The Blazers need to poop, or get off the pot. They have two options: Retool or Rebuild. There shouldn't be an 'in between' where they try to do both of these. To Retool, they will need to look to sign a FA point and/or center with their cap room (hoping Nic doesn't put them in a tough spot), and then probably trade their lottery picks for the other position. It could land them a nice starting five, but probably leaves the bench a bit thin. You'd be relying on guys like Babbitt, Smith, and WIlliams to contribute at a pretty consistent level. To Rebuild, you should trade Aldridge for picks and possibly sign/trade Nic. You could also not resign Hickson. I know trading Aldridge is a touchy issue, but we need to be real about this. For the next decade he will be in and out of the All Star Game, and that's to say he stays healthy enough to play that long. While none of these is an immediately desired move, if you are going to rebuild, shouldn't you go into a full-rebuild mode and basically hit 'Reset' on your team? Especially when they have so many assets: two lotto picks in a solid draft, 2 good players with good contrats, and a large amount of cap space. On top of having to decide this, they are now looking at not making a decision on GM and coach? Really? Unreal.

I say make the trades, and completely rebuild. They have a lot of assets, and it's a deep draft. They can be right back in it in 2-3 years and be building toward something, not a team 2-3 years from now justl trying to hold it together for their fringe all-star player. But, whatever they decide to do, they need to commit to it completely.