Trade Blazers trade Hezonja for Kanter!

That ship has sailed....if we didn't make a move for him earlier...I don't see us doing it now with our current roster at all.

 

we’re in a better position to trade for him at the deadline than we were in the offseason. We were in no position, minus a Whiteside sign and trade, which as it turns out wasn’t realistic at all.

Actually if I had to put money on the most likely trade target, it would be Aldridge. And if we don’t trade for him, signing him next summer is pretty realistic as well. I guess it just depends on Zach and possibly Giles’ development.

 

I think there’s a much better chance now.

 

I think there's a better chance he becomes a Pacer, Rocket, Wizard or Knick...we have talent at his position now that's ten years younger and cheaper. If we sign him next offseason then in my view....Zach didn't work out

 

I'm speaking for feasibility from a contracts (both duration and salaries) point of view. Of course they (the Blazers) aren't going to do that now, they're going to try to win with the team they just signed, but if things are looking less than ideal at the deadline, I'd definitely look for them to explore trade opportunities.

 

I think I remember our GM saying something about letting him pursue other options he had. That's probably just spin but it also could have just been good will.

 

I disagree

even assuming the Blazers would be willing to go into the tax, they are still hard-capped. And the assumption they would be willing to spend a 3rd straight season as a tax-payer, putting them on the edge of repeater tax, doesn't seem a safe assumption. They don't have the contracts to make a reasonable trade IMO. To stay out of the tax it would have to be something like Nurkic + Hood + Simons; or Hood + Zach + Kanter + Simons + Little. If they are willing to pay tax this year & risk repeater tax over the next 2 seasons, they have to send out 19M in salary. That would have to be something like Hood + Jones; or Covington + Zach + Simons

I don't really see any reasonable cost option for Aldridge. His 24M salary is way too big.

 

You listing all those options are exactly why I think it's way more likely than last year, when all we had was Whiteside.

 

So what trade outside do you think is likely? And why would we downgrade or defense so mightily?

 

We had such shitty chemistry with Zach Miles the team didn't want an immature selfish ball hog around.

 

Perhaps more to the point - what do we want him for? He really isn't a PF anymore, and I seriously question whether he can play alongside Nurk. We already have a decent back-up center who is paid a lot less!

 

which one of those trades do you think would be a good one for Portland?

personally, I think they would all be bad trades

 

I'm not saying they should, or would consider those deals now. But a lot can change between now and the trade deadline.

And again, this is all comparing to the same situation last year, where all we had to trade was Whiteside.

 

but Whiteside and Aldridge have matching salaries. Blazers also had future DPOY winner Zach Collins and the most gifted athlete Olshey has ever drafted in Simons

I think the Aldridge ship sailed out of Portland for good in 2015

 

Aldridge you pick up on a vet minimum in a few years and let him retire here...now we need people Dame's age or younger that can run the floor. It might have worked bringing Aldridge back but not since we picked up Kanter, Roco and Giles...Aldridge should get another payday with a bottom feeder like the Bulls or Knicks and then play with Portland after that contract is up...

 

Hopefully our rotation is deep and playing great so we have no interest in bringing in Aldridge.

If we have a big with an injury or severely underperforming maybe we look at signing Aldridge if he gets a buyout after the trade deadline.

I dont think we'll try to trade for Aldridge as we don't have bigs with salary to match him except Nurk. If we have wings like DJJ Hood underperforming it wouldn't make sense to trade them for a big.

Next summer I could see maybe signing Aldridge if we have a Melo role for him. I dont expect a big market for him.

 

LaMarcus seem's like the type of guy that would want to retire where is kids & mother are, Texas.
Which is one of the main reasons he left here after 9 years.

 

Blazers will win the championship, and then Aldridge will sign for the midlevel!

 

I could actually see something like that happening.

 

With just a bit more practice, I’m sure Kanter can be shooting these just as well as Dame.



Or maybe not....