First Sheed, then ZBo, now Aldridge...

He's not the 2nd best in the league - not by a long shot. See my argument about PPG - it's meaningless if it doesn't lead to wins. If you have an argument for what makes him so great, other than just pointing to his PPG, I'd be interested to hear it - because I have not seen any particular skill set that makes him standout from 15-20 other PFs in the league.

And how else do you suggest we improve our bench? We can't trade any of them for better players. The only players that have any value are our starters and MAYBE Meyers Leonard. We're not trading Lillard (though I wouldn't even be against that). We're not trading - and we can't trade - Nic. That leaves LMA, Hickson, and Wes. Of those players LMA is the least valuable to our team and has the most value on the trade market. Trading him would net us multiple players, thereby bolstering our bench without adversely affecting our starting line-up.

 

Noknobs - what's being an all-star have to do with it?

 

I hope you're joking.

 

I guess it depends on whether you trust the pundits when it comes to strength of the draft analysis. It's far from a perfect science.

The point is: By the time the 'rebuild' is effectual, LMA will be gone. Get what you can while his value is high. Whether his hip or back is an issue, or he is just disinterested in putting out max effort for rebuild mode, he is not playing at the same level as last year.

 

blue9 - Take a look at thread http://sportstwo.com/threads/225411-Post-Game-A-clear-tank-job-is-in-full-swing when you get a chance.

 

name the top 5 PFs in the league.

We can improve our bench by waiving the shit we have there and signing free agents. To say that LA is the "least valuable" of our tradable players is laughable. And it would greatly affect our starting lineup. Hickson is best as a bench player, an energy guy off the bench. We get a center and are able to put him in the second unit, it strenthens the team more than trading Aldridge away.

aldridge is FAR from the problem. Its our bench.

 

look, all we need is a Center and bench and we'll be fine. Bench is horrible....management knows that but they're not going to veer off the path and do something stupid like trade LA for crap. We have cap room and can probably sign a player if need be.

Everyone is freaking out like they always do and continuing the bizarre blazers fan mentality of stockpiling as many young players and draft picks as possible and overvaluing their own evaluations of these young crappy players. And you see our bench, its a collection of young players and draft picks that people thought has potential...but it doesn't.

 

Jamal Magloire and Wally Szczerbiak were All-Stars as well in this league. Now I not putting LMA with them specifically but being an All-Star (certainly a 1-time All-Star) doesn't amount to much.

 

Then let me know, which PFs in the league right now are better than Aldridge.

 

A lot of "experts" disagree with you about Aldridge. You apparently don't care about PPG, or being an all-star when judging how good someone is, so I'd be interested to see your current top 5 rankings of PF's... I consider Love to be #1 at the moment, and his team has the same amount of wins as we do... this is a team game, with our current roster it's not going to happen no matter how good Aldridge, Batum and Lillard play. And prepare yourself because it'll only get worse this year as they start to wear down from playing so many minutes. Our team lost Oden and Roy to injuries, that's not something a team bounces back from quickly. Anyone with intelligence had no expectations this year, so forigive me if I think panicking after 15 games and trading our best player sounds stupid.

We can improve by adding role players in free agency, draft picks since we'll be a lottery team once again, and by getting all our rookies/Euros another year of experience. Not by trading our best players who are still young and in their prime.

 

Do people never learn? At what point do people acknowledge that his hip condition is a matter for concern and that it impacts his value?

LMA is 27 going on 47. He is 2-3 years from following Roy and Oden to the rocking chair league. Who cares if he was an all-star in the past - he isn't in the present and won't be in the future.

 

Waiting....

GTFO.

 

AND THERE ARE IMPENDING DOG FIGHTING FEDERAL CHARGES COMING FOR ZBO ANY DAY NOW! :MARIS61:

Like I said, name NBA Power Forwards that are currently better than LaMarcus Aldridge.

 

I don't have a big problem with Aldridge. I am pointing out being an All-Star is not what you should be measured by because in many cases it doesn't mean much. To answer your question though Love, Duncan (yes, still), and Randolph (we are talking on the court not as a person) are better in my mind and their PERs back that up. And Davis is likely to be better as soon as next year. There are others right there but I wouldn't say better then LMA although you could argue each of them 1 way or another, these guys would include Millsap, Griffin, and Garnett.

 

What a great argument. Lets use the exceptions to the rule as the standard. Those guys are done, Aldridge is still playing, so the fact he's only made it one time isn't relevant. Especially since that was last year.

 

That's certainly one way to look at it. and it makes sense if those elements can be added while LMA is still on the team. As I said, I doubt he re-ups with the Blazers.

You don't know how drafting players will turn out, unless you can see the future.

 

Davis is a center.

Duncan has 2 years left and isn't better than Aldridge is currently. ZBO and Love are probably up there....no way on Milsap, Griffin or Garnett. So at worst, he's the 3rd best PF in the league and has a better historical health than Love and ZBO.

 

And I told y'all about dumping ZBO the first time around (Imaginary Cap Space) and see how shitty that turned out for us? And he's apparantly the second best PF in the league? Remember the justification was also to allow Aldridge to become better than ZBO? has he?

 

Davis is categorized at a PF by the NBA. Duncan you certainly wouldn't take over LMA when starting a team now because he won't be around long but he is currently outplaying LMA. You asked who is better. If you want to go off of hypothetical on who can be better than LMA probably beats them all. But he isn't playing better then the guys I listed.

As I said though, I not debating that LMA isn't good. He is very good. I debating that throwing out an argument saying he is an All-Star doesn't mean anything. I think you have me crossed with someone else on the LMA hate. I have none for him.

 

And honestly, the problem is the bench. This could be addressed by signing guys out there....but blazers management seems to want to see where the young guys are at....they're probably not in panic mode right now, just evaluating slowly as to whom to keep.....guys out there like Eddy Curry, Troy Murphy, etc are still out there that can help close some gaps, but they probably don't want to waive anyone yet.