As news surrounding Chris Paul and the possibilty of him coming to the Blazers developed, I, like many other Blazer fans, got quite excited. But, after thinking it over, I realized that while I like CP3's game, and I also used to like his character, I'm not sure I like how he has approached this whole fiasco. It's my dream for the Blazers to be the Green Bay Packers of the NBA, where players, especially star players, go to play for life and loyalty is a top priority. Many more roster spots exist on a football team, of course, so for improvement to occur, more changes have to be made on a basketball team. I'm no longer sure I like Chris Paul the person, and I'm not sure I want him on my team. If he wants a trade, he should discuss it with management and management only and have his people keep rumors out of the media. If CP3 has the same aspirations as LBJ, I have no desire to see him in a Blazers uniform.

However, the Blazers do need a long term solution at the Point Guard position, so I came up with six, feasible options that shore up the 1 spot for the coming years.

Trade 1: POR sends Joel Pryzbilla, Rudy Fernandez,, and Jarred Bayless to NOH for Darren Collison and Emeka Okafor.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2dpr9mw

Rationale: NOH gets rid of Okafor's contract.

Portland gets a PG of the future who has shown to be very capable, retains Andre Miller and can start him for another year if Collison isn't ready, and Portland gets a big body in Okafor who can scrap for boards, D up opposing bigs, and score a bit in the post.

Trade 2: POR sends Joel Pryzbilla and Rudy Fernandez (or Bayless) to OKC for Eric Maynor and DJ White

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=26vme7w

Rationale: OKC gets a much needed 7-foot inside presence as well as some added depth with Fernandez.

Portland gets a PG in Maynor who could possibly start one day.

Trade 3: POR sends Andre Miller and Rudy Fernandez to WAS for Kirk Hinrich

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2etvdeb

Rationale: Washington gets and expiring contract and some young potnential

Portland gets a PG who can spread the floor and play good defense; however, I'm not sure I really see this deal going down. Kirk's just getting too old.

Trade 4: Portland sends Andre Miller, Jarred Bayless, and Rudy Fernandez to SAS for Tony Parker

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=25ruwmm

Rationale: SAS doesn't need expiring contracts because Parker's contract is expiring, but they do need youth and a steady guard to play with George Hill, which they get both of with this trade.

Portland gets and all-star guard and finals MVP in Tony Parker, though he is aging.

Trade 5: POR sends Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez, and Jarred Bayless to MEM for O.J. Mayo and Hasheem Thabeet.

Rationale: Memphis gets some depth and an expiring contract.

Portland gets a combo guard who could theoretically team with Roy to be very good.

To me, this is an interesting idea, but a risky one. If a Roy/Mayo back court was successful, such as a Jordan/Harper back court, it could be incredibly efficient and entertaining, but I also see it failing under Nate's system, and if it failed the results would be catastrophic as we'd have no other PGs to start.

Trade 6: POR trades Joel Pryzbilla and Rudy Fernandez to PHI for Lou Williams and Jason Smith

Rationale: PHI gets a shot blocker, filling the hole left by Dalembert, an expiring contract, and a three-point shooting threat in Fernandez, which fills another need of theirs.

Portland gets an athletic, combo guard who can play off the ball and guard point guards.

I don't know a whole lot about Lou, his three point shooting seems decent, he doesn't get many assists, but Roy would have the ball if playing with him. What's his defense like?

So that's what I came up with, sorry about all the trade machine posts, I know they get annoying. Tell me what you think. Do you like any of these ideas?  I can't wait to get back to actual basketball again!

Go Blazers!

EDIT: Here's a trade for Rodrigue Beaubois

POR sends Jarred Bayless to NOH, Joel Pryzbilla to NOH, and Andre Miller to DAL.

NOH sends Chris Paul to DAL and Emeka Okafor to POR

DAL sends Rodrigue Beaubois to POR, Jason Kidd to POR, and Caron Butler to NOH

Rationale: NOH gets talented players that all have expiring contracts (a total of about 20 mil)

DAL gets Chris Paul and insurance

POR gets their PG of the future and an aged Jason Kidd to hold down the fort while Rodrigue Beaubois learns some more.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=28auu9p