OK maybe I said last time that I would confine all my trade ideas to one thread, but this one is really good and fairly realistic, so I thought it deserved it's own thread:

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1994~454~2015~3190~308~378&teams=9~9~9~22~22~22&te=&cash=9:22

Portland
Travis Outlaw
Steve Blake
Raef LaFrenz
and cash

for

Golden State Warriors
Al Harrington
Stephen Jackson
Marco Belinelli

Financial and team stat changes (from GSW's perspective):
-incoming salaries 20 Million, out going salaries 17 Million. extra cash pays for the Luxury Tax (roughly 1-2 Million).
-Change in Team Outlook: -13.2 ppg, -1.4 rpg, and +0.4 apg.

btw pick an all star you want because well have lots of money to spend on any one of 'em:
http://nbainsidestuff.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/nba-free-agents-in-2009-and-2010/

Technically works on both ESPN's trade machine and RealGM's Trade Checker. The question is, would it realistically work?

my reasoning:
1.) Portland really wants to win now. they are set to make the playoffs like they were last year (at least in the first half of the season), we saw last year that when a few ppl got injured their team fell apart. they basically need more talent, more scorers and this is what they get.
2.)This is a huge give away for Portland: they get a +13pt advantage and take 3 Million dollars off their books at the same time!
3.) we can let them get away with this because we are not making the playoffs this year. in return we get potential / room to spend money on a legit allstar
4.) Matrel Webster is kind of a bust, they get two vets that can take his position and score way more than he can
5.) put's Harrington at his natural position Jackson takes shooting guard and moves Brandon Roy to PG so they won't miss Blake.
6.) If they don't feel Roy would work at PG then they have someone to split the mins at SG in Jackson(Roy's coming off a bad knee injury and they do want to make the Playoffs next year)
7.) They have "potential" in Belinelli, who is attractive now because of his great summer league displays. also he can play back up point if all else fails.
8.) we get Outlaw, a guy on the rise. not as good as Jackson or Harrington at all, but has the potential to be just as good or better than either in several years. Great D and he should be ripe when AR is Ripe too.
9.) Raef is a temporary trade to push Turiaf to PF and let him battle with BW for the starting pos. he can split minutes with Biedrins to keep him healthy since AB is a long term investment.
10.) at the end of the year we let raef go and have 12 M to blow on a legit whatev. PG? PF? - whatever needs the most work.
11.) Blake is perfect because he's in between a Starter and Bench PG, with a great 3pt shot. Marcus Williams still has a chance to take the starting role and it doesn't undo the NJ trade completely either:
11.a) scenario 1: Marcus and Monta don't work at PG. Cut Marcus next summer (Team Option), Blake starts at PG, Monta moves back to SG. Or Marcus works as back up
11.b) Scenario 2: Marcus works: Monta to SG, Steve Blake Back up PG
11.c) Scenario 3: Monta works at PG, Marcus is a Disaster: cut williams, keep Blake.
12.) Portland has jared bayless and can afford the loss Blake.
13.) cutting 3 Million from their salary takes them down to 65-66Million. all they have to do is cut one bench player and they can be below the salary cap
14.) we won't have SJ/AH clogging up the books and can spend that money on a true all star (Carlos Boozer is a unrestricted free agent... hint hint).
15.) gets rid of AH, SJ, MB in one quick move. SJ is going to keep this team in the baron era, so the sooner we get rid of him, the sooner we can move forward. It's basically AH for LaFrenz, and since LaFrenz is gone after a year, its more like AH for a legit all Star. Marco B is trade bait, all he can do is shoot.

line up
Steve Blake or Marcus Williams/CJ Watson
Monta Ellis/K. Azubuike/Morrow
Maggette/Randolph or Outlaw/Dowell
Outlaw Or Brandon Wright Or Turiaf/Hendrix
Andris Biedrins/ Ronny Turiaf/ Raef LaFrenz

Next year...
Steve Blake or Marcus Williams(?)/CJ Watson
Monta Ellis/K. Azubuike/Morrow
Maggette/Randolph or Outlaw/Dowell
?super star?/Outlaw or Brandon Wright/Hendrix
Andris Biedrins/Ronny Turiaf/???

what do we think ppl?

this trade could also work: S. Blake, T. Outlaw for M. Belinelli, S. Jackson

the most major reason why this trade wont happen:

raef lafrenz's contract is HUGE and comes off the books after this season. next year with their current core they can give an extension to roy and aldridge and still sign a big free agent...hell they can sign any superstar that might hit the market cuz steve francis' buyout comes off the books at the end of the season too. with their team and 30 million dollars from those two contracts, they have no need to make deals that wouldnt improve their team or improve their team only marginally.

Portland is the team of the future!!! Look for them to sign 1 or 2 top FA's!!!
Like I always said the W's will always be in the middle of the pack not good enough to go deep in the playoffs and not bad enoungh to get the top college picks!!! This is the W's curse!!!

E-Man wrote:the most major reason why this trade wont happen:

raef lafrenz's contract is HUGE and comes off the books after this season. next year with their current core they can give an extension to roy and aldridge and still sign a big free agent...hell they can sign any superstar that might hit the market cuz steve francis' buyout comes off the books at the end of the season too. with their team and 30 million dollars from those two contracts, they have no need to make deals that wouldnt improve their team or improve their team only marginally.

all this is true E-Man

argh I hate Stevie Franchise! he screwed up my trade!

I thought they'd rather get talent now (an extra 13pts per game would make them pretty dangerous), then wait a year and possibly sign the free agent they want with LaFrenz's expiring contract. There are other teams in competition with them (Memphis, Bobcats, Clippers, etc) that have a large chunk to blow next off-season, however the combo of LaFrenz and Stevie Franchise (buy-out) expiring salaries puts them in the drivers seat for sure.

I mean you could look at it differently. If Portland liked Jackson and Harrington enough they could trade out LaFrenz to us and STILL have a but load of cash to spend on a high price FA (it'd put them at like ~15 Mill under the cap). They could have fire power to go deep in the playoffs this year, and instead of getting a Kobe or an Iverson they'd settle for some lesser star next summer.

OR

if they were gunning for a star in 2010, this would give them talent to stay competitive for two years. come june 2010 just don't resign
ah/sj - poof 17M freed up

Roy/Bayless
Jackson
Harrington
Alderidge
Oden

but I suppose its unlikely. rats.

Well so much for this idea. I think Dickau is a better pick up than a trade with SJ or AH for a big(ger) name PG like Blake or Hinrich or dare I say Tinsley.

Dickau doesn't turn the ball over, has good basketball IQ, and a good stroke (from two point range). could be better on D but not bad overall for a back-up's back-up

espn wrote:The Portland Seven

The Blazers head into the next summer with the potential to have major cap space, with seven players hitting the free-agent market. But there's a catch.

First, Darius Miles, with Boston this preseason, could mess up Portland's plan. If he plays in 10 games this season, his $9 million salary goes right back on the Blazers' books.

Second, they are going to have to make some difficult choices about a number of their young players. Martell Webster, Channing Frye, Ike Diogu, Sergio Rodriguez and Travis Outlaw can all become free agents, along with veterans Steve Blake and Raef LaFrentz.

Because of NBA collective bargaining rules, each player is assigned a "cap hold" that serves as a salary placeholder for the summer. Because Webster, Frye and Diogu were all drafted in the lottery, their cap holds are very high -- likely higher than their actual salaries will be in their new contracts. The only way for Portland to get rid of those cap hold numbers is to sign those players to contracts during the free agent period or to not make qualifying offers to them.

If Portland chooses to sign them, not only will those players eat into the cap space, but the team, while working out the new contracts, will lose precious time during the early days of July's free-agent frenzy. If the Blazers choose not to make qualifying offers, those players become unrestricted free agents.

So I expect GM Kevin Pritchard to be very proactive (as always) this winter and to move at least a couple of those young players.

actually I didn't realize that Miles 10 game thing, sucks for them. also didn't fully realize how many contracts expire for them next year. lots of good young talent all with expiring contracts means they're not really as low on the payroll as we think. I don't know why the ESPN reporter didn't talk about the Stevie franchise end of buy-out thing... strange.

whatev, I'm starting to think Raymond Felton would be a better grab than Blake and Outlaw.

See the link http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=TradeTalk-081015