Godfather scenario

[magnifier661]

1.) Woj used to hate Portland so badly he would bad mouth them at every opportunity.

2.) Olshey secretly tells Woj, you will be the one breaking the news that Aldridge stays, while we make a run for a top tier free agent.

3.) Spread false rumors that Aldridge will leave so everyone scrambles to obtain him.

4.) meanwhile, Olshey is organizing deal to grab Jordan.

5.) July 1st rolls around and teams, ESPN, whomever are in front line waiting to be the first to scoop the Aldridge destination.

6.) Woj waits for word from Olshey.

7.) July 9th... Matthews, Aldridge and Jordan announce they are signing with Blazers.

8.) Lakers, Spurs and Dallas miss out on other free agents because they want Aldridge and are forced to over pay for mediocre talent. Lakers lose boogie because they thought surely Aldridge was going to sign.

9.) Portland becomes the new powerhouse in the west

 

[ChadWick]

I would lick Olshey's nuts if he pulled that off.

 

[Natebishop3]

Does Jordan make us a powerhouse?

 

[magnifier661]

I would lick Olshey's nuts if he pulled that off.

I know it's a reach, but I could actually see Olshey seriously doing something like this.

What better way to establish a good connection with the nba insider than this? What if our true player we are seeking is Boogie and we work out a deal with Valdi, the #1 hater of Lakers? This could be a trick play to keep Lakers mediocre

 

[magnifier661]

Does Jordan make us a powerhouse?

Absolutely yes. But what if it's Boogie?

 

[Natebishop3]

Absolutely yes. But what if it's Boogie?

Adding someone like Butler, or Durant, or Boogie would make us a powerhouse. I'm not so sure Jordan would though.

 

[Scalma]

Woj has been the first to break pretty much every move Portland has made since they hired olshey. I actually believe Woj has a source inside the team, and probably a very high ranking one.

 

[magnifier661]

Woj has been the first to break pretty much every move Portland has made since they hired olshey. I actually believe Woj has a source inside the team, and probably a very high ranking one.

And only Woj is the one that hasn't bought into Aldridge leaving.

 

[BonesJones]

I love this thread. If Neil did this he should get a statue

 

[BlazerCaravan]

And only Woj is the one that hasn't bought into Aldridge leaving.

DING DING DING

 

[magnifier661]

I love this thread. If Neil did this he should get a statue

Would he be considered the best Blazer GM if he did?

 

[blue9]

A fatal hole in your theory: we just traded away our only SF. Replacing Nic/Rolo with Jordan makes us worse.

 

[B-Roy]

Do we have enough cap to sign Jordan, Wes and Aldridge?

 

[magnifier661]

A fatal hole in your theory: we just traded away our only SF. Replacing Nic/Rolo with Jordan makes us worse.

Wrong... Batum was our weakest link. Also, what if what we obtained from Nic helped net us Boogie?

 

[magnifier661]

Do we have enough cap to sign Jordan, Wes and Aldridge?

Depends on what Matthews signs for. If he signs a 12 mil deal, we renounce Kaman and trade away the players we just obtained for Nic we can

 

[blue9]

Wrong... Batum was our weakest link. Also, what if what we obtained from Nic helped net us Boogie?

Nic was far from the weakest link. Maybe this past season, but not overall.
I would love to get Boogie, but (a) I don't see it happening and (b) it doesn't address the fact that we don't have a SF. Although I suppose maybe LMA doesn't even want to be a PF anymore and would rather be a SF?

 

[magnifier661]

Would Sacramento be willing to give us boogie for CJ, Leonard and Noah? Is that more appealing than Randal, Lin and filler?

 

[BonesJones]

Do we have enough cap to sign Jordan, Wes and Aldridge?

Yes. We could sign LA and DJ up to 57 mill (Wesleys cap hold is 10M) we could then resign him over for $12M or so

Would he be considered the best Blazer GM if he did?

Easily. To turn the Blazers into a powerhouse is one thing. To rape the Lakers, Spurs, and Dallas on the deal would be legendary. Remember that movie Draft Day? There would be Draft Day 2: Olshey Edition

 

[magnifier661]

Nic was far from the weakest link. Maybe this past season, but not overall.
I would love to get Boogie, but (a) I don't see it happening and (b) it doesn't address the fact that we don't have a SF. Although I suppose maybe LMA doesn't even want to be a PF anymore and would rather be a SF?

You don't need top 5 at every position to win in this league. Dame, boogie and Aldridge is a formidable big three.

We still have Henderson, Crabbe and Wright able to put time in at SF

 

[blue9]

We still have Henderson, Crabbe and Wright able to put time in at SF

Barf!
(I actually don't know much about Henderson - I'll have to learn more if he stays on the roster.)

 

[BonesJones]

Would Sacramento be willing to give us boogie for CJ, Leonard and Noah? Is that more appealing than Randal, Lin and filler?

I would think so. They've needed a starting SG for ages and CJ seems like a Karl kind of guy. Vonleh and Leonard would give them 2 bigs that arguably have the same upside as Randle. Plus that's only $7M in cap space, they could still pursue FA's. They'd probably want us to take back Landry, but we'd need a backup PF anyways.

 

[magnifier661]

Barf!
(I actually don't know much about Henderson - I'll have to learn more if he stays on the roster.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is we don't require a good SF if we have Boogie, Dame, Matthews and Aldridge

 

[BonesJones]

Barf!
(I actually don't know much about Henderson - I'll have to learn more if he stays on the roster.)

he's a more athletic version of Afflalo. Doesn't shoot the 3 as well but finishes/gets to the line more

 

[magnifier661]

I would think so. They've needed a starting SG for ages and CJ seems like a Karl kind of guy. Vonleh and Leonard would give them 2 bigs that arguably have the same upside as Randle. Plus that's only $7M in cap space, they could still pursue FA's. They'd probably want us to take back Landry, but we'd need a backup PF anyways.

That's what I was thinking as well. Leonard, Noah and CJ scream Karl type players

 

[blue9]

I guess what I'm trying to say is we don't require a good SF if we have Boogie, Dame, Matthews and Aldridge

That puts an even bigger load on Dame to do all the play-making. Still leaves us with terrible help defense because LMA won't play any. LMA will pout as his role shrinks with the addition of a TRUE scoring option in Boogie...or else Boogie will be upset at having to take a back seat to a soft punkass LMA - those two will not coexist together.

 

[magnifier661]

That puts an even bigger load on Dame to do all the play-making. Still leaves us with terrible help defense because LMA won't play any. LMA will pout as his role shrinks with the addition of a TRUE scoring option in Boogie...or else Boogie will be upset at having to take a back seat to a soft punkass LMA - those two will not coexist together.

Your assumptions are futile. Boogie and Aldridge actually compliment each other perfectly well. As far as playmaking, I believe there will be playmakers willing to come to Portland the moment we have our big three.

 

[magnifier661]

Notice he said "other teams"? Who else? Maybe Blazers?

 

[magnifier661]

Bump u chumps! I hope I'm right about everything else

 

[LameR]

Barf!
(I actually don't know much about Henderson - I'll have to learn more if he stays on the roster.)

If we bring back Matthews (or sign someone like Butler) and get Aldridge to come back and sign someone like Jordan, or maybe keep RoLo/Plumlee rotation and add some awesome bench guys, we'll be in a very good spot. It's not realistic to have an all-star at 1 through 5, so having 3 great players in Lillard and Butler/Jordan (preferably Butler) and Aldridge and two complementary players like Henderson/Matthews (both great glue guys) and Rolo/Plumlee is a very good equation to have. Allows Lillard/Aldridge/Butler to get enough shots, and they fit really well together. Don't need 5 guys in the starting lineup for 15+ each.

That's what I was thinking as well. Leonard, Noah and CJ scream Karl type players

That's nowhere near the value for Cousins. Even if they're Karl players (who may be fired soon), it's basically a solid bench player (Leonard) who could be a decent starter, a project who is 100% potential (remind you of a Frenchman we had for a while?), and a scorer who's shown flashes of brilliance but also has had a number of duds. They'd need to get at least 1 good starter, probably a good 1st round pick, and either unload a bad contract or receive a solid player or two (a Leonard or McCollum).

 

[BonesJones]

If we bring back Matthews (or sign someone like Butler) and get Aldridge to come back and sign someone like Jordan, or maybe keep RoLo/Plumlee rotation and add some awesome bench guys, we'll be in a very good spot. It's not realistic to have an all-star at 1 through 5, so having 3 great players in Lillard and Butler/Jordan (preferably Butler) and Aldridge and two complementary players like Henderson/Matthews (both great glue guys) and Rolo/Plumlee is a very good equation to have. Allows Lillard/Aldridge/Butler to get enough shots, and they fit really well together. Don't need 5 guys in the starting lineup for 15+ each.



That's nowhere near the value for Cousins. Even if they're Karl players (who may be fired soon), it's basically a solid bench player (Leonard) who could be a decent starter, a project who is 100% potential (remind you of a Frenchman we had for a while?), and a scorer who's shown flashes of brilliance but also has had a number of duds. They'd need to get at least 1 good starter, probably a good 1st round pick, and either unload a bad contract or receive a solid player or two (a Leonard or McCollum).

Well they're listening to offers of a guy who played one NBA game and broke his leg and a guy who had one good month. I think they'd do Cousins for Plumlee, Vonleh, Hendo, a 2018 first round pick, and a 2022 first round pick. A young up and coming center in Plumlee, a potential all star in Vonleh, a solid starting SG in Hendo, and 2 firsts? They'd accept over anything the Lakers would offer
and we'd still have $39M in cap. Resign LA and you'd still have money for a max guy while having a big 3 of Cousins/LA/Dame