I love JJ Hickson and the energy he brings. However, you have to trade him at the deadline because he really doesn't fit with LaMacus. I feel a team needing some inside help and rebounding would give the Blazers a 1st for Hickson. For kicks and giggles, let's say it's the Hawks, for Petro and a 1st If things go as they should, Portland would end up with a mid lottery pick, say 6 and 24, along with 13 million or so to spend. Our roster would look like Lillard Matthews Batum Aldridge Leonard Freeland Claver Barton At this point, Portland needs A LOT, but it's still mostly complimentary bench players....no? They needs scoring, rebounding, perimeter and interior defense. IMO, those things can easily be addressed next summer. IMO, Andre Iguodala would be a good fit on our team, as would Tyreke Evans. However, with the lack of bigs in the draft it would be better to go with a player like Milsap. Milsap at 10mm. That would leave 3-4mm to sign a real back up PG like Aaron Brooks. Then draft some scoring in the draft like Archie Goodwin 6'4" height, 6'10" wingspan, who can score from anywhere on the floor with the lottery pick and add some quality stability with a seasoned player at 24 like Doug McDermott 6'8" SF who plays hard defense and can also score from anywhere. Then add a vet minimum center like Aldrich, Petro, Kwame Lillard/Brooks Matthews/Goodwin/Barton Batum/McDermott Aldridge/Milsap/Claver Leonard/Aldrich/Freeland
Hickson will be very hard to trade at the deadline. He has to agree to the trade and if traded he will lose his bird rights. He will most likely be involved in a sign and trade at the end of the season.
As Sly notes, Hickson will be hard to trade ... but I do agree they should try. He's an energetic 4, who struggles defensively and doesn't fit particularly well with the personnel around him. This team isn't going anywhere with him or without him, so you might as well make moves that can hopefully add more balance to this roster.
I keep wondering how difficult JJ will be to move. Yes, his bird rights for him are nice. But only if we intend to sign him, or S&T him. I also wonder if he'd be willing to accept a trade if it were either to a winning team, or somewhere he could get good minutes. Atlanta could be an option, and they'd have cap space to sign him next season. Maybe the Clippers? Hollins and odom are their only two bigs off the bench, each getting about 13 minutes a night, and each, really, playing like shit. Odom more so. Hickson taking their minutes with Crawford as well off the bench would be a bi boost to their title plans. And maybe JJ sees it as a chance to potentially win a ring, establish a role for himself. Who knows. I think OKC is a great fit for him, with Collison as their only real rotational big off the bench. They have a ton of pieces to move. Adding Hickson's energy to their team would be a big boost. Memphis?
Not a cap guru, but I like the idea of getting a big time player this summer with the salary cap room and then signing Hickson using his bird rights as the Blazers go over the cap. Hickson's age fits with the current Blazers, he would be energy off the bench and could take some minutes off of Aldridge's PT. So make a high ball offer to a center like Pek and then sign Hickson as a back up to Aldridge.
You'd just have to make sure to find a player that would sign without having to waive Hickson's Bird rights.
No way to trading Hickson - he's one of the only guys that brings it every night. I'd rather trade Aldridge for help at the 2 or 5 + picks.
We should trade Aldridge and all other slow lardbutts who won't play as energetically as Hickson. We need to find 4 starters who fit with Hickson.
Are you saying we should trade our best player, who is also an All-star, because he doesnt fit with a player that was cut by a team last season? I hope you're being sarcastic.
I fully agree with jlprk, I think Hickson has a much better mindset, physical & energetic game than our so-called 'All-star'. Keep Hickson, trade Aldridge.
Good thread, MM. My thoughts: Aaron Brooks isn't good anymore. Hickson, with minutes as #1 option in the post, is good enough to become an All Star.
I think that right now, Hickson is a better PF for this team that LaMarcus. We need a tough interior player. I'd rather keep JJ as our starting PF and see what we can get for LaMarcus. I'd try to trade LaMarcus for Noah or Hibbert. Or maybe LarMarcus to the Cavs for Varejeao /Pick
I might let Batum, Lillard, and Matthews stay if they bow down to Hickson whenever he rebounds their missed shots. Imagine if we didn't have him bailing out everyone's errors. We'd be the 0-12 team, not the Bullets. Now that we have a real savior PF, we need to trade Aldridge before the secret of his worthless icebergness melts out. But let's take our time and get a giant established star, because we can have almost anyone we want, he's such a big name.
