LaMarcus Aldridge

[MFFL]

http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nb...n-next-in-okc/

Also Rondo talk but I'm tired of it


With recent reports that his teammates are worried he'll leave as a free agent and that the Spurs and Mavericks believe they have a chance, a person with knowledge of LaMarcus Aldridge's free-agent strategy told CBSSports.com that all options remain on the table -- including parting ways with the Blazers . The person, who has been briefed on Aldridge's plan, said he "wouldn't be surprised" if the four-time All-Star and Dallas native were lured to his native Texas when he hits the unrestricted market on July 1.

Last July, Aldridge said he planned to sign the five-year, $108 million max contract the Blazers can offer him when he hits the free-agent market, saying at the time he wants to be "the best Blazer ever" and adding that signing a five-year deal with Portland -- one more year than other teams can offer, and with bigger raises -- "is the best decision on my part."

But the NBA's $24 billion broadcast and digital rights agreement that hits the system in 2016 has changed the equation for this summer's top-notch free agents. Does a player like Aldridge commit to a five-year deal under the current economics, or do a shorter deal with a player option so he can really take advantage of the TV windfall? NBA executives are projecting that the salary cap will jump from $67.1 million in 2015-16 to $89 million in '16-'17 and a whopping $108 million in '17-'18. A short deal with an opt-out in either '16 or '17, coupled with the opportunity to cash in on the massive spike in the cap, would more than cushion the blow of leaving future money on the table by leaving town as a free agent.

The Lakers and Knicks, flush with cap space in glamour markets, also are expected to heavily pursue Aldridge. The Blazers trail the Grizzlies 2-0 in their first-round series, which shifts to Portland for Game 3 on Saturday.

[ocelot_ark]

Yes please.

[Underdog]

All-in.

I mean, it's not like Portland has more to offer him in the long-term than Dallas does -- the only thing they do consistently every year is underachieve. At least we have the excuse of an aging superstar -- what's their excuse? You know Mark would surround LA with the talent he needs to compete for a ring (which, given his skill set, isn't all that different than building around Dirk). Not to mention that combination of Aldridge/Parsons/Carlisle/Cuban should be enough to lure FAs in 2016.

[EricaLubarsky]

He would be an undeniable coup and could continue our winning ways with Dirk. I would not mind Dirk off the bench and teaching LA some pointers in practice.

[MFFL]

Chuck Cooperstein has poo-pooed the idea saying that Aldridge wouldn't come to either the Mavs or Spurs because Aldridge wouldn't want to follow a legend

[tsar]

Originally Posted by MFFL

Chuck Cooperstein has poo-pooed the idea saying that Aldridge wouldn't come to either the Mavs or Spurs because Aldridge wouldn't want to follow a legend

How did he get his sources? Is there a quote of this anywhere?

[MFFL]

His Twitter feed. I think it's personal speculation on Cooperstein

[Wang Zhi Zhi]

What's his salary next year on a max? $21MM? That, plus Dirk's 8.5, is a lot to spend on one position. With Parsons, Felton, Harris (~23MM), and league mins and cap holds, the roster is pretty much done there isnt it?

[sefant77]

If he leaves Portland he would join Parker, Leonard, Splitter and Green in SA

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by sefant77

If he leaves Portland he would join Parker, Leonard, Splitter and Green in SA

Except Leonard and Green are FAs (Duncan and Manu too), so there's not enough money to bring those guys back and still get Aldridge.

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Except Leonard and Green are FAs (Duncan and Manu too), so there's not enough money to bring those guys back and still get Aldridge.

Leonard and Green have cap holds of 7.5m each. Thats exactly the reason why the Spurs didnt give Leonard a max extension during the season, because they wanrt to blow the cap first and max him then out.

Splitter 8
Diaw 7
Green cap hold 7.5
leonard cap hold 7.5
Mills/Anderson 5
LMA max 21
other cap holds like 4m

there you go. Still enough cap after the cap holds to max out LMA (or Gasol). Gino retires and if Duncan wanna play another year he takes the miniMLE because he would play for another ring and not the money

[Subtuppel]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Except Leonard and Green are FAs (Duncan and Manu too), so there's not enough money to bring those guys back and still get Aldridge.

I would not be surprised if SA do not even need him because Duncan plays another season. He may play some minutes less than in his prime but as a 40-year-old he is still better than anyone else in the league at his position.

[Melonhead]

Are we pipe dreaming again?

[tap2390]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Are we pipe dreaming again?

Yes. Unless Parsons, Chandler, and the chance to learn from Dirk are enough for LMA. Don't see why he'd pick us over playing with Lillard & Batum in Portlandor Kawhi in SA.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Are we pipe dreaming again?

Yes.

Now keep your voice down. Don't wake us up.

[MFFL]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Are we pipe dreaming again?

Just because we came in second on the Howard decision doesn't mean we weren't considered

I doubt Aldridge resigns with Portland which means SOMEONE will get him - why not us?

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Are we pipe dreaming again?

That depends on how you're reading this thread -- nobody is saying we will get him, but we should definitely go after him.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by tap2390

Yes. Unless Parsons, Chandler, and the chance to learn from Dirk are enough for LMA. Don't see why he'd pick us over playing with Lillard & Batum in Portlandor Kawhi in SA.

I don't think people understand how overrated lillard is.

[justvisitingsixerfan]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

I don't think people understand how overrated lillard is.

Excuse me but how is Lillard overrated ? I mean he is probably the leagues best " Iron Man " He is fearless when driving to the Hole. He is a better then good 3Pt shooter, and he averages over 6 assists as well as under 2 TO's a game. I mean is Monta Ellis overrated ? Cause there isn't a single thing Ellis does that is even close to Lillard. So please explain yourself.

[tap2390]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

I don't think people understand how overrated lillard is.

Got to disagree with you here. Playing with Lillard is definitely more attractive to a star than playing with anyone on the Mavs, including Chandler Parsons.

He's 24, has never missed a game, and proven time after time he is a clutch performer. He hasn't played well against Memphis, but that says more about Memphis. They've been dominating Portland.

All in all however, I'm beginning to convince myself we have a chance to get him. He is from Dallas after all, and we still have Parsons and the rights to Ellis who'll opt out. We should also have a decent pick in a deep draft. Let's hope we hit, it's long overdue.

[spreedom]

I can't understand, for the life of me, why Aldridge wouldn't want to go to San Antonio.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by justvisitingsixerfan

Excuse me but how is Lillard overrated ? I mean he is probably the leagues best " Iron Man " He is fearless when driving to the Hole. He is a better then good 3Pt shooter, and he averages over 6 assists as well as under 2 TO's a game. I mean is Monta Ellis overrated ? Cause there isn't a single thing Ellis does that is even close to Lillard. So please explain yourself.

He's never avged under 2 topg in his career. He's avged 3, 2.4 and 2.7 respectively. Certainly not bad numbers but also not "under 2". He's a streaky 3pt shooter much like parsons. Career 37% 34.3% this year. Certainly not someone I'd call "better than good." He's also the worst defensive guard in the nba. He's every bit as bad as monta if not worse on that end. He's a career 43% shooter. He basically is monta with a better jumper and slightly lesser handles.

If I'm mistaken and that is what people think of him as then no he's not overrated, but generally Iv seen him listed as a young star who's just slightly worse than Steph curry

[MFFL]

Originally Posted by spreedom

I can't understand, for the life of me, why Aldridge wouldn't want to go to San Antonio.

One of the points that alridge is supposedly unhappy about is the size of the Portland market. San Antonio is even smaller

Plus pop has said he's retiring soon (same day as Duncan) and there is no guarantee his successor will be as good

[sike]

Originally Posted by MFFL

Plus pop has said he's retiring soon (same day as Duncan) and there is no guarantee his successor will be as good

Actually, I feel its a pretty safe bet that Pops' replacement WON'T be as good.

[justvisitingsixerfan]

Originally Posted by MFFL

One of the points that alridge is supposedly unhappy about is the size of the Portland market. San Antonio is even smaller

Plus pop has said he's retiring soon (same day as Duncan) and there is no guarantee his successor will be as good

Dude...San Antonio is a bigger market then Dallas, with a bigger population. And it is 3 times the sizef Portland. It is not even remotely a small market city.

[MFFL]

Originally Posted by justvisitingsixerfan

Dude...San Antonio is a bigger market then Dallas, with a bigger population. And it is 3 times the sizef Portland. It is not even remotely a small market city.

Dude. The Dallas metro area is #8 in country. San Antonio is 31st

Nobody counts city size

[justvisitingsixerfan]

Originally Posted by MFFL

Dude. The Dallas metro area is #8 in country. San Antonio is 31st

Nobody counts city size

No, nobody counts the general METRO area size. That is NOT population, and POPULATION is what goes to games. I mean you want METRO size...Baker, CA would be the largest NBA market.

[jamaljasonandjimmy]

Could we get Kawhi Leonard?

[MFFL]

Originally Posted by justvisitingsixerfan

No, nobody counts the general METRO area size. That is NOT population, and POPULATION is what goes to games. I mean you want METRO size...Baker, CA would be the largest NBA market.

What?

Thats not size. Population. Dfw has over 7 million people

[Murphy3]

You're just a bit off sided... Just a bit

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

He's never avged under 2 topg in his career. He's avged 3, 2.4 and 2.7 respectively. Certainly not bad numbers but also not "under 2". He's a streaky 3pt shooter much like parsons. Career 37% 34.3% this year. Certainly not someone I'd call "better than good." He's also the worst defensive guard in the nba. He's every bit as bad as monta if not worse on that end. He's a career 43% shooter. He basically is monta with a better jumper and slightly lesser handles.

If I'm mistaken and that is what people think of him as then no he's not overrated, but generally Iv seen him listed as a young star who's just slightly worse than Steph curry

This is right on. Lillard is defensively the worst guard in the league and overrated as a shooter due to some high profile clutch shots. Also his name is kinda cool. If his name was Joe Harris instead he'd be less popular.

[FreshJive]

Originally Posted by MFFL

Dude. The Dallas metro area is #8 in country. San Antonio is 31st

Nobody counts city size

What is your source for 8th? I've seen 4th and 5th.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...tistical_Areas

Sixersfan, you could add the populations of San Antonio and Austin, and it wouldn't come close to the sizes of Dallas or Houston.

Also, according to this. San Antonio and Portland have the same populations.

[MFFL]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._United_States

You're looking at Metropolitan Statistical Areas not metropolitan areas. I know there's a major difference from college but I can't remember off the top of my head

According to the population of metropolitan areas, Portland is #19 with almost 3M people, again San Antonio is #31 with only 2.2M people

[FreshJive]

Weird. If you go to the U.S. census links it gives the MSA statistics from my wiki link.

http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/t...xhtml?src=bkmk

For what it's worth the Nielson TV market rankings rank Dallas fifth.

http://www.tvb.org/media/file/Nielse..._DMA_Ranks.pdf

Anyway. Anyone who lives in Texas knows that San Antonio is a tiny city with an enormously overachieving wonder of a basketball team.

[MFFL]

Originally Posted by FreshJive

For what it's worth the Nielson TV market rankings rank Dallas fifth.

http://www.tvb.org/media/file/Nielse..._DMA_Ranks.pdf

This is also important. Notice San Antonio is way down there with Salt Lake City and ten slots behind Portland.

The Spurs play in a tiny market and if playing in a larger market is important to Aldridge then it is an advantage for us

[FreshJive]

Originally Posted by MFFL

This is also important. Notice San Antonio is way down there with Salt Lake City and ten slots behind Portland.

The Spurs play in a tiny market and if playing in a larger market is important to Aldridge then it is an advantage for us

Agreed. Except that you kind of have to throw in the Austin Tv numbers, because Austin is a Spurs town. I'm not sure if the Blazers have an equivalent.

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by tap2390

He's 24, has never missed a game, and proven time after time he is a clutch performer. He hasn't played well against Memphis, but that says more about Memphis. They've been dominating Portland.

.

His playoff shot is part of being overrated. Also the amount of shots he takes in the crunchtime. The typical Kobe syndrome because of the amount of the quantity....

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by MFFL

One of the points that alridge is supposedly unhappy about is the size of the Portland market. San Antonio is even smaller

Plus pop has said he's retiring soon (same day as Duncan) and there is no guarantee his successor will be as good

Honestly, if things like market size are strongly going to influence where he plays, I'm not that interested in Aldridge. Let him waste his prime in New York or LA.

[tap2390]

Originally Posted by sefant77

His playoff shot is part of being overrated. Also the amount of shots he takes in the crunchtime. The typical Kobe syndrome because of the amount of the quantity....

Sorry but you're just wrong. Lillard IS clutch. In fact he performs much better than Aldridge in the last 5 minutes/ OT of close games. Better EFG% and better WIN%.

http://www.82games.com/1112/11POR13.HTM

http://www.82games.com/1213/12POR1.HTM

Originally Posted by spreedom

Honestly, if things like market size are strongly going to influence where he plays, I'm not that interested in Aldridge. Let him waste his prime in New York or LA.

Lol we better hope things like market size are going to influence where he plays or we have O shot of landing him. Also, NBA teams treat this like a business, why can't players?

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by jamaljasonandjimmy

Could we get Kawhi Leonard?

You mean the greek Kawhi named Giannis? Yeah we basically had him allready