Would we be a better team if LA was still with us? Yes. Unequivocally yes. Do I miss the motherfucker though? Not in the slightest. A side note: I ran into LA at a pizza place while I was on a date with a Neuro-surgeon during his rookie season. He sat down at the bar section about 3 seats down from me. When I run into celebrities, I always treat them with respect because I know that they are just people too and don't want to be bothered 90% of the time by random strangers. He was already glancing my way (I think he was checking out my date) so I decided to say a word or two. I simply said, "Hey Lamarcus, welcome to Portland. We're happy to have you here. Cheers!" I said cheers as a bit of a conscious conversation ender. Instead of saying anything, he turned away from me and pulled the drawstrings of his hoodie so tight that no one could see his face. He just sat there hiding in his hoodie all by himself for the next hour. Fuck him. Ps. She let me play Doctor later that night.
I'm confused why people think we could not have (or it would have been difficult etc) to trade LMA for something. I know - and have posted elsewhere- for a fact LMA specifically asked out of portland about two YEARS before he finally left. I like NO. Think he's the right GM for the team. Maybe he felt desperate to keep him. But as much as LMA annoyed me as a player/person, he gave the team ample opportunity to deal him. Why said the whole "best blazer ever" thing I don't know. But he wasn't staying here.
nah...when he met with Paul and Neil offseason 2 years before he left, he assured them he wanted to be the greatest Blazer ever and he strung them along thinking they would keep him until the Spurs sweet talked him...I think Lamarcus has a difficult time with decisions period...sure, we could have traded him earlier but we were making noise that year with one of the best starting 5's in the west....after the fact...we showed loyalty to him and he didn't return the favor. That Memphis series was when shit hit the fan...after Wes went down, Lamarcus seemed deflated....I got the impression he was done waiting for Batum to show up. Rolo tanked the end of that season as well.
100% LMA asked to be traded two years before he left. He of course said to a Texas team. Portland didn't believe it or thought they could change his mind. He pulled a Paul George but kept it quiet. Instead of trading him they wouldn't budge. I can understand someone not buying this but I believe without a doubt this is what happened
At the meeting with Paul and Neil at that time, he said he wanted to play PF and not be a small ball center..next to a Jared Jeffries or Joel Freeland....to stay they needed a center...they went and got Rolo....I have never, ever heard of an Aldridge demand to be traded to Texas....he actually wanted to go to Phoenix...apparently was close to Earl Watson...whatever the reason...he's history and I don't miss him anymore....at the end of the day, he didn't want to play with young players..he wanted to play with proven vets....don't think playing with a second year CJ or Meyers or Crabbe floated his boat at all...back then he was lobbying for the team to get Paul Millsap if I remember correctly..
I understand. But this was the case. Perhaps he would have been ok with Phoenix at some point. But he asked to go to a TX team and didn't see himself resigning with portland. This was well before his impending free agency status and maybe the team thought he'd change his mind. Nothing was less surprising than LMA leaving Portland and signing with SA when he did.
There's also the issue with Lamarcus and his heart problems....the Blazers might have thought he was damaged goods at that point...the Spurs had to pull him last season for a racing ticker.....watching him play with the Spurs...I think we dodged a bullet and got young....after the fact..probably a better direction in the long run..
LMA said he wanted to be here forever, right? NO was supposed to trade him after that? Again, trading for a player who's about to be UFA is a really big risk. Look at what DHo did to the L*kers (hahahahah!). Consider why a team would trade for him if they could just wait until summer and sign him outright? Given the circumstances, NO played it 100% by the book. Try to impress on LMA that he's been a Blazer his whole career, his fans are here, this is his team, and we're trying to win. He traded for RoLo to appease him. He traded for Afflalo to show commitment to winning it all. It was LMA's choice to leave and nothing NO or Mr. Allen could have done to make him (or convince him to) stay. The upside is that even if LMA did leave, all the contracts expired at the same time so a complete rebuild with a boatload of cap space, around Dame (and now CJ). That we had all those contracts expire at the same time was great planning and what a great GM would do.
Being an NBA GM automatically makes you a gambler, but the misconception about gamblers they don't take a lot of big risks they play the odds and play it safe, at least the successful ines do. The others don't last long.
I am more confident that LMA told them he wanted to be traded than I am him saying he wanted to be here forever. Any of the Texas teams could have thought signing LMA after his free agency began was possible with a lot of confidence, had Portland reached out to them. And yes it very well may have been PA not NO who was unwilling to deal him. We know it wouldn't be the first time PA nixed a deal. Anyway we don't have to beat this to death. I just would bet everything I have that this was the case.
Poorly written on my part. Was meaning to say if he said both things, he meant one of them, the other was a steaming pile of shit.
I thought I explained that pretty well. When he privately asked to be traded--in the summer of 2013--he absolutely should have been dealt. No question. However, when Neil didn't do so, he was stuck, because the team was suddenly too good to trade the star player without creating a fan uproar.
Wasn't the entire "LMA asked to be dealt" situation steaming from one of the Portland reporters(I think it was Quick) and it got picked up nationally but no one outside of Quick had any info on it, it was all a rehash of what Quick had said. I haven't seen anyone in the Blazers organization or LMA himself ever confirmed these reports.
