Is Nicolas Batum out of the question?

[youngthegiant]

Just hypothetical, but wouldn't it be awfully smart if our front office moves gallinari during the draft for a high pick and then goes and gets Nicolas Batum. We could probably put up a nice package in a s&t if portland does not want to depart with him as well. This would make some sense as our front office was pretty high on batum. We get the best of both worlds, a high draft pick and a new small forward to replace gallo(who is possibly even in terms of production, probably better defensively.) Getting a pick from lets say sacramento at #5 for gallo and then signing batum to a deal similar to gallos. We would probably have to move ham and one of our bigs to portland but that would be absolutely genius of our front office. We draft robinson or drummond at #5 and then sign kirk hinrich. We draft the best player available at #20 or possibly combine our 2 seconds and our late 1st to move up a few spots. Plus we would also still have chandler, we could move him to portland instead of hamilton, he probably has more value.

Lawson/Hinrich
Afflalo/hamilton
Batum/brewer/harrington
Drummond/Faried/harrington
Mcgee/Mozgov

Other options

1.) Trade chandler for as high of a pick as possible.(draft sg terrence ross if he is there)

2.) Take qunicy miller at #20

3.) Get a center with potential with one of our 2nds

[nugzin2040]

Hard to see the Blazers letting Batum go. They'll be about $22 million under the cap, so unless they think they can get someone better in free agency then Batum, makes sense for them to try to retain him.

Also, Robinson and Drummond won't last to 5 imo.

[Manimal]

The only way I see Portland letting Batum go is if they really want to go into full rebuild mode, and prefer not to tie up close to half their cap space on two guys. Which may very well be the best way to go. And who knows, if they end up drafting a wing player with their two top 11 picks, they might also want to open up some playing time for him. But still, with the way they spend, I doubt any of that ends up factoring in.

[OmniDEN]

Batum isn't that great. He was terrible on defense for a long stretch and lives by reputation on that end of the floor. Wouldn't give up Danilo for him.

[mojomarc]

Batum isn't that great. He was terrible on defense for a long stretch and lives by reputation on that end of the floor. Wouldn't give up Danilo for him.

Batum isn't terrible on defense. He's not the second coming of Scottie Pippen either, but he was the best defensive wing on a Portland team that had Gerald Wallace most of the season. He's a very good shot-blocker for a SF, good at steals, and can guard the wings well enough including frequently taking the turn against PGs. And he's 23, so he has a lot of time to get better.

That said, Portland wouldn't accept Danilo for him, and it would take a pretty outlandish offer for Portland not to match.

[OmniDEN]

He was statistically the worst defender I think the season before last. I know he isn't bad on that end these days, but he also flopped big time that year and I need to see more than one season of decent play to make my opinion of him change. He's got massive potential.

[Norm2953]

Speaking as a Blazer's fan, I was pulling for you guys (and Dre) hard last night...

It would take another team seriously overpaying Batum before Portland would
not match any free agent offer. Portland needs a PG and Center in the worst
way but perhaps if Denver offered up Ty Lawson in a sign and trade deal,
something could get done for Portland could just draft someone like Barnes
with NJ's pick to replace Batum if they wanted to. Denver could then sign
Ray Felton to replace Lawson.

[The Rebel]

Is that a joke? you really think Batum is going to get you lawson? The only player on the Blazers I would trade lawson for is Aldridge, and I can see an argument being made against that move as well.

[clockwork]

i'd rather eat horse shi* than have felton back here. we wouldn't be that much better with batum but would be infinitely worse with felton.

[OmniDEN]

Lawson is infinitely more valuable to the Nuggets than Batum is to the Blazers. I think that's all that needs to be said.

[Nuggets_Talk]

Speaking as a Blazer's fan, I was pulling for you guys (and Dre) hard last night...

It would take another team seriously overpaying Batum before Portland would
not match any free agent offer. Portland needs a PG and Center in the worst
way but perhaps if Denver offered up Ty Lawson in a sign and trade deal,
something could get done for Portland could just draft someone like Barnes
with NJ's pick to replace Batum if they wanted to. Denver could then sign
Ray Felton to replace Lawson.

glad i wasnt the only one who laughed at this.