TL;DR: Do we really think LMA/Dame/Wes/Batum are getting us a championship in the next three years or do we use LMA to trade for younger talent?
This may be longwinded, but with the snail's pace that free agency has taken on, you might have the time to give it a read...
As a lifelong Blazer fan, I feel like I've seen this before: We're good enough, but not good enough. Think "Rod Strickland Blazers": We were always gonna make the playoffs, but to what end? So, instead of living in the land of known purgatory, we have to ask ourselves this question (and only this question, really): Will Lamarcus Aldridge be good enough in the next three years to help bring us a championship? From there is where we base our plan of action.
Don't get me wrong, LMA was my favorite Blazer until Damian came along (LMA stole the mantle from Damon, who stole it from Jerome, who stole it from.. ready?.. Danny Young!), but I don't think he's good enough to bring a championship while Dame and Co. continue to mature. IF that's the case, then why wouldn't we trade him for young assets to try and align our window for success? Work on trading him to a team that wants to win now (probably in the east so he could re-sign and have a better shot at getting to the finals in the proverbially weaker conference during his penultimate prime).
Now, what I'm going to propose isn't necessarily the trade, but I do think it's a good, fair one that would make some sense for both parties: would Detroit listen to Drummond, Monroe and whatever salary albatross (harder with Villanueva out of the picture) for LMA, Thomas Robinson and picks? Really, as long as you were able to keep Dame (25), Matthews (28), Batum (26), and Lopez (26) this would be a win. Even CJ (23) isn't a deal breaker in this circumstance since Drummond (21) and Monroe (24) as good, talented Bigs coming back.
My thought process is this might be enticing for Detroit since they're tied up in Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith contracts, so they might as well try and win now. Aldridge/Smith/Jennings is at least interesting in the east, and Stan Van Gundy would have them running an awesome offense.
Again, the specifics of this deal aren't necessarily the point as much as the idea.