LaMarcus Leaving Portland?

Ahh yes, free agency. It’s the beautifully chaotic time in the NBA where teams can bolster their lineups by luring in the stars of our era. How? Well that’s hard to say. Teams have to decide what they think is most important to the player they’re trying to wed to their team. Is it a 20,000 person sell-out crowd chanting “MVP” as he stands at the line preparing to shoot a pair of free throws? Is it the promise of a legitimate chance at a championship? Perhaps it’s being a few thousand miles closer to home. There’s no set in stone path to signing a player, so nobody knows who will sign with what team, but it sure is fun to speculate, isn’t it?

Minutes after a first round playoff exit, reporters surrounded LaMarcus Aldridge and began a rapid fire of questions about his pending free agency. Thought by many to be a top 5 player at his position, it’s less than surprising that plenty of us are eager to know where the superstar power forward ends up. That’s why it’s so much fun to look at potential scenarios. Here are 6 potential landing spots that I think are the best fits for the sharp shooting stretch 4.

6: The New York Knicks. This is my dark horse pick to sign Aldridge. After several years of trying (and failing) to change the culture of the team, New York has finally opted to go a different route than the one they had been treading. The Knicks have a steady history of trading picks (both first and second rounders) or throwing money at players that have already been established. In 2004, they traded a first round pick, which became Gordon Hayward, for Stephon Marbury and others. In 2005, they traded future picks, which ended up becoming LaMarcus Aldridge (funny enough) as well as Joakim Noah. They corralled Eddy Curry & Antonio Davis in return. In 2012, The Knicks made their biggest trade in recent memory. They reeled in Carmelo Anthony! But at what cost? Knicks get: Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Renaldo Balkman, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams, Corey Brewer

Knicks give: Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, every pick from then until the end of time.

Now the Knicks really have a chance to change things. They have a bunch of expiring contracts, meaning they’ve got plenty of cap room. They’ve got Carmelo Anthony. They’ve also got a top 4 draft pick which, shockingly enough, they haven’t traded yet. They also have an extension of Phil Jackson as a coach, which is why they’ve tried to run the legendary triangle that won 11 championships. Instead it won them 17 games. The good news for Knicks fans is that the triangle flourishes when featuring a mobile big man that is able to both shoot and pass. Cue the entry of LaMarcus Aldridge. Would he want to play with Carmelo Anthony and a top 4 pick while calling the most famous arena in the world his home court? It’s a possibility.

5: The San Antonio Spurs. There are a few alluring facts about this team. They’ve got several Hall of Fame veterans, a Hall of Fame Coach, and 5 championships in the last 15 years. The team is also known for it’s ability to pick players seemingly out of thin air, and use them to their premiere potential. If you’ve got a skill, San Antonio will utilize it. Just ask Danny Green. Or Marco Belinelli. Or Boris Diaw. Or- well, you get the picture. Meanwhile, their pass-first system is one that should relieve a player of Aldridge’s skill level. Often a player like him is abused and overused, having to carry an unprecedented amount of the team’s workload. That’s the key here. Aldridge would have help. He wouldn’t be depending on bums either. Parker is still quick when healthy, even though it’s something that we saw only in glimpses this season. Ginobili can still single handedly push a team for a handful of minutes. And then there’s Duncan. Has he even aged? I wouldn’t be able to tell from his last season. Could have fooled me from his playoff performance as well. Who wouldn’t want to learn from a Hall of Famer that plays the same position? Especially one that’s widely considered to be the best to ever play said position. I mean, they call him The Big Fundamental for crying out loud! Given, this decision could rely heavily on how the Spurs deal with keeping Kawhi Leonard. That’s their star moving forward. Wouldn’t it be just Spurs-esque for their Big 3 to ride into the sunset after handing the keys over to a Kawhi & LaMarcus tandem? I put nothing passed the Spurs. They’ve got as good a shot as anybody to land Aldridge.

4: The Atlanta Hawks. After a rough end to their post season, it seems the Hawks have been all but forgotten by everyone who praised them all year. The 2014-2015 season was the first time in franchise history that they had won at least 60 games. Coach Bud brought over an offense eerily similar to what the Spurs run, no doubt as a result of what he learned from Coach Pop while assisting him. “Where does LaMarcus fit into this story” you ask? Well what people aren’t talking about is the fact that the Hawks have 2 key players coming off the books this offseason. DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap. Okay Hawks, you’ve had one successful season. Are you confident enough to try it all again with the same core? To be absolutely sure of the fact that they’d have max contract room (without going into the luxury cap) they’d have to let go of Carroll or Millsap. Are they willing to do that to sign Aldridge? It’s certainly in play.

3: The Portland Trailblazers. This is another team that few people think of when it comes to Aldridge’s free agency destinations. Two months into the season, nobody considered the fact that LaMarcus would leave. Five months into the season, nobody thought LaMarcus would return. It’s funny how things work, isn’t it? Before the injuries ravaged their season, Portland looked primed to make a deep playoff push. Could it have been a dark horse contender for a title? Several people thought so. They had one of the most solid starting units in the league, & attempted to address their depth problems at the deadline by bringing in Arron Afflalo. Then everything came crashing down, including their dreams of pursuing a title. At the end of the last game of the season, 7 of their 15 man rotation was suffering an injury. Two of them were out for the remainder of the season. Oh, how quickly the tides turned. Would LaMarcus be considering leaving if that team stayed healthy? I don’t know. But what I do know is that money talks. It’s shocking that Portland is being counted out of the LaMarcus Aldridge sweepstakes, because they can still offer him more money than any team. The Blazers are the only team that can offer a 5 year deal while paying him maximum contract money. Other teams can only offer 4. Portland can also offer Lillard to be the Robin to his Batman. Will this be enough to keep him?

2: The Houston Rockets. If money talks, then the Rockets are screaming. Houston pushed hard to sign Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony last offseason, boasting max contract cap room, but just couldn’t get it done. Ultimately, they settled for multiple lower cost signings. Sorry Houston fans. You had to make due with Corey Brewer and Josh Smith. But the good news is that now you’ve got a whole new offseason, with new free agents, and the same amount of money! If LaMarcus wants to make his way to greener pastures ($green$ being the key word) then perhaps Houston is the way to go. They can offer him a max deal, as well as a chance to play with two bonafide superstars in Dwight Howard & MVP Runner Up James Harden. The only question is whether he’ll want to take a backseat to the two. What’s not in question is the fact that LaMarcus would be the ultimate complement to the outside threat of James Harden as well as the inside threat that is Dwight Howard. Could Aldridge sign here? I could definitely see it.

1: The Dallas Mavericks. June 19, 1985. On this date, LaMarcus Aldridge was born. Where? Dallas Texas. The Mavericks have cap room, and an aging superstar that needs help. So much so, that Nowitzki has openly stated that he’s willing to come off the bench in the future. That being said, the power forward spot is all but calling for LaMarcus. The Mavericks have some solid pieces when it comes to their roster, but that’s not what their most appealing asset is. It’s their billionaire owner, Mark Cuban, who has shown on numerous occasions that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to create a roster that is considered to be championship caliber. As for the not-so-finished roster? That’s not something too worrisome. The Mavericks have switched and swapped players at a moment’s notice. That’s just their mentality. They were heavily criticized for not bringing back their championship core, but they’ve shown that it’s just what they do. And after being the only team to take San Antonio to 7 games in their championship year (2013-2014), they’ve proven to do it well. LeBron James went home last summer. Kevin Garnett went home this past regular season. Is LaMarcus Aldridge next?

#lamarcus #aldridge #freeagency #portlandtrailblazers