I think people have more faith in Aldridge than they should. What has he said or done that has led you, or anyone else for that matter, to believe he's such a fiercely loyal person? The last time we had this many rumors surrounding an All-Star caliber power forward, we were assured there was nothing on the table and he was eventually dealt.... on draft day. I will not be surprised to see LMA gone, and if he is, I will assume it was for good reason.
Who cares? Do you think Neil Olshey gives a shit about the fans when he's making a trade? If Aldridge is on the table, it's either because he wants to be there, or because Olshey feels it's necessary to put him there.
So do I get to remind you in a couple years when Aldridge leaves that I was right and you were wrong? Or will you blame the fans then too? If you were invested in a company, and you saw a potential pitfall coming down the road, would you leave your money and risk it, or would you pull it out and reinvest it?
Ahh...the good ol "if he was traded thats the best he could have done and is best for the team" argument that also surfaced in the zbo trade. Bravo. Once again I dont see the urgency id just as rather have him here and let him walk than the shit proposals going around. hoop fam
Except with ZBO, Roy wanted him gone and we had Aldridge backing him up. And most of us STILL hated that trade. But the circumstances were very different. Firstly, Randolph was locked up for another four years I think. We had Oden coming in and I think Pritchard wanted Randolph gone because he didn't want him in the locker room. I think we could have gotten more for Zach, but then again he was traded twice more before he finally found a home. I really don't see how this situation is at all like the Randolph trade. They are completely separate issues.
Its not a loyalty thing to me. I don't think LMA is a fiercely loyal person and is going to refuse to leave Portland. It comes down to two things for me. One is that we should have a good idea if he is staying or leaving by this time next year so delaying our dealing him isn't that big of a deal. Two LMA doesn't make a lot of money in endorsements he makes the majority of his money from his contract and Portland can offer him over 20m more then anyone else by adding in that fifth year of a max deal. Thats a HUGE amount of money to leave on the table for a player who will turn 34(if he signs with someone else)/35 at the end of their max contract. He isn't getting another Massive contract after this one so I think the money situation is a big deal. I don't think there is anyway The Blazers let LMA get to UFA without being completely sure he resigns.
Yep, Randolph was considered a Toxic player with a horrible contract at the time of the trade. Two other teams tossed him away for less value then we got for him after only a season. He finally found a good home in Memphis and got his shit figured out. Not close to the same situation.
But Portland is also a horrible city for endorsements. I think this was brought up before, but there simply isn't any money to be had here. If he were to go to a bigger city, he might be able to make back some of that money in endorsement deals. I also get the impression that he's a mama's boy, and he would like to be closer to his mother.
I think LA has a nice situation in Portland. Even if he were to go to texas...in 2 years he would be on basically a barren roster. I dont know what max player he would play with there. The clippers situation is perfect for him though and if we were to get blake back somehow it would be ok with me if he was going to bolt. Just not high on this draft class. Cleavland would be a good situation too but does he want to go there? I dont really want what they have unless its a hugely lopsided deal. hoop fam
Yeah two other poorly ran organizations. He is the same player as before just had more talent around him. hoop fam
Unless your in LA/NY then you'v got to be a superstar to get those big endorsement deals. LA isn't that so even if he goes to Houston/Dallas I don't think he is going to make close to that 20m he left on the table. He is a huge Mama's boy, you can tell from every interview when he talks with her but even for a Mama's boy thats a lot of bread to leave on the table just to be closer to your mom for the season.
Houstons blowing their load this summer. Dallas next. Well see who lines up san antonio would have the best cap postion but I dont know if he goes there hoop fam
Didn't someone say that David Lee was pulling in a fairly hefty sum in endorsements when he was in NY?
So you don't think he could make quite a bit more in Houston or Dallas? I mean, obviously not on the same level as LA or NY, but the guy only does the one commercial here in Portland. It's pretty sad that we can't support our All-Star.
Remember when Batum's very own agent said he didn't want to be here? That was a bit more credible than this. And yet, here Batum is. Nothing is going to happen now, and probably not for a good while. Even if the plan WERE to trade Aldridge, it's wouldn't happen this fast because teams need to realize how much they want/need him so that they can give us a nice package. And think of it this way: the person who has the final say is Allen. Who has had health issues and is probably heartily sick of rebuilding. Somehow I don't think he'd be on board with a teardown.
Shocking. I wish we had someone in here that knew this kind of stuff before the National media tweets it
IF this is true, what a mess. Take a moment and try and find a reasonable trade that addresses needs. There really arent any star caliber SG besides Harden and he aint going anywhere. And there really arent any realistic C's that are equivalent to the production and caliber that we would be giving up in LMA. Which may mean that we have to trade for young and potential and start again. About the best I can come up with is this and I have no idea if either team would be interested. The point is Im beginning to wonder if we can get the value now LMA or is there more value in waiting or just using the cap space when the time comes. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ofyqgug I hope this all just BS and we can make enough changes that allow us to take the steps that allow us to keep LMA. It would be nice to actually win with the core we have built and been rooting for for the last few years. I guess the question is no matter how much some of us like (or dont like) LMA can we win with this core upgraded?
