FCNATL85 wrote:would you trade Marvin/ Speedy and Zaza for Alridge and La Frentz?
Are you asking for Portland's answer? That would be no.
Think about it. They would be giving up a promising PF under rookie deal for a SF/PF on his last year of rookie deal. You also have them swapping a $12M expiring contract for 2yr/11M of dead weight.
In fairness, their dead weight is Darius Miles. Do you want him in a trade? Offering Speedy is about the same.
Next, LaFrentz? They have no incentive to trade LaFrentz unless it is to acquire a substantial talent increase. His contract is expiring and they've eaten other deals like Francis and Miles. The cost savings isn't important to their ownership, he was a necessary burden in getting Brandon Roy.
Aldridge? Why would they give up Aldridge until they see how him and Oden play together? The answer is they wouldn't. Dominate tall PF/C combos have a tendency to win in the league. They lucked into a #1/#2 frontline, you have to see that on the court before you get trade happy.
Marvin? From Portland's point of view Marvin Williams could be a good SF. He can grab some boards, prefers jumpers so he wouldn't get in the way down low, can drive some, and plays ok defense. He doesn't have the range of Martell Webster, but hopefully that gets improved this summer. Is he a tremendous upgrade over Martell? How well does he match up with Lamar Odom? Bottom line is that Portland might be interested in picking up a new SF with more well-rounded game than Webster. Marvin might fit the bill, but wouldn't be the top choice. Who might they target before him? Tayshaun Prince would be my top target. After that, Luol Deng would be the 2nd guy to look at. After that I'm not sure how many players are actually upgrades at the 3 and available (not that those were). For instance, Richard Jefferson doesn't seem like a good fit to me. Shawn Marion's price tag is too high and he's potentially too disruptive in the locker room.
Trading Marvin? I'm okay with trading Marvin, but realistically what we should be getting back would be either a starting PG, SG, or SF. I don't think we want to trade Marvin on the delusion of playing Josh Smith full time at SF. Getting one of those 3 positions would allow for the additional trade of Bibby or sliding Joe to SF if necessary. Trading Marvin in an attempt to get a starting PF to make into a backup C doesn't make a lot of sense (especially for Aldridge who wouldn't be happy as a backup). Getting a backup C for the cost of Marvin seems to be selling Marvin low which isn't good either.