I don't necessarily think san Antonio has much more talent that us either, but a trio ofparker, Leonard and lma with pop drawing up plays is tempting. Splitter isn't better than Lopez though, and we know having a big center is important to lamarcus. Of the teams rumored, Dallas has Chandler, and Houston has Dwight. But Houston is a pipe dream and won't happen. So what does that leave him with? If we trade Lopez for hibbert, I think lma would be ecstatic. They seemed to really want to play with each other when we went after hibbert.
If Rondo leaves does DAL have cap space? Thought they would still be over the limit. Only way he goes there (which I don't think he will cus that team is shit) is trade.
You know what the saddest part of this scenario is? If the Blazers are forced into a S&T for LMA - they will get less than the TWolves did for Love. There is no team out there that is in the same position the Cavs were.
But at the same time, Minny knew that Love was leaving, AND they traded him while they still had some leverage. We would have very little leverage this summer if LA decided to leave. Especially since he probably would be picking where he ended up. What could San Antonio realistically offer us for him?
We might get a similar deal to what Cleveland got for LeBron in a sign and trade to Miami in 2010. A first round pick that will be in the high 20s.
Kyle Anderson, the guy they take in the first this year (as long as they don't sign him after drafting him) then a 2016 and 2018 first rounder after July 1st when they still would be in line with the stepien rules. It sucks, but better than nothing
Why would we be FORCED to S&T him? S&Ts no longer give a player the extra year or higher raises, so only reason he'd need a S&T, or another team would, is if they didn't have the space to sign him outright, which puts leverage back to us.
Which is why he doesn't go to DAL even if Rondo leaves (unless I am reading their cap space wrong). SAS would have to renounce some (major) people for them to have space to outright sign him. The only two teams that already have the space (without making moves) would be LAL and NY. Sound like situations he wants to be in? Not to me....
Dallas could probably get close, but would have to renounce Chandler's rights to do it, and then, Aldridge is leaving Portland, with a Rolo(theoretically), Lillard, Wesley(theoretically), Nic, etc. for...Parsons, an old and starting to really look washed up Dirk, and...having to play C! I don't see it. SA, I guess he could try to be the new Duncan, and start something there with Leonard, but Parker is slowing, and, do you want to "go home" with all of that pressure, and also deal with replacing an absolute legend, face of a franchise type? Like you said, LA and Knicks could shell out the money right off the bat for him, and in theory, out other potential pieces there. I don't see it. He made comments a few years ago to Quick kabout being followed around here by media, he keps to himself almost to a fault, doesn't seem like a big city type to me, I dunno.
That seems absurdly high, has there been another case of a team trading 4 first round picks? I can't even think of a teams trading 3 firsts and it not being seen as a very bad deal. And I don't think it's safe to say that if he values winning above all else he will stay in Portland. Until Lillard proves that he will get back to what he once was, LMA really has to carry the team. And I also don't think it's accurate to just say that injuries killed your chance this year. I do like Wes, he is important to the team, but he's not good enough that it should derail your season if he goes down. His skills are replaceable enough and he plays the easiest position to fill. If Lopez went down, he is just a role player too but I think that would have a much migger impact and would be more difficult to overcome.
1) four picks sounds like a lot but let's be honest those picks are all/likely going to be mid-late 20s picks. Not exactly lottery picks here... 2) losing Wes is HUGE, we lost 16/4/2 worth of production, our most consistent shooter, the heart of the team,etc.
Saying SG is the easiest position to fill just seems ignorant. Any position is easy to fill if you have no desire to meet the level of play you were previously getting from it. Or, as a Warrior fan, I imagine that Klay isn't a huge piece to the team, because he plays the easiest position to fill? On top of that, it's not JUST missing Wesley, and we're down 0-3. It's missing Wesley, so the bench production we were supposed to egt to boost our chances is now a starter, but, then, that player missed the first 2 games as well, throwing off the rotation.
It wasn't just Wes. It was Wes AND Afflalo. We went from having a rather formidable bench to having almost no bench. At one point every one of our starters has had to deal with an injury this season. Look at our series against the Grizzlies. No Wes. Afflalo missed the first two games. Kaman missed a game. We are extremely banged up right now.
The hardest position to fill is all of them... we'll be trying to re-sign as many folks as possible regardless of what LMA does.
I'm sorry, but what!?! SG is the shallowest position in the NBA right now. There are about 5 good SGs in the league - we had one of those 5 until he blew his achilles. There is simply no replacing Wes. Not only was he one of the most talented SGs in the league, he was the heart & soul of our team. With all that said, you're right - losing him didn't derail a potential championship. All it did was knock us from a borderline 2nd round team, to a 1st round sweep. (The easiest position to fill right now is PG, followed by PF, followed by C, then SF, then SG.)
