If New Orleans trades Paul the Blazers will definitely at least make a pitch. The main piece we'd throw at them would be LaMarcus. Of course, a lot would also go with him to make the Hornets bite. Lets say this pipedream came to fruition, who would you look at to replace LMA at PF?
Bosh. One pipe dream deserves another. There's no realistic scenario in which LMA headlines a deal for Paul.
I completely agree that the LMA for Paul swap will never occur, but in the spirit of "Doing something Crazy" I'd like to see how the Blazers capitalize on the likely chaos that will ensue when lots of players start moving around in free agency and their respective teams maybe start scrambling looking for palatable sign and trade opportunities, or decide to blow things up and start from scratch. Teams ripe for the picking in terms of headed for rebuilds would be the Nets, the Pacers, the Mavericks, the Hawks and probably a few other teams who will be looking to reinvent themselves. Here's a crazy thought, (credit to Dave Deckard in the trailblazers.com podcast today) but he brought up the prospect of maybe trading Bayless, Rudy and LMA for Danny Granger with the idea of potentially using Nic as a super sub with a backcourt of Miller, Brandon and Granger and then relying on either Dante, Camby or maybe one of the plethora of power forward draft prospects who might be available to fill LMA's minutes and role or potentially bringing in Claver or Freeland if they show they are ready to contribute. I'd worry like hell about Greg's durability, and the potential drop off in production from the 4 spot, but with Granger as your 1B scorer to pair up with Brandon's 1A, there's something kind of intriguing about the notion of a starting lineup (for the next season anyway) of Miller, Brandon, Granger, Camby, Oden, (with Nic as your sixth man) or maybe you go super-sized if Nic keeps developing his handle and use Brandon, Nic, Granger, Camby, Oden as your starting 5 (and bring Miller off the bench)? Honestly I don't know what to think of that as I type it ... it would certainly qualify as a radical change at the least.
seriously. Start with the fact that they already have a talented jump shooting PF in David West... STOMP
IMHO, CP3/Webster/Batum/LMA/Oden > Miller(Bayless?)/Roy/Batum/LMA/Oden. That's potentially a pretty hellacious defensive team (especially with Camby coming off the bench?!?!) Plus, I think that for Nate to have an All-Star/Olympic PG is much more helpful in his gameplanning and strategy than an All-Star SG. Webster was serviceable when starting. You also don't run into the personnel issues we have with "can we find a PG that can play off of Roy? You know, one who doesn't dribble-drive or create much, who doesn't need the ball in hands, but can hit the 3 when Roy's tripled? One who needs to play stellar perimeter D b/c Roy won't?" DOn't get me wrong, I like Roy. A lot. But if we're talking Roy + random stuff for CP3? I'd snatch that so fast it'd create a vacuum.
Here is my only problem with your scenario. Danny Granger is banged up most of the time, and has warning signs on his knees too.
Lets get real here. Lamarcus is easily replaceable at PF. As is right now, Lamarcus is in the middle of the pack in western conference power forwards, let alone if you open up the balloting to the whole league. It gets even worse when you consider that Blake Griffin might be healthy this year. Even the Clippers might have a better PF than us. (might).
