This makes me wonder how Gortat and JJ would fit..I have to think JJ is going to be over priced...but I would like to see it before we let him go..
Funny... I thought the big problem was that we had no bench and zero D..I have a hard time putting it on Lillard or Nic, that they need to "step up"..
Gortat is one of those "empty stats" players who can put up numbers but has negligible effect on actual results. These are called "Shareefs" in honor of Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Our biggest Shareef this past year was JJ. Fortunately, Dave on Blazers' Edge knows approximately zero. He is an odd little man who, I'm guessing, lives in his parents' basement.
Clearly, the team D needs to improve. What I was talking about was having three legitimate stars on the team. If Lillard, Aldridge and Batum are at, or close to All-star level, then you can afford to have a solid, but unspectacular center and SG. Otherwise forget it. And the main people that need to step up the D are Lillard, Batum and Leonard.
I don't see how giving up an asset in order to become a mid-pack team is a "good move". A much better move would be to NOT give up said asset and sign someone else who will have the same impact: Dalembert, Kaman, Pachulia, etc. That still puts us in the middle of the pack, but we get to retain the #10 pick which has a decent chance at becoming better than all the players named currently are, and certainly better than all of them will be in 2-3 years.
not trying to pick nits..Lillard will be better..in fact, I expect him to make a serious run at the allstar game..Nic..well, I like his D..does he gamble? Yep! Is he fun as hell to watch catch up from behind, and erase a layup? HELL YEAH!! Just need more in the middle, and I thing JJ at Center was painfull to watch on D
Which players in the entire league would turn our current team into a legit championship contender next season? Now, which of those players are realistically available?
Agree completely. I really don't like this notion that if the Blazers can't become contenders this summer (and there's no realistic move they could make that would accomplish that), then they should just fold their hand, trade away Aldridge and rebuild. I'm a believer in incremental improvement. You do what you can to become better next year and then look to do the same thing again each year thereafter until you are a legitimate contender.
What if they traded the tenth pick for Gortat, and then got the Mavs pick to take on someone that fell? Would this be more palatable?
whoa..where did we get the 13th pick as well? I know I have not been reading everything, but I missed this..
original question involved trading the 10th away and the acquiring the 13th from Dallas (paying $$, etc.). Dallas had been rumored to want to move the pick to avoid the cap hold if they wanted to get D. Howard.
Thanks, I have been switching between screens and did niot pick that up.. That would be great to snag another lottery pick..even in this weak ass draft, we have toge at least one halfass player again, thanks!
How do the Blazers trade a player they have already waived? http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9187724/jared-jeffries-waived-portland-trail-blazers
LMA is not going to be traded this summer. There is a .0001% chance of that happening. Olshey doesn't want to have a 25-win season with an owner who changes GMs more than he changes his underwear. From a GM perspective, it's better to get some playoff revenue and sell some tickets than it is to "rebuid" perpetually, which seems to be what many posters here advocate.
Probably not, but what happens if Olshey can't get any of the centers we have discussed, can't get a big FA, and ends up with only the draft picks this year? He just plays the hand dealt him?
The hand dealt him is a young roster with a potential superstar at PG, and a very, very good PF, and he'll be able to at least upgrade the bench. Trading LMA for prospects would be career suicide. He wasn't brought to Portland to blow up the roster. He was brought here because he supposedly has great rapport with veterans.
Probably true, but I could see a chance of them getting through the summer without getting any major roster help, and then LMA telling them it wasn't enough. At that point, they either make a mid-season trade for someone in, or consider trading LMA. If Olshey swings and misses this summer, and then they lose LMA to TX, then he might never get another GM job.
