Love's contract is wild. I think we'd need to send CJ out in a deal to stomach it. I think of CJ as net neutral and Love as a net negative. I actually think he'd fit great into the offense, our defense on the other hand... Lillard/Trent/Ariza/Love/Nurkic Simons/Melo/Collins
Older guys tend to play better as Blazers, so with that in mind I say BG. He’s got the biggest upside of the 3 and I believe the only one whose best case scenario with the Blazers is a championship. Dame Trent Ariza BG Nurk Collins Melo Ant Little Not a horrible top 9 but Ant and Little would have to contribute off the bench. Melo/Ariza/BG would probably need some sort of load management through a full season to be prime for the playoffs, most likely a 4 seed in the West with a chance to upset. With the CJ contract the only real way I see to improve this team is to trade him for multiple pieces that fit our system, kinda like Toronto has going now. If we can’t get stars to come to Portland how about underrated 2 way players who play unselfish and with heart?
He didn't throw away that much if any, Spurs contract allowed him an opt out after 3 years where Blazers could only offer after 4 years, so Aldridge could get another large contract sooner. Plus Texas has no income tax. There wasn't the supermax Dame signed available back then to Aldridge. Now I do think he liked hearing he would be the Star of the Spurs which he wouldn't have on Dames team, plus he is from Texas, plus he didnt want another rebuild post Wes injury.
I looked up his Twitter feed and he just doesn't post all that often. I think he has one post in August. Clearly not a social media type.
Not to mention his current team is still competing with Dame’s team for a playoff spot. To me, it would have been MORE odd (not less) if he did post a tweet about Dame’s performance.
Same coach? I would go with the best outside shooter. So not Blake. LA actually shot the 3 ball pretty well this year and has the better contract. Love IMO is still the better 3 pt shooter and has a better attitude. But in the end, I would lean towards LA just because it is for only 1 year.
Love is a better passer and that would be huge. He shoots the 3 and solid O rebounder. Love breathes basketball. 3 years younger too. Plus he's from Lake Oswego.........
The big concern with Love besides the huge injury bug that seems to get him every year is that he always puts up good numbers (when he plays), but has never been on a good team except for with Le Bron. His Minnesota teams sucked and Cleveland has sucked during the Love years minus Le Bron. Does he do things to make a team a winner?
He does, but maybe he gets better at that with age? Love is probably the best outlet passer since the Big Red head!
if we ignore injury history, and contracts, I think BG is clearly the best option. I can't ignore those two things though. At the same time I can't ignore how Aldridge quit on the team and left it. none of the above?
I still think Love fits in Stotts system the best out of the three. I don't know why fans worry about contracts so much. There not the ones writing the checks. I think we'll just sign Melo to another 1year contact though.
I have the feeling we will be talking to Chicago if we'd were to trade CJ. Maybe NYK too. Both teams have new front offices, and those tend to clean house in the first year. Thaddeus Young is one of those typical Portland SF/PF hybrids. They probably would love to move Zach Lavine too, but he doesn't move the needle much. Kornet could be a good fit here (reminds me of Muscala), as would Shaq Harrison or Dunn as defensive players. At SF they have overprized Otto Porter jr and maybe we would want to kick the tires on Hutchinson or Valentine a bit, even though neither has looked great so fsr. I absolutely don't want anything to do with BG or Love.
The way the modern NBA is going, none of these players mentioned in the poll are viable options to play PF moving forward. Zach, at age 22, is still not nearly quick enough to keep up with the new "4s" of this era. Rather than go after a traditional PF that will be a weak link in our defense, I'd like to see Neil go after a guy like Jerami Grant who is quick, a solid defender, and knock down shooter.
Those teams sucked cause they had no one else on them. Rick adleman couldn’t even coax a .500 season with those rosters. Ricky Rubio and Nicola peckovic were the best support he had there besides 1 year of al Jefferson. They drafted the likes of Flynn,Derrick Williams, shabazz Muhammad Alexa shved . They were horrible. Not his fault.
