The NBA’s Midseason Arms Race Is Upon Us (The Ringer)

https://theringer.com/the-nbas-midseason-arms-race-is-upon-us-158ff3ee2b86#.i4gwf5q6a

A large section about us trading with Philly and thoughts about trading CJ.

If I wasn't a die hard Trail Blazers fan, I might be persuaded, but that is not the case.

 

Somebody should show Dame that video where every man he's guarding blows by for a layup. Damn, he looks atrocious.

 

Agreed, those videos were very damning!

 

I think the Sac pick he mentions in the trade would be a 2019 Unprotected 1st round pick. Still 3 1st round picks this year.

 

It would be so tough to give up CJ, especially to a team like Philly were he could shoot all day. He would average 25-28ppg there and that would be tough to see on another team.

 

It was noel, their 2017, and Kings 2019. 3 picks this year

 

That "damning" video is just a loop of the same three plays over and over and over and over again. I'm pretty sure you could make a similar video for every PG in the league that plays as many minutes as Damian Lillard.

I'm not saying Dame isn't a bad defender, just that cherry picking three plays out of an entire season is hardly damning evidence. Just ask HCP, it's easy to make a highlight video to make shit players look like superstars, or superstars look like shit - especially if that video is just looping on the same 3 plays.

BNM

 

yeah man, i mean im a rookie fetishist, but we would be lucky if one of those draft picks turns out to be as good as cj.

 

sixers might want to see if they have anything in simmons before cashing in on their draft picks anyways. if he isnt an all star they are gonna need them.

 

Makes zero logic on Portland's end to trade CJ for an injury prone(fully recovered or not) center and draft picks.
Well unless people indeed wish for Portland to become exactly like Phoenix.

Especially if you take into consideration Portland's contract situation.

 

BPA if I had to. Much rather trade it for something we need. Top six picks are PG or SF, our positions of strength--arguably.

Or, use it to scrap the whole thing and pick the best PG defender available at that point and start over with PG, Harkless, Nerlens etc. Not my first choice, but you could start building with better defenders. Olshey and Stotts would be looking for new jobs.

 

Actually Crabbe did not play well in Dame's absence, C.J. did. Crabbe, as a starter, saw his PER dip back below the magical 10.0 barrier. Now that's he's been moved back to the bench, his natural role given is limitations, he's raised his PER to 10.9.

C.J., on the other hand, absolutely flourished in Dame's absence:

"In 11 games without Lillard, McCollum averages 28.4 points, 5.6 assists, and 4.9 rebounds, which are pretty rare numbers (via StatMuse)."

It's funny that the author is trying to make a case for trading C.J., but the stats he quotes actually make a strong case for keeping C.J. and trading Dame. Here's another:

"as bad as Lillard and McCollum are together on D, the Blazers are even worse on defense when Lillard is on the floor without McCollum"

So, C.J. thrives on offense without Dame and Dame without C.J. on defense is even worse than the two of them together (another reason why I think trading C.J. and starting Crabbe next to Lillard would be a disaster).

There are very few players we could get in a trade that would make me consider trading Damian Lillard, but.... as part of a larger package, I'd look into it. The author proposes:

"The Blazers send McCollum to the Sixers for Noel, the Sixers’ unprotected 2017 first, the Kings’ unprotected 2019 first, and multiple second-round picks."

If that's what McCollum is worth, Lillard should be worth even more, especially since PHI's biggest need is PG. Not sure how much more we could get from PHI, but maybe start getting 3rd or 4th teams involved. As you mentioned, that would give us 4 first round picks, including one that's likely to be in the top 3 and another in the top 10. Those picks (plus ours and CLE's) are very valuable assets in a deep draft - especially one that is top heavy in PGs and combo guards.

We could try to draft a bigger PG/SG who can defend to better pair with C.J., or we could move some of those assets on to a 3rd or 4th team to land us proven players. Maybe get ORL, IND or CHI involved and see if we can come up with the right combination of high draft picks and players to land a solid 2-way player like Serge Ibaka, Paul George or Jimmy Butler. I think Ibaka at the 4 would be a perfect fit next to Noel at the 5. Likewise, Butler at the 2 next to C.J. at the 1 would address our defensive weakness in the back court, without negatively impacting our scoring. Paul George would be a great fit next to anyone.

I'm not proposing any specific trades, I haven't given it that much thought, but if we get Noel and a couple more very high draft picks, while only giving up one player (either C.J. or Dame), we'd have a ton of assets to package in additional trades. With Crabbe playing like he did last night, he's only increasing his trade value. Plumlee and Harkless also have high value to the right teams. Those kind of combined assets gets us in the conversation for the kind of 2-way superstars you build a championship contender around.

I've never been a fan of tanking. Losing to lose is a loser attitude. However, I'm all for taking advantage of others' suckage and ineptitude. That's how we got both Brandon Roy and Damian Lillard.

In the very recent past, I've been opposed to breaking up the Dame/C.J. Dynamic Duo, but that's before I started hearing things about multiple unprotected high lottery picks and superstars being available. Those kind of assets are what we could use to retool this team without deliberately losing and hoping for a kind bounce from the ping pong balls. Add a young rim protector like Nerlens Noel and a 2-way superstar like Butler, George or Ibaka AND still have a couple draft picks left over and now it becomes ease to make minor tweaks to add role players and strengthen your bench.

I started a thread a couple weeks ago that I thought Noel + Ibaka + Bogut would be a great front court rotation. In the article the author mentions Bogut is available cheap. He wouldn't have to start here, but would be a great back up center to come in, grab some boards, shut down the paint and set some killer (moving) screens.

If we did trade Dame and moved C.J. to starting PG, I'd even make a play for Ricky Rubio, another player who is supposedly available on the cheap. I've been a huge critic of Rubio ever since MIN drafted him. The problem is, as a starting PG, he's less than useless. His atrocious shooting more than negates his passing and defense. Because of his reluctance to even take a shot combined with his inability to actually make one, means you absolutely cannot have him on the court with the game on the line. That said, he wouldn't be as he would be coming off the bench backing up C.J. He'd be great running with the second unit, and you could even run him in for defensive possessions late in the game.

Anyway, those are just a few ideas, but the goal should be to get Noel for as little as possible (Crabbe + pick). If we have to give up more to get him (C.J. or Dame), get as much as possible from PHI in return and try to flip some of those assets for an established 2-way player, then fill out the bench with proven role players and remaining draft picks.

BNM

 

Jackson can be a SG.

 

Did anyone see the look on CJ's face when he and Dame were sitting on the bench in favor of a more defensive team at the end of the game and the OT? I don't know if this is going to be a new trend in crunch time or Stotts was just trying something new.

 

It was the right move on Stotts part. Neither of them can play 'D'.

 

It also sends a clear message to everyone on the team. Play D or have a seat, doesn't matter who you are or how much you make.

BNM