The super Melo to Portland thread + The Big Blockbuster

White wine sucks!

 

So do you!

For the record, I sell red, white, and rose (and sparkling and sparkling rose).

 

Why'd you open it?

 

Hey - we agree on something!

Neither Crabbe's nor Meyers' value can decrease at this point - it can only go up (barring the unmentionable "i" word). Add to that the likelihood that both Vonleh and Harkless should at least play as well as they did last season, and likely improve (at least with Vonleh improvement is likely - Hark might plateau). These are four assets whose value will either stay the same or increase once the season starts. Seems the smarter move is to wait and hope for increased value for an increased return.

My hope is that NOP falls apart early and some of our under-performing players see marked improvement. Dame gets in A.Davis' ear to request a trade. Now, I've already seen mentions that BOS is hoping for this scenario, and will try to trade for Davis. And they DO have some good trade bait - but the way their contracts are set up they'll have to trade half their rotation to get Davis. Will they go that far? Maybe. But we have a variety of ways to make a decent trade package including some combo of Hark+Vonleh as the main course, plus Aminu/Davis as a side dish, and Collins/Swanigan/picks as an appetizer. Take this, for example, with a pick included - Hark under contract at a very reasonable rate, Vonleh under team-control as RFA, Davis as salary relief, and a first round pick.


It's thoughts of what might be available in the future that keep me from wanting to toss away assets for asshats like Melo. If Crabbe, Meyers, oh shit I forgot about Turner!, and Vonleh play better - and let's face it, it'd be hard for them not to - then that just creates more trade package combinations to help land a real difference-maker.

 

Conversely, look at what BOS would have to trade just to make contracts match - do you think they'd do this? Seems like they'd be awfully thin, and in no better position to knock off CLE.

 

You guys are trying to trade piles of shit for arguably the best power forward in the game.

 

Some Thread Theme Music....

 

Anthony Davis in Portland doesn't just move my needle, it makes it point due north. That would give us a Big 4 that could compete with anyone right now and our Big 4 would be so much younger than all the other top teams. Unfortunately, I don't see it happening.

If the Boogie experiment fails in NOP, I think he's the one they look to move. I think NOP will do everything possible to keep from losing AD.

If AD does demand a trade, I think BOS has the assets to get it done, and I don't think there is anyone on their roster, or any of their assets (including the BRK and LAL picks), that would be untouchable when it comes to landing Davis.

After missing out of the playoffs so many times in the West, I think Davis would also favor moving to BOS where, with all their young assets, he could easily make the playoffs in the East every year for the rest of his career. Hell, BOS was already the No. 1 seed in the East, without him, without Gordon Hayward and without Jayson Tatum. God, I hate Danny Ainge!

BNM

 

Hey now.... Slow your role there "fisherman".... Don't be hatin' on my Pinot Grigio!!

 

If Melo opens up trade options to Phoenix & Portland...
Is Brandon Knight > Harkless?
I guess it depends on Frank Ntilikina

 

Or they could just offer Al Horford and a ridiculously high draft pick or two which totally trumps anything we could offer by 1000x, unless we are open to moving one of Dame, C.J. or Nurk.

BNM

 

The only trade I can imagine would even be close would be CJ + Harkless (or ZCollins later) plus some picks for Davis and a bad contract. Even then I can't see it.

 

If I'm Portland, and NOP are willing to part ways with AD for Nurk + anyone outside of CJ/Lillard I don't hesitate for a second.
In fact I'd drive Nurk & his father to the airport.

 

In 2011 the Los Angeles Clippers traded Eric Gordon, Aminu, Chris Kaman and a 1st for the league's best point guard. The person that collected all these trade chips was the same guy running the show in Portland now.

It is a long-shot, but NO is accumulating assets.

 

You would trade Nurk over CJ? I'm not saying Nurk is better than CJ, but I like Dame/Davis/Nurk better than Dame/CJ/Davis.

 

Agreed. But in the long run, they'll lose him. Doubtful that it happens this year, or even next - but I had just read an article on how BOS is hoping to get him this season so I decided to look at how they could do it, and it just didn't seem that plausible. Granted, I just came up with a different version that's better for BOS:

 

But mostly my point is that there's probably going to be players available during the season that will be better trade targets than Melo - let's save our resources for better future options.

 

If I had a band I'd do a metal version of this song like Judas Priest or Metallica or something.

 

Easily.
Trading one injury prone Center for another injury prone Center.
I'm not trading a player who has basically a clean bill of health(outside of his rookie season) for an injury prone player in Davis.

 

And I still think BOS easily trumps that offer.

If the Boogie/AD experiment fails, I'm not sure they would want to try a Boogie/Nurk sequel. I think they'd much rather add better perimeter players to surround Boogie than add another big man that duplicates much of what he does.

Horford is a chameleon. He's a near all star level role player that fits in well and doesn't need to be "featured". But the real assets from BOS would be one or two very high draft picks, either recent (Brown or Tatum) or future (BRK or LOL pick).

BOS just has way more to offer that we do, even if we're willing to move Nurk.

BNM