One Aldridge Trade Thread to Rule Them All

And cap space?

 

Shit, I'm HOPING Boozer doesn't want to be here. And hey, there's always flipping him to Houston for Asik and Lin. But isn't that a bit like my trade suggestion?

Also: you're forgetting Mirotic, who is
(a) a PF
(b) the best player on a Real Madrid team that has Rudy and Sergio, only he's about Lillard's age
(c) in fact the best young Spanish player (although he used to be Slovenian) since Rubio.

If Denny's still reading he'll tell you that there's no way in hell Chicago gives up that much.

 

I assume it's Chicago's which should mean it's not exactly a lottery pick.

Unless things go HORRIBLY WRONG (like Rose going Oden on you)....

 

I'm not really interested in Mirotic as the centerpieces of an Aldridge trade. He isn't as dominant as Rudy was in Europe, he will want a bigger contract above the rookie scale. We'd be paying market price for a player that is an unknown. Would he even want to come to west coast Portland? Yes the Charlotte pick could be valuable, I'd rather have that than Mirotic, but I think the Bobcats will improve enough in the east to not be one of the 8 worst teams the next three years. They are picking up guys like Jefferson when Utah, Philly, Boston and others are intentionally tanking. So that will be an end of the lottery pick or middle of the first round. Another nice asset but not worth half of an all-star. Jimmy Butler isn't close to as valuable as young players such as Klay Thompson or Harrison FUCKING Barnes. I think Bulls fans are looking at these assets and excited how they are the 2 or 3 of their best pieces of the future similar to Blazer fans when we had Outlaw, Martell, and Telfair.

Denny said it best, Chicago fans are excited that the Charlotee pick could be the next Len Bias. No way any team is going to accept that price in a trade.

 

Is he a PF in the NBA? I don't think he can defend NBA big men or rebound at that position. He has average athleticism which will make defending the 3 an issue. Sounds like a tweener in the NBA, basically a rich mans version of victor clavier. I'd like to add him to the team but when you factor in him wanting a larger than rookie contract and possibly wanting to stay oversees I question how valuable of an asset he would be on the Blazers.

 

But we'd have cap space without Aldridge too.

 

By the way -- Detroit just swapped Brandon Knight for Brandon Jennings. They seem eager to get into the playoffs. I think they would be interested in LMA, but not sure that I want anything other than Drummond from them.

 

I'd add anyone other than Nic to the LMA deal in order to bring back Drummond. If that doesn't work for DET then I'd settle for LMA-solo for Monroe+.

 

According to RealGM, Chicago is owed a 2014 first round draft pick from Charlotte. It's protected for selections 1-10 in 2014, 1-8 in 2015 and unprotected in 2016. So, most likely, it would be a pick in 2016.

 

Now that you mention it, if he's on the same team with Rudy and Sergio, they have likely already polluted his mind regarding playing in Portland, and we'd never see him. The Nate McMuffin legacy lives on.

 

I know that there's nothing much going on in Blazers-land, but I really don't get why there seems to be this feverish fascination with finding a deal for LMA this off-season. It seems to me that the best scenario for Olshey is to sit back, watch the team and see what happens during the first part of the year, and then make a decision about a trade prior to the deadline. If things really gel, maybe LMA gets on the "stick with the Blazers" bandwagon and is willing to sign an extension. If things are going south, at least Olshey has a pretty good idea by then of what teams will have lottery picks they may be willing to move and what teams are willing to move young solid prospects in exchange for LMA's veteran skills as they make a playoff push. I still say that there isn't much likelihood that another team that is more contention-ready than the Blazers will have cap space in 2015 to make him a max offer. The Blazers still will be able to offer a bigger contract than anyone else. Where's the frickin' fire causing this rush to trade him?

 

I don't doubt LaMarcus quietly told management at the end of last season that he wanted to be traded.

I hope though that the Blazers are successful enough this season that he changes his mind. He would be hard, maybe impossible, to replace, as all these threads and trade scenarios illustrate.

 

Yes, I get the DHoward concept, but the circumstances are a bit different. Howard is rightly, or wrongly, viewed as a franchise-type player. LMA is viewed as a lower-tier All-Star. A lot of teams would love to have him as their 2nd or 3rd-best player on a contender. The problem is, as I showed in a post last week, there just aren't any teams in a contending, or near-contending situation who are going to have the cap space to sign him without a sign-and-trade. I said in my previous post, Olshey should wait until the deadline this season and then make the call. I think he still has plenty of leverage to get a good deal then if a trade is needed, and a lot more information with which to make that good deal.

 

Yeah I agree we hold on to Aldridge to start the year, if the team is playing great no need to trade him. If not, well trade offers might be even better during the year as some teams realize they are only one all-star away from a title they might be willing to mortgage the future.

I mean the Blazers lost their last 13 straight games, that would lead any all-star to want a trade over the summer.

 

Fair enough.

That's just false.

You mean (gasp!) JOEL FREELAND MONEY!?! (Clutches pearls.)

What's market price? Chances are we'd be paying about Wesley Matthews money, tops.

If Ricky Rubio can come to Minnesota, then I think so.

Really? Let's compare PERs, shall we?
Butler: 15.26
Thompson: 12.71
Barnes: 11.08 (Luke Walton was 11.32. The "fucking" is short for "fucking overrated".)

Oh, but PER doesn't tell the whole story! It doesn't measure defense. Except that Butler is easily the best defender of the three as well.

Maybe you got excited about those three, but I never did.

Except the fans don't run the team, do they?