Blazers getting serious for David Lee

I wouldn't do Bayless for Lee straight up, if I were Pritchard. For two reasons:

1. Lee won't re-sign in Portland. He'd be a backup power forward for the life of the deal, since he's clearly inferior to Aldridge. Lee won't voluntarily sign up to be a backup (which would also depress his numbers and his value on his next deal)

2. Even if he'd re-sign, I'd rather have Bayless. Lee is obviously a better player right now, but Bayless has a much higher ceiling. Considering Portland has their future starting front court set and is aiming for a championship caliber team, they are much better served gambling on the high-upside prospect than settling for a safe but limited front court player

If Lee could be flipped, like to Charlotte for Gerald Wallace, I'd be willing to do your first idea...take back Curry's or Jeffries' bad contract.

 

Another rape everyone trade. We come out with the two best players somehow.

 

add us taking back some dead salary like jared jeffries and/or matt carrol, and i think it meets all three teams needs.

 

Have you not noticed that every trade KP has made he has raped somebody? I dont think that deal gets done either, but I wouldnt be shocked if KP pulled it off.

 

As long as Lee is getting decent minutes and likes Portland (the team and city) I don't know how you can rule out him not re-signing. I'm not too sure about the CBA rules, but won't the Blazers have his bird rights anyway?

If the Blazers want a proven double-double player then their best is probably to trade for Lee. I like Bayless, but I don't think he is an ideal fit for Roy, anyway. He was also a projected top 5 pick based on his talent and ability. The fact that he isn't seeing any playing time is alarming, so maybe his ceiling isn't as high as KP thought.

It depends on who you look at it. It might be rough for Portland if Denver gets Lee for Atkins though.

 

Portland can re-sign him, in terms of the CBA rules. I simply don't think Lee has any chance at all of accepting a backup role when he'll have offers on the free market to start for another team.

With Oden and Aldridge locked in as the team's long-term starters at center and power forward, with Przybilla as a high quality big man reserve, I don't think a "proven double-double" power forward is a priority for Portland.

I completely disagree. I think his skillset is a perfect fit alongside Roy. Roy is a player who likes to handle the ball and run the offense. The ideal backcourt mate for him is someone who projects as a good defender of point guards, can shoot well from the perimeter and can drive-and-dish. That describes Bayless perfectly. A "true" point guard isn't really what Portland needs alongside Roy, since he has point guard skills himself.

Perhaps, but unlikely to me. Bayless lit up the summer league (which isn't proof of anything, but what you'd expect to see from a player with high ability level) and apparently plays extremely well in practice and scrimmages with the starters. There's little evidence to me that his minutes are limited because he's a poor player, but rather that he's currently the victim of a numbers crunch.

Indeed. If New York gives Lee to Denver for nothing (Chucky Atkins), that would be bad for Portland. Of course, you don't make a bad deal just to prevent another team from making a deal. Especially when this season isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, if New York is willing to deal Lee for Atkins, it completely undercuts your belief that New York wants good value back for Lee, so...

 

That's a great summary of the situation; as you point out, Sergio, while many here believe he'd thrive under D'Antoni, is much less valuable than Lee. Still, to the Blazers, Lee would only be a backup PF. Honestly, the proposed trade doesn't make any sense to either team. The three way trade with Charlotte, on the other hand, looks much better.

 

this is a business. if rudy cant handle sergio being traded, then we need to trade rudy aswell.

 

bayless is the perfect fit for roy. and why do we need a proven double-double player? we were 2 in the league in rebounding last time i checked.

 

They have similar PERs, but Aldridge is two years younger with a significantly higher upside. In addition, Aldridge is a defensive asset while Lee is not.

So defense makes Aldridge the superior player today, and Aldridge's production at a younger age also gives Aldridge the superior upside.

 

He's also on Portland

 

It'll be Sergio. The Knicks like Rodriguez.

Prediction: Sergio will blow up in NY with the SSOL offense.

I mean, look at what it's done for a scub like Chris Fricking Duhon.

 

Those are accounted for in PER, they aren't counters to what I said.

D'Antoni's teams are known for pushing the pace, which leads to giving up a lot of points. He doesn't tell his players not to defend in the half-court. I don't think this is a very good argument.

From observation (mine and others), Lee is a pretty sub-par defender. Aldridge has more defensive range (he can defend out to the perimeter as well as inside) and is a very good team defender, something that Lee isn't known for, at all.

Improve his production and defense, as players tend to improve up to around age 27. The further from 27 (on the younger side, not the older side), the steeper the improvement. Who knows where, specifically, he will improve? The likelihood, however, is that Aldridge has more improvement left before his prime then Lee does.

 

David Lee >>>>>>>> Tyrus Thomas

 

So, something like this: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/featur...&teams=30~22~30~18~30~18~22~22&te=&cash=30:22