Scott Leedy of Hardwood Paroxysm offers some thoughts on the Portland Trail Blazers' 2013 offseason. Unfortunately, the Blazers are a little stuck. A bad team is unlikely to trade their 2014 pick for Aldridge, and even if they did his play would likely decrease the value of that pick by the time the lottery rolls around. Maybe the Blazers could move Aldridge for a handful of younger assets, but they'd be stuck getting cents on the dollar. If you can't get good return value, keeping Aldridge really becomes the only option. Fortunately for the Blazers, retaining Aldridge is a good problem to have. Aldridge can only help the development of Damian Lillard. Having an intelligent, extremely talented big man to work with, around, and through is an invaluable experience for a young NBA point guard. The fans love Aldridge, and with so many weakened teams, the Aldridge-Lillard-Batum core may be enough to carry the Blazers to a playoff berth. If the Blazers can't get worse, they might as well get better. Not only has Olshey improved the team, he's done it at next to no cost. Acquiring Robin Lopez, a defensive-minded center, on a cheap contract was the perfect antidote to the J.J. Hickson plague. Lopez provides the rim protection required of any center that plays next to Aldridge, something Hickson was never suited for. Olshey took advantage of Houston's burning desire to clear cap space, and netted Thomas Robinson for essentially nothing. This is a no lose situation for the Blazers; Robinson can't make their bench any worse. ... Barring a miracle, the Blazers aren't getting an Andrew Wiggins or a Jabari Parker. There's not a clear path back to relevancy; there's no one to put the entire weight of the franchise upon. Lillard is terrific but I'm not sure he's that kind of special. For the, Blazers I think that's a good thing. They need a break from the savior storyline. It's refreshing to just try and forget about expectations and deliverance. For even the best teams, perfection and triumph can be disappointingly elusive. I think it's a good idea to let this team breathe.
I suppose it depends on how you define relevancy. Would winning 56 games and making the Western Conference finals be considered relevant? Memphis did just that, without landing a big time free agent, or landing a franchise player through a high lottery pick. They made astute signings and traded for undervalued role players. The Blazers, with Aldridge and Lillard have a MUCH better starting point to relevancy that the Grizzlies did. Olshey has done a good job filling out the roster with bargain priced, undervalued role players. Before we get all caught up in doom and gloom, let's see how relevant this team can be. Aldridge made the all-star team the last two seasons playing on a lottery team. If the Blazers have a winning record and are contending for a playoff spot, he'll be a lock to make it again this year. I also expect Lillard to receive consideration for the all-star team. I think he'll start to get more respect from the refs and the extra FTs will add to his scoring average and effectiveness. The rest of our starters are solid and our bench is now full of good role players. Plus, if it doesn't work, Olshey has preserved a ton of flexibility. He doesn't have any overpaid, untradeable contracts (well, maybe Freeland, but his contract isn't a franchise killing boat anchor). He can easily trade assets to continue to tweak the roster without blowing it all up. Seriously, we haven't even seen this team take the court for a single preseason game. Let's let them play a few games together before we declare them hopelessly irrelevant. BNM
The Blazers could find themselves between a rock and hard place this season, though I expect better things even without a good trade after the 10th. Still... it will be a damn site better than being buried under the whole frickin' boulder like we were 2 years ago.
Pau Gasol was the 3rd overall pick which they used to get Marc Gasol Mike Conely was the 4th pick Rudy Gay was the 8th pick which they used to get two better fits in Prince and Davis Lottery picks ABSOLUTELY enabled the Grizz to prosper
LMA #2, Lillard #6, Leonard #11, CJ #10, T Rob #5. I think we have plenty of those picks you are talking about
Yes we do. If Lillard turns out to be the best at his position like Gasol, then we have a shot. LA is not that guy. CJ probably not either...in a real draft he is not a top 10 pick. Leonard sucks I have high hopes for T-Rob even though two teams gave up on him already
I don't know man. I think all this talk about Aldridge not being able to lead his team to the playoffs is a joke. He did lead them in the playoffs 3 season's ago. In fact, he was a Monster. That team wasn't even close to as good on paper as the one we have now. Then you try and talk about the Mutiny Blazers in the shortened season? That was doomed from the get go. That team was worse than the one we had last season. And last season... Well worst bench in the NBA, the second best player a rookie and the third best player injuried all season. Yeah I don't think that works.
he could be some kid in his parents basement...all i'm saying. I think everyone on this forum is aware its incredibly hard to attract free agents here. just don't think we need a thread for every negative article written by whoever the hell this is and their grandmas
Yes, I think David Lee and Harrison Barnes is the best type of deal on the table if we decide to move Aldridge. I agree with other posts I’ve seen; a team trading for Aldridge is not going to have a high draft pick next year. The teams looking to acquire him will be at least solid playoff teams so they can resign him; that means they will have to retain their best player. So we will need to look at the second or third best players on contending teams. Serge Ibaka on the Thunder. Two out of three of Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, or Danillo Galinari on the Nuggets. I’m sure Aldridge would love to go to a Texas team but they are not trading us any of Parker, Howard, Harden and I don’t want anyone from that Mavs roster. Could we get a team like Houston to trade us unprotected 1st round picks in 2016, 2018, 2020? Then we can pray they hire Isiah Thomas and are eventually terrible in those years. That will be a long wait for a payoff; those last prospects are going back to middle school this year. I’ve heard a lot of fans say we should trade Aldridge for youth and picks. In theory I can see the appeal, if we are not a contender lets do our best to build for a long term run. But actually coming up with an example that makes sense for both teams isn’t easy. Would we have been happy with Tristan Thompson and Anthony Bennett? I sure wouldn’t have; I wouldn’t have been shocked if Bennett slipped to #10 in the draft and still I’m not sure he is any better of a prospect than McCollum. I’m just not seeing any examples of an Aldridge trade that makes sense for us. I’d be open to moving him if it improved the long term outlook of the team but I think its more plausible we get lucky in the next two years and bring in a veteran near all-star like we did with Gerald Wallace when he first arrived. I have never seen this many teams tanking in July so it may be a buyers market for veterans before the trade deadline.
People actually think Pau is/was the best at his position? Really? I mean, for a while I'd say he was top-5. But best overall? Hmmm. You're linking the Pau-for-Marc deal is laughable in this, though. Everybody in the entire universe (outside of Lakers fans) were outraged by the gift Memphis gave LA. Marc turned out better than most expected. I got distracted by that Pau assertion.... But anyway..... I see people refer to LA as the best PF in the game right now. Not sure I agree, but he's in the top few. The level he's at is comparable to Pau's peak level compared to their competition. But I can see Portland being on par with Memphis. I mean, we have a collection of young talent that, when you line them up with Memphis, we're not far off. They probably have more talent at the PF/C position, but with some growth from ML, T-Rob, and/or Robin Lopez, I like the potential there. Batum is comparable with Prince. Lillard with Conley (I'm not saying which players are better, just that they're very comparable). If Memphis can do what they did, it's not unreasonable to buy-in on the Blazers. They have a good group of guys with basketball talent, as well as winning personalities. As a die-hard SF Giants fan, when you have a couple of stars and/or borderline stars, I've seen what happens when you have talent surrounded by good chemistry, guys wanting to win, playing for themselves. I think that's why Portland started the season exceeding many expectations last year. With a deeper bench, guys shouldn't wear out, there should be fewer injuries. No late-season crash.
More than that it might be nice to read some of his other stuff. I feel like MM is trying to keep this guy all to himself so we can't get to the delicious juicy center of his writing.
Read what I wrote: "landing a franchise player through a high lottery pick" The Griz don't have a single franchise player on their roster that was a high lottery pick. Marc Gasol was late 2nd round pick - and at the time of the trade, EVERYONE was screaming bloody murder that the Grizzlies were TOTALLY raped by the Lakers. Mike Conley isn't a franchise player. He's a solid starter, but not a superstar, or even an all-star. Rudy Gay was traded for 2 role players. My point remains valid - there isn't a single franchise player on Memphis roster that was a high lottery pick. Yes, they parlayed some previous lottery picks into some valuable pieces - but those were smart trades, not lottery pick home runs. Besides, the Blazers have done much better in the lottery (Aldridge and Lillard) than the Griz. My point was, you don't need to win the lottery and draft a LeBron/Wiggins/Duncan to be relevant and not getting such a once per decade franchise player doesn't doom you to eternal irrelevance. So, we've had our high lottery picks and turned them into our two best players. Now, our GM needs to make the kind of smart trades and high value signings to surround those two lottery picks with complimentary role players. And, as near as I can tell, that's EXACTLY what Olshey is doing. BTW, you didn't answer my question. Is 56 wins and a trip to the WCF enough to be considered relevant? BNM
