Would Philly give us Iguodala...

Yes "he" did! I see that it doesn't work for any trade - there must be some bug with the trade machine at the moment. Anyway, it said it worked, and it was:
* Elton Brand
* $14,858,472$14.8M
* 14.6
* PF6 0
* 4 Years

* A. Iguodala
* $12,200,000$12.2M
* 18.5
* SG2 0
* 5 Years

Acquiring 2 Players

$27,058,472 $27.1M

Being Traded To Philadelphia 76ers

* J. Bayless
* $2,143,080$2.1M
* 8.3
* PG1 0
* 2 Years

* Steve Blake
* $4,000,000$4.0M
* 14.5
* PG1 0
* 1 Year

* D. Cunningham
* $457,588$457.5K
* N/A
* F7 0
* 2 Years

* T. Outlaw
* $3,600,000$3.6M
* 15.1
* SF5 0
* 1 Year

* J. Pendergraph
* $457,588$457.5K
* N/A
* F7 0
* 3 Years

* J. Przybilla
* $6,857,725$6.8M
* 15.5
* C9 0
* 2 Years

* M. Webster
* $4,344,000$4.3M
* N/A
* SG2 0
* 4 Years

$21,859,981 $21.9M

So, we get to keep Rudy as well! Probably too good to be true, unless they're really jonesing for the rights to Victor Claver...

 

You gotta point as well, still a little concerned though. Since they played in Philly, it was really Ig and Him handling most the scoring and ball. Ig would basically come to portland as the 4th possibly 5th fiddle, IMO.

 

You do not trade a rookie of the year candidate!

 

I think he'd start as the 2/3 option. Behind Roy, on par with Aldridge. Over time, I expect Oden to move past both Aldridge and Iguodala on the scoring pecking order. But, if the team is having success and everyone is being paid (and, currently, everyone except Oden has their safely large contract), I think everyone will be able to live with their roles.

 

We keep Batum, too. Seems a little too good to be true. When the only value Portland is offering for their young borderline star is to take contracts and give young talent...I think they're going to want more than Bayless as young talent.

 

Here's the players we would have left:

C: Oden, Brand (yes, he's undersized, but several writers have suggested that this is now his natural position)
PF: Aldridge, Howard
SF: Iguodala, Batum
SG: Roy, Rudy
PG: Miller, Mills

Yes, it's thin. But hardly "gutted". And there are a fair few useful vets out there waiting for offers: Brevin Knight, Jerry Stackhouse and Wally Szserbiak (sp?) are just three that immediately occur to me.

 

What about Travis!!?? And Webster... And don't forget that Przybilla would instantly be their starting C, and a great complement to Mareese Speights. In fact, they'd get probably three starters NOT called Bayless out of this, because Blake is actually a PG but can play in the backcourt alongside Louis Williams....

...oh all right: it is too good to be true.

 

World domination not a good enough reason?

 

I agree that Pryzbilla, Blake and Outlaw are all solid players. But doing this deal would essentially be a franchise reboot for Philadelphia. Przybilla, Blake and Outlaw don't really help them build for their next contender...they are essentially pieces that they have to get back just to remain a viable NBA franchise in the here and now. I don't think they'd value them as more than filler. Present-value players aren't a big benefit to a team blowing things up.

 

Fair enough: then they can do what Atlanta did with Rasheed and turn around and trade them to a contender (just not the Lakers, please). I'm sure Orlando would be very glad to have Blake, and maybe they'd offer draft picks, cash, what have you. But Philly has Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights and Louis Williams as promising young players. Oh, and Andre Iguodala...

I bet if a team offered to take Brand AND Dalembert off their hands, Iggy would be gone yesterday.

 

Perfect is the biggest enemy of good enough.

 

That's an argument against the Kemp trade, not the Pippen trade. This is a Pippen trade.

 

I do not think so. Iggy is a very good defender - but his real value is as a big part of the offense. His role on the Blazers would be reduced offensively - to the point where you are overpaying in depth to get his defense - when we actually have someone who projects to be a fantastic (maybe better) defender than him in Batum - while keeping the depth.

This is my opinion. Too many chiefs, not enough native-americans. We have Chef Roy, we have Sous-LMA, we have Chef in training Oden. No need to bring Chef Boyardee to do a prep-boy job, when we have a prep-boy in training (in Batum) on the roster, if we also have a bunch of waiters.

Yeah, I know. I lost the i's and made a chef from chief. Sue me.

 

1. Why? Prove it! Does he have absurdly high usage rates? Is he a gunner? Has he shown evidence that he'll pout unless he gets x number of shots per game?
2. Define being a "big part of the offense". Do you simply mean "has to have isolation plays called for him"? Jason Kidd is a huge part of the Dallas offense, but takes very few shots. Ray Allen is a big part of Boston's offense even though his shots are way down from his Seattle days. If we have a "Ubuntu" vibe then everybody touches the ball, everybody's happy.

Depth is overrated. It really is. What counts is the quality of the players who get playing time. You need 4 or 5 very good players, and the rest can be Eddie Houses or Shannon Browns.

Do you think Batum could guard LeBron? I don't. But I think Iguodala could do a better job. They're different players: Batum is young Tayshaun, Iggy could be young, non-crazy Artest. And there's plenty of PT for both, particularly as Iggy can swing to the 2 and Batum can guard lankier "skill" bigs like Bargnani or even Nowitzki or Gasol.

Chiefs are Native Americans. And some players blend fine, as Ray Allen did and Paul Pierce did. The main knock on Iggy is that he's NOT a franchise player. But that would be a benefit in this scenario.

Block that metaphor!

 

I agree. I've been trying to find a lockdown 3 who shoots the 3 ball at a good clip and/or a lockdown defender 1 who shoots the three well. I also would like to see a banger backup PF/C.

Honestly, I think our biggest problem is topped out players like Outlaw and Blake taking away playing time from guys like Bayless and Cunningham. We ought to consider trades for high draft picks just to clear out the logjam. Not that I'm happy about his injury - FAR FROM IT - but can you imagine the log jam if we still had Batum ready to go?

 

I can not prove it, this is not a lab test. I can speculate.

However, His efficiency (PER) went up high as soon as AI (the first) went out and his usage percentage went up from 13-15% to the 22% and up. From just below 15 (average starter) to the 18-20 range (borderline all-star).

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iguodan01.html

This to me, is a point of concern. I think his efficiency, offensively will drop significantly if he becomes option #4 instead of #1.

I think his his efficiency will drop significantly if his usage% drops and more so if he does not handle the ball a lot. Ray Ray was always a great catch and shoot player. He can thrive in getting clean, open looks with the defense trying to contain Rondo, PP and making sure KG is covered. I do not think AI2 is the same kind of player.

I disagree. The Celtics, when they won it all were a deep team, and the Lakers were among the most deep teams in the league last year as well.

LeBron is averaging 30PPG against Iggy in his career, vs. 34PPG against a rookie Batum. On the other hand, Melo averages 30PPG against Iggy in his career, but only 25 against Batum.

I think that Nic's length will become a better tool against the LeBrons of the world than Iggy's shorter but stronger (for now) physique.

I think that you are trading depth of role players for a guy that would mostly become a role-player as well in this team, because he is relegated to option #4 on offense.

 

There is one on the Blazers: Nic Batum. Well, lock-down may be a bit of an overstatement, but very good defensively. If the Blazers had him healthy, I think the team would look even better. They could play Miller, Roy and Batum and let Batum defend the toughest perimeter opponent, 1, 2 or 3.

 

I think Philly only does it if you add Mills.

 

Philly loves cheesesteaks, not patty melts.

Good thought, though. There are some similarities.