Best PG available without trading our core of Oden, LMA, and Roy. Anyone would be hard pressed to get Paul and Williams for any price, so who's left out there that would be worth pursuing if we wanted to empty our cupboard a bit?
With the emergence of Stuckey, and Afflalo looking great, Billups could be on the block, but Dumars won't do a deal unless he rips the other team off. Barbosa is a possibility if the Suns come out struggling. Raymond Felton is also a possibility if Augustin emerges as the starting PG in Charlotte. Jamaal Tinsley could easily be had. To be honest I don't see any of those guys that much better than Steve Blake, except for Billups of course, but his price tag is probably too much.
Mo Williams Baron Davis Kirk Hinrich Steve Nash Chauncy Billups Raymond Felton Jose Calderon Jason Kidd Lou Williams (sp?) Rondo Jameer Nelson Derek Fisher Tony Parker Devin Harris? Any takers from that list?
Some of the people on that list are very unrealistic. Mo Williams and Baron Davis just got to there new teams. No chance. Jason Kidd is too old. Steve Nash is the face of the Suns franchise. Calderon isn't going to be moved, Tony Parker isn't going to be moved. Rondo isn't going to be moved anytime soon. Devin Harris isn't going to be moved either.
Wasn't that they necessarily swooped in, Jermaine O'neal is a big name, bigger than anyone we could have given. At least he gives fans hope until they find out he sucks now.
Billups is kind of an intriguing idea. I have a hard time believing the Pistons really want to tear it all down, though. And he's 32, which is pretty old for our team. Prince + Billups for Fernandez/Baylesss/Outlaw/Webster/LaFrentz/Pick works. We'd be giving up youth and a fantastic long-term prospects in Fernandez and Bayless, but we'd be title contenders this year. Detroit gets out of $20+ mil in contracts. I can't make up my mind if that's an insanely bad deal for us or them. Probably a deal Detroit fans hate now, but love five years from now. Hard to believe Detroit would do that deal after yet another trip to the conference finals. They probably make it there again this year if they don't do this deal. Meh, fun to think about.
I'm thinking more towards deadline time rather than now. Even players with new contracts, or new teams can become available due to less than expected performance or a team no longer in contention that wants to blow it up. and Blockbuster trades are precisely that because players that aren't expected to be dealt... are. Most of the players on that list could be obtained by overpaying to some degree. A guy like Chris Paul, while theoretically tradeable (for lebron as an example) isn't realistically tradeable with normal NBA assets...
Detroit isn't going to trade Prince or Billups to us without them getting one of our big 3. That's how Dumars works. When asked about Prince, he said Portland would have to add Roy to the equation. Not gonna happen.
I disagree Billups is a prime candidate to be traded. Especially if his backup plays as well as he did last year. He's getting older if Dumars can get a draft pick, expiring contract and another good prospect back I could see him making a trade. Conley Jr. would be a nice fit but I have a feeling he's going to really bust out this year.
Huh? I never said Billups isn't a prime candidate to be traded. If Dumars wants Roy for Prince, then what is he gonna want for Billups is what I'm saying. There is absolutely no way we could get Billups without giving up one of our Big 3.
I'd love Devin Harris, but I really can't see New Jersey moving him. But if they wanted to drop salary for the LeBron sweepstakes and they have a bad contract (I don't know if they do), then something like LaFrentz, Outlaw and either Bayless or Fernandez for Harris and a bad contract might, maybe tempt them. We could toss in a first round pick, too. Dreaming. But might as well dream big. Harris/Roy/Aldridge/Oden is scary.
I agree Harris is intriguing, but I wouldn't want to trade Rudy anytime soon, and I'd still like to see if Bayless can blossom in the next year.
I understand your point. I just disagree I think Dumars asking price won't be as high for Billups, plus what we'd be giving him isn't exactly a bad deal. He'd be getting a ton of cap space a good young prospect/prospects (Travis, Sergio, Martel or Bayless) and possibly a draft pick. If they have a younger player that does the same things Billups is able to do why not trade him and get something back before his value drops. Again a lot depends on Stuckley and how the Pistons are playing around the trade deadline. Every year there are teams that drastically under perform and GM's who are looking to make changes. This year won't be any different.
I know it's still early, but I would say Rudy is almost untouchable. How often does a player of his talent come along? I think he's going to be a star and I wouldn't want to trade him for an aging veteran like Billups.
I like Nash, and don't necessarily think he's untouchable. I like Conley Jr, and the first thing I did in NBA 2K9 was trade Bayless and Diogu for Conley Jr and Memphis' 2010 #1. I think Billups would be OK, but not stellar for us. Hinrich is probably the best combination of "gettable" and "wantable" that I can find in the L. The problem for me is: Is he that much better than Blake? And unless you swap Blake as part of the deal, that's two similar point guards taking most of the minutes. Not good for people named Sergio or Jerryd. I keep saying this...make a Godfather deal for LeBron that includes LMA. Use whatever assets are left to go after a PF like Brandon Bass. I dunno, like... http://games.espn.go.com/nba/featur...22~5~5~5~14~14~14~5~5~6~5~6~22~6~22&te=&cash= Let the ridiculousness begin!
Hello Mr Mustache, If'n it hasn't be expressed, welcome to our family. We don't discriminate. Even against Hawaiians. I think all of your ideas are bogus. Here's some TLAs that will be useful in my responses below. NGH - Not going to happen. The other team views them as a cornerstone and will not trade them. At least not for anyone outside of the big 3. NMBB- Not much better than Blake RHB - Rather have Bayless LTS - Lamer Than Sergio TO - Too Old. By the time we (as the nascar folk are fond of saying) got our engines started they'd be puttering out. no
My pick would be Mike Conley. By packaging combinations of Lafrentz, Bayless, Sergio, Blake, Freeland, Webster, or Outlaw and involving a 3rd team, we could get this done ... if Memphis is willing to listen.
Hinrich is not much better than Blake? I don't agree with that. Hinrich is not a star, but he's an above average starter. Blake is well below average for a starter and is really backup quality. He'll start for Portland because so far Rodriguez has been even worse and Bayless is not ready to be a floor leader.
