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April 24, 2013The Cleveland Cavaliers recently entertained trade discussions with the Portaland Trailblazers that would net the wine and gold All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
In a column aimed to chastise Cleveland for something being perpetuated by the media, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowksi reports that the Cavs and Blazers discussed swapping quality for youth and upside.
“Privately, the Cleveland front office has pitched a fantasy of trading young players and picks to Portland for All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge,” writes Wojnarowski. “Only, that’s never going to happen. Cleveland is far higher on its two top-five picks, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, than the rest of the NBA.”
Aldridge, 27, is coming off of his third-consecutive season of at least 21 points and eight rebounds per game and possesses a very efficient game. He is due to make over $30 million over the next two seasons, a contract that would tie up some of the team’s salary cap space into the 2015-16 season.
Thompson, garnering votes for NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2012-13, averaging 11.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. In his rookie season, Waiters averaged 14.7 points on 41.2 percent shooting. He was second on the team in per-game scoring.
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Lebron also refused to commit to a deal when any player asked him if he’d stay. Asking Allen or any free agent in 2009/2010 to commit to the Cavs for longer than Lebron was asking too much.
Marty, we’ve gotta keep you off the sauce, buddy.
The Cavs were coming off a 42 win season when Allen turned us down. He didn’t turn down a team that just came off back to back 60 win seasons. Plus, what porkchop said.
You are missing the forest for the trees by focusing solely on the FT%. Despite the FT%, Drummond finished 15th among C’s in TS%. Waiters was 54th among SGs. Drummond was an elite rebounder and his defense was quite strong by the end of the year. For all the excitement about Waiters being able to get to score, he didn’t do it anywhere near efficiently enough. Even post all-star break, his TS% of .528 would have left him 34th among SGs.
You have a guy who has shown some glimpses that he might be special but not much results yet against a guy who has shown the results. The latter is also a year and a half younger. Waiters is a perfectly fine player, but there’s just no comparison. The number of teenagers who can put up a +20 PER are rare.
Sure, but where were all the ring chasers who would sign deals for less than three years?
Everyone and their mother knew in the summer of 05 that if the Cavs could get some decent help for Lebron, they would be instant title contenders. Allen and Redd knew that if they would come in and be the #2, they would be a lot closer to a ring. And that still ignores any near-retirement ring chasers. Where is the evidence that they were coming to Cleveland?
I never offered evidence of anyone coming to Cleveland. But you used 2 separate scenarios to try to prove a point. When Allen was ring-less and turned down Cleveland was not the same time when Cleveland was coming off back to back 60 win seasons. I’m glad you and your mother knew that the Cavs would have vaulted to contender status if we had brought in help, but again, comparing the ’05 Cavs to the Heat or even the ’10 Cavs is not valid.
It’s a valid point that superstars are usually not “ring chasing” in small markets, but in fairness Redd stayed in Milwaukee, which is a small, cold weather market, most likely because they could offer him the most money. And Ray Allen was traded to the Celtics. So was Kevin Garnett. In fact, when big names like that change teams it’s usually in a trade (although they may ask for one) rather than free agency because of the way the money works in the NBA.
go away
I don’t see Tristan making any all star games, but I don’t see Jonas making any either. I think Jonas’s “potential” is the fact that he is foreign, he has some skills but I think they are a bit overblown. Tristan is a hard worker and I think he will continue to put up better numbers than Jonas.
JV still has a ways to go, but the offensive skill set is there, and has nothing to do with him being foreign. It would really help him to get off a team of chuckers
I agree he has a nice skill set, but I think most people think European players have more potential based off the fact nobody has seen them play. The fact is if JV went to texas and tristan came from europe Tristan would be the upside pick. Both guys have a long way to go, but I think both ceilings are vary similar.
I dont understand the point of trading aldridge to the cavs, this benefits neither team. The Blazers would miss out on consistent 20ppg.. for younger players? Blazers are young enough.
Cavs gona get rid of two rising stars for lamarcus? I’m a blazer fan but LA is soft… he can bang when he wants to but doesn’t do it enough.
>..no reason to do this.