Keep him. If your team would be 1/10th as good without him, you don't want to win just 3 games next season.
Well, I apologize for responding to trade suggestions with the Bulls. My intent wasn't to take this thread off topic.
Hmm. I might actually be tempted by that. But who's the new center for the Bulls? If you're thinking Meyers Leonard then... well, let's just say I really wish Gar Forman believed that.
Replace the word "Noah" with "Asik" and I agree with you. But Noah is a good all-round player. His offense is not his strongest suit, but he's not offensively inept like Asik. It's true we don't get younger, and it would be a little odd, but we only get older by a few months, and Noah is a "culture changer" and a leader, which we kind of lack (Lillard leads by example but he's not a vocal leader). Plus I'm thinking we also end up with Mirotic, who is our eventual PF replacement.
Like I said; the deal would be best for both sides if Chicago gave us charlottes pick. If that means mirotic instead; it's at the same value.
My thinking is LMA would agree to play C for 24 minutes a game. Leonard would play 24. LMA would rest Boozer for 12 at PF. Wes unblocks your SG spot so your ROY candidate (CJ) can get all the burn he can handle. And I like Crabbe, too, so he gets some backup PT. For us, he'd likely fight for the SG spot after this season, and only if Deng leaves via FA. So you guys get 2x starters and $4M cap space (Hinrich expiring). We get a starting C (LMA), your 3rd string C, and a backup (for us) SG. Another way to see it is an all-star for an all-star plus a ~14.5 PER guy who helps you a lot for a ~14.5 PER guy who is one of several SGs you have. We need a guy to take some C minutes, or else we're stuck playing Nazr Mohammed, and your guy will have trouble finding time behind Noah and Lopez.
Thats a shit deal. LMA > Noah Wes = Gibson Meyers > Hinrich (young, somewhat promising C prospect for an expiring contract, essentially) Throw in Mirotic or no deal. Honestly, I'd just rather not deal with the Bulls at this stage.
This seems the appropriate place for this: Sean Deveney @SeanDeveney about 10 minutes ago Scout raved abt future @chicagobulls Nikola Mirotic: "He has come along really nicely ... made big leaps in the post" sportingnews.com/nba/story/2013… Fuck. The Nolan Smith pick just gets worse and worse.
Fuck knows, with the screwy way this draft went. And remember, Cleveland didn't take Valanciunas because they couldn't have him IMMEDIATELY and he's already better in the NBA than Tristan Thompson.
Hilarious that you think the trade is just "OK", when neither the Rockets or the Blazers give that offer a second thought, other than Fuck No.
I don't think we should build around Lillard like the Bulls did with Rose, but, if the team were to, I think we need a pick and roll big who is also the defensive anchor. Drummond fits that mold in a young player. He would be hard to pry from Detroit, but they do have 3 bigs now that they signed Josh Smith, and they have to get rid of one eventually. Noah fits that as well, is more proven, but older and can't seem to play a full season, which is a concern if he is to be a cornerstone player.
I would HATE trading Aldridge, with that said, Horford would be the best guy to get, mainly b/c he's locked up 4 years, plays both sides of the floor, and is a great character guy. However, Aldridge would ditch Atlanta right away because they are worse than us, so it makes no sense for them. But a package built around Asik might make some sense for Atlanta, and Aldridge would probably re-up with Houston stat. I would think that something like this might be appealing: Horford to Portland (him, Lopez, and Robinson can be our 4/5 rotation). Horford has always wanted to play 4 more, but in todays league he might have a hard time getting out to cover most 4's. This way he can split time. Aldridge to Houston, they pretty much have the perfect lineup at that point. Tons of floor spacing, tons of defense (Aldridge is great at defending pick n roll, we didn't get to see it last year b/c he had to take posts), tons of inside scoring, give them the championship already. Atlanta gets Asik and Thomas Jones. Lots of young pieces and a very versatile 4/5 rotation w/Millsap.
Its been interesting reading other teams' fans' opinions of Aldridge relative to Noah, David Lee, Asik, etc. the last few weeks. Seems like most Warriors fans opinions are that Noah > Aldridge and that Aldridge is only better than Lee by a small margin, too small to warrant giving up one of Klay or Barnes in addition to Lee for. I was kind of surprised to see Aldridge viewed as a hollow stats guy who really only excels at scoring. Compared with Love, Z-Bo, Lee, and Blake Griffin he is obviously the most inferior rebounder and even his advanced stats on defense are pretty bad compared to those guys (who are all pretty crappy defenders). I'd still give Lee and either Barnes or Klay for LMA, seems like most W's fans are torn on it though. And more and more I'm seeing Noah viewed as better than LMA, and whether that is true or not I don't see Thibs dumping the most important player to his defense for a scoring oriented, soft PF.
Lee is shit. Laughably bad on D. He is probably untradeable. Barnes had a PER of 11. He better be the world's best fucking defender to make up for that. Newsflash: he isn't. He's a slightly below-average NBA player. Klay Thompson is very interesting. He also has a pretty low PER, but he compensates by being a very good shooter from all over the floor and having very good handles and solid D. However, we're overstocked with scoring guards. So the only player you have of interest is of no use to us. I agree that Noah is more valuable to the Bulls (as currently constructed) than Aldridge would be. But Aldridge is not soft, has had an elite "adjusted plus/minus" and Thibs is not in charge (as he found out when his buddy was unceremoniously let go this summer).
Look: the trade has to be for future prospects, because we need bigs, and people only want to trade for Aldridge if they need bigs. (The lone exception might be if OKC offered Ibaka, but I'd want more, because I think Ibaka's defense is overrated.) That makes Chicago still the most attractive option because they have the rights to Mirotic but (I presume) want to win now. Please: forget about Drummond. Joe hasn't been the best GM but he knows what he has in Drummond. He's being presented as the face of the franchise.
