I say scrap the reloading and go with a full-scale rebuild. To me, that means either raping MIN in a sign and trade or letting Nico go. Do not take middling players for Batum. We're better off with the cap space. Keep the flexibility, suck, gather draft picks and hope we get lucky. I think we should even consider trading Aldridge. Finally, hire a coach who is a teacher, rather than an Xs and Os guy. Being in the middle third in the NBA is a death sentence. Either be good or be bad. We're not going to be good with this Hibbert-less group.
I am with this thinking too. I wouldn't trade Aldridge right now though. Let's see what we got and where we need to add players.
Jesus man, have some faith. Lillard, Wes, Batum, Aldridge, ? is still a decent core (depending on how high you are on Lillard). I've said for a long time, I think Lillard is a poor mans CP3. We shall see. Saving all that cap space on Hibbert, we can allocate elsewhere, such as OJ Mayo, McGee, Lou Williams, etc.
Wes sucks Lillard, Batum, Aldridge, Maybe Cooney, maybe E-Will and Barton as well is a decent young core, on paper. Mayo sucks, McGee will be bad as soon as he signs a contract, Lou Williams would be awesome. I tend to follow this line of thinking
Agree. If the Hibbert/Batum plan falls through, which it likely will, my Plan B is to go young, and add another lottery pick next year. May as well trade Batum for Williams and a pick while we're at it -- I'm ok either way. Trading Aldridge would be the nuclear option, possibly consider it at the trade deadline, but it just depends on what we would get back. Don't make moves that make us just good enough to get out of the lottery.
Wes doesn't suck. He is about average. Mayo can get his own shot and score. McGee is a tool, I agree. But Kurt Thomas would fix that real quick, IMO. I would love Lou. Lou and McGee would make me very, very happy.
How much space does POR have going forward if they match on Batum at $11.5\per? I think they are better off dealing him to MIN for picks and a young player (Williams) and preserving the cap space for next year.... I just don't think Batum is worth that type of money...
Save as much of the cap space as possible for next year. The free agent class next summer is better than this year.
The problem is they may not have a bunch of cap space next year if they sign Batum for $11.5+ this year....
Wes is the most over rated guy on our roster, and would be a nice bench guy, Just not a core guy Mayo has been in the league 4 years, and has never had a PER of 15.00, which is the average for an NBA player. Last year he averaged .408 FG%, .364 3p% 2.6 assists and 1.9 TO per game . He also only averages 3.5 FTA per game
I don't think Wes is over rated, just slightly overpaid. I don't think many truly think of him as a core player, most see him as a pretty good bench player, mediocre starter.
I agree we should flip Nic if we can get a prospect like Williams and some draft picks. We will save cap room so we should really be thinking of that as Williams + draft picks + free agent all for Batum; that’s a great trade. Take advantage of Kahn before he gets fired. I would hold off on considering trading LA. See just how good Lillard and Leonard are going to be this year. If one of them looks like they could be an all-star down the road then we’d be better off continuing with the “retool”. We’d need to find a way to add that 3rd all-star. If Lillard and Leonard only look like mediocre starters at best, this team will be a long long way from contending. At that point you can start to think that LaMarcus’ window will be smaller by the time the team finally acquires the other multiple assets needed to contend. If that is the case sure you could consider trading LA if we get a ton of picks and/or an elite prospect in return. But I wouldn’t seriously consider any offers for LA until the end of the season.
You are right, I think. Wes doesn't suck, and he can play a big role on a good team. As a starter on a bad team, though, as the Blazers will be if we don't add a big-time free agent (read: Hibbard) ... ? He's overpaid and an obstacle both to signing free agents and bottoming out in the lottery. I like Wes, and I wish we had the team to go around him. But we don't. Ed O.
I think life and development for Lillard and leonard will be made easier playing alongside LMA, even for just one year, so if we were to rebuild, i'd hang onto him for this season, and explore moves next offseason if need be.
On top of that, yes, i understand it likely doesn't allow us to be terrible enough to get #1, but hanging on to him, with good options available in free agency next season, there's the possibility that we can make a big, quick splash, and be respectable immediately.
If Bayless was here would you consider him a core guy? Because Wes > Bayless, and I know you like Jbay
