Playing of an Idea I had posted the other day... Let's take this to a different level. With the CBA a team can take back 1.5x + $100k of a players value in trade. Batum is slated to make $12.2 mil next year as an expiring deal. A team could send as little as $8.1mil to Portland to make a trade work. So in looking at teams with big salary and poor production a few teams jump out at me. The Knicks and Nets have huge salaries, and might be looking to shave some off for next summer. Another team might be the Thunder. Try to work a trade sending Batum to one of those teams for as close to that minimum as possible. That frees up an additional $4mil or so for this summer. Assuming Afflalo Opts out that would put Portland at about $22.9mil in committed salary. They could waive Kaman freeing up another $4mil of his non-guranteed salary, Moving the Blazers to $18.9 in committed Salary. The Cap is expected to be $67mil. LEaving Portland with about $48mil in cap room... Add a Draft pick at $1mil so $47 mil. Now the next step is to convince Lamarcus to sign a 1 year deal with a Player option for a 2nd, but at a reduced rate from max, under the assumption that we are swinging big. Lets say $15 mil. That would leave Portland $32mil to go after 2 free agents, Probably a Max guy like Gasol, plus a wing, maybe a Luol Deng should he opt out. OR go a little more split the Difference like going for Hibbert and Jeff Green. Now a lot of this rely's on renouncing rights to Wes and Robin. The whole thing is a gmable, but for the Blazers to take that next step a Gamble is necessary.
Green is no better than Nic, so we downgrade at SF, SG to get Hibbert over Robin. I don't like it. Unnecessarily dumping Nic I would think.
First its unrealistic for Aldridge to take less than the max, and for less years just to help sign an unnamed player; I just don't see it happening. Secondly we have as good a chance of signing Gasol as Lebron. Neither player is leaving the city they happily went to high school thats also a 50 win second round or better team. The other players you name; Deng, Hibbert, Green, are borderline starters in this league that might be ideal as backups. I'm not sure any are upgrades from our current starters. If they are upgrades they are very minor upgrades. If we wanted to do a Batum trade to gain cap room why not just send him to a team like the Jazz that have enough cap space to fully absorb his entire contract? I'll give you credit in that your coming up with creative ideas. But before Neil pulls the trigger he has to have a specific player ready to make an agreement that is worth the cost. What if we do all these trades, lose Nic, lose Wes, lose Rolo but then end up only signing Spencer Hawes and Hedo Turkoglu level of free agents?
I agree that Green is no better than Batum but Green is More consistent. He also doesn't have to play overseas in the summer.
1. Draft Rondae Hollis-Jefferson 2. Sign Tyson Chandler to 2/20 3. Sign JJ Barea to 2/8 3 1/2. Prepare to go deep into luxury tax? 4. Re-Sign Wes (2/18-PO), RoLo (3/24), AA (opt in?) LA (5/109), Freeland (1/4) and extend Dame (5/90) to 5 year max deals. 5. Let Kaman, Frazier and Wright walk Dame / Barea / Blake AAA-Wes (after x-mas?) / CJ / Crabbe Batum / AAA (after Wes is back) / RHJ LA / Leonard Chandler / RoLo / Freeland 6. Win Championship
Danny Green is the "Green" I want, Draymond will go max and Warriors will match so don't waste time going after that Green, if we could trade Nic for a nice piece and sign Danny Green I'd go for that
Jeff green is more consitant then Batum? Sometimes you just post the most absorb things and I walk around my living room reading it multiple times thinking that you cant be serious. Green is nowhere near as good as Batum. Isnt near as good a defender, isnt in the same league as a distributor and is just as prone to standing doing nothing offensively for possessions at a time.
You gotta realize, this is the same poster who said that Damian drank like a fish. It was from that point onward that I took nothing he said seriously, or as from someone who has knowledge of basketball or sports in general.
What do u guys think about this: trade Batum to Minny (they can FINALLY get their grubby mitts on him) for Wiggins, sign & trade Wes to the Bucks (I'd love to keep Wes BUT... IF we've got to pay ~$15mill for him... let's get some good stuff for him & send him somewhere he likes/he's comfy) for John Henson + K. Middleton (he'll sign for ~$12mill & then trade). Oh, & of course LMA comes bak to us
Well he said consistent. Batum is horribly inconsistent. He is not good, but a one dimensional player who has yet to improve since he has been in the league. The team needs to stop over valuing bad players if they wanna move forward. 6 points in 43 minutes is as bad as it gets. We made a mistake resigning him, now it will be hard to get anything for him.
Minny can't get their grubby mitts on him because, unlike us with Hibbert and Splitter, they actually (eventually)gave him an offer sheet even though they were told it'd be matched. Once we matched, Batum can't go to MIN for the entire length of the offer sheet.
