Aldridge did request a trade

Interesting idea, and Smith may be one of the best FAs out there, but he's a very inefficient scorer. Asik + Aldridge is a great combination - each makes up for the other's main weakness. NOT true of Asik + Smith.

How about Millsap? The Jazz would get a trade exception out of it, which is valuable, so it would actually be a benefit to them.

 

I would because it would make him happy. I think he's done everything right in his tenure here. Houston will find the draft picks and young talent we need to rebuild. And honestly; we won't be competing for a title for at least 4-5 years. By that time; Howard and Aldridge will be too old to stop us.

 

There is no fucking way smith agrees to sign with us. Sorry, but I don't see that happening.

 

I think we're a better option than Detroit.

 

My overall reaction: keep trying to get Asik, and if we do, hold off on trading Aldridge. Tell him to suck it up this year and see what happens, and if he's still unhappy at the end of the year, promise him to trade him then.

If we fail to get a big center to play next to him, then all bets are off and we go for cap space, youth and picks.

 

Dallas has cap space. Hell even Cleveland has a better promise than us.

 

Cleveland wouldn't want Smith. They just drafted a power forward #1. Dallas has Dirk, are they going to play Smith at SF?

 

More scrap rumors in the trade LA piranha feeding tank. It doesn't take much to send things into a frenzy around here. I still am going with what he's saying now and the idea that him staying is dependent on putting enough talent around him to do that. If he tells NO he wants out then adjust accordingly.

 

So you won't believe it until Aldridge comes out publicly and says he wants out?

 

John Stockton rarely talked to the media after he got burned by them in his 2nd year. For the next 17 years they barely got a word out of him.

MJ chose who he spoke with. The rest were pretty much shut out.

But I agree that LMA has to learn to be more comfortable with the media. It does come with the territory. At the same time, the Portland media is annoying.

 

Only way we do that is obtain asik and tony Allen. We have the pieces to do it. Maybe competing for a title is enough? Who really knows. I'm not for trading Aldridge for talent that will just make us mediocre and miss the boat on the best draft class since 03.

 

That's what they said about Chris Webber in Sacramento.

 

Portland media is annoying, but some of the major cities are worse. Can you imagine how Aldridge would react to an A-Rod level of media attention?

Also, MJ and Stockton could be choosy because they're HOFers.... Aldridge is only a two-time All-Star. Plus, we live in a different environment than those guys did. The internet and the feeding frenzy for information. A player can't get away with avoiding the media at this point.

 

We aren't competing for a title this year. The only way we see that kind of drastic improvement from non-playoff team to championship contender would be trading for a star, like Chris Paul or Dwyane Wade.

 

Tony Allen and asik would definitely make us a top 4 team. I 100% believe that. We just need to "move the needle" enough to give Aldridge assurance that we are headed in the right direction. Make it past the first round will be the first move; then we have MLE to offer another vet to possibly take us to the wcf.

 

Sorry, I care about making ME happy, not making him happy. Great that he was a "good soldier" here for the last 7 years. I don't really care. If he wants to bail on us, and a team he doesn't particularly like gives us the best offer, then see ya later. They can deal with winning you over. They don't have the draft picks to help us rebuild, because their picks will be 26-30. Those picks suck. The young talent they have is a pile of 4 PFs. We already took one of them, arguably the most talented. They have little in the way of a true rebuilding package.

 

If only people had listened to me...

 

I agree. Chicago and NY would roast him alive.
Other cities are not as bad. Detroit left Rasheed alone.
The Texas media is a little more protective of their own.

 

I know, right?! I had suggested trading him for Lebron. But oh no.

 

You know what I would do Mags? If the goal is to keep Aldridge, I would make one huge swing for the fences trade. One that could move the needle so much that we could maybe win a title this season.

I would approach the Knicks and try to pry Carmelo away from them. I hate Melo, but he would move the needle. Lillard/Melo/Aldridge would instantly be one of the best teams in the west. I think he would be unhappy here as well, but we would just have to roll the dice. That's if you really want to keep Aldridge. Bring in another superstar and then try to fill out the bench with old vets like Jermaine, Billups, etc.

I would also see about getting Asik, but I'm not sure we would have enough left to do it.