Let me prefix this by saying I am not a big CJ fan. Outside Dame, CJ is our best trade asset, at this point, I am thinking he is disposable. I'd love to see a Dame / Baldwin backcourt and trade CJ and whomever else for some additional front line help. Obviously we have a number of disposables but while I was always open to trading CJ, I now no longer have qualms about it. Sure there would be some adjusting but in the long haul, it may be for the best. Gramps...
the dream would be a team that has a comparable wing player, or close too, but also a disgruntled PF that needs to start and can play D and develop whom they'd be pleased to include back in the deal as we'd 100% need to move Meyers or Turnover with CJ as a package, there is literally no other option with those 2.
If we could get a comparable small forward or power forward it would be perfect. We had this chance last year with Paul George but weren’t willing to include CJ in the deal I think. Kawhi this year could be a possibility but I am not sure Spurs will want that deal. CJ is better than Covington or Saric though. Getting a 4 is tricky. The league is basically devoid of good 4s, I would probably be fine with having a decent stretch 4 who can knock down threes at 38% or so. Aminu is fine when he can shoot.
Great point, OP. I kind of built on it. Just look at the roster of guards (and Evan Turner, who effectively plays our backup PG): * Dame * CJ * Wade Baldwin * Anfernee Simons * Seth Curry * Nik Stauskas * Gary Trent Jr * They can also re-sign Pat Connaughton Wade Baldwin has really, really impressed in his three summer league games, and Portland has had plenty of time to see how he works in practice. I swear I'm having flashbacks of Brandon Roy and Dame Lillard in terms of instant, dominant guard impact in Summer League. There's just no question he's the best guard on the court in all three games (including going against Trae Young, who was held scoreless while being guarded much of the time by Wade). He's probably not going to be Dame/Roy good, but it does feel like he could do about 80% of what CJ does but with better defense and athleticism. Rookies Simons and Trent have also had good summer leagues so far. Seth Curry logged 29mpg shooting 40% from three in Dallas last year. Nik Stauskas is another 40% gunner. Both are under 27, so still have a little upside. So Portland has loaded up on young three point shooters. And it has a really solid track record of developing these kind of guys with Dame, CJ, Crabbe, Connaughton, Napier, Frazier.... Meanwhile, we just let Ed Davis wander away without compensation, opening up a spot in the front court. Zach Collins looks to be ready to take the next step up judging by his defensive impact in summer league, but Swanigan doesn't (can't score or defend against NBA size, although his passing and rebounding are great.) Aminu is what he is--a really high quality role player but somebody you can move to the bench or slide to the 3 if you really want, or trade if the package is right. Our SF's are inconsistent (Jake Layman is looking reasonably good in SL, but who knows how it translates) and everybody is really tired of the Mo Harkless "am I going to try?" lottery. But Portland only has the two true SF's, unless you count Evan Turner, who like I said doesn't play that role on this team. Portland suddenly looks really shallow at the forward positions and actually kind of deep (young, but deep) at guard. It just really, really feels like Portland is finally coming to the same conclusion everybody else in the league has had. CJ is good, but he's not the right guy to pair with Dame and it's time to move on. I don't know when it happens or who Portland gets back, but it just feels different right now as a Blazer fan. His days are really numbered. And it'll be a forward. The pieces all seem to be in place to move on.
There is no better Time to trade CJ for a good Wing. Imagine Trading CJ to philly for Covington and Saric? Starting 5: PG Lillard, SG Baldwin, SF Covington, PF Aminu, C Nurkic. Bench: Curry, Stauskas/Trent jr, Turner, Saric, Collins... That would be a Fantastic roster. Great Defense and good Offense. Maybe top 5 Defense and top 10 offense
Why would we start Aminu when we would have Saric on the bench though? I don't think Philly would be into that though.
Just suppose...... Another GM sees what we are seeing in Baldwin and rather than CJ, they want Wade. Would you be upset of we traded Baldwin along with say, Leonard for an SF upgrade?
That won’t happen though, he has played so little in the NBA that I cannot see a situation where somebody would be willing to offer a good, established player in return. We would be getting scraps.
If you see Baldwin as CJ’s replacement, a better time to trade CJ would be when the Blazers are in a position to sign Baldwin to a long term contract. The Blazers don’t have Bird rights on him, the ability to make him a restricted free agent, or cap space next summer, so the most likely thing to happen if he blows up this year is that he gets signed by another team after this season.
I would be a little disappointed because we still would have the lack of good defense at the guard spot, but it would be better than doing nothing.
If we're trading CJ, I want a bonafide starting wing (with years left on his contract) who can defend, as well as potentially getting relief from Meyers' or ET's contract to improve our cap situation. Someone like Middleton or Otto Porter. If we want to risk it, I'd look at Jimmy Butler. All that said, I might die on this hill by myself, but I still think a Dame-CJ duo can work if we have enough talent on the wings with Nurk down low.
This OR trading CJ for the upgrade would b fantastic but I think Sarni is right & we pretty much have to bank on CJ being traded for that upgrade.
I'm always open to a good CJ trade, but, couple things: 1. CJ's value seems to be very volatile round the league. I know at least a couple of talking heads (may have been Bill Simmons, may have been Zach Lowe) see his value as more than the #10 pick (turned into Mikal Bridges) PLUS Markelle Fultz. But then there are people who think he's a below-average NBA player. You better hope you're trading with the former not the latter. 2. CJ's value is probably greater in the playoffs. As he showed this past playoffs, one thing he can do is Get Buckets when the team is otherwise struggling. Pretty sure Baldwin can't do that, and we struggled to score as it was. I have ALWAYS thought that a team with the Lillard-CJ backcourt can't go far. I go for stretches of changing my mind on that (during our good patches last season) but always return to it (ironically, given what I've just said, during the playoffs). One last thing to ponder, in the "be careful what you wish for" category: if we trade CJ, it won't be a SG, and our starting SG will almost certainly be EVAN TURNER.