That's what I'm saying. In Milwaukee; he just had to fight for playing time with a clearly better center (Larry sanders). In Portland; he's guaranteed 20+ a game. Great situation for him.
Per minute, he got good stats in this game. http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketbal...ks-vs-portland-trail-blazers/2013-03-19/13/16
I think he'd be good enough to get us out of the lottery ... but probably doesn't elevate the team much beyond the 7th or 6th seed. So from that angle I don't get the allure. If it's between the "muddy middle of mediocrity" and a proper rebuild*, I'd rather the team sucked balls for another year, traded Aldridge for young guys and picks and had a legitimate shot at a guy like Andrew Wiggins next season. *If Olshey can swing a trade for a truly great player and that appeases Aldridge and makes the team into a 4 seed or better then of course I'd rather go that route, but that seems like a pretty thin possibility.
Dalembert on this team makes us better than with Hickson. Unfortunately, like Nikolokolus said, it doesn't make us a serious contender in the West. We still have no chance against LAC, SAS, OKC or MEM in a series. We'd be stuck in the dreaded middle of mediocrity until we decide to reboot again.
I'm curious which player(s) you believe will actually make us a top 4 team? I was calling for Allen and asik; and Allen is not available now. We still have a shot at asik; but it's still a big if.
Adding a top 5 or a top 10 player (good luck with that) is probably what it would take to turn the Blazers into a true contender -- a contender is defined as a group that can reasonably push OKC, the Spurs or Miami to 7 games in a series. Asik would fill a couple of holes, but he's no threat on offense so that limits any team that relies on him, so much like Dalambert I think he'd raise our floor, but wouldn't be enough of an addition to push this team from mediocre to great. Bottom line: It takes a super-star and a couple of supporting all-star level players to make a team a legitimate threat to win a title and right now we have one all-star level player (Aldridge) a borderline all-star (Lillard) and a whole lot of question marks.
I feel you about probably the only way to keep Aldridge is to contend. And if there was a rumor floating around that gives us good picks in 2014, a young up and coming and cap relief for Aldridge; would be the deal I want if Aldridge is traded. There is just no sense in trying to get talent in return; unless we are bringing in a superstar. <-- probably not the case. I'm just hoping a win out of the first round could change aldridges mind. That's close for this team because we would need a couple more pieces to contend. Maybe even just more experience from Lillard and CJ could do the trick?
