and used all their cap room, they could get Gasol in an uneven trade. After next season, Gasol's contract would be over but Blazers would have bird rights to sign him to a better contract. I believe MDA and Howard hurt a still very valuable player in Pau.

Thoughts?

 

Don't know about gasol. Grabbing completely eats any and all cap space we have. That would be a huge mistake IMO.

 

But if Pau was still as good as he was in the Olympics, he would be an incredible match next to LMA. And the starting unit would be solid to great at every position.

Still need to use the pick or trade it for adding to the bench, then Olshey would have to do some magic to get some decent options at the vet min.

But, can you think of a better option to mentor Meyers Leonard?


I'm not sure i do it, but I would certainly think hard about it.

 

Just seems more of a move like older gm's. what we need are groups of assets or that superstar. Right now I just don't see Gasol as the superstar we need.

 

Or, because they have a very frugal owner, they won't pay big dollars to more than a couple of guys. They can replace what Jordan does for them with a cheaper veteran who likes the prospect of the playoffs each year.

Chris Paul, Blake Griffin both will be ~max players soon.

 

This summer

 

Olshey strikes me as someone that swings for the fences. I really wouldn't be surprised to hear that he was going after Howard.

 

If Howard is happy playing for a shitty team in one of the biggest markets, so be it.

I'm just curious if there is another team out there with a talented, young, comparable core to the Blazers (with cap space)?

If I was looking for a team to win a championship, I would see Aldridge, Lillard, and Batum and think I could win with that.

 

Houston wouldn't be a bad place for him either, and Daryl Morrey is quite possibly the best GM in the league. If I had to make a choice between the two teams, it would be tough. Houston is the warmer climate, it's a bigger market, and they have arguably the best shooting guard in the game right now.

 

Reading all the mediocre names in this thread, and the speculation about whether they would play here, makes me appreciate a good player who really wants to be here...Hickson.

 

Howard made $19.6 mil this year and I don't see him taking less. The Blazers don't have $20 mil in cap space, so it would have to involve some sort of a salary dump (Wesley for a pick?) or a sign and trade with the Lakers. Somehow, I don't see them as being overly cooperative.

 

Face it. Our top FA signing will be someone worse than Hickson.

 

I not only think Hickson would accomplish more at PF than Aldridge.

I think Hickson would accomplish more at SF than Batum.

 

$50 bucks the blazers do better next year without hickson and with whoever they get to replace him

 

Not much of a paycut. I think the word is that Portland will have around 13 million. I think the most a team can offer a UFA is 14, am I wrong? But I'm not going to argue with you about our city. There's not much of a black community here. It would take some selling from Dame and LMA.

I don't think we, or anyone outside of LA, can offer more than 14 or 14.5 I think. So either he will sign somewhere else outright, or they will have to do a sign-and-trade.