Post#277 » by bwgood77 » Fri Jul 23, 2021 12:04 am
Lillard would probably love to come to Phx. Him and Booker seem to like each other. They would certainly work better with someone like Bridges next to them and Ayton on D. Those who complain and want more from Bridges and Ayton on offense certainly are not likely to see it with Lillard though. Lillard is an obvious upgrade on the court in individual play over Paul. As a team player I do not know, though obviously Paul will decline fairly quickly if not this next year, probably the following year. I remember being super impressed with Lillard when McCollum and Nurkic were out and he was carrying Portland. But when Nurkic and CJ got back, they seemed worse.
Who do you want taking the last shot? I think Book wants this responsibility but obviously you want Lillard taking it. I think he's the most clutch last second player in a while. He would win games on last second shots, usually 3s fairly often, and I remember one game they were down by like 7 with 9 seconds left or something and he somehow hit some 3s and one...or had like 2 in 5 seconds.
Anyway, we would be a potent guard tandem. I think keeping CP3 a couple more years would help other guys on the team develop a lot more, through teaching as well as being more involved in the offense.
All in all, it would seem dumb not to trade, but if you had to give up a ton, I am not sure it makes sense.
It all is probably moot though, because the Knicks could sign Paul outright..if he knows they will pay him what he wants they sign him outright so they don't have to give up anything.
If he wants to go to the Lakers he would have to opt out...and then a 3 way with Portland can't happen.
I don't see it...I don't think it's realistic from those trade points of view or we have enough assets we would want to deal for him, but also because I think the team, coach and GM love Paul and they just made the finals.
I could see Book wanting it, and Lillard, but I don't think Paul holds any trade value to a team that could sign him outright, and if a team is over the cap they'd have to send out a ton of salary to Portland...and probably assets along with some assets for us. It's hard for us to trade picks for like the next 4-5 years so a team likely wouldn't want that, so they'd want a premier player...more than Bridges. They'd do it for Bridges and Ayton. Or probably Cam and Ayton.
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