Would you trade Lillard?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Rastapopoulos, Dec 28, 2016.

  1. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    (Of course this would mean that I could go and see Lillard AND Boban any time I want.)
     
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  2. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    translation.....a day in the life of Stan Van Gundy
     
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  3. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    He should have his own TV show - "Stan rants about things". I'd watch it!
     
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  4. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    co-hosted by Ron Jeremy!
     
  5. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    That's probably the most reasonable trade scenario I've seen posted here. I'm not a huge fan of Drummond, as he still hasn't become much of an offensive weapon, but I think he could play off McCollum reasonably well. Even if Drummond never becomes a real post threat, he could make hay as a roll man if McCollum and the next Portland point guard can master tossing lobs. And his defense and rebounding are excellent.
     
  6. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    The problem for the Pistons is that they've been sort of build around Drummond. So if you remove him they (in all likelihood) go to shit. But Drummond is kind of a big tease. He's not the rim protector you'd think he should be. And he's a historically bad free-throw shooter.
     
  7. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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    I would only consider trading Dame for a guy like LBJ or a Paul George caliber player. How about Kristaps Prozingis? Probably not
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2017
  8. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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    But the shot answer is NO!
     
  9. Reep

    Reep Well-Known Member

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    I still believe that either Lillard or CJ must be traded because of their very poor defense. But, if you think there is no way the team trades Lillard (probably true) and CJ (probably also true until NO is replaced), then do you think surrounding them with three good defenders at the 3-5 could work well enough to make this team great? Any examples of that that we have seen in league history? I honestly can't recall any. Thomas and Dumars were short, but Dumars was a heck of a defender. Wall and Beal each have an inch on our guards, but Wall is a good defender.

    Thomas and Smart (Boston) are probably the closest, with Smart being a slightly better defender and a bit bigger than CJ--and Boston has three plus defenders behind them (Crowder, Johnson, Horford). Is Boston, not Golden State, what we should be shooting for (assuming we keep Dame and CJ)?
     
  10. blue9

    blue9 Well-Known Member

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    Tony Parker has never been a good defender and he won Finals MVP. But I don't recall if there was another sub-par defender in the starting line-up.
     
  11. Strenuus

    Strenuus Global Moderator Staff Member Global Moderator

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    I thought there were no untouchables... And to not fall in move with the players? What happened to you?!
     
  12. H.C.

    H.C. Well-Known Member

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    Talent is the big key here. Boston just has much more talent across 12 guys than Portland does.
    But to answer your question. Iverson(6') + Snow(6'3) backcourt went 1-0 on the Lakers in 2001 NBA finals. Their only loss of that post season.
     
  13. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Parker wasn't a notably bad defender until the past few years.
     
  14. Rhal

    Rhal Well-Known Member

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    Memory's not that great because I thought you were adamant about trading Lillard for Russell and not just floating and idea around.
     
  15. Reep

    Reep Well-Known Member

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    But snow was a plus defender, right? Also, AI was good at steals. Agree on Bostons talent though.
     
  16. Reep

    Reep Well-Known Member

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    He played with Hill part of that and I think always had a plus defender next to him. And SA had the best team defense for a decade.

    The key will be surrounding Dame and CJ with very good defenders. maybe that would be enough, but I think it is risky.
     
  17. Sarni

    Sarni Well-Known Member

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    Lillard for Drummond would be a bad deal. Drummond's game is too limited, if we are going to trade him for a center it would be someone like Cousins, Towns or Embiid who can do it all instead of one-dimensional player like Drummond.
     
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  18. H.C.

    H.C. Well-Known Member

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    Depends what stat you look at on AI/Snow being "good defenders". Especially during the year they made the finals.
    While not as good as either of them, CJ/Lillard by some stats are technically + defenders.

    However if you look at the eye test from that 00-01 team the 70ish games snow/iverson played together weren't the best defensively.
    The others made up for their lack of ability on that end.
    McKie/Hill/Ratliff/Lynch/Mutumbo(in the playoffs) were really the anchors defensively for that team.

    Spurs/Cavs started some pretty small backcourts for awhile there.
    West/Williams, Johnson/delnegro.
    One had LBJ, other had Robinson. So there are examples of small backcourts making deep playoff runs.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2017
  19. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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  20. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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