it's pretty silly to think you can dictate the flow of the thread and say this or that matters or doesn't... you've been here a while now. You threw in a stupid jab about how somehow Aldridge may not have deserved the All NBA honor and want to just let it pass. But okay! Dumb comment made and forgotten
I view how LA is doing now as a reflection of where he is physically following his surgery. If it's felt that he's still mending/rounding into form, then now would be a really stupid time to trade him as you stand to get lower value and you'd really never get to see how Lillard and he might project together. Given health going forward, my guess is both players will be performing better next year as Aldridge regains his body and DL learns the way of the league. If it's felt that LA is damaged goods and won't be what he was, then yeah I'd be looking... otherwise I'm thinking that my assets are growing so my trading chips are only increasing in value if I wait.
STOMP
I'll say it again...I don't want to let "a stupid jab" pass--there wasn't a "stupid jab" to begin with. I thought he deserved All-NBA in 2010-11, and deserved it more last year. But I didn't want to derail a thread by bringing up whether or not he should've been an all-star in both, or all-NBA in both when we were talking about how his play had changed this year.
To your second point, who was the last Blazer traded at the peak of their value? Last year there were many people on this board saying that to give up Wallace to get a bunch of picks (reported from 3 to 5 1sts) in the Howard to NJN rumor was stupid, b/c you were giving up an All-Star who fit great with this team for some imaginary draft picks in the future. Fast forward 3 months, and not only was the board shocked that NJN would be stupid enough to give up a likely lotto pick for him, but happy that we'd gotten something of value at all for a guy in a down year whose contract was about to expire.
As for how LMA had been playing up until the BOS game, you (and if I'm reading it right, PapaG) view that as a reflection of his surgery or lack of preparation b/c of rehab or whatever. That's fine. But it seems pretty obvious (to me, anyway) that it's less a physical problem b/c he's been able to go inside against Garnett and Varejao the last two nights, and that by his own admission he a) has lost a step, and b) that he doesn't like going inside, and doesn't think that makes him 'a finesse player' b/c he "has to bang Chuck Hayes 6 times just to get into position for a jumper". Maybe he just started feeling better for the first time this year. Maybe Stotts has tweaked the offense the last two games because HE saw that having LMA be Dirk Jr. isn't working. Maybe LMA decided that what the team needed was for him to play more inside. Whatever the case, it's been working for him. He had 23/8 on 16 shots in BOS (in 3 quarters) and 21/9 on 21 shots tonight. He's gone from shooting 83% of his shots from outside (at a 42% clip) to shooting only 30% from outside (though at a 27% clip)--while maintaining his 18 shots a night. They're just a much better scoring opportunity now.
There are plenty of teams who would probably love LMA as a jump-shooting big 2nd- or 3rd-option. OKC, HOU, DAL come immediately to mind as teams with a rebounding/defending big and a scoring guard who can accept LMA opening up the middle by taking inefficient long jumpers at for 5 of every 6 shots. If that's how LMA is going to be playing, he's better there than here and it's a matter trying to get the most you can for him. If he's going to be "the Man" in the middle for the Blazers like he has the last two nights, then he's definitely someone to keep and build around.
The question the staff has to answer for themselves is: are you willing to bet that LaMonster's sticking around for awhile?
