Fire KP - Hire Bill Simmons!!

[Wizenheimer]

now why can't KP devise trades like this one:

TRADE 1A: Portland trades Raef LaFrentz, LaMarcus Aldridge, the rights to Rudy Fernandez, $3 million and a 2008 No. 1 (top-3 protected) to Memphis for Mike Conley Jr., Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and a 2008 No. 2.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons&entryDate=20080220

[tucson]

now why can't KP devise trades like this one:

TRADE 1A: Portland trades Raef LaFrentz, LaMarcus Aldridge, the rights to Rudy Fernandez, $3 million and a 2008 No. 1 (top-3 protected) to Memphis for Mike Conley Jr., Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and a 2008 No. 2.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons&entryDate=20080220

Pretty close to even, eh? Just take out Aldridge and Fernandez and put in Frye & Jack. We already have Memphis second round pick.

LaFrentz, Frye, Jack, No 1 pick for Conley, Miller & Cardinal.

[Billy]

<irrational_irate_fan>Well Conley probably would show us about as much at PF as Aldridge</irrational_irate_fan>

Aldridge may look like the third wheel from the outside looking in, and may not look like he's going to be at an elite level at this very moment. But I just know this guy is going to be a stud.

Portland sure could use a great point guard though

[sabi]

[Telfaire]

Oden makes him completely and totally expendable next season

His biggest misconception. LMA would flourish next to Oden, exploiting double teams and having the luxury to run the floor and finish on the fast break.

I'm not suprised with him suggesting that we trade Rudy's rights...Simmons is a known internationals-basher, so while he's not openly saying that Rudy is a scrub, he's implying that his stock wont get any higher once he sets foot in the league.

Also, Miller as our 2nd option at crunch time? I'm willing to bet that Outlaw has made more money shots than him this season.

But wait, the guy gets more homeric as the article continues...He's basically suggesting the Bulls should trade Deng for Redd, and take on Gadzuric and Bell's longer contract in order to dump Big Ben...

[Mr Odd]

WHAT THE.. .LOL!!

[d-train]

You can't blame people for trying. After all, this same logic worked for the Knicks when they chumped KP for Randolph. Actually, this trade looks great compared to the Randolph trade.

[Wizenheimer]

You can't blame people for trying. After all, this same logic worked for the Knicks when they chumped KP for Randolph. Actually, this trade looks great compared to the Randolph trade.

you should just give up on that notion.

I don't think hardly anybody believes it. Certainly the knicks and their fans don't. They're trying everything they can think of to dump zach on somebody else.

[swede]

That cup of water was the first thing Z-Bo has ever passed Nate Robinson.

[d-train]

That cup of water was the first thing Z-Bo has ever passed Nate Robinson.

I don't share my water. This proves Zach is not shelfish.

[zzaj]

That cup of water was the first thing Z-Bo has ever passed Nate Robinson.

lol. Sig worthy right there...

[SalemStoner]

I usually enjoy Simmons article, but that trade would be catastrophic to the Blazers imo unless, and this is a pretty big question.... Blazers brass now sees Outlaw as a viable of a PF option in the future as LMA. I don't think they do, and I certainly don't... but that's the only way doing that trade makes any sense at all...

While Frye is pretty similar in effectiveness as LMA right now, thinking long term I don't think anyone thinks his future is as bright as LMA's however...

Also while I'd like to add a shooter, I'd rather wait another year on Webster than rush to bring in a new SF for much the same role.

So while I like what he's trying to do, I just don't agree with how he's going about it...

I think a better offer might be to simplify this whole mess and just offer LMA for Conley + 1st. If they take it, great, if not, oh well...

[mojomarc]

This would look like a good trade (I'd rather trade something other than Rudy) if we lucked into the first overall pick and got Beasley in our sights. Other than that, I don't think it actually works on the court. Any court. Not even The People's Court, no matter what sort of post game Rusty the Bailiff had.

[PDXKnight]

Terrible, just terrible.
LA >>>>> Mike Conley
Rudy >= Mike miller
Raef = Cardinal
I can't believe he had the balls to mention the first round pick. I'm not even sure if I'd do this if Memphis threw in their first round pick this season unprotected.

[cucad8]

The deal would be ok if Miller were doing what he was doing now, but he was 21.


Oh, and with a shaved head.

[Dome]

I can see what Simmons is thinking with that trade, and coming from an outsider (apparently he has little idea about how valueable Aldridge and Rudy are to the Blazers at this point) it's actually a pretty decent deal IMO. Conley would be terrific in Portland, Outlaw would play PF and Miller comes in as the starting SF. A Conley, Roy, Miller, Outlaw, Oden lineup is actually very nice, seems like a pretty fast lineup that could run but has smart enough players to be able to play good half court sets too. If Outlaw can't log starters minutes Frye would start I guess (although I'm not a big fan of that myself).

However, if the Blazers traded Aldridge now, they would take a huge risk. Team chemistry is not something to toy with; see the Phoenix situation. As others have pointed out, his argument that the Oden addition makes Aldridge expandable is (probably; we won't know until we see it) wrong, I think Aldridge's high post game will make him a perfect complement to Greg.

[Dome]

Terrible, just terrible.
LA >>>>> Mike Conley
Rudy >= Mike miller
Raef = Cardinal
I can't believe he had the balls to mention the first round pick. I'm not even sure if I'd do this if Memphis threw in their first round pick this season unprotected.

I disagree with most of that actually. Like I described above I think the trade would be pretty bad for Portland myself, but I think the values are closer to this:

LaMarcus Aldridge > Mike Conley

I think Conley is going to be an stud for a point guard, his AST/TO ratio for a rookie point guard is flat out incredible. Right now Aldridge is better, obviously, but in the long run I think it'll be a flush. Aldridge being better now and being a bigman gives him the > IMO, but he's not that much better than Conley

Rudy < Mike miller

How in the world can you say Rudy is better than Mike Miller already? I don't get that. Rudy has a lot of potential, but we'll still have to see how that translates into an NBA game. Miller is averaging 16.8, 6.3 and 3.6 so far this year, shooting .508% FG and .433% from 3, jury is still out on if Rudy can do that in the NBA. Miller definitely is the better player here IMO.

Raef LaFrentz = Brian Cardinal

Both are servicable role players at best and have bad contracts. Cardinal has a year more on his contract, but LaFrentz makes twice as much this year and next, so I guess you can call it a flush.

The values on this trade are pretty even without the 1st round pick IMO, although I think the trade (also without the 1st) would be horrible for Portland due to them blowing up this young core that is already playing so well. Big risk to take.

[PDXKnight]

LA vs Conley:First of all, Conley hasn't proven that he can consistently hit the jump shot and if you want to talk about rookies with good A/TO ratios, Sergio had a very good A/TO ratio his first year in the league. Quite honestly, I haven't seen enough of Conley in the NBA to believe that giving up part of a potential twin tower combo in LA would be justified at least yet. Roy can playmake and the Blazers' primary need at PG is a shooter who can hit the open shots and defend, not necessarily a player like Conley.

Miller vs Rudy: The reason I placed Rudy over Mike Miller is the age factor. While I would take Miller over Rudy in terms of overall talent at this point, Rudy is a 20 year old that fits in with our young core better. Since this thread is about a trade and which team involved would gain the most value, I believe age must be considered.

Raef vs Cardinal: Raef and Cardinal are obviously equals. They are both paid to sit and aren't worth much to either team.

[Dome]

LA vs Conley:First of all, Conley hasn't proven that he can consistently hit the jump shot and if you want to talk about rookies with good A/TO ratios, Sergio had a very good A/TO ratio his first year in the league. Quite honestly, I haven't seen enough of Conley in the NBA to believe that giving up part of a potential twin tower combo in LA would be justified at least yet.

Good points, I do agree that it's probably too soon to give up Aldridge for Conley until we've seen more.

This part however:

Roy can playmake and the Blazers' primary need at PG is a shooter who can hit the open shots and defend, not necessarily a player like Conley.

You might be right, but this doesn't make Conley less of a player. Add that Conley has the makings of a good defender and a very good floor leader too and his value raises another bit.

I agree with you I wouldn't trade Aldridge for Conley either, but I think Conley's (potential) value is pretty good and probably not that far off from Aldridge. You just don't trade a proven, talented big for a relatively unproven point guard, even if he's a good friend of your franchise player.

Miller vs Rudy: The reason I placed Rudy over Mike Miller is the age factor. While I would take Miller over Rudy in terms of overall talent at this point, Rudy is a 20 year old that fits in with our young core better. Since this thread is about a trade and which team involved would gain the most value, I believe age must be considered.

Good point, but I respectfully disagree. If Rudy had shown he can be somewhere close to the level Mike Miller is showing right now I'd agree with you that age becomes a factor, but there's still a chance that Rudy might not be a good fit in the NBA at all. Until he has shown he can perform in the NBA like we think he will, Mike Miller will definitely be the better player IMO.

[BlackMamba]

lol, that guy is hilarious.

i wonder why he's a "columnist" and not a GM?