Exclusive The official Lamarcus Aldridge free agency thread

I should have known he was involved. That isn't Pop in those photos, it's actually just Obama in an old dick chaney mask and some cotton balls.

 

That's okay, he passes that on and blames Bush.

 

What are Neil and Paul doing right now? Are we just not looking to sign anybody else in hopes Lamarcus goes with us or what? Because that ain't happening. Just wasting time while more free agents get ate up which doesn't make sense because there are still holes in this roster

 

We haven't signed anyone in 24 hours what a bunch of slackers.

My guess is Olshey has his eyes on a RFA. Might wait til after the 9th to pursue them.

 

I just sent the info to his life insurance provider.

 

I don"t know what else Neil could have done besides deciding right off the bat Aldridge would not sign. that seems
irresponsible too.

 

I don't think Aldridge is gone for sure. I'm sure he's built up some relationships on the team and he has familiarity with the system; if Olshey can sell him on the Blazers being competitive over the next few years, I think he'll seriously consider staying. The Spurs offer him a top-tier team for a year or two, the Suns offer him, apparently, a very firm basketball vision that he likes and the Blazers offer him continuity. If it's just continuity, he'll leave, but if the Blazers also offer him a basketball vision that he likes, that could be pretty persuasive.

 

1. Ken Berger ‏@KBergCBS 47m47 minutes ago
   One source stopped short of describing other teams (beyond obvious) as eliminated. But Spurs, Suns, Blazers at top of Aldridge's list.

Just when we finally accept he is gone.......

 

Keep up, FAMS!

 

Can someone just throw me off the fucking ride, please?

 

Let me tell you about Joe Dumars, a Pistons great who like Lillard and CJ went to a small school. After a hall of fame career, he became the GM of the Pistons. He made a few good moves and was highly lauded. Then came a summer when he had cap space, and lots of it. Free agency had gone on for a bit and he didn't want to lose out. So, he gave huge $$ to undersized superscorer Ben Gordon and to Big man Charlie Villanueva. It took the Pistons YEARS to recover from those bad contracts. Ben played poorly and Charlie wasn't that good.
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/4/14/5593442/joe-dumars-detroit-pistons-review

Just because you have $$, doesn't mean you should spend it. It's not obvious whether we should or not.
/lesson

We can
1) keep our $$ for next year, there's a lot of good FAs next year. Lillard's contract will kick in and eat a bunch of it, so I'd have to look more deeply into the numbers to check this out.
2) keep our $$ for an unbalanced trade. For example, Team Texas wants to clear cap space because it has dreams of Kevin Durant. Sure, we'll take on your large stupid contract for our delicious cap space, but you have to also give us a 1st rounder and your best young prospect! Philly just made one of the best trades ever because they had cap space - previous years lotto pick Nik Stauskas, other dudes, + 1st rounder for cap space. These are the types of trades we'd be looking for.
3) spend our cap space on a player.

Conclusion:
If you can get a cornerstone with 3), do it. If not check out 2). Paul Allen ain't waiting for 1), regardless of what posters on these boards hope - it would just get Neil fired.

 

Lol you and me both

 

I'm just saying there are holes in the roster, I am not in favor in using up all out cap space but that backup sf,pg, and sg looks suspect.

 

nobody is getting off the goddamn ride! #madpaintskills

 

Needs at the backup positions can be easily filled later.

 

How many hills can a rollercoaster have before it ends up back at the station? Holy shit

 

Post this on Twitter and I will retweet

 

I don't have a twitter, but feel free to share it with the world.