Not completely insane, but I'd like to increase our size and perimeter defense, not actually get younger. I was thinking along these lines: To ORL: CJ & #15 To POR: Vucevic & #5 then To CHI: Crabbe & #5 To POR: Butler Personally, I think you could probably start Vuc at the 4, especially given his improved outside shot. Dame/Butler/Harkless/Vucevic/Nurkic would be a damn strong starting 5.
Deal. I was thinking about something like this the other day. Spare me all the "always be mediocre" crap. IF, Dame and CJ don't improve their defense significantly, there is reason to believe that this team will never contend. Look up some of my own posts about the combination and where they rank as defenders in the history of the Blazers and the NBA. Fultz has a chance to be a bigger star than either Dame or CJ and will almost certainly defend better than either. In truth I would probably rather pair him with CJ, but that is more complicated. It would be a huge gamble, but unless CJ and Dame pick up their defense, it could easily be a net positive. How about this one a few years ago "Hey, let's trade Clyde for the 3rd pick in 1984? Nah, why take a step backwards?" I'm not sure I would actually do it, but I would think very hard about doing it. It could easily be one day we look back on this and regret not making such a move when we might have been able to. This is somewhat unique timing if Boston gets #1, because they might want to sell it for an instant contributor.
The proposed trade is actually fairly reasonable and realistic. I actually think Boston would decline--not because McCollum isn't worth the #1, but because Ainge, in my opinion, overvalues all his assets a bit. That doesn't mean it's certainly the right move. It's just one of the few trades proposed on this site that isn't a massive rip-off in Portland's favor.
What could maybe work is CJ for Orlando's two first round picks: no. 4 and no. 25. Would you do that? I am leaning towards yes. We could draft Jayson Tatum with 4 (probably, if not then Jackson) and then get Terrance Ferguson with our pick to play at 2. With the remaining picks you can draft three more players. We would go extremely young in that scenario but if 2-3 players reached their potential, it could be a great team. I am actually cool with acquiring 1-2 more picks. Aminu, Davis or Harkless could get us late first rounders or second rounders. CJ for Tatum COULD make sense if we don't think Dame/CJ is going to work long term.
I'm not quite as excited about that scenario as I don't like trading one great for two good players. My only reason for interest in the Boston deal is that Fulz mixed with Dame would be much better on defense very quickly and would be less of a wholes. If you drafted a SF, then you would have to start Crabbe at SG? The one upside to you deal is you could use one or two of the picks to dump another big salary or too, but that feels more like a full rebuild.
