And that... ladies and gentleman is why we need a trade if we wanna be elite

Only one team wins a championship each season. I guess that means that some of you believe that there are no players on the other 28 teams worth trading for? This whole "he is/isn't a champion" argument is lame.

 

I'm still down for an LMA/Blake/Sergio for Tony Parker/Splitter trade.

Change Bayless to Sergio and let SAS keep their 1st.
http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129600

 

Who plays PF for us after that trade, though?

 

Starting at power forward, 6-10 from Duuuuke! Shaaavlik Randolph!!!

 

Exactly.

 

I mean, I am all for making a trade if we find a good deal to get us better for now AND the long run. Or, for just now, if it doesn't sacrifice much from the future. Moving Outlaw for a vet presence now sort of thing. But moving LMA, and then expecting Frye or Outlaw to start at PF will make this team look worse, IMO. Both starters and the bench.

One intriguing option to me, although it doesn't do much for our future, is if Washington continues to struggle, trading for Jamison, and getting Washington out from under his contract. Overpaid? Sure. The difficulty is convincing him to come off the bench. Still, it improves our team, now, and potentially gets us one extra round in the playoffs, if we were to win our division,a nd have home court in the first round, the added value of getting to the second round, over losing in the first to LA or something could help our players, and having an extremely legitimate go to scorer on the bench who can score inside and out, can rebound, and can play the 3 and 4 both would be a benefit to our club.

That being said, again, what does it improve us going forward? That alone does not make us a title contender. THe added experience in the playoffs could help, but it end up looking like a move just to make a move, ultimately.

Otherwise, I think a key is continuing to look at struggling teams, and the possibility that they will want to get out of a bigger contract from their squad.

*Edit* As to the trade, I wouldn't give up much for him, it owuld strictly be if Washington wanted to get out of his salary if they continue to struggle, Raef and Outlaw for him and salary filler sort of deal. Maybe a second rounder. Not good value, pure salary dump. But, I think ultimately we can find a greater use for Raef contract if we wait until the deadline. Potentially.

 

Outlaw, Frye, Diagu, Freeland and Splitter. Outlaw and Frye are good enough to hold the position down for one year until Freeland and/or Splitter can come over. Aldridge is underachieving, no way around it.

Look at the Championship teams from the last 20-30 years, who's been the more important player on that team, the PG or the PF?

 

Let the cake bake. No one said we were as good as the Celtics. blowouts happen- even sometimes both ways in a playoff series.

Devin Harris is who most people want us to get- but he wasn't this good immediately. Lets see Bayless and Sergio develop. We can sign Bibby in the offseason.

 

I don't think anyone thinks Harris can realistically appear in a Blazer uni without giving up one of Oden, LMA, or Fernandez, 2 picks, and another prospect (Bayless, Batum).
It'd be a lateral move for both teams, and just not worth it.

 

I completely concur. Harris is now one of those "cornerstone" kinds of players as far as I can tell.

 

There likely isn't any more than 3-5 truly untouchable players in the NBA and Harris isn't one of them. A trade is highly unlikely, but if they thought they could make a move to help them improve (or land LeBron) they'd do it.

I don't think I'd do a straight LMA for Harris trade.

 

Let the cake bake. We lost to a VETERAN team.

We should be thrilled if the Blazers win 50 this year, and contend next year.

iWatas

 

Harris isn't untouchable, but he'd be too expensive at this point. The team would have to trade one of the core to get him.

I'd rather just see what Bayless can become.

 

As a Net fan, neither would I. He's Yi but better.

 

I don't know too much about Yi, but Aldridge has a ton of upside and won't always be a "soft" player. He is described as a weightroom fanatic. Eventually, he'll put on some more size and put some more power into his game.

He's a former college conference defensive player of the year and is agile enough to occasionally guard smaller players effectively on rotations.

He also has a nice shooting touch.

 

He's Yi with a more consistent jump shot, a bit slower, less athletic, a better defender, and probably a weaker rebounder.

I'd take Aldridge any day, but both have very high upsides. It's not worth giving up someone better than both to get that upgrade.

 

Why will Yi always be a "soft" player?

 

Because he's Chinese and Aldridge is black, of course.

 

Yeah I guess I missed the part where going to the weight room means someone else is afraid of contact

 

Haha, I knew a thread like this would come up after this loss. Time for, once again, a reality check courtesy of TehChad.

Nobody in their right mind expected us to be championship contenders this year. Not any "experts", not Pritchard, not Allen, not Nate, not anyone. Our goal was to simply make the playoffs. So far, we are in outstanding shape in accomplishing that goal.

Now last night, we played a team the 18-2 defending world champion Celtics on their home court. Everyone knows that teams tend to really show up when a challenge arises, and since we were on a 6 game winning streak with some of those wins coming against quality teams (NOreleans, Detroit), Boston was ready for our best punch.

What I saw last night was the same thing I see in a number of games: experience, or lack thereof. Boston is just loaded with it. Here's an interesting stat to chew on: their big three individually each have more years of NBA experience than our entire starting lineup combined. Despite that, I think we should be at least fairly happy that we were able to hang with these guys quite well throughout most of the first half.

As many intelligent posters have already said, let the cake bake. Let the players learn what went wrong on this night, and let their frustrations motivate them to work harder and get better. I know that as frustrated as some of you guys are with this loss, I can promise you that our players are frustrated even more. Some players couldn't care less as long as the league "CTC", but not our guys. Not this team.

Now, if you're thinking championship this year or next year, then yes, I absolutely agree. We need a better, more experienced PG. We need a solid SF who can defend and rebound the ball. Trade away...get Outlaw, Sergio, Frye, and whoever else and trade em for the best talent that we can possibly get. But the problem is, that's not our goal, and we want to be setup for the LONG run. I'm sure Pritchard do exactly what the Celtics did last year and make our team a championship contender for a short period of time...but who are we going to have to give up to make that happen??? And after that, it's back to the draft lottery and back to rebuilding mode, or at best being a solid team but not a championship contender, much like how the Jazz have been for many seasons over the past two decades. If we wanted to go that route, there's no way teams would not demand some of our brightest stars for their seasoned veteran(s).

Furthermore, I think many of you are forgetting that the Blazers are in outstanding shape to be a big player in the Free Agent market for the next couple years. In fact, I wouldn't even say it's impossible that Lebron ends up in a Blazers uniform (though I wouldn't count on it either).

Anyway, I digress. By keeping this young core of talent together, we are setting ourselves up for a LONG period of championship contention. It's just not going to come when the majority of our stars have been playing for two years or less. But I encourage you all to celebrate this team for what they've accomplished, which, let me assure you, is fantastic thus far.