But I guess from a public relations point of view, they could never do that, after giving up Chris Paul a few years ago.
Re: Davis and Lillard. They'll play together on the US team sometime soon. I was pushing a Philly-NO trade before the draft: basically Noel, Okafor AND the #1 pick for Davis. I think that might've been fair. But now Philly fans have got all excited for Simmons, it likely won't happen. Other teams that could do it (perhaps): Boston (include Brooklyn's pick) Minny (imagine KAT and Davis playing together! It would be Duncan/Robinson 2.0, only with a young David Robinson) - Dunn and Wiggins and Lavine or maybe Dieng. Man, that's actually feasible. Don't you think Thibs would salivate at that?
They both become free agents at the same time.... Gonna necro bump this in 5 years when Dame joins Davis or vice versa.
Without a doubt, Olshey is stockpiling assets to make a move later in the year. I think it will be for a player who will be a free agent next summer and the team who has that player currently thinks they won't be able to re-sign the player. I wonder if Neil might go after Blake Griffin as he has a player option for 17-18, will only be 28, and he has a connection with Olshey.
OK, OK, I'm gonna give up my favorite player on the Blazers, CJ. Now it's CJ (maybe extend him first to bring the salaries in line, can that be done in-season?), Vonleh, Plumlee, Harkless plus two draft picks and we take back Asik also? You tell me that wouldn't tempt them?
None of the guys you're sending are even close to impact players. They're far better off hoping he does stay healthy. Last season was "disappointing" for him and he still put up a 25 PER, with strong defensive numbers. Basically, the only thing that made his season disappointing was that his TS% went from great to good. And that might have a lot to do with the Pelicans not surrounding him with much, especially with all the injuries they had. If he ever stays healthy, he's a perennial top-tier MVP candidate. And he's not a Greg Oden--he is playing, just 10-15 games less per season than ideal. If I were the Pelicans' GM, I wouldn't trade him even for Lillard.
Hopefully their GM is not as astute as you. I think CJ is an impact player; in my later post I substituted him in there.
Dame would be pissed if we ever trade CJ. People need to stop with the CJ talk. He ain't getting traded
Okafor is exactly the kind of player we need if we are going to beat the Warriors down the road. You are not going to beat the Warriors going small at this point. Guys like Okafor can punish them for playing guys like green at center. We need a player like that to get the Warriors in foul trouble and force them out of the death lineup. There are very few players in the league who are as good as Okafor in the low post and there are even fewer who are younger than him and have that post game. The kid has tremendous upside and if we can get him without trading Dame or CJ it is a no brainer IMO, especially when you have a similar player like Harkless who can easily replace Aminu.
Olshey knows that he needs another star. You can't challenge the Spurs and GS without one. But I really want to see what this team can accomplish. We haventer had a team this deep in a while..... let's see where it goes.
Defensively they'd be a train wreck but Okafor/Leonard have skillsets that mesh perfectly ....on offense.
Why do people always talk about defense when talking about Jahlil Okafor. Then completely ignore the fact that he was better defensively in January than his teammate Nerlens Noel. Who is in the league because of his defense. It's one month and a small sample size. But a player as young as Okafor is is going to improve. And he's shown the ability to defend. Bigs take 3 years they say. So in 3 years what will Okafor be? I hope Portland can get Okafor it would make Portland better. But I don't think it's possible because without CJ in the trade I doubt Philly agrees.
If Okafor COULD be had for that price, it would be tempting, simply because he would be another potential star without giving up Dame or CJ.
