LA gone before or on draft day

sorry, outside of lebron and bosh, my mistake, who are all the guys who left?

 

That is what an inordinate amount of posters on this board cling too, unfortunately....

In a perfect world you would like to keep LA and add another significant (all star quality piece) to this team...but I don't see that happening this summer...not with names like Splitter\Gortat\Pekovic...or bench additions like Allen, decent players but enough to propel this team into anything more than a 1st round and out team? I don't think so....and that is why LA will likely opt to leave when his contract is up...1st round and out just isn't good enough, straight from his lips...and this team hasn't even reached that level yet....

http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/6/2...cus-aldridge-is-a-candidate-for-a-draft-trade

Niether Matthews or Batum have shown that they can step up in a playoff situation either.....There is a LARGE difference b\t beating a high quality team during the season and beating them in a playoff series...Even with Roy at his best, which was far better than any other player on this roster IMO...POR still wasn't good enough to advance.....

If the goal is just making the playoffs and competing in a series, yeah they can possibly reach that next year with some of these additions, but transforming into a legitmate playoff contender? I do not see that happening...

 

There's hope on both sides, don't paint it like it's only those hoping LMA doesn't leave. You HOPE that when we trade him, we find a way to improve as a team. You HOPE that we get a player, or group of players that can be better than he is. You HOPE we can tank to get a true superstar next season. You HOPE that a collection of assets is better than one very good piece.

 

And what is the trend of stars leaving in the last 10 years? Outside of LEBRON(sorry) and Bosh? I'm not interested in speculating on where guys go THIS offseason. That doesn't at all show a trend.

 

Once you realize that the Blazers as currently built are struggling to fight for a playoff spot in the West, everyone not named Lillard is expendable. The name of the NBA game is winning, and if you aren't going to win with the players you got, you go get new ones. LA will never have a higher value than right now, and he sure as hell isn't the leader that the Blazers need to kick them to "the next level". Brandon Roy may have been that player, but we saw how that worked out. Lillard might be as well. But LaMarcus isn't. Yes, he's an All-Star. Yes he puts up numbers. But he's not a WINNER. He doesn't have that fire in his gut, that killer instinct in his eye that says "I'm winning this fucking basketball game and there's nothing you can do about it".

I'm not saying trading him will bring in a player of his caliber, but it will command a price for the team that trades for him... good role players, draft picks, etc. And the Blazers can build up from Lillard, Leonard, Batum, Matthews, along with this year's draft pick and whomever comes in via the trade.

Swing for the fences.

 

Sorry, I must have missed where we can trade LMA for two future top 4 picks. Can you point me to where that was mentioned?

If $16M in cap space is "absolutely worthless", then why would a team be able to trade for a good player with that absolutely worthless cap space?

It's amazing that you've told yourself so many times that he's leaving that you actually think it is a fact.

What's worse is that you have managed to convince yourself that those of us who admit we don't have insider, legit, GM knowledge of LMA's conversations and admit that we really don't know what he'll do, are the ones that are being illogical.

Another hilarious part is where you claim others are "buying into hope" but you're pushing to move an all-star for draft picks. Draft picks are basically the definition of "hope".

But yeah, I'm the one buying into hope and not logic. Oh my.

Strawman after strawman.

You're making the claim. You back it up by doing the study and provide the data.

It's exactly what you're doing.

- You're making an assumption without any inside information
- You're convincing yourself that your assumption is "100% correct"
- You're valuing $16M in cap space as "absolutely nothing", but still think that we can trade him to a team that has $16M of that worthless cap space.
- You're assuming that the number of available trading partners will drop in the next 6 months or year
- You want to trade every player if "there is any possible chance they will leave in 2 years"

I hope this isn't how you approach investing in real life.

 

And we need to remember that even just making the Playoffs is going to require a significant improvement - vaulting THREE teams just to get the #8 spot. Too many people seem to take it for granted that we'll make that leap. And even though I have agreed that it's a very real possibility, that's all it is - a POSSIBILITY. We don't have a lot to work with, so moving up 3 spots might be asking too much.
We'd all like to think that with Kobe out for the year that we'll finish ahead of LAL - but given that they're the Lakers and get trades done, we can't say for certain that we will. But for the sake of the argument we'll just say that we pass them. One down.
The next most obvious teams are UTH and DAL. DAL is angling for Howard and won't be willing to throw another season of Dirk's career in the toilet. They already finished better than us - leaping them will be tough. 20/80 for leaping them? UTH is going to make some pretty significant changes this summer. They were a fairly poorly balanced team last season and you have to figure they'll have better balance going into next season. But what moves will they make? Will it translate right away, or are they looking a couple years down the road? 50/50 on leaping Utah?
DEN is another team that's up in the air. But, they were SIGNIFICANTLY better than us this past season. We have to both be significantly better ourselves, and hope that they are significantly worse. That's a lot to ask.
We shouldn't just fall into the trap of expecting a C to put us into the Playoffs.

 

What?

 

You NEVER say "What?" to Master Brian, dude. Ever!!

 

I'm pretty sure he meant LeBron, since Wade has always been in Miami.

 

I don't think any of us who are hoping that LMA remains a Blazer are expecting that a C puts us into the playoffs. A C plus a backup PG and a decent vet role player or two on minimum contracts puts us into the hunt for the 4-8 spots and that's about it. I think it takes one more off-season to get a good bench player with the MLE and maybe a trade to put the Blazers into the good category. As far as the competition goes, IMO the next 6-8 teams below the Thunder, Clippers, Spurs and Grizzlies are about on the same playing field. Injuries will have more to do with who gets in among that group than roster moves will.

 

I’m not in favor of trading LaMarcus away right now unless the primary asset is more likely than not an allstar. This years #1 pick; in a historically horrible draft isn’t enough. Could LaMarcus leave in 2 years? Sure, there is a chance of it. But even if he intends to leave today players attitudes change on a whim. Kobe Bryant demanded a trade from the Lakers then they won a title a year later. Maybe Lamarcus is encouraged by the direction of our team in a year. Maybe the Texas teams don’t have any cap room and he stays here as option B.

I think its stupid to make a desperate move out of fear of a player leaving for nothing. If LaMarcus does leave for “nothing” we reduce our payroll by the size of a max contract. So the only thing we lose is the value LaMarcus provides above and beyond a max contract. Yes that would be horrible if it was an MVP level superstar but LaMarcus is not at that level. Phoenix lost Amare Stoudamire for “nothing” when NY gave him that max contract. Utah lost Carlos Boozer for "nothing" when he signed that overpaid deal with Chicago. The Clippers lost Elton Brand for "nothing" when he signed a massive contract with Philly. Losing a 30 year old all-star for "nothing" is a gamble that either team can win.

 

Slow day in wherever-the-heck-you-are, Brian?

 

pfft..vague notion..(I kid)

Those are pretty damning facts

 

Danny Granger and Paul George for LaMarcus Aldridge? Is this how it should go down?

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=pqtlnpb

 

BGD...

Just quit.