I would swoon at LaMarcGasolDridge. (also that name is so f'ing brilliant it needs to actually happen)
Which begs two questions. What would their babies look like? And what would they looked like morphed together? (Do it Conan!) Now not only is this a trade LMA thread.......
Woj is just exploring the whats next for LeBron question. Wade is fading and so are The Heat's chances of contending, so that opens the door for speculation that he leaves. If he were to go, what would be his main motivation in choosing a new franchise... money? best chance to win? legacy? 10 years into the league, dude has made some money. 250M banked, he earned 73M in endorsements & salary last season alone. But his endorsement income dwarfs his yearly salary & of course those dollars increase when starring in a marquee franchise. Come to PDX LeBron, you'll make far less in endorsements + we'll give you our full MLE! If somehow maximizing cash was down the list of his priorities with the top 3 being winning, winning & winning then Portland actually is an attractive option for him. They've a legit player at every position and plenty of outside shooting to spread the court & play off of his drives. No one is approaching retirement age or dealing with chronic injuries. Adding him to their starters would seem to make an amazingly talented & balanced team that would probably be a heavy favorite to win it all each season through LBJ's prime. would be tough to lose out on BlazerWookee though STOMP
I've given this some thought, and I just can't part with BlazerWookee. So I'll have to let LeBron and the 1st pick go. Maybe next time.
if the blazers had 20 million in cap room i have no doubt they could make a strong pitch to lebron. but they dont. the best, non gutting deal i can dream on would be... mccollum freeland trob wright nards claver for a 2nd/cap space would a team like philly take that deal? eats up a bit of their cap space, but they get to take a look and a few younger guys, and intensify their tank job the next two seasons...idk if mo opts out that would clear up around 18.5 million under the cap... lillard wes lebron lma rolo batum off the bench? this would leave batum as the odd man out in the starting lineup, and in that case you could deal him in the original deal, or bring him off the bench, or in a new deal for some big man depth or WHO THE FUCK KNOWS. FUCK.
LeBron could force his way to Portland. I guarantee you Miami would take batum, future firsts, Leonard, McCollum for LeBron. Superstars decide where they want to go. We could trade batum for nothing and make it work if LeBron said he wanted to come. But it will never happen. LeBron will never want to come here. I get a boner thinking about it though
GS never seems to have cap space, yet they are always involved in rumors to get a top FA . . . and last year made it happen. Last year they got Iggy, this year they are trying to get Love and Melo (although Love is technically not a FA so GS can trade for him) I rarely see the Blazers come up in rumors. This year's teams popping up in rumors (mainly for Melo and Love) are Boston, GS, Chicago and Dallas
If 'making it happen' means being being bounced out of the playoffs early, I guess they 'made it happen.' Now they fired their coach, and are looking to bring in one of a handful of the worst defensive 'superstars' in NBA history to make them better. They regressed last season, and giving up Klay Thompson for Kevin Love would be a huge mistake, IMO.
Iguadola went for 13/5/4 with a 12.6 PER (16.7 USG) in the playoffs for Golden State, and is considered a decent player who was worth the money. Batum goes for 15/8/5 with a 14.5 PER (16.9 USG), and gets destroyed by his own fanbase.
"Made it happen" in the context I was talking about is they didn't have cap space yet found a way to sign Iggy. But I know you're just giving me a hard time. Same can be said for Houston who didn't have ap space for Howard but made it happen only to get bounced in the first round by some team in the NBA. Getting Love or Melo on most teams will improve those teams, IMO. But I see what you are saying about those 2, and you're not alone in these thought on this board . . . for once. (just giving you a hard time right back) Biggest point is being over the cap doesn't automatically mean you can't be a player for FAs.
I wasn't really giving you a hard time. Golden State made a big move, and in terms of results, it didn't improve the team. I don't see Kevin Love or Carmelo Anthony winning a title with that team, especially with no Klay Thompson. Sometimes the best moves are the minor moves.
If Houston can trade Lin and asik for cap space . . . Blazers could trade Wes and Batum for cap space. Not saying Blazers should trade either, but if Olshey could actually convince Melo to sign with Blazers (he can't) . . . it could get done. (Papag twitches in fear of that thought)
if you trade wes and batum you have to get lebron. trading those two for melo would be a disaster and would not work out
Give up 2 solid starters for a ball-stopping forward? I hate the idea of that move. I admit I'm biased against Anthony, though, because I don't think he's at the level of a James/Durant/Bryant. I wouldn't trade LMA for Anthony straight up if I were Olshey and the Knicks asked about a sign-and-trade.
