TRADE DOWN!

[VanillaGorilla]

I've always liked Deng. Honestly unless there was a player at #6 I was absolutely in love with, I'd probably do this.

 

[Rhal]

I'd rather keep the player we get at 6 and resign Batum then grab Deng. No way we keep Deng/Batum.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

No way we keep Deng/Batum.

Why not? Batum plays 2G for France. (He really does, pretty much full-time.) Nate wanted to move him to 2G for this season and only didn't initially because of Aldridge's heart issue. When Batum DID play 2G his numbers were much better than SF. Wes to the bench, start Batum and Deng.
(People said the same thing about Batum and Gerald Wallace, but they were dynamite playing together.)

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Why not? Batum plays 2G for France. (He really does, pretty much full-time.) Nate wanted to move him to 2G for this season and only didn't initially because of Aldridge's heart issue. When Batum DID play 2G his numbers were much better than SF. Wes to the bench, start Batum and Deng.
(People said the same thing about Batum and Gerald Wallace, but they were dynamite playing together.)

I could be wrong but I think he was talking about how much we have to pay them to keep both.

 

[Rhal]

I could be wrong but I think he was talking about how much we have to pay them to keep both.

yep that's what I was getting at. Isn't Deng getting 31m over the next two seasons?
we could say screw it trade 6 for deng 11 for Gortat(or just resign hickson and move la to the C) sign Nash and go balls to the walls vy sacrificing our future for a 2 year window.
Nash/Batum/Deng/LMA/Gortat would challenge for hc in the playoffs and might even have a shot at upsetting OKC in the WCF.
would also be a starting lineup of around 60m lol

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[KingSpeed]

Every decision should come with this question: will it help us beat the Thunder and Heat? No mediocrity please.

 

[BBert]

IMO it's insane to think this year's moves are acceptable only if they result in the Blazers being a contender or winning a series vs the conference champs. Our cupboard is almost bare. The moves we make in the next few weeks must satisfy one goal: accumulate the right assets to become that team in 2-3 years.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Again, no thanks.

 

[Public Defender]

Or... what about trading up?

I believe this has been discussed before, but Chad Ford was on ESPN radio this morning saying that Charlotte continues to shop their #2 pick. He said it's because they don't see a superstar available there, but have so many needs in a deep draft, they'd rather fill multiple needs.

Would they take #6 & #11 for #2? Would the Blazers do that? It'd give them their pick of MKG, T-Rob, etc.

The question for me is: do I trust the Blazers to make two smart picks in the part of the draft where the talent starts getting watered-down and harder to judge? Or, do I trust the Blazers to pick the one best player in the draft other than Davis? Not sure.

The other downside? Because the Blazers haven't had the #2 pick, none of the very best players have come to work out in Portland. Makes the evaluation less complete, and could make a mistake more likely.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

They might do the 6, 11 and Freeland for the #2. I think I would if I were GM of that sorry-ass franchise.