Lillard's and Aldridge's relationship. (He will come back Portland one day)

So if Covington plays a key position why would we trade for LMA knowing that a move like that does nothing to stop Kawhi and Paul George?

 

Yeah but Iggy’s a UFA next summer, so they cant trade for him then. Are you proposing they trade for him at the deadline for one of our expiring’s and try to get Memphis to add a pick? That seems unlikely when Memphis is trying to stock up on young guys and draft picks.

 

When considering health and contract LMA and Griffin have similar trade value. Any other opinion is based in a world where Griffin is healthy all the time. No one is giving Detroit a big offer for him.

 

To give us another guy who can create offense for themselves, thats really LMA’s only skill. Kawhi and PG cant guard everybody and the Blazers have a grand total of 0 guys who can stop either of them so you’re gonna have to score a lot.

 

Oh my god Tortured, I don't know why you're back to Iggy. I SAID A TRADE SIMILAR TO THAT ONE!!!! NOT TRADING FOR IGGY THIS YEAR.

 

Is offense our problem?

 

Part of it. They go through terrible lapses offensively when teams decide to trap our guards. If offense isnt one of there problems Im not sure why all of us get so mad that still cant beat a trap...

Their other huge issue in the playoffs was defensive rebounding.

I mean Im not quite sure what you want me to say.

I dont think LMA is the answer to winning a ring, but I dont think Covington or Porter are either. Maybe Blake is if he’s ever healthy.

 

Off the top of my head:

Iggy and a future 1st

Baynes and a 1st

TJ Warren and the 32nd pick

Harkless and a future 1st

Crabbe and 2 future 1sts (Prince going back probably cancels 1 of those but you get my point)

Those are just what I can remember real quick, I'm sure there were others.

 

LMA can't dribble. So he actually hurts us just as much as Aminu if Stotts doesn't change how we attack Dame getting trapped. At least Love can pass and shoot the 3 better and at least dribble enough to keep the defense honest.

I just don't get how adding an inefficient player who needs touches helps an offense get better.

 

I mean I get that if we keep our expirings maybe we can get someone’s bad player and a pick with our flexibility.

I also get that, that may be better than over paying for LMA. Im not sure theres one of those deals that puts them over the top.

Flexibility has its benefits though and pushing their chips in for LMA is probably not worth it. My only point was I dont think Aldridge is a terrible fit.

 

Oh come on, LMA hurts the offense as much as a guy who literally shot a lower ts% while being the guy that opponents literally didnt guard most of the time...

Ive said before I like Loves skillset a lot for the Blazers (at least offensively), if the package was the same Id definitely take Love over LMA.

If you dont want LMA, thats fine. I wouldn't say I “want” him, but I certainly wouldn't be upset if he ended up back here either.

 

No I dont think we would for the first two. But their value exceeds their skill because of fit.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/miketo...-trail-blazers-on-and-off-court/#7da64c472fa3

If It Happens, A LaMarcus Aldridge Return Would Benefit Trail Blazers On And Off Court

A star power forward who had left the Portland Trail Blazers under a cloud of controversy returns to the team, reclaims his iconic status with Portland fans and gets his number retired.

That’s a scenario some Blazers fans have been imaging recently for LaMarcus Aldridge, but the scenario has already played out in Portland with someone Aldridge knew well: Maurice Lucas.

Lucas was the power forward and leading scorer on the Blazers’ lone championship team, in 1977, and is among the most iconic figures in franchise history. But he played for the Blazers less than four full seasons when he left in 1980 – unhappy with his contract, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, part of the rapid disintegration of the title team that was portrayed in the classic book “Breaks of the Game” by David Halberstam.”

Lucas returned to Portland to 1987 to play one final season before retiring and moving into coaching. He stayed in Portland after leaving the team to raise him family; during that period, the franchise lost fans in droves because of players’ off-the-court “Jail Blazers” antics. Lucas returned to the franchise as an assistant coach in 2005 and served in that role until his death from cancer in 2010. The team staged a beautiful ceremony for Lucas at Memorial Coliseum, the franchise’s old arena.


Lucas’ departure and return happened in such a different era than Aldridge’s departure in 2015, when as an unrestricted free agent who had played his first nine seasons in Portland, he signed with San Antonio. Reaction in Portland, fueled by social media speed, was rough, and Aldridge is still booed when he touches the ball in games at the Moda Center.

But type “LaMarcus Aldridge” and “Trail Blazers” in any search engine today, and you will see a remarkable number of stories about the possibility of Aldridge rejoining the Blazers. The fuel behind the speculation was reporting by Jason Quick of The Athletic, to whom Aldridge, speaking of his relationship to Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard, said: “I keep telling him I’m going to come back and finish there. That’s something him and I have talked about — playing together again.” Another writer from The Athletic, Jabari Young, recently rekindled the topic.

This topic makes for perfect fodder on sports talk radio and social media – Aldridge, after all, is under contract to the Spurs, so no one who has deal-making powers with the Blazers is allowed to talk about a trade for him, handcuffed – or perhaps shielded — by NBA tampering rules.

In terms of contract, obtaining Aldridge has an attractive side for Portland as his deal with the Spurs, which will pay him $26 million in 2019-20, is only guaranteed for the 2020-21 season for $7 million until June 29, 2019, when its worth becomes a fully-guaranteed $24 million. Although he has been a very durable player in his 13 seasons, Aldridge turned 34 last week, so the Blazers will certainly not want to take on a long-term max deal for him, and having earned nearly $200 million of NBA salary, he likely no longer needs that kind of security.

In terms of basketball, Aldridge remains a force, coming off an All-Star season in which he averaged 21.3 points and 9.2 rebounds and shot 51.9 percent. Some fans worry whether he would “accept” a complementary role playing with Damian Lillard, but no coach would ever say don’t bring in a great player as I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to use him – especially as Portland coach Terry Stotts has already coached Aldridge for three seasons.

There's also a bit of healing that could be accomplished. Read through enough Twitter posts and responses on the topic, and you’ll see that Aldridge retains a lot of support from Blazers fans. He, Brandon Roy and coach Nate McMillan played the biggest roles in the Blazers’ resurrection after fans fed up with off-court antics and on-court losses abandoned the team in droves. As fans returned, Aldridge remained to carry the franchise flag after Roy’s faltering knees sent him to an early retirement and McMillan was fired in 2012.

But Aldridge’s decision to bolt for his home state – at a time when he had become the No. 2 scorer in Blazers history (he has since been passed by Lillard) – left the franchise and fans in a peculiar phase of their relationship with a player who might deserve to be ranked in the top five, certainly the top 10, of the team’s all-time great players. This era of NBA player movement might be conducive to that sort of awkwardness, but it just does not seem a Portland thing.

When Lucas returned to the franchise in 2005, he spoke about wanting the Blazers to regain respectability among fans, and Aldridge played a large role in that happening. After Lucas’ death at 58 following a long battle with bladder cancer, the Blazers established the Maurice Lucas Award, given to the player who “best represents the indomitable spirit of Maurice Lucas through his contributions on the court and in the community, as well as in support of his teammates.”

In the nine years the award has been given out, only one player has won it twice, including in the inaugural year:

LaMarcus Aldridge.

 

If you're main argument is that someone would be better than Aminu last year then you can say that about pretty much anybody. Aminu was awful in the playoffs.

I'm being totally serious here: I'd rather sign Melo for the minimum than give up actual assets for LMA. Melo would do everything you say LMA would do for us on offense.

 

It seems like were kind of all over the place...

My original position was that to me it seems like you only go after an LMA type guy if you dont believe in Zach. You said (sorry if Im misremembering) you dont think LMA can play PF anymore he’s just a center and its not about Zach to you. So I was trying to make a case that I think he can still play PF reasonably well and would be an upgrade there.

All the stuff about keeping flexibility or other options might be out there, Im not in disagreement with. You brought up that LMA hurts the offense just as much as Aminu did (I really disagree here), but maybe I interpreted your comment incorrectly.

Other than what position LMA can play and his fit Im not sure what were in disagreement on. So bringing up other options and flexibility and all that seems like a point that we actually agree on...

I have never said that I would go crazy and trade a bunch of assets for LMA, because I wouldnt.

Though I do tend to think we value picks far more than GM’s do. Considering it apparently takes like a decades worth to get a good return, it shows me the guy giving up the picks would rather have the player, and guy getting the picks wasnt willing to settle for a couple, but this is a discussion for some other thread.

 

I didn't argue that Aldridge is good (though he is certainly capable). I wouldn't be willing to give up a productive player for him.

 

Well I'm all for it then. If we can pick one of those guys up for expiring deals and/or guys who don't play, I say go for it. I'm not willing to give up more than that for Aldridge.

 

Or, the Spurs figure you can't teach a dog as old as LA new tricks, plan on trading him while they can still get something out of him, and have brought Duncan on to school the new front line players.