The LMA situation

[santeesioux]

[video=youtube;S7yO4e9h5Mg]

So say worst case scenario happens, and we miss the playoffs, what if LMA wants to be traded? Do we have a Wolf here to fix this situation? What would you do, and what do you think they could get for him hypothetically?

 

[maxiep]

If his absence has shown anything, it's that he is the core of our team. Lillard may be its leader, but LA is the difference between us being great and mediocre. You don't trade a player like that.

There's an old saw in the NBA that the team that gets the best player in a trade wins. There's no realistic trade out there where we would get a better player in exchange for Aldridge.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

I'd trade Aldridge for LeBron or Durrant. Not much else worth the L-train.

 

[Natebishop3]

If his absence has shown anything, it's that he is the core of our team. Lillard may be its leader, but LA is the difference between us being great and mediocre. You don't trade a player like that.

There's an old saw in the NBA that the team that gets the best player in a trade wins. There's no realistic trade out there where we would get a better player in exchange for Aldridge.

That's one way of looking at it, but another way of seeing this is that our team is just extremely weak when it comes to depth. If Rolo went down, how would we do? If Dame went down, I actually think Mo wouldn't do too bad as the starter, but we'd have zero help off the bench.

We still need to improve depth. I really like Robinson. I think he has a ton of potential, but we really need a veteran big off the bench in the worst way.

 

[oldmangrouch]

If his absence has shown anything, it's that he is the core of our team. Lillard may be its leader, but LA is the difference between us being great and mediocre. You don't trade a player like that.

There's an old saw in the NBA that the team that gets the best player in a trade wins. There's no realistic trade out there where we would get a better player in exchange for Aldridge.

Agreed. If LMA demands a trade, we are boned....and at this point, it may take a miracle to convince him to stay.

 

[dviss1]

That's one way of looking at it, but another way of seeing this is that our team is just extremely weak when it comes to depth. If Rolo went down, how would we do? If Dame went down, I actually think Mo wouldn't do too bad as the starter, but we'd have zero help off the bench.

We still need to improve depth. I really like Robinson. I think he has a ton of potential, but we really need a veteran big off the bench in the worst way.

This argument is so tired because it applies to every team in professional sports. When it comes to losing LA, Dame, Or Rolo of course our team would suffer.
Just like when it comes to losing Lebron (and as we have seen by MIA's recent record), Wade, or Bosh the defending champs would suffer. Improving our depth (while still necessary) would barely lessen the impact of losing one of our pillars.

 

[Natebishop3]

This argument is so tired because it applies to every team in professional sports. When it comes to losing LA, Dame, Or Rolo of course our team would suffer.
Just like when it comes to losing Lebron (and as we have seen by MIA's recent record), Wade, or Bosh the defending champs would suffer. Improving our depth (while still necessary) would barely lessen the impact of losing one of our pillars.

Some teams have these things called veterans. You know the ones. They're those guys who have played in the league a long time and know how to carry the load for a short period of time? Yeah, we don't have a lot of those guys on this team. We have Mo Williams and Dorell Wright. Neither of those guys happen to be power forwards. We lost our starting power forward and had to play a small forward in his spot. That shows a lack of depth.

Will there be a dropoff when you lose your All-Star power forward? Sure, but a team that was competing for third in the west shouldn't turn into a complete pile of shit because they lost one player for a few games. That illustrates a lack of depth.

 

[dviss1]

Some teams have these things called veterans. You know the ones. They're those guys who have played in the league a long time and know how to carry the load for a short period of time? Yeah, we don't have a lot of those guys on this team. We have Mo Williams and Dorell Wright. Neither of those guys happen to be power forwards. We lost our starting power forward and had to play a small forward in his spot. That shows a lack of depth.

Will there be a dropoff when you lose your All-Star power forward? Sure, but a team that was competing for third in the west shouldn't turn into a complete pile of shit because they lost one player for a few games. That illustrates a lack of depth.

It just goes to show how much we rely on our BEST player. If a team like Indiana loses Paul George I think the only reason they don't go to shit is because they are in the east. If they were in the West, yes they would go to shit.

 

[tlongII]

I'd rather trade Stotts. He just isn't getting it done. This makes 2 years in a row where we're completely collapsing down the stretch.

 

[MarAzul]

That's one way of looking at it, but another way of seeing this is that our team is just extremely weak when it comes to depth. If Rolo went down, how would we do? If Dame went down, I actually think Mo wouldn't do too bad as the starter, but we'd have zero help off the bench.

We still need to improve depth. I really like Robinson. I think he has a ton of potential, but we really need a veteran big off the bench in the worst way.

Trading Aldridge for team depth is the most uninteresting trade proposal of the decade.
An up grade to every position on the bench would make the Blazers at the best, a mediocre team if they are without Aldridge

 

[cmeese47]

I'd rather trade Stotts. He just isn't getting it done. This makes 2 years in a row where we're completely collapsing down the stretch.

Last year we tanked intentionally

 

[ppilot]

If his absence has shown anything, it's that he is the core of our team. Lillard may be its leader, but LA is the difference between us being great and mediocre. You don't trade a player like that.

There's an old saw in the NBA that the team that gets the best player in a trade wins. There's no realistic trade out there where we would get a better player in exchange for Aldridge.

We were struggling even with Aldridgein the line up so LA is the difference between us being mediocre and bad.

 

[cmeese47]

Possible LMA trade destinations

Since this has become a popular topic I decided to look at a couple places where Portland might find decent value for LMA if they decided to trade him this summer.

Boston Celtics
Boston is a big time market and the fans there will not tolerate a long rebuild. Lamarcus Aldridge would be a big time piece that could bring the team back to relevancy quickly. Boston will be in the lottery this year and in addition to that pick the team has an additional 6 first round picks owed to them between now and 2018. Boston's number 1 this year, and either the Nets or Hawks pick this year whatever is lower, Avery Bradley and a future number 1 would be a decent package for LMA.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2014/ Has the Celtics taking Julius Randle #4

He could end up as a quality replacement for LMA and we would have Bradley and two additional picks.

Will post more after work.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Re: Possible LMA trade destinations

LOL!

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

The one and only trade scenario wherein we trade LA is if he informs the team he will not resign under any circumstances and we trade him as an expiring contract to a team he might be interested in playing for. Since that hasn't happened, I call "meh" on the thread.

 

[Natebishop3]

Trading Aldridge for team depth is the most uninteresting trade proposal of the decade.
An up grade to every position on the bench would make the Blazers at the best, a mediocre team if they are without Aldridge

I didn't say anything about trading him in that post. I'm merely saying that him sitting out and our struggles have a lot to do with our lack of depth.

 

[RoyToy]

So we're back to Aldridge possibly wanting out, when some of of us last year said trade him and tank for the 2014 draft class.

Now the Blazers have to pray he wants to stay.

Always a great position to be in.........................................................

This will be the offseason that Neil Olshey will show whether he has the brain and/or balls to put a real contender on the floor. This team as constructed isn't shit, especially with the finesse head coach that relies on the 3 and doesn't coach defense. Soft.

 

[jlprk]

If his absence has shown anything, it's that he is the core of our team.

We were struggling even with Aldridge in the lineup, so LA is the difference between us being mediocre and bad.

For years, we have sucked at season end. Usually a player is injured, so praise gets heaped on him as the missing link.

We've sucked since December or January, long before Aldridge went out. This season should not be remembered as being ruined because Aldridge missed the end of it.

 

[maxiep]

When did LA hurt his groin? It was before the All Star break.

 

[blue9]

For years, we have sucked at season end. Usually a player is injured, so praise gets heaped on him as the missing link.

We've sucked since December or January, long before Aldridge went out. This season should not be remembered as being ruined because Aldridge missed the end of it.

Precisely.

 

[RoyToy]

Seriously.

The Blazers are 20-23 in their last 43 games. They're not that good.

 

[Denny Crane]

This argument is so tired because it applies to every team in professional sports. When it comes to losing LA, Dame, Or Rolo of course our team would suffer.
Just like when it comes to losing Lebron (and as we have seen by MIA's recent record), Wade, or Bosh the defending champs would suffer. Improving our depth (while still necessary) would barely lessen the impact of losing one of our pillars.

The Bulls lost DRose for the season and traded Luol Deng for cap space. That's losing two starters. They're now 40-31, compared to Portland at 45-27. 4.5 games back or so.

 

[Sinobas]

This team started it's decline with a healthy LA, and played some of it's best ball in 2014 without him. It's true that we're mediocre at best without him playing to his potential, but he fades in and out between being LaMarcus and LaMarsha. Lamarsha is not that good a player.

If we could land a good player and a high lotto pick for him, that would be cool.

 

[Schilly]

We talk about lack of depth in here, a lot. I agree there is a problem, but I think people are blaming the wrong positional issues. If Dame get's hurt no problem we go to Mo Williams. At the post we are seeing some issues, but with a healthy Freeland, plus Robinson and Leonard, who while both are raw and make mistakes neither is as terrible as people insinuate, compare them to other backup bigs in the league... No the real Problem IMO is the wing position.

Wright has looked OK as a stretch 4 at times and Claver looks ok at times, so does Barton and CJ. But if wesley or Nicolas were to get injured or is really off or just needs rest we are very unstable at the 2 and the 3. We don't have a legit 2 or 3 off the bench at all, or maybe we do, but Stotts hasn't invested any kind of regular PT to any of the wings. As a whole, taking out the variable of injuries this is how the rotation has been for the season.

PG Dame / Mo
SG Wes /Dame
SF Nic / Wes
PF LMA /Trob
C Rolo / Freeland

2 Point Guards
1 Shooting Guard
1 Small Forward
2 Power Forwards
2 Centers

You could argue that Wright was getting minutes at the 3, but he was really ineffective when he was. We rank dead last in Bench scoring and Bench minutes played. And we wonder why our shooting has fallen off? Our starters have been ridden hard and just like last season they are fading due to nagging injuries and fatigue.

 

[THE HCP]

So we're back to Aldridge possibly wanting out

When was this announced?

 

[cmeese47]

Orlando is another interesting trade destination for LMA.

Right now it is likely that Orlando will end up with the third and 12th pick in this draft. That would be a nice start to a package for LMA if we could get 3, 12 and Tobias Harris. That would be a really nice haul. At 3 we would get either Embiid, Parker or Wiggins when combined with Harris and the extra depth added from pick 12 the concept is intriguing at least.

 

[BCat503]

We may be assuming that Aldridge has more leverage than he actually does. If things keep going the way they are, why would the Blazers want to give Aldridge a max extension? What has he really done to earn that? Elite players help their teams win. Aldridge has been to the playoffs 3 times in 8 years, and has never been out of the first round. He is supposedly the leader and best player on a team that appears to be having a collapse of epic proportions. He was supposedly the best player and leader on team that went on the longest losing streak in franchise history last season. I don't want to be too negative, but at some point we have to stop pretending that Aldridge is an elite player.

I'm curious to see what the market will be for him. His offensive efficiency numbers are very poor and he is statistically one of the worst pick&roll defenders in the league. Many teams are using advanced stats more and more. The advanced stats don't like Aldridge. I wonder if the teams that will be contenders in a couple years would give Aldridge the max money he will likely be looking for? Would he be willing to take a pay cut to play for a contender? He will be 30 in the first year of his next contract which could make teams more hesitant. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[cmeese47]

We may be assuming that Aldridge has more leverage than he actually does. If things keep going the way they are, why would the Blazers want to give Aldridge a max extension? What has he really done to earn that? Elite players help their teams win. Aldridge has been to the playoffs 3 times in 8 years, and has never been out of the first round. He is supposedly the leader and best player on a team that appears to be having a collapse of epic proportions. He was supposedly the best player and leader on team that went on the longest losing streak in franchise history last season. I don't want to be too negative, but at some point we have to stop pretending that Aldridge is an elite player.

I'm curious to see what the market will be for him. His offensive efficiency numbers are very poor and he is statistically one of the worst pick&roll defenders in the league. Many teams are using advanced stats more and more. The advanced stats don't like Aldridge. I wonder if the teams that will be contenders in a couple years would give Aldridge the max money he will likely be looking for? Would he be willing to take a pay cut to play for a contender? He will be 30 in the first year of his next contract which could make teams more hesitant. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Living in Charlotte now I have no doubt the Bobcats would give up max money for LA.

 

[riverman]

I'm going to weigh in here with a huge portion of wanting LaMarcus Aldridge to retire a Blazer and to hell with trading him for draft picks. Iggy didn't make GS a contender the way everyone predicted. Nash didn't put the Lakers over the top. The vets we did sign this season are new here. That's not the Bulls with Rose or Spurs with Parker Duncan..we're adapting with a handful of returning players and a second year coach. I think patience is required with the current Blazer team and staff. Earl Watson is on this team but always gets left out of the vet list. This team is underachieving since LA and Freeland have been missing in the rotation more than anything. More than ever I want us to get out of the second round this year and shut up some of the doomsday gloom for at least awhile. Go Blazers!

 

[riverman]

This team as constructed can win a lot of games.