End of an Era? The strings pulling at LaMarcus Aldridge

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I think 90% of our questions will be answered Draft Night. Does Olshey trade Nic for another star, a up & coming talent that's a few years out, or keep Nic. I think it's the last chance Neil has an opportunity to sell LA that we are in Win-NOW mode, not 2-3 more years.

If we stay how we are, draft our pick, and call it a night...be prepared for full re-tool mode.

Naw, that outcome is the most likely outcome in either scenario. It's hard to make drastic moves on draft day.

[Wizenheimer]

I think 90% of our questions will be answered Draft Night. Does Olshey trade Nic for another star, a up & coming talent that's a few years out, or keep Nic. I think it's the last chance Neil has an opportunity to sell LA that we are in Win-NOW mode, not 2-3 more years.

If we stay how we are, draft our pick, and call it a night...be prepared for full re-tool mode.

that doesn't make a lot of sense to me

what kind of hypnotism will he use to convince the other GM to trade a "star" for Batum? After the year Batum has had and factoring in his contract status, trading him would bring back a really poor return. Selling low on a starter like Batum can only reflect one thing on a GM: a bad job

[The Sebastian Express]

The only star Nic and that pick would bring in would be a disgruntled one or one past their prime. Nic's only value right now is his expiring contract for next year. He was just too injured and down this year for anything else.

[MakDagr]

Hey, just my opinion haha I agree with all of your statements, but next year will be frustrating if Nic plays well (which i hope)...is he finally back, or is it just another contract year...

[mactrapper10]

The only star Nic and that pick would bring in would be a disgruntled one or one past their prime. Nic's only value right now is his expiring contract for next year. He was just too injured and down this year for anything else.

Didn't it come out during the trade deadline that Toronto was interested in him? I don't think that his value is just based upon being an expiring contract. You would probably need to package him with something else, but his salary and talent would probably be able to get you something beyond just an old or disgruntled player. Teams like Boston, Toronto, Chicago, all could use a player like him.

Personally, I think he has been in the league long enough to know what he is. I appreciate his skill set, but his overall inconsistencies and lack of focus at times are getting pretty old.

[MakDagr]

The only star Nic and that pick would bring in would be a disgruntled one or one past their prime. Nic's only value right now is his expiring contract for next year. He was just too injured and down this year for anything else.

Didn't it come out during the trade deadline that Toronto was interested in him? I don't think that his value is just based upon being an expiring contract. You would probably need to package him with something else, but his salary and talent would probably be able to get you something beyond just an old or disgruntled player. Teams like Boston, Toronto, Chicago, all could use a player like him.

Personally, I think he has been in the league long enough to know what he is. I appreciate his skill set, but his overall inconsistencies and lack of focus at times are getting pretty old.

Yah, Masai is said to be a big fan of Nic.

Best way to describe Nic...he's consistently inconsistent

[Wizenheimer]

Batum played really well last season and it wasn't a contract year, so, I'm not sure that correlation would be fair if he plays well next season

[TBpup]

Hey, just my opinion haha I agree with all of your statements, but next year will be frustrating if Nic plays well (which i hope)...is he finally back, or is it just another contract year...

I can see him playing up to his ability this next year because it is a contract year. But it would be Fool's Gold going forward. Yes, Toronto's GM has long been a fan of Nic's. Who from the Raptors though would you want?

[MakDagr]

Hey, just my opinion haha I agree with all of your statements, but next year will be frustrating if Nic plays well (which i hope)...is he finally back, or is it just another contract year...

I can see him playing up to his ability this next year because it is a contract year. But it would be Fool's Gold going forward. Yes, Toronto's GM has long been a fan of Nic's. Who from the Raptors though would you want?

DEROZAN!

[TBpup]

Hey, just my opinion haha I agree with all of your statements, but next year will be frustrating if Nic plays well (which i hope)...is he finally back, or is it just another contract year...

I can see him playing up to his ability this next year because it is a contract year. But it would be Fool's Gold going forward. Yes, Toronto's GM has long been a fan of Nic's. Who from the Raptors though would you want?

DEROZAN!

Thank you....that laugh helped distract me from a big work load today.

[mactrapper10]

Hey, just my opinion haha I agree with all of your statements, but next year will be frustrating if Nic plays well (which i hope)...is he finally back, or is it just another contract year...

I can see him playing up to his ability this next year because it is a contract year. But it would be Fool's Gold going forward. Yes, Toronto's GM has long been a fan of Nic's. Who from the Raptors though would you want?

Well, when Dame tried out for the National Team last summer, he mentioned that one of his favorite guys to play with was DeRozan. I don't know if Toronto would be willing to move him, but I think that Ujiri recognizes that the current makeup of that team isn't competing for a title, so who knows. I haven't seen enough of DeRozan to really comment on how he would fit, but it was interesting to me that Dame specifically mentioned him last summer.

[Wizenheimer]

sheeeesh...Derozan?...really?

a player with a 28.4% usage rate last season? That will be a bad fit, although if Aldridge leaves there would be plenty of possessions available.

if Portland trades Batum to Toronto, the least they should demand (in July) should be Vasquez + that 2016 NY/Denver first round pick option.

[The Sebastian Express]

Yeah, don't want anything of DeRozan. Raptor fans were not very high on him at the end of the season because of his ill-advised and offense disrupting shots.

[MakDagr]

Yeah, don't want anything of DeRozan. Raptor fans were not very high on him at the end of the season because of his ill-advised and offense disrupting shots.

I'd take ill-advised and disrupting shots too with crappy Dwayne Casey as coach. Don't get why they refuse to go to Jonas...

[JasonStern]

Will Afflalo opt-out, and if he does, do the Blazers shoot for a lot of cap-space this summer and for what purpose?

young players that are age appropriate to build around Lillard with - Greg Monroe, Tobias Harris, etc.

[Wizenheimer]

Will Afflalo opt-out, and if he does, do the Blazers shoot for a lot of cap-space this summer and for what purpose?

young players that are age appropriate to build around Lillard with - Greg Monroe, Tobias Harris, etc.

I see what you mean, but I can't think of very many less relevant factors

last season, was Tim Duncan age appropriate with Kawhi Leonard?

[TBpup]

Will Afflalo opt-out, and if he does, do the Blazers shoot for a lot of cap-space this summer and for what purpose?

young players that are age appropriate to build around Lillard with - Greg Monroe, Tobias Harris, etc.

I see what you mean, but I can't think of very many less relevant factors

last season, was Tim Duncan age appropriate with Kawhi Leonard?

One could easily submit that Tim is a unique exception. He is likely the greatest PF of all time and still at 39, an above average defender and big game player. Aldridge is no where near to Duncan on any of those levels at the same age. I get that age isn't really a factor as successful teams have a mix of veterans and youth but Tim at his age is a unique oddity.

[Wizenheimer]

young players that are age appropriate to build around Lillard with - Greg Monroe, Tobias Harris, etc.

I see what you mean, but I can't think of very many less relevant factors

last season, was Tim Duncan age appropriate with Kawhi Leonard?

One could easily submit that Tim is a unique exception. He is likely the greatest PF of all time and still at 39, an above average defender and big game player. Aldridge is no where near to Duncan on any of those levels at the same age. I get that age isn't really a factor as successful teams have a mix of veterans and youth but Tim at his age is a unique oddity.

that's all I was getting at...that when/if it comes to building a team around Lillard, age should not be a factor high on the priority list, certainly not as high as talent and fit

Portland will have a tough enough time getting talented players...they shouldn't discard options because they aren't a similar age as Lillard

[zzaj]

My belief is that after Aldridge gets some time away to rest, reflect, have his surgery and heal with his family, he'll end up back in Portland. What that contract will look like? Who knows...
A lot of this conjecture is fed by events relating to a physically, emotionally and perhaps spiritually exhausted player. Let's see what happens in due time.

Aldridge is a VERY good role player--he does one thing VERY well. Personally, I believe he's hit his ceiling and that's worrisome from a contractual standpoint. His stats are inflated because of an offense designed around him and his strengths. If he goes elsewhere he'll see a big drop in his #s...he certainly won't be putting up MAX contract #s.

With Aldridge, Portland is in a "damned if you do/damned if you don't" situation.

Honestly, I sort of don't care what happens with Aldridge. This era of Stotts/Aldridge/Lillard + above average, low-usage players doesn't seem championship caliber to me. I'd be just as ok with Olshey blowing the thing up if he thought it had the potential to someday win a championship. Not that I trust Olshey...I've been pretty "meh" on him. If his plan this whole time was to blow things up as soon as Aldridge was due his big MAX deal, then he's a pretty sinister dude.

Batum is the one that intrigues me. His exit interview was the most exciting Blazer news I've seen in a while...
He seemed focused on improving his game in a big way (which makes sense in his contract year). He mentioned his overseas commitments as being much smaller than years past. Is next year the year Batum finally turns into the aggressive, triple double machine we've always wanted?
That would go a long way in offsetting what will likely be a down-turn in Mathews' production, longterm.

Lastly, I still think Meyers and CJ are a couple years away--especially Meyers. Certainly, both turned a confidence corner in the last part of the year but their production in the playoffs was as much about matchups as talent. If they are not traded, I look forward to both players expanding their feel for the game and helping Portland's bench even more next year...

[Matt800]

Batum is the one that intrigues me. His exit interview was the most exciting Blazer news I've seen in a while...
He seemed focused on improving his game in a big way (which makes sense in his contract year). He mentioned his overseas commitments as being much smaller than years past. Is next year the year Batum finally turns into the aggressive, triple double machine we've always wanted?

I have had similar feelings about Batum's exit interview. He used to seem as if he didn't really care, like he'd work out but he was already good enough in a way. This interview, he seemed much more interested and motivated, and also got into specifics of what he wanted to do, which suggests it wasn't all talk. The Batum of old probably would have made an excuse and just said he'd be back to normal. This time he actually noted there were problems and that he is already in the process of improving. It seemed like he was really bothered by playing so poorly and is now very motivated and active in becoming the best he can. It will be interesting to see how he plays next year, hopefully it works out well.

I don't know what LMA will do, but it seems most likely he'll be back. I also don't think he's being maximized in the current system we have. If we get more depth, I think our guys will look a lot better. Simply because our starters will be more fresh, and the other team won't rest their starters as much because our bench will keep us in the game. From that our matchups will remain more advantageous. As is, we play uphill a lot of the time, and by adding more depth it will look that way for opposing teams instead. Even just the few games with Afllalo and Matthews we had a significant difference in how easy it was to win.

I think this team could win a championship, if we get the appropriate pieces for added depth. Probably an intense 3 and D SF, and maybe a defensive PG. That would give us a lot more matchup options in the playoffs. Those two players could potentially be had with the MLE and draft this offseason.

If LMA leaves, I'd try to get picks and young talent and hope for a quick rebuild.