I keep seeing Blazers fans (and have read rumors that the Blazers have offered Travis Outlaw for Kirk. I'd be willing to talk if we were talking about Martell Webster. I think the problem with Outlaw is he’s a 3/4 (which we have in absolute abundance). Webster, on the other hand, is a 2/3 who can spot up and drill 3-pointers. That seems like the sort of guy we want next to Rose. So the trade I'd offer is: Bulls trade Kirk, Noc and Simmons Blazers trade Raef, Martell Webster and Channing Frye Martell Webster just signed a relatively cheap extension, and I think he can be traded by the deadline (We'd want to sit tight and see if he recovers from his current injury anyway). He's big, athletic, only 21, on a solid contract, and is a very good shooter. Put it all together and he could be the right guy to put next to Rose. And if he's not, he doesn't kill us because he's still moveable. Raef LaFrentz is an expiring contract. By trading away our two guys for the Blazers guys, we net about $12.5M in additional room under the luxury tax threshold next year. That maybe makes it possible for us to resign Gordon and Gooden if we choose, or take back salary in sign and trades. And it clears up space for a real run at things in 2010. Frye will be an RFA next year, and might constitute a cheap(er) big man to replace Gooden should we feel the need. In short, this is a trade that opens a lot of options for us while closing few off. And then there's Webster. The way I’d look at it, he’s worth taking a chance on as a long-term piece of the puzzle. His salary is reasonable, so if we play our cards right, we could still be a 2010 player even taking him on with the (reasonable) new contract he signed. We’d have something like this Deng $11.37 Webster $4.86 Rose $5.55 Noah $3.13 2009 #1 $2.00 2010 #1 $1.50 Thomas RFA Thabo RFA Gordon ? Gooden ? Salary $28.41M Players 6 Cap Holds 5 Amount $2.37M Total Salary $30.78M Cap $63.40M Cap Space $32.62M For the Blazers, I'm reading they want more veterans, and their biggest areas of need are at PG and SF. So our guys might make sense for them, especially in the likely event someone ruins their cap space by signing Darius Miles.
I like the thinking about building around Rose with the right pieces. This deal fills Portland's two biggest holes, but I'm not sure Noc is what they're looking for at SF. Frye would likely start for us at PF, too.
Does Webster start for the bulls or come off of the bench, is he a 2 or a 3? Noc would be a PF for the blazers, too, and just take Frye's spot. So I'm not sure if that would help the bulls all that much unless Webster starts. It would help the Blazers though.
Outlaw plays a lot of backup 4. I kind of like the idea of the trade, but it doesn't do anything for Portland because we get 2 good players in, send 2 good players out, Portland needs to consolidate talent more than anything.
From what I've read, the Blazers are looking for that elusive "veteran leadership" quality. So I'd counter by saying 1. Noc and Kirk are simply better players at more necessary positions than Frye and Webster and 2. They're guys who have been team leaders to some extent. If I were the Blazers, I'd try to follow that up by consolidating something like Outlaw, Rodriguez, Blake and change into Gerald Wallace. Your end result would be pretty freaking scary. 1- Kirk, Bayless 2- Roy, Rudy 3- Wallace, Batum, Noc 4- Aldridge, Noc, Diogu 5- Oden, Prz ---------------------- For the Bulls, I think Webster is a 2/3, but the biggest benefit to him is he looks like a good complement to Deng. I'd like him to be a super-athletic defender, but he's not. But I'm comfortable he can play the two and create space. What's really killed me over the first five games was watching Rose out there with a Thabo-Deng combo. That pair and their non-shooting shouldn't take the court with Rose at the same time. Pair one of them with a guy who can shoot and you're in business. Which is why I want Webster.
