Plan B: If LMA bolts

Are you wanting to make a push for Durant?

 

Not sure if it's Durrant, but I suspect there will be a lot of guys available next summer looking for big paydays.

 

Bullshit. You and Brian both guaranteed he would leave the team and he had to be traded very soon. LMA never made such statements and it was pure speculation on both you and Brians part. We've gone over this many times since and you continue to re-characterize your previous statements.

 

Reminds me of the difference between Jordan and Drexler. Clyde was great when he was on his game, but he had a psyche that was easy to shake (like his need to play Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better with opposing SG's)... LaMarcus has a strong psyche but his own weaknesses like his desire to shoot long range jumpers at a 43% clip.

 

Bollocks.

 

Yup. Brian and I made it up out of thin air. There were zero rumors in the media of him being unhappy and wanting out. Yup. We just concocted the whole thing on our own. Uh huh.

 

I doubt LaMarcus will leave; he is close with multiple players on the team and I don't see him giving up on teammates such as Wesley because of an injury. If anything I think he might welcome the speculation to make sure the team keeps all his buddies on the roster so he has the team he wants next season. The players have repeatedly said how much they enjoy playing with each other and this recent negativity feels more like rampant reporter speculation as we had with LMA 2 summers ago. Also I don't think another team with max cap room will be able to surround him with the talent he has here.

But just for the fun of the speculation I'll play along with the thread. If LaMarcus leaves we would have a ton of cap room and a big hole in the front court. We are pretty stacked with guards. If Wes and Afflalo both leave that changes but I expect both to stay and CJ has emerged as a legit rotational player. For free agents I would look at Paul Millsap even at a max salary. Greg Monroe, Brook Lopez and Roy Hibbert are possibilities at a lower salary. Khris Middleton, Thad Young, Demar Carroll, Tobias Harris, and Amir Johnson are very solid. Ed Davis is a cheap end of the bench vet I always liked. We could give a player such as Millsap or Monroe a near max contract and with the cap going up we'd still have cap space in future seasons.

I expect tons of starting level free agents to get near max salaries this offseason since the cap will increase. But if we can't get one of those above listed quality of players I'd hold out for the bargain free agents. Remember the Hawks the last two offseasons couldn't get any top free agents but they snagged multiple players on cheaper contracts that all have exceeded expectations. Maybe the Blazers NBA scouting team finds a value gem free agent as they did 5 years ago with Wes.

But if we can't get any significant free agents I'm still excited to see how our young players progress; CJ, Meyers, and Crabbe. We can keep Wes and Lopez on cheaper contracts and have max level cap room the summer of 2016; or potentially use the cap flexibility to take on salary in trades as when we acquired Lopez and TRob for virtually nothing.

 

Plan B: Rudy Fernandez!

 

You did notice the extra "S," right?

 

I don't really buy that. I think the negative impact these distractions have on his team (the one he apparently loves) during the playoffs outweighs any leverage it might create during his free agency. The team was going to give him whatever he wants anyways.

Aldridge could have put all this to rest by not responding, "Uh, we'll see". It's not hard. And the fact he didn't makes me think there's a chance he's not coming back. How big a chance, fuck if I know.

 

I don't totally disagree with you, however we are talking about LA. He just does not like to talk with the media. Some players are very calculated in everything they say. Others just do what their agents tell them to say. Did his agent tell him not to talk about it and when asked that was what came out? Hard to say, but Quick is not helping.

I can't help but think the article today about Dame was a clear jab at LA. "So regardless of what happens with Aldridge this summer, Blazers fans should rest easy knowing they have a leader in waiting".......

 

Still believe Draymond isn't worth the max?

Playoffs:

Green: +56.6
Curry: +24.9

 

Based upon 6 games?

Green won't get a max deal, what do you want to bet on that?

 

He's gonna get 10 mil at least. The dude was third on the vote for defensive player of the year.

 

Id bet $20 he gets a full max deal. He's obviously not a LeBron / Durant / Curry level of superstar but when there are 30 teams and room for 2-3 max players a team all the near allstars get the max. Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons got maxed last summer.

 

Parsons and Hayword were part of a small free agent gene pool and many teams under cap last summer. This summer has some potentially big game changers and very little teams with big cap space. At least little that still have their core and cap space.

 

NY, Lakers, Dallas, San Antonio, Portland, Detroit, Phoenix, Boston, Utah, Orlando, Atlanta, Philly all potentially have cap space to give him a max contract. A couple other teams could join those as well depending on their moves and who opts out. There aren't enough better free agents to use up all that space. Theres actually far more cap space available this summer than last summer; and with the cap rising $20 million next summer there is little incentive to roll over unused space. Draymond Green will be paid the max.

This is correlated to collective bargaining agreements having contracts being shorter; there used to be 7 year max contracts now its only 4 years if you sign with a new team. That means theres less dead weight bad overpaid contracts out there in the league. Many more teams have cap space and the mid tier starter level free agents will be paid far more than 5-10 years ago.

 

NY, Lakers, Philly all have that cap you are talking about. The others you mentioned have a grip of their own free-agents they must sign. If they don't sign them, that leaves a grip more free-agents available.

 

Its a game of musical chairs where the players are the chairs. There are 5 more people (teams) than chairs. Sure who's matched with who might change but in the end there just aren't enough chairs (players) to fit all the cap space. Result is overpaid players.

 

Here's a good analysis of "rim protection" that shows (a) Hibbert's value, but also (b) how good Robin Lopez is. And given how much better RoLo is at other things than Hibbert, and how Hibbert has been in free fall, I'm not sure it's a good trade.
http://nyloncalculus.com/2014/07/22/protecting-paint-sportvu-rim-protection/

Make sure you scroll to the bottom for the finished comparison. RoLo ranks higher than Larry Sanders, Serge Ibaka and Tim Duncan.