How About A Trade Drawer? 1-16-12

BUT It is not that blockbuster deal people look for but Okafor trade listed makes the Blazers better so I could sign off on that.

It would weaken our strongest position in the SF. But we would have probably the best PF depth in the league, which right now we don’t even have PF depth. Nice thing about GW is he can play both the 3 and 4, Landry is really just a 4. However…..that trade brings us a good C in Okafor, which really sells the idea.

I definitely belong to the camp that says LMA, Matthews, and Batum are our only “untouchables.” These are all young guys that you can still build around. While LMA may not be one of the top tier players in the league, he is certainly All-Star worthy. Nic and Wes may never be All-Star caliber, but they’re young, relatively cheap, and they fill those roster spots nicely. What I think they need to add is another All-Star caliber player, another complimentary player, and to shore up the bench.

What’s important to keep in mind with all of this is in this new era of supposed league-wide fiscal responsibility, the decision to keep or add player depends not simply on their talent or contribution potential, but rather their talent/contibution per dollar spent. That is to say, is it really worth spending $10 million per season on a a player like Wallace when you might be able to spend $6 million per season on a guy like Batum?

Hibbert has been mentioned a lot so far in this thread and rightfully so. He’s a huge presence in the middle (7-2, 260), he’ll tally 10+ points shooting > 50%, grab a bunch of rebounds and block a 1-2 shots night in and night out. His PER is over 20 which is higher than most, if not all the other centers we’re talking about here. He’s young too. At only 25, he probably hasn’t reached his prime yet. Hibbert is a legit All-Star caliber center going forward.

There’s a couple ways the Blazers could go about getting him. First, and probably the most risky, is attempting to sign him in free agency. Portland would have to cut loose of a combination of Wallace, Oden, Felton, and Camby to free up space as Hibbert will likely garner a $10 + million dollar contract. Then they’d have to re-sign Batum. The other way would be to use the above commodities to negotiate a sign and trade with the Pacers. They may want Oden as some means of compensation in losing Hibbert, and Camby’s expiring contract is always nice. The good thing about a sign-and-trade in this scenario is that you may not necessarily have to give up Felton or Wallace. If Hibbert was set on leaving Indiana, the Pacers may just jump at the chance to snag a big expiring contract, a +/- investment in Oden, and a promising prospect like Elliot Williams rather than loose Hibbert to free agency. In the end, if a sign and trade doesn’t work out, at least you haven’t lost anything. You still have your resources to pursue something else. IF the Blazers were able to pull off such a sign and trade, the roster would end up looking like this:

PG – Felton (expiring contract)
SG – Matthews (Tier 2 money)
SF – Wallace (expiring contract)
PF – Aldridge (Tier 1 money)
C – Hibbert (Tier 1 money)

This lineup begs the question of what to do with Wallace and Felton. If Wallace was wanting big money, the Blazers would not be able to sign him. In this instance, it would behoove the team to try to package both Wallace and Felton for a more solid point guard, and maybe a quality backup. The Blazers would be motivated to do this, if say, Felton continued his lackluster performance.

There are some interesting point guard situations brewing out there. Of course there’s the big free agent being Williams, but how realistic is it that Williams would want to come to Portland? Not very. Nash is another big free agent but he’s quite old. You MIGHT get production out of him for a year or two. Not exactly the ideal candidate to fill the role as “point guard of the future.” A free agent point guard who I think will be overlooked because of the big two is D.J. Augustin. Here’s a guy who is young (24), scores 15, dishes out 7 dimes, and who takes pretty good care of the ball (A/T > 3.5). He also shoots 38% (career) from the beyond the arc. The best part? You’d get him at fraction of the cost of a Williams or Nash.

Other considerations out there would be Mike Conley Jr., Jose Calderon, and Tony Parker. All are players Portland may be able to trade for with assets like Wallace and/or Felton, but all will require big money down the road. All of them, save for Conley, are well into their prime years as well.

It makes it hard to figure the exact logistics and finances of these player movements without ESPN’s trade machine up and running, but just for arguments sake, the above moves would place themselves in a position to have a lineup featuring:

PG – Augustin (Tier 2 money)
SG – Matthews (Tier 2 money)
SF – Batum (Tier 2 money)
PF – Aldridge (Tier 1 money)
C – Hibbert (Tier 1 money)

This lineup is young, better than the current one, and likely less expensive. The team would, in all probability, be left under the cap penalties and be able to offer a full mid-level to help shore up the bench.

In short, if the team continues to mire in mediocrity, I would really like to see them pursue Hibbert and Augustin as young, relatively inexpensive pieces to build this team on.

OJ Mayo is VERY nice, IMO, too. I would trade Wesley for OJ any day, but the best part is, it probably wouldn’t even cost that much (NJ was going to do Morrow for Mayo straight up and Indiana was McBob and a 1st for Mayo)

wasnt he involved in a gun incident with another player while on a plane? Someone please correct me if Im wrong. I think the other player was Rudy Gay but I could be totally wrong.

We would most likely get One of the Zeller brothers or one of the Plummlee brothers. THey will be good players but will be very rusty at first. THey hav an awful lot to work on before they can provide good production in the NBA. I think it could be better to trade for a good center or pick up one in free agency. I dont want to give up GW or Batum but Im afraid we will soon have to part with one or the other. Deron Williams would be nice. I would have to say no to Nash. I think if Elliott Williams gets more playing time he could do well. Same with Nolan Smith.

Would there be a possibility of snagging Bogut out of there?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6ljs74v
Trade: Luke Babbitt, 2012 2nd round pick from Denver and 1.5 million cash for Quentin Richardson and a 2012 1st round pick
Trade: Marcus Camby, Wesley Matthews, More favorable 2012 1st round pick from Portland or Orlando, 2013 2nd round pick and 1.5 million cash for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson

Roster:
PG: Raymond Felton – Nolan Smith – Armon Johnson
SG: Stephen Jackson – Jamal Crawford – Elliot Williams
SF: Gerald Wallace – Nicolas Batum – Quentin Richardson
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge – Craig Smith
C: Andrew Bogut – Kurt Thomas – Chris Johnson – Greg Oden

Taking on the aging and declining headcase Stephen Jackson is the price to pay for getting Bogut. Matthews would have to be included in any deal with Milwaukee considering he’s a hometown product and went to college at Marquette, plus he fills a long term positional need and would make a great, young promising back court duo with Brandon Jennings. A 1st round pick would have to be included going to Milwaukee in this deal even with the salary relief, dumping of bad contract and local hometown awesome Wes Money already going their way, because that’s how valuable Bogut is. Considering we’re picked out until at least 2015, I figured the easiest way to get a pick is to look at a contender with a bad contract, and trade one of our young guys for it, hence the inclusion of Quentin Richardson for Luke Babbitt, if they don’t want Babbitt, I wouldn’t be opposed to giving them Elliot Williams or Nolan Smith, but it’s not preferable.

I know we’re basically the Charlotte Bobcats with a frontcourt that’s on steroids. But LaMarcus is better than anybody that was on that Bobcats squad, and Bogut is a top 3 center in this league. Long term we would seriously need to look for a replacement for our starting SG, because Stephen Jackson is more of a stop gap than an answer, but in terms of building for a contender, getting that dominant defensive C is key imo, and there isn’t a better option out there than Andrew Bogut.

Blazers should really see if they can pull off a trade similar to the Gerald Wallace trade. Blazers could offer Camby’s contract Luke Babbitt, Armon Johnson, and a 2nd round pick for Okafor, and then sign Patty Mills when he is available to play with the NBA

Minnesota has tons of both…we give up Matthews, make Crawford the starting 2 and let Williams/Smith get a little back-up time.

Drastically improve our 2nd unit with Ridnour at PG and Tolliver at PF.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6vlb8x7

We all know the draft lottery is rigged. Thus, giving our recent injury history, I think that if we were to somehow get a lottery pick from anywhere, I think it is possible that David Stern shows us some sympathy.

It’s crazy and I’m probably hallucinating right now, but think about it.

is trade material.
The problem is are we going to trade to get better or worse?

Suns/Blazers trade:

Blazers get: Steve Nash, Jared Dudley, Robin Lopez
Suns get: Raymond Felton, Wesley Matthews, Marcus Camby

Why Portland does it:
Comes out with a smart, three-point shooting veteran PG and a mentor for Nolan Smith, a solid long-distance sharp-shooter in Jared Dudley, and an energetic, solid center in need of more minutes.

Why Phoenix does it:
Comes out with a younger PG who can push the ball, a young, energetic, scrappy player in Wesley Matthews, and a decent veteran center with an expiring contract.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=6vl8xnr
This trade helps all parties. The bulls are in a win now mode a will need a guy like camby for a playoff run. Babbitt replaces the long term 3 ball. Sac. Gets some sf vet help missing from the team. We get a PF/c and out side shooter at the 3.

Felton. Smith
Matthews Crawford Williams
Batum, Korver
Aldridge, Thomas, smith, cj
Hibbert, Thomas, oden, cj

Much more size and shooting. We can also try and turn Crawford around to a playoff contender for pick.