Cavaliers dreaming of a LaMarcus Aldridge trade...

Privately, the Cleveland front office has pitched a fantasy of trading young players and picks to Portland for All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, sources said. Only, that's never going to happen. Cleveland is far higher on its two top-five picks, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, than the rest of the NBA.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--c...m-of-reunion-with-lebron-james-055643252.html

 

If they had not screwed around 2 years ago and drafted Valanciunas, I might have given in to the thought of trading LA for Val, Varejao, and their lotto pick.

 

Sure, why not blow it up? I'm starting to lose interest anyway.

 

Aldridge to Cleveland in July for Thompson and the rights to Olipado and Dieng......PLUS an additional 7-8 million in cap space to sign someone like Evans, is a good haul for Aldridge. Still leaves you all the cap room for a center as well.

 

You would have to consider that.

Two Diana Prince sightings in two days. Is it a blue moon too?

 

Maybe re-sign JJ on a cheap deal.

 

I don't think Allen is looking to rebuild with a young core.

On the other hand, it's never too early to start tanking next year . . .

 

So in this scenario we are basically trading LMA for Olipado. Because Thompson is very average (You can find some one like him anywhere) and with our pick now we could get Dieng. The extra cap space is nice and all but you are still talking about bench players. If you are going to trade LMA then you must get an all star back. (Or someone you feel pretty confident will be an all star) Because average players can be easily found.

I think the players in this draft have potential, but I would wait until next year for sure to think about trading LMA for draft picks.

 

Fuck Cleveland. LaMarcus ain't goin' nowhere.

 

Soup Juggler and both picks, or gtfo.

 

Next years draft is loaded! Very interesting......

 

Agree. Especially not this off-season.

 

I haven't been against trading Aldridge, but it has to be for a position of need and it has to bring back some damn good talent. Thompson and Waiters is not enough. Waiters doesn't strike me as an efficient scorer, and Thompson is very "meh". And if they did include their lotto pick and the 19th in this draft, who would you take? If you grab Oladipo, Waiters becomes redundant.

 

Cleveland has done so well with these players and Irving?!?!?! We need them ASAP!

 

Whenever I think of Teh Soup Juggler, images of Rider smoking herb out of a pop can in his car in LO always pop into my mind.

I guess that's how strongly I feel he reminds me of Rider. I'm not totally sure why.

I just feel like he's Rider 2.0. Probably not quite the level of headcase. So, if he were Rider 2.0, it wouldn't be the worst thing. It just means he'll disappear some nights and play without focus.

 

So Thompson and 2 picks, and set ourselves back another year or so, but are realistically not bad enough to land Wiggins or a top 3 pick in next year's draft. Not interested. I think Lillard is further ahead than most rookies, and further ahead than most expected. With what he's shown, I don't think worrying about finding someone younger to fit with him is as much a priority as it could have been right after the draft.
Also if we did successfully tank for Wiggins, the age difference between Lillard and Wiggins is the same as Lillard and Aldridge. So should we turn and look to trade Lillard?

 

Waiters, Top 5 pick and #19 is pretty similar value to what the Jazz got in return for Deron Williams (Harris, Favors, and No. 3 pick [Kanter]) and I thought Utah was smart to have the foresight to trade Williams a year before he would become an expiring contract, which is why if we do deal LA, it HAS to be this summer. He won't command nearly as much in value if we were to wait to trade him as an expiring contract.

Barring a Dwight Howard signing, I don't see this team do much more than being one-and-done in the playoffs next season, which means we would have wasted yet another peak year of Aldridge on the roster. We simply need to be realistic about how long rebuilding will take and it would be smart to deal LA to accelerate the process. This is Dame's team, and we need to do whatever it takes to build young talent around him. LA's a great compliment, but we just have too many holes to fill and I fear that by the time they are finally filled, Aldridge will be on the decline.

Now the question becomes, "Does Cleveland have enough to offer?" Unfortunately, this draft is not the ideal draft to trade your All-Star in. I do love the Top 3 picks (Noel, McLemore, Oladipo), there's still good value at 19 (take a flyer on Schroder, Adetokoubo, Gobert?), or package Waiters for a Top 3 pick this year or next. I do like the idea of taking Oladipo and having a weapon like Waiters coming off the bench.

I think a better offer could be made from Orlando if they were interested. What about Nic Vucevic and an unprotected 2014 pick? Too little return? Too much? Either way, it's going to be an exciting offseason.