First off thats not demanding a trade and I'm not the only one in here who was saying we should consider Melo. I do believe yout the one that first said something about how the dude just scores. I do believe there is a conversation about it in the thread "Trades that move the needle" I'd bump it but I'll get banned.:MARIS61: Anyway I'm not the one that started the whole thing anyway.
People are over valuing post bench players. If you look at the remaining 8 teams, there aren't many reserve posts to be excited about. Chris Anderson in Miami, Diaw in SA, Plumlee in BKN, Scola and Mahinmi in Indiana, Steven Adams in OKC, Glen Davis for the Clippers, and Drew Freakin Gooden in Washington. Compare our own Robinson and even Freeland to those guys and we arent as terrible at the position as people like to rant about. What we need is ballers regardless of position. Right now we have nothing from the wing off the bench.
I know he said that earlier in the year, but what about now that he's playing like shit? He could really fuck them by not opting out.
The more I think on it it Chris Kaman is a very likely candidate, there is an Olshey connection as well
http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...ency-Believes-Bulls-Could-Be-Interesting-Team I'd say we're as much of a contender as the Bulls.
It would actually help the Blazers, though. Mo would be used in some manner, and the entire MLE could be used to add some scoring and defense. Mo not opting out is a positive, IMO. Keep him, or use him in a trade, either way that money is already accounted for next year and doesn't impact the MLE space.
Elton Brand??? Anthony Morrow??? Emeka Okafor??? Leandro Barbosa??? Kris Humphries??? Ben Gordon??? Steve Blake??? Pau Gasol??? Marshon Brooks??? Jermaine O'Neal??? Drew Gooden??? Marvin Williams??? Gordon Hayward??? Jason Richardson??? Vince Carter??? Jimmer Fredette??? CJ Miles??? Caron Butler??? Any of these guys float your boat?
Right now, I think our main weaknesses are backup point guard, backup small forward, and backup center. G Avery Bradley Shaun Livingston Nick Young Rodney Stuckey Greivis Vasquez Mario Chalmers Patty Mills SF Luol Deng Paul Pierce Trevor Ariza PJ Tucker C Pau Gasol Marcin Gortat Spencer Hawes Emeka Okafor From this list, I think Mario Chalmers would actually be an amazing backup point guard. He's a good defender, he passes, and he can shoot. Ariza would be fucking amazing as a backup. I don't know how much he's going to get. I also like Pierce, and you know he wants to win, but I could see him signing in LAC. For center, Okafor could be a nice piece at a cheap price. We could throw it all at Deng and move Wes to the bench.
I would like to see CJ Miles added to that list. Personally for bench players i don't mind tweeners at all. I think they help when the rotation shortens up at playoff time. What about Nate Robinson for the smaller exception?
I think one flaw i see with your list Nate is that while I agree those guys are all solid, I think guys like Pierce are too old for the $$ and will be exceptionally hard to persuade to come here. Also there could be a shitstorm of shaking up going on. The NBA raising the cap by 3mil more than expected is opening up some more options for teams that weren't there to begin with.
I hope your not suggesting Loul Deng as a 6th man type player? As for your list I really like Kirk Heinrich and Vince Carter.
Every player we get needs to be an above average defender. If we can get a good enough SG or SF, I would look at moving Matthews to the bench. I've always thought he could do amazing in the 6th man spot.
