Did you watch Lillard's shot against Houston? That proves he knows how to make personnel decisions. He should be in charge of assembling the teams roster. Right now he is over in Europe scouting prospects.
Great teams never stop building even after they win Wold Series. Look at the Celtics and Lakers in the Seventies and Eighties, and San Antonoio now, the only way to stay hungry is to have hungry players. The rub is not changing too much.
LaMarcus is Cliff Robinson without a 3pt shot, and Cliff also developed into a good defender later in his career, which is more than can be said of LA. Puts up good numbers, but expendable.
You can't pay attention to Sinobas when talking about La, nothing LA does will make Sinobas ever forgive the turnaround fadaway.
You guys are living in a LaMarcus Aldridge fantasy land. Just compare LaMarcus to a true top tier PF. Dirk Nowitski really the only top tier PF that made his living from the outside. Last year he shot 53% from 2pt range and 40% from 3. LaMarcus rarely even shoots 3s and only shot 46% from 2pt range. He's a very inefficient scorer. He's not even in the top 100 in the NBA. This season, he only shot 50% or better 26 out of 69 games. His FG% is a full 4% lower than the team overall, and if opposing defenses shot the same rate as LA, we'd have one of the best defenses in the league. So opposing coaches want LA to take all the turn around fade aways he wants. He's not any better than Cliff Robinson was at his age. In fact, you could say he's a poor mans Cliff.
Big boss Aldridge.. You ain't so big. You just tall, that's all. [video=youtube;mtm_qsGY5lI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtm_qsGY5lI[/video]
http://bkref.com/tiny/KqP2a LA is better, mostly because he is a vastly superior rebounder, but Cliff was really good in 94/95. It was pretty much his best season.
Yes, that was my point. He's not a "poor man's Cliff." Take a look at the playoff numbers from that season, too. Also, why would Cleveland make any deal for LMA, when he most likely won't re-sign there? I don't think even Gilbert is that dumb.
I kinda wanna find out... Trade LA, tell him "we'll see you next summer wink wink", draft our third star, and have LA back after a lotto season where we play the rookie and the bench a bunch to get them into playoff shape for next year. LA comes back with a four year deal, we have Wiggins and Dame to help, and a new lotto rookie, and go HAM on the rest of the NBA.
Well, in hypothetical trade world, LMA resigns with Cleveland for the same reason he resigns with us. A shit ton more money.
I'm not a CBA expert AT ALL, but would Cleveland be able to sign him for the extra year/more money? Is that a bird rights thing?
LMA also wants to win. Is Cleveland minus everyone except Irving and Bennett a better team than Portland? Also, even in hypothetical trade world, reason must be at least a part of the equation.
In the East, a team with LA/Irving and whoemever else they can sign with cap space would make the playoffs. You're forgetting that the east is a complete fucking joke. Plus, money.
