I mean it's a serious argument. Look at Wade right now. Some guys might be comfortable sacrificing money but they shouldn't be expected to.
I am hoping we can get LMA, but I'm not betting on it. And I'll be even more upset about passing on Okafor if he goes to San Antonio instead.
The San Antonio Spurs are operating under the premise that Tim Duncan will return in 2015-16 for a 19th NBA season, according to league sources. Although Duncan and fellow Spurs mainstay Manu Ginobili have yet to make formal declarations about their plans for next season, sources said that the Spurs are optimistic about re-signing both at salaries that will allow the team to re-sign prized restricted free agent Kawhi Leonard this summer and to pursue top-tier free agent LaMarcus Aldridge. As ESPN.com reported last month and again this week, San Antonio sits atop Aldridge's list of preferred destinations if, as widely expected, he chooses to leave the Portland Trail Blazers this summer. A source told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard earlier this week that Aldridge is "99.9 percent gone" from the Blazers. ESPN.com also reported this week that the Los Angeles Lakers have moved past the Dallas Mavericks in terms of potential landing spots for Aldridge, who played his high school ball in Dallas before starring collegiately closer to San Antonio at the University of Texas in Austin. It has been widely assumed in league circles that the Spurs would be forced to try to trade veteran forward Tiago Splitter to help create the needed salary-cap flexibility to handle the max deals San Antonio has earmarked for Leonard (and the likes of Aldridge or Memphis' Marc Gasol) and still have room to accommodate Duncan and Ginobili at reduced salaries, if the latter two choose to play on. But sources told ESPN.com that the Spurs actually rebuffed trade interest from teams hoping to pry Splitter away in conjunction with Thursday's NBA draft, raising the possibility that Splitter might stick around. The futures are less clear for Spurs sharpshooters Danny Green and Marco Belinelli, two unrestricted free agents who played pivotal roles off the bench in helping San Antonio make back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals in 2013 and 2014 -- and win it all in '14 in a second consecutive Finals showdown with the Miami Heat. Spurs guard Tony Parker recently told the San Antonio Express-News that he won't pressure Duncan or Ginobili into continuing their careers, but he said he does "think they're both going to play one more year." "I've talked to them and told them what I think," Parker told the newspaper. "Now it's their decision. It's a very personal decision." Duncan, 39, and Ginobili, 37, are among 10 players on last season's 15-man Spurs roster who become free agents Wednesday. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...hink-tim-duncan-likely-return-19th-nba-season
Spurs are pretty good with retooling their roster with role players and getting the most out of them but it sounds like to get LMA they really do need to gut their roster.
Prediction. LA does not go to SA. Spurs are a dead franchise. Leonard is the first domino to fall. Watch Kawhai sign elsewhere
Why wouldn't LA stay in Portland...he has Lillard. Unless he likes the pieces in Los Angeles better...sending good vibes out there... Just read that Boogie's agent is the same agent who created the D12 exit from Orlando (probably old news to most of you here) but to me...that speaks volumes about what was going on this week. Love the fact that boogie (and more importantly his agent) did not get what he wanted.
LMA moving to SA for a one year shot isn't what I see. If Tim and Manu both come back and they don't get there then he's paired with Parker, Leonard and who ever they can get in FA. Still a potentially better scenario than LA or Portland. If he is truly wanting to get a championship then it's SA. If he's looking to be a center piece, get paid and work toward one in a few years then LA can be that destination.
I am truly hoping that we can land LMA. My hope is that he sees a golden opportunity in LA to be a number one option and to increase his star potential here. If he wants a real career change (he's always close to an all star but not there) then he should come to Los Angeles and be the guy. No more small markets.
^^^ If he comes to L.A. he will be one of "The Guys". I wonder how much of him wanting out is due to reported efforts to pump Lillard as the face of the franchise going forward?
Aldridge is the top guy I would want us to get, although I am just going into this FA with the hope of us landing any of these bigs.
Well obviously the ball is in his hands, but if he doesn't want to play C we have very little use for him.
I don't get WHY LMA doesn't wanna play C....it's not like he has to worry about that with the top teams in the west going small...OKC, SA and GS all go small with one big and four smalls...heck GS went with Draymond as their center....I'm sick of hearing about LMA not wanting to play center...he will HAVE to if he comes here...no way around it. Also, I'm sick of the Spurs getting their players to take pay cuts all the time. I dunno how they do it...but it's really annoying. If only Kobe took 15M instead of 25M....we woulda easily bagged LMA AND another star.
To me it comes down to whether or not Aldridge wants to go to SA and possibly win this year but then be stuck languishing there for the rest of his career, versus coming here, having a season of growth followed by no less than 5 years of contending, especially if you assume we get someone big in 2016.
Yup. And magically fix Upshaw's head for good and lock him up, and I am one freaking happy camper. The best BIGs in the league won't run roughshod over us with little resistance. We gave up a tremendous franchise center to draft Russell.
Well Aldridge will most likely get bullied by Centers. We're not going to be a great defensive team but that would have been true even with Okafor. That is a big reason I'm advocating Jordan. Defense, youth, athleticism, and in a big difference maker: weakening the Clippers. If I'm not mistaken they don't have the cap space to readily replace him. They'd be strapped for a year with just Paul and Griffin.
