@Doc Brown has been saying for a while now that the Spurs are going to have to gut the squad a bit to bring Aldridge in. I think he sees that and recognizes that there's some serious flaws with their roster if the older guys continue getting banged up. They just traded away Splitter and Detroit stole Baynes. If Duncan goes down, do they have a backup Center or is Aldridge going to have to do it? I mean, they're still MUCH more attractive than LA, but the one thing we've got is a team full of role players. If Aldridge wants to be the man, we've got a ton of guys that we can put around him and help him out. We're knee deep in average talent.
Parker / Mills Green / ____ Kawhi / Anderson LMA / Diaw Duncan / ____ They really going to roll with a 7 man rotation? Anderson sucks. Parker is in his 15th season, Diaw in his 13th, Duncan in his 19th and the only player that played more than 30 minutes last season was Kawhi (31.8). Spurs aren't deep enough to play like they've played the last few seasons, even with vet min pickups. LMA will have to play major minutes at center and who knows what Manu is doing. He's looked like his tank is on E for awhile now. Is Pop coming back? How long is Parker, Diaw and Duncan going to play for? What's the plan after? They have 72.1 million committed (If LMA signs) with only 6 players on the roster the following season. Not enough for a max guy. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice plan for next year, but after that, Kawhi/LMA isn't getting out of the West with them two + role players.
Being aware of his personnel's age, Popovich will settle for a low seed then bank on his core to answer the call one more time. They nearly pulled it off last season.
With Miami Heat giving Wade the $20 million contract, does this mean the Heat have less of a chance to sign LA?
I have no idea what kind of shenanigans Riley would have to pull to get Aldridge, but I'm almost convinced he can't do it this summer.
classic rookie mistake: underestimating Riley's shenanigans. guy's a cheater; he can make this--or anything--happen.
Hope no one actually believes this is a real meeting. His representation is just trying to do right by us after humiliating us the first go around and repair the relationship for future dealings with any of his clients. It's SA or Phoenix, didn't see that roster dump coming. Nice haul for SVG.
I think I agree with stein: the longer this plays out, the more chance Portland has of drawing Aldridge back in. I know it's been reported he's out, and they've made moves, but lillard is supposedly lobbying, and they've been picking up help to replace some of the lost guys. obviously, I still expect him to go to SA; I just feel like if it was that easy, it should have happened already.
