Now were talking Why trade for cousins when you can sign aldridge and play him next to okafor/randle/clarkson and kobe At least LA has playoff experience, cousins hasnt even sniffed the playoffs
Well because he's still likely to go to San Antonio over us even in Stein's tweet... We have no guarantee of getting Aldridge. BUT I agree that keeping our pick/players and going after guys in FA is a better bet. It just leaves us with more assets.
Aldridge next to Okafor.... Randle off the bench.... Kobe at SF.... Clarkson.... REALLY good team. Any idea what kinda cap space SA has compared to us (I know we have $20 million) ??
Oh whoops I see LMA discussion going on here. Interesting if he chooses to come here. He doesn't seem like a big city type guy
As of right now they've got something like 30 million but they need to re-sign Duncan, Ginobili, and maybe Green too so not THAT much... The way I understand it is Duncan and Ginobili will wait until the Spurs throw a max deal out there at a guy like Aldridge or Gasol and then they'll take whatever scraps are left over.
Also I have a feeling if we get Aldridge, we'd still probably start Randle mostly out of necessity... A max deal to Aldridge leaves us with no other cash to spend. We'd have no way of picking up a SF besides... Wesley Johnson... And we'd have to plug in another SG like Ellington if we slid Kobe down. Clarkson/??? Kobe/Ellington Randle/Young Aldridge/Randle/Kelly Okafor/Black
Sources told ESPN.com the Blazers have been pressing for more concrete signals from Aldridge's camp about his plans before the July 1 start of free agency and are increasingly fearful they have little chance of retaining the All-Star big man once he hits the open market. ESPN.com reported in May that both the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks strongly believe they'll have a great shot to lure Aldridge back to his home state of Texas next month. But sources said this week that Aldridge is actually thinking more and more about a free-agent jump to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers, sources added, firmly believe they will now be in the Aldridge hunt. As ESPN.com first reported Monday, Lakers officials also continue to try to press the Sacramento Kings to trade them All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. The Spurs, sources say, continue to be Aldridge's most likely destination if he goes through with the idea of leaving the Blazers to start anew. But there is a rising sentiment, sources said, that the Lakers have edged past the Mavericks on Aldridge's wish list despite the fact he was a high school star in Dallas. Read rest at LINK: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ward-lamarcus-aldridge-leave-team-free-agency
If we go into next season with Aldridge, Okafor, Randle, Clarkson and Kobe, I will run naked through the streets.
Aldridge's case for SAS: Low profile team, less taxes, Finals MVP, well rounded experienced playoff squad Aldridge's case for LAL: They take care of you well (Ex: Kobe contract), city of Hollywood, fame and glory. Both making great cases. Depends on what Aldridge wants
How do you guys feel about LaMarcus' age? He's not exactly a spring chicken, and the back end of the contract would be in his declining years.
There's also a good young thing going here, endorsements, and the great potential for us to find our way back up quickly like we usually do. We might not win it all next year, but we'd be in the mix pretty quickly.
Not worried. He's not the kind of player that I think will significantly drop off with age. His bread and butter is his mid-range game. That's not gonna go away. I'm salivating at the idea of Aldridge spacing the floor with his mid-range threat to allow Okafor to operate in the post, and then have Randle come in as a sixth man to punish the opposing front court with his physicality.
I think his game will age well. He's not a leaper and his shots usually come off of high post jumpers. He'll age kind of like Dirk I think. Another concern is he can be a little fragile.
Ok, I've said earlier that even though I really like LMA's game I didn't think A. he would come here, or B. that he'd be an ideal fit given our complete dearth of small forwards here. But . . . man, hearing that he'd actually want to come and we are moving up the list is pretty cool. I would MUCH, MUCH, MUCH rather go after LMA than Love or Dragic. He's a max guy that I'd be willing to pay max for. He's an excellent player and we would be a lot better with him than without him. That would be cool to see him matched up with Okafor. The only thing I don't like is that it would take time away from Randle. But he does need to develop and this would take some pressure off him.
