I'm a big fan of Baze, but so far he hasn't been great for us:
-18 vs phi
-1 vs okc
-11 vs den
-20 vs sas
(+18 vs sac)
As often mentioned his expiring contract is a great trade chip, and we have all of our future 1sts still.
There's a few names I wished we'd have signed this summer, like Baynes, Holmes and Jamychael Green, but they're now locked up in decent roles with other teams. All three of them would've been a perfect fit. Also, all three of them were pretty much available this summer.
Some obvious names that have been thrown around in a trade:
Kevin Love - doesn't play the pick & roll that much, which is something I believe we need most to get the best out of Dame and CJ. However, he's very efficient when he does. I don't see many options to get Love without including CJ in talks, so that would be off the table right now for me.
Tristan Thompson - Top 5 in pick & roll frequency this season, protects the rim a bit so far this season, among top rebounders. Cavs have little incentive to keep him, as they probably want to go younger (Zizic isnt great so far, though). A trade of Baze straight up for TT works - but would the Cavs do that without a 1st being included? Probably not, but what protection would we need to see for this trade to go down? I'd like TT's fit.
You could consider thinking about a Whiteside (2 years) + Baze (exp) for Love (4 years) + TT (exp) deal, but that would really lock you into Love and out of pretty much else for the future. Also, Love is injury prone, and TT as the sole rim protector isn't optimal.
If you'd want to give up on Whiteside already - Dewayne Dedmon should be available. Kings locked him up for 3 years, but so far he's a bad fit with them - essentially being replaced by Holmes in the starting line up. I think Dedmon would probably be a better fit with us. Downside? His upside is limited, and he's only available in a trade a few months from now. Good rebounder, decent rim protector, but also, very important, can shoot the three. Fairly good at the P&R, and does it with good efficiency. The Kings have some caproom and could take a few M extra back in a trade for Baze's expiring deal. Dedmon is on the books for another 2 years after this one, at 13M a pop. It frees the Kings from a bad fit in Dedmon, allows them to let Giles show if he's worth a new contract and it brings some wing defense, something they're lacking this season.
I don't want to think of trading for highly inefficient and limited guys like Len or Kaminsky. The Hornets have few options at C (Biyombo and Hernangomez) aside from Zeller, but Cody is a typical name I could see pop up on PDX's list. He ticks most of the boxes, but none of them with a lot of conviction.
Alan Williams was a free agent, and is one of the best rebounders to come into the league in recent years, but offers little rim protection and mediocre defense. Hasnt been able to stick in the league, not even with the worst teams. I would LLOVE to see if we could get Houston's Isaiah Hartenstein, but that would probably mean giving up a name like Nasir Little. Same probably goes for Nerlens Noel, who, albeit showing nice fantasy stats, doesn't have much impact on defense, and only has anegative impact on offense.
Lot of talk about Draymond Green who's locked up for 5 years at a very decent price. Don't see the Warriors letting him go, at all. Perfect fit for us, very unrealistic.
Very low hanging fruit guys like Todd Withers (3pt shooting, 6-8 power forward who's a good rebounder and block a few shots, but as mentioned, very undersized), or Chicago's Luke Kornet (not a banger, but can shoot from long range, decent rebounder and decent size), could be options to look at if push comes to shove. Eric Moreland would've been a better idea, but he's locked up in Toronto.
Long story short, I kinda wish our scouting was a bit more creative. Like every year, they seem to be working with a simple list of demands and just check the NBA's stats pages for which players tick one of these boxes. A guy like New Orlean's Melli would've been a fantastic fit. Yet, we end up signing a Pau Gasol who probably can't play 8 mpg a s season anymore. Right now, Dedmon would probably make most sense for us.