Blazers Become Championship Contender in 2011!

I originally came up with this trade proposal around draft time but some things have changed since then in terms of Free Agency so take it for what its worth. The following is my slightly complicated 4 team trade proposal that basically nets us Marvin Williams (via S&T) & Devin Harris. For those of you hating on Williams, I strongly consider you read the Marvin Williams por favor fan post that was posted earlier as it makes alot of sense. Also this is my first post so take it easy on me lol.

Portland gets: Devin Harris, Keyon Dooling, Zaza Pachulia (4 years $19 mil.), Marvin Williams (5 yrs $35-40 mil.), Eduardo Najera

NJ gets: Jerryd Bayless, Steve Blake, Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, Travis Outlaw, rights to Ricky Rubio & Joel Freeland, 2010 2nd round pick from Portland via Chicago, 2011 2nd round pick from Portland

Minnesota gets: Bobby Simmons, CDR, rights to Patty Mills, 2012 1st round pick from Nets

Atlanta gets: Joel Przybilla, Martell Webster, rights to Petteri Koponen & Dante Cunningham

Blazers sign Leon Powe for PF #3, Anthony Carter for PG#3, Adonal Foyle for C#3 all to veterans min.

This may be the best trade available to us as we get to keep Rudy & Batum and give them solid playing time. I don’t like to give up on Bayless so soon but in order to get a marquee talent like Harris you have to give up a lot of young talent. We now have a very good rotation of PG- Harris (35 min.), Dooling (10 min.) SG- Roy (35 min.), Rudy (25 min.) SF- Williams (30 min.), Batum (22 min.) PF- Aldridge (35 min.), Pendergraph C- Oden (30 min.), Pachulia (18 min.) with every player capable of playing at least 2 positions. Also we don’t have to overpay for a fading talent like Hedo and possibly get a rising star in Marvin Williams who is 7 years younger, a better defender and much more athletic. We also replace Przybilla with a younger and cheaper Pachulia who offers a very similar skillset. Most importantly, we improve drastically on the defensive end as Harris and Williams are both strong defenders which should allow Oden to stay on the floor more and become the defensive force we all envision him to be. This move solves many problems for us as we drastically upgrade the PG position with an all-star, upgrade the SF position without sacrificing either Rudy or Batum and address the backup PF position with a combination of Williams and Pachulia. I really appreciated what Przybilla did for this team and believe he was the third most important Blazer this past year (behind Roy & Aldridge) but, I believe Pachulia can offer similar production and offers more versatility as he can play PF as well as C. While Joel is the better defender and rebounder, Pachulia is no slouch in either department and has room to improve as he is relatively young. Also, Pachulia is a slightly better offensive player as the only offense Joel offered was in the form of putbacks and open dunks. I am not saying Pachulia is a legit scorer but he is a slight improvement from Joel so we don’t have to play 4 on 5 on offense with him on the floor. This entire offseason I believed that Williams should be the target for the Blazers as his current production, fit for our team, and vast potential for improvement are too hard to ignore. He is only 23 years old, is an improvement both offensively and most importantly defensively from Outlaw and Webster and is still developing a more well-rounded game. He is currently one of the top 5 midrange shooters in the game (look it up) and has worked on improving his 3 pt shot recently as that is a huge part of the SF’s roles in our offense. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a former TarHeel J. Consequently, at this point in time, I believe Marvin Williams is the best fit for our team both now and in the future.  As for Harris, I’m pretty sure everyone here would be in agreement that obtaining Harris would be a great move for this team.

Another thing to keep in mind is that acquiring these players should not hurt our team chemistry as everyone we get is a good character and will not be a negative influence on this team. They will also understand that this is Brandon’s team and will accept their roles accordingly. I am positive that Brandon will openly welcome the new offensive weapons he has at his disposal now as Harris will take a lot of pressure off of Roy. I believe Harris will complement Roy very well in the backcourt and he can excel at the pick and roll with Aldridge or in isolation plays with his excellent first step and quickness when attacking the basket. Steve Blake was not the quickest player and Harris’ speed and offensive ability add a new wrinkle to the offense. While he may not be as good of a spot-up 3 point shooter as Blake was, I believe people overrate this part of our offense as Sarge should adapt his gameplan to our new talent and design isolation plays for Harris as well as Roy. People shouldn’t rule out the possibility that Harris develops a consistent 3 pt shot as he will be left open more often as the opposition zeroes in on shutting down Roy & Aldridge. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Marvin Williams has shown a greatly improved stroke from the 3 pt line so he can spot up from there or take his man off the dribble effectively due to the amount of attention Harris, Roy and Aldridge will garner from the opposing team. For this reason and because of his inevitable improvement, I believe Williams will have his best and most efficient season to date as he will not have to force anything but just take what the defense gives him and focus on shutting his man down on defense. This move also does not impede on Aldridge’s progress either as he should be more efficient and be able to focus on improving his rebounding and defense so that he can play in an all-star game. I believe the majority of Aldridge’s points will come from the pick and roll with Harris or Roy or from their penetration as he will get a chance to showcase that sweet jumper of his often next year.

While we are on the subject, I do not believe that Aldridge deserves a max contract at this point because while he is a very good player, I do not believe he is a great player just yet. I believe his contract extension should be in the $10-12 mil. range and it’d be nice if Roy signed for a little bit less than the max so that we have more financial flexibility in the future. In conclusion, I believe this move greatly improves our chance of competing for a championship as early as next year (assuming improvement from everyone, Oden especially) and for many years to come.  

NJ rationale: Cut payroll, get young talent in return. I think this trade is very reasonable for NJ as they get to cut payroll to sign 2 marquee FAs next year and get good, young talent in return for their best player in Devin Harris. Bayless finally gets an opportunity to showcase his talent in NJ playing backup SG as the Nets already have 2 solid PGs in Blake & Alston ahead of him. However, their contracts conveniently expire after the season and with the addition of Rubio, the Nets have a really promising backcourt. With the new salary cap projections, I believe NJ will look to cut more payroll and Harris is their biggest contract outside of Bobby Simmons. In this trade the Nets get immediate and future salary cap relief as I believe they are the biggest threat to steal Lebron away from the Cavs next year. I also believe that with these moves, they will be able to sign another FA like Chris Bosh. I think Wade will resign in Miami and will probably be joined by Amare Stoudemire if they can clear up enough cap room. Therefore, the Nets have a very promising future and while this trade may make them worse for the upcoming season, I believe that is a good thing as they will have another lottery pick to help lure their FAs. I also think that the Nets are already playing for 2010 with the recent Vince Carter trade so this is not a huge stretch to assume that they will trade Harris if it means they have a better opportunity to sign a top tier FA while getting young talent in the deal as well. Finally, while it may not seem like much, the Nets also get second round picks and a Center prospect in Joel Freeland from the Blazers in the deal as well. Their 2010 rotation could look like this: C- Lopez, Freeland PF- Bosh, Yi SF- Lebron, Terence Williams SG- Lee, Willie Warren PG- Rubio, Bayless.

Minnesota rationale: The Twolves have a glut of PFs but obviously need help in the backcourt and this trade addresses those needs by acquiring Mills, CDR & Bobby Simmons. The Twolves gain financial flexibility with Simmons’ expiring contract while turning nothing (MadDog, Cardinal) into a decent SF. They also obtain a promising SG/SF in Chris Douglas Roberts who can start for them or play behind Wayne Ellington & Corey Brewer. Either way he is going to play because they probably have the worst backcourt in the league and I think passing on Curry or Derozan was a huge mistake but that is another argument for a different day. I do not believe Rubio wants to play in Minnesota so he will eventually force his way out of there via trade. Although it is difficult to gauge his trade value at this point I think the Twolves get decent talent in return for him as they get a future 1st rounder from the Nets and the players mentioned earlier. Therefore, they give up very little and a player who didn’t want to play for them in exchange for a good PG prospect, a proven winner in CDR, an upgrade at SF (even if it is only for 1 year) & a future pick.

Atlanta rationale: It is no secret that historically the Hawks are a cheap franchise and do not wish to go anywhere near the luxury tax line. However, if they offered Marvin Williams a max contract that is the reality that they must face. With this trade they basically get something out of nothing if in fact a team outbids them for Marvin Williams. The reality is that a team such as the Blazers could throw a bid out for Williams and then let the Hawks decide if he is worth going into luxury tax territory or sign him and trade him for something. Through this trade they get a proven defensive center in Przybilla who should come in and be a starter right away, a sweet shooting former lottery pick in Webster and an intriguing PG prospect in Koponen. This trade will make their already solid frontline even more formidable as points will be very difficult to come by against Pryzbilla, Horford & Josh Smith. Each player is capable of grabbing double digit rebounds and blocking a couple of shots on a nightly basis. This move also allows the Hawks to shift Horford to his more natural position of PF and Webster makes Mo Evans expendable. One more thing to keep in mind is that the Hawks still own Josh Childress’ rights and are rumored to be looking to resign him this offseason. So basically they replace Pachulia and Williams with a combination of Przybilla, Webster, Childress and get two prospects in Koponen & Dante Cunningham. Also, Przybilla could opt out of his contract after the season so they have even more money in the offseason. Therefore, instead of taking on Marvin’s contract and eradicating the little financial wiggle room they had to begin with; they gain some financial flexibility to resign Joe Johnson next season while upgrading the center and backup SG/SF positions. The Hawks new rotation looks like this: PG- Bibby, Teague SG- Johnson, Crawford SF- Smith, Webster PF- Horford, Jones C- Przybilla, Morris.

Also in light of Free Agency I have made some revisions to this original trade which I think ultimately helps our team more so than the first proposal but cuts into our cap room a little bit more. So here are the revisions to the above trade:

Rudy Fernandez to NJ instead of Bayless, Dooling to Minnesota to play in backcourt w/ Flynn, Blazers get Craig Smith for backup PF. NJ may want a true SG instead of a combo guard and right now Fernandez is the better player and fills a bigger need offering a nice change of pace from Courtney Lee. Also, Rudy gets a chance to play more since he doesn’t have to play behind Roy in NJ. This coupled with the fact that he will get to play with his countryman Rubio in the near future should make for a very exciting team to watch. With this revision the Blazers take on more salary but I believe we can do so without going over cap (unsure of official numbers). Webster’s injury scares Atlanta off so they focus on resigning Childress instead of keeping Webster. Our new depth chart looks like this: PG- Harris, Bayless SG- Roy, Webster SF- Williams, Batum PF- Aldridge, Smith C- Oden, Pachulia. I like this lineup even better as we get a bruising backup PF even though he may be undersized. We also get to see if Bayless ever develops into the borderline star KP and others (like myself) believe he can be without having to fulfill a traditional PG role. Also Bayless can play SG until Webster is proven healthy in addition to backing up Harris for 10-15 minutes per game. This will allow Bayless to get about 20 minutes per game and Batum can slide over to the 2 as well until Webster is 100%. For this reason, I believe that Webster’s injury is actually a blessing as Batum and Bayless will get more minutes and a better chance to develop and then once Webster comes back we will be that much deeper and welcome his sweet shooting stroke. Bayless should flourish as the main scoring threat off the bench (a la Outlaw) with decent scoring options on the wings in Webster and Batum and some low post scoring from Smith & Pachulia (who is pretty good at drawing fouls for a center). Finally, Przybilla is too good to be playing less than 20 minutes per game and his & Blake’s trade value have never been higher as they are both coming off career years and are very unlikely to greatly improve in the future. However, Joel appears likely to opt out of his contract next season (a good thing if you’re the Hawks and need additional cap room) and the Blazers wouldn’t have much room to resign him with the extensions to Roy & Aldridge. Therefore, they replace him with a younger, cheaper version in Pachulia who should allow Oden to grow into the beast he is destined to be. Our new backup frontcourt may be less skilled on the defensive end but they are a great improvement offensively from our former backups as Pachulia can operate well from the high post and take his man off the dribble and Smith can bully his way inside. Now if only we could get Zaza some athleticism so he can become a shot-blocker and if we could stop Craig Smith from eating so much then we could have a really solid second unit. Finally, we still keep our best prospect in Claver overseas and hopefully can bring him over to back up Aldridge in the not too distant future.

Sorry this post is so long but I had to cover all my bases.

Let's get it done KP!