Someone PLEASE answer these questions:
1) I understand Aldridge is a good player, but he is also 30. Why exactly would he be a "perfect fit"? We need a wing scorer and a rim protector. He is neither.
2) Why in Gods Name would we sign and trade for him? If we can just sign him straight up without giving up our assets why sign and trade?
Let me make this clear, I will be ecstatic if he signs because we need TALENT. But I do not understand gutting out team when we could just sign him.
1) Because he's really really really really good. And because he's got the kind of body and game that will probably continue to be really really really really good for another 5-6 seasons.
2) You've got it backwards. A fair number of our 'assets' include several Traded Player Exceptions and the rights to resign our own free agents (Bass, Jerebko, Crowder & Datome'). Each of those imposes a 'cap hold' that currently keeps us well above the salary cap. If we want to drop way down below the cap in order to sign a max free agent outright, we would have to renounce most of our TPEs and FA rights. In particular, we'd definitely have to renounce our two largest TPEs (7M for Prince, 12.9M for Rondo) and Bass & Jerebko. If, instead, we execute a sign & trade to get him, we only have to give up some nominal value proportional to the favor of doing it as a sign & trade.
I've outlined this idea elsewhere, but there are potentially ways for Danny to make this very painless.
Using Wallace as the main salary filler works, but would require more 'value' thrown in in order to get Portland to accept paying his salary.
If Danny could pry Brendan Haywood's contract from Cleveland for a couple of 2nd round picks (absorbing it with the Rondo TPE), that would be a better filler to use, since it's not guaranteed if waived before 8/1. So, if that's the bulk of the matching salary, you can match the rest with Babb and some other throw-in and then you just need some modest pick or two to compensate them for their trouble.
So doing a sign & trade shouldn't result in gutting our assets at all. It is a way of preserving them.
The main trick, before any such creative maneuvering can take place, though, is that Danny has to convince LaMarcus to come to Boston. Once that happens, then the rest is easy.
A similar s&t scenario can be played out with Detroit to get Monroe, who is a less lauded but a younger and pretty decent alternative if Aldridge doesn't happen.
Topic: Aldridge not high on Spurs, could do a S+T to Boston (rumor) (Read 14672 times)