Here is the problem I see with POR in general in terms of thier "Reload not Rebuild" mentality...they are a team that is trying to rely on players being something that they are not..... These are the players who will be back next year.... LA - POR is counting on him to thier #1 (Durant\Kobe\Rose\LeBron) type of player, or at least that he keeps developing towards that, even though there are too many times for comfort that he acts like a #2....Realistically on a lot of the top tier playoff teams, he would be the #2 guy... Batum - Realistically he is really good rotation player, a #4-#5 guy on your team that plays the defense has some offensive outbursts and hustle plays...Unfortunately, POR is counting on him to develop into that #2-#3 guy. After what 3-4 years? I am not convinced that he will be able to grow into that #2 all-star caliber player...and quite frankly any team that counts on a player like this to suddenly become or improve into something he is not currently is just setting yourself up for failure..... Matthews - On a really good team, playoff team, he is a 6th-8th man, coming off the bench, providing a spark, hitting a few shots and playing good defense...basically good in spurts...Yet on POR he is a starter and pretty much counted on to be that #3 scoring option type of player...Far from ideal Elliot Williams - Who knows with this guy? It is pretty disconcerting that he has been unable to stay healthy...He has shown some offensive output in limited minutes...he is an undersized SG, but with some very good athleticism...On a good team, you see how he rehabs and if he can force his way into the rotation...On the Blazers? They are hoping\counting on him to be at minimum a key contributor off the bench and some have even whispered starter.....Again, good teams don't count on this occuring as part of thier reloading plan.... Babbitt - Well at least he went from total bust to specialist...but that is about it, he plays sporadic minutes here and there when you need to space the floor for a shooter...So we are talking a 10th-12th guy at best on a good team...In POR he is going to be a 6th-8th man, a key bench rotation player, not good. Przybilla - I think he will be back, but he is aging, surgeries etc..In POR he was our starting center, may be next year as well, most likely though our backup center....on most other good teams a backup center or 3rd string insurance center... Nolan Smith - On any playoff team the only time this guy would see the floor would be in a blowout and this is if he was even on the active roster....Just a horrible draft pick by POR...He is another undersized SG, though not nearly as talented as Elliot Williams...so, great POR has a 3rd string SG that they keep trying to play as a backup PG...For POR they are still hoping for him to be thier backup PG, eventhough he showed little to any signs of being that...on good teams, he would never see the floor....and we picked him over a guy who could have been the b\u PF this team has lacked (Faried)...Unbelievable... Kurt Thomas - Back of the bench player who is playing on fumes...For POR he plays spot minutes as a reserve, for any playoff team...end of bench insurance player.... That is it, 8 guys back from last year's team in all likelyhood. Seriously, how can anyone look at those returning players and think "Yeah, with a few other pieces this could be a championship team"....I mean the notion is just so ridiculous, you almost have to laugh about it. This team is SEVERELY lacking in talent, I mean look at those 8 players coming back and tell me they are not...Furthermore they are missing at minimum ONE, and more likely TWO key ingredients, that being 1-2 bonafide all star caliber players to play alongside LA.... No starting PG, No reserve PG, No starting caliber SG, No starting center, No backup PF, No off the bench scorer This team has recieved VERY little help from drafts since 2008 (Batum)...and has gotten one 7th-8th man player via FA (Matthews) and nothing else... Reloading isn't the answer, unless your goal is to just put out a mediocre product, a team that can fight to make the playoffs any given year but then be 1st round fodder for the good teams...and with the current roster I am not even sure you can count on this team being able to achieve that.... Trading away lottery picks for guys like Lowry, Iguodala, Gortat, Evans etc will basically lead to that scenario above. Yeah the team will be better, but a championship caliber team? An upper echelon team? Not even close... POR has to rebuild....Just too little talent and too far to go to reload.... It all starts with the draft, use both picks, heck try to get more...this team needs an infusion of talent in the worst way....Bring Freeland over, maybe even Claver...same with Diebler...at least see if Claver\Diebler are worth a roster spot in summer league, if not, let them go\trade them away....Utilize both 2nd round picks this year, there will be value there... I would deal Matthews for a pick if I could, I would throw Nolan Smith into a deal if it could net me a trade up in picks or another draft pick, the guy isn't ever going to be a starting SG, and unless E-Will totally flames out b\c of injury, he will never even be a backup SG...and backup PG is never going to happen...Plus there are FAR better options in the draft and thru FA for SG.... Go after young players in FA...Dragic, OJ Mayo, George Hill all come to mind, maybe a guy like Nick Young.... At least inquire about dealing Batum, to see what you could get....unless you are going to be able to sign him to a reasonable deal, POR may have to look at trading him away...He is a good player, still has some potential to grow but you are really putting yourself into a corner if you sign him to $10-11mil and he stays what he is a 4th-5th man....POR may be able to do that, b\c by the time his contract is up he will be 27? and at that time POR would have to resign thier lottery picks to big money (if they panned out)...If a team will give you a high lottery pick for him, then I would trade him. If not try and resign him. Most importantly realize that you are not going to fill all the holes in one year...LA may have to play some center...You should be able to address PG thru FA...If you could get a mid\late 1st you may be able to get a guy like Fab Melo...I would certainly look at Kyle O'Quinn and Henry Sims in the 2nd round...You have Freeland coming over, play him, see if he can play some PF\C minutes for you...and\or you could address PG, with a mid 1st, a guy like M.Teague or S.Machado in the 2nd round... I know a lot of people are clamoring for Kendall Marshall, you could pick him up at #11 if he was there...I think POR would be better served going instead for higher ceiling type of players...guys like P.Jones, T.Wroten, Q.Miller... at #6 go for BPA...Beal (if he drops or if you can trade up a spot or two to get him), Lamb, Rivers or Barnes... I think a perfect draft for POR would be a Beal at #6 or trade up and one of a Jones\Sullinger\Henson if they are there at #11....OR if you can't get Beal, then a combination of P.Jones & Rivers\Lamb.... Basically 2 of the following players: Beal, Rivers, Lamb, Barnes, P.Jones, Sullinger, Henson...and preferably not 2 players at the same position. If you can get a mid\late 1st...go after Teague or F.Melo....
The thing is if you trade Aldridge for a "franchise player" then you will need to get an Aldridge type player alongside him to make any noise.
The thing I find goofy about these kinds of discussions is that some of you seem to think like the guy who looks at his poker hand, doesn't see at least a full house, so he just keeps folding hoping that he'll get dealt a full boat on the next deal. Look, no team that's contending for a title has an All-Star at every position. The best teams have 2-3 All Stars and a bunch of solid role players. The Blazers have one All-Star (LMA), some good role players (Nic, Wesley, & potentially JJ), and a couple of decent prospects that could turn into something (Williams & Babbitt). They've got enough cap space to add one All-Star level player this summer and they've likely got two draft picks that could bring a couple of players who can at least grow into solid role players and maybe, with a bit of luck, possibly a future All-Star. If the Blazers make use of those assets in that way, does it make them a contender for a title next season? Probably not, but they should be good for at least a shot at winning a playoff series. I don't care about semantics of whether that's a rebuild or a reload, but it's a step in the right direction. If the draft picks pan out relatively soon, then the Blazers could contend in a couple of years. One step at a time.
I think you're close, but what every legitimate contender has is 2-3 superstar level players, not all-star level players. Then a bunch of solid role players. Portland doesn't have any superstar level players. The Mavs caught lightning in a bottle last year, and while that could happen to Portland, chances are it won't because it doesn't happen all that much. Just go back and look at the teams playing for a title in the last 20 years or so. Most all of them had at least 1 superstar and if not more, then other all-stars on their team. This team doesn't have that "fuck you" guy, that guy that is on the court and fans of the other team just "know" they are in for a beating. Roy was that guy, and had we had a coach that was any good, we might have challenged two years ago. That guy like K*be, MJ, Mariano Rivera, Elway, etc. Forth quarter, 9th inning, those guys win
YOu must not have understood my post then. I don't expect this team to turn it around in one year, THAT would be a "reload" That was a large part of my post, is that this team is a LONG ways away talent wise form what is needed to be a championship caliber team.... That is why instead of potentially dealing away lottery picks for mediocre, to slightly better then mediocre players is an EPIC FAIL waiting to happen.... You gotta build through the draft, use FA to plug some of the gaping holes with younger talent...but those future "core " players are most likely going to come through the draft. LA is a #1/#2 Batum is a #4/#5 Matthews is a #7/#8 and the rest is unknown (E-Will), irrelevant (Babbitt, Pryz) or garbage (N.Smith, Thomas) The team needs the BEST TALENT AVAILABLE regardless of position....Use your #6 and #11 picks to go after players with high upside\ceilings....Try and get a 3rd mid round pick maybe for MAtthews....7th-8th men are not hard to come by and that is what he is...Use FA to get a younger PG like Dragic\George Hill or Brooks all younger-ish PG...or a guy like Mayo, maybe a Nick Young.... Realize that you are not going to be able to plug all holes in one fell swoop....that in taking all these young players you may not make the playoffs, but you might and if you do it will be with some of these younger players leading\helping the charge...and that is a far more positive position to be in than an aging team barely making the playoffs and getting knocked out of the first round than a young one that still has room to grow...
You don't get to championship contention by using your huge amount of cap space to target young 2nd tier PGs. Or using low level lottery picks to draft talent. You have to go after Marquee players at all costs or get the top 3 picks in the draft somehow. That's it. Championship teams are made quickly, mainly by acquiring massive talent quickly trading expiring contracts. The other way is building through the draft but that only generally works with a top 3 pick (or multiple top picks in consecutive years).
Don't need to do a complete rebuild. The Blazers would be lucky to end up with a player as good as Aldridge. The Blazers are in a prime position to reload this summer with a lot of cap space and potentially 2 lottery picks. I want to see what they can do with it.
Only Larry, PA, and Chad think we don't. Remember they are "dreaming big" for this season. To such a below average front office this probably means making a run at damaged goods -- Amar'e Stoudemire.
I'm on the fence. Aldridge is easily one of the best big men in the league. He's still young, he isn't a headcase, and his contract isn't horrible. He should be worth quite a bit actually, but I don't know if he's worth the #1 overall pick.
Outside of D-Will there are not any established "marquee" players to be had via FA, and when is the last time POR was able to acquire a marquee player through free agency? I cannot think of one, can you? and you have an orginization and some fans here talking about dealing both lottery picks not for marquee players but for mediocre NBA players....Is Marcin Gortat a marquee player? Kyle Lowry? Andre Iguodala? Your premise is right, your method is flawed.... I don't see a team trading us a marquee player for some cap killing contracts and draft picks. If you have some names, I would love to hear them? Maybe Rajon Rondo? So you want to trade both picks, plus taking some contract back to get him? Ask yourself why BOS, a team that can advance past the 1st round would want to trade a young guy like Rondo away....It's called foresight, knowing that this is a strong draft with 9 players who were rated top 5 in thier respective classes in it, knowing that 60%+ of those players have historically become to good\very good\great players in the NBA... You are right, great players elevate teams to championship levels very quickly and the best way by far to get those players is via the draft...Particularly for small market teams like POR... So you can hope POR can get D-Will or that you can pick up a Rajon Rondo for cheap, but you better REALIZE that the chances of that occurring for POR are slim to nil and PLAN accordingly.... If you can use your cap space to take a bad contract and get a high draft pick, heck yeah you do it...If someone wants Matthews for a mid 1st round pick, hell yes you do it....If a team wants to overpay Batum big ($10-$11+) money and can give you back a young player\s and draft picks, you certainly better be looking at that hard.... Because the bottom line is that talent trumps mostly everything in the NBA, I agree with that premise...that is why you always go BPA in a draft, and not need (Nolan Smith over Kenneth Faried), and why when all else is equal or close to it, you go for the player with the higher upside...Why you trade bench players (Matthews), role players (Babbitt, E-Will) and even starting players (Batum) who are not your "core 3" for players\draft picks that have good potential to have a greater impact than that.... Build through the draft....Use cap space to acquire young players and picks...Trade mid tier assets (bench players, role players, complementary starting players) to teams who b\c of where they are may overvalue thier worth...b\c ultimately you need at least 2 maybe 3 "core\star caliber" players and then the rest can be tweaked with\filled in around them.... POR has 2 chances at #6 & #11 in this draft to get a good chance at one of those "type" of guys, and the potential to use thier cap space to add a young complimentary player (hopefully with some upside...OJ Mayo, Dragic, Hill) but at no cost outside of available cap space and\or be able use that cap space to add another young player\pick with potential to be one of those "guys" as well....They need to give themselves as many spins of the wheel as they can in this draft, particularly since they do at least have the luxury of already having one such player in LA...
A prime big who is an allstar who is just entering his prime and on a really good contract is worth the #1 pick if the team with it would suddenly turn into a playoff/championship. Any team that gets the #1 pick this year (just talking about the top 6 teams who have the best shot at it) would not become either of those with just trading their pick for LMA.
Who has "built through the draft"? Look, it only works if you're getting the top 3 picks in the draft. And even then, its never guaranteed, only a handful of top picks have made a team a title contender. Oklahoma? 3 straight years of top 4 picks in the draft. (Duran, Harden and Westbrook). Yeah, built through the draft but like I said they had 3 straight years of being bad enough to get top 4 picks. Lower than that, it wouldn't have clicked. Chicago? Rose was first pick in the draft. Lets look at the last NBA champions. Who built through the draft? Mavs: No. They built around Dirk, who was probably where Aldridge was now. A few seasons ago he was not a marquee player. Lakers: No. Big lopsided trades got them here (Gasol mainly). Celtics: Trading for the Garnett and Ray Allen got them where they are. Spurs: Built around Duncan for years with non-lottery picks. Heat: Shaq going there got them the ring. Pistons: No marquee players at all. Kind of a freak year. ShaKobe Lakers: They were who they were b/c of Shaq going there via FA.
