Recruiting Time For LaMarcus

The summer of 2012 will become another offseason in which LaMarcus Aldridge will need to use some more of his recruiting skills, the same skills that he showed when luring Jamal Crawford here to Portland. During last year’s offseason he continued to reach out to Jamal through Twitter. Blazers fans did the same by telling him how great the city is and how awesome it would be to see him play alongside Aldridge. Jamal quickly learned how great the fans were after playing in LaMarcus’ charity game during the lockout, and the rest is history.

Aldridge could start recruiting as early as the All-Star weekend when he will be surrounded by fellow star players. So what do we need the most? We desperately need a point guard. Raymond Felton has been terrible. It’s not working. I believe we need to move on as soon as possible.

I have lost all confidence in this guy. This is not a marriage, this is not “in good times and in bad”, this is not “until death do us part”. The NBA is a business. In a business, when you’re not performing, you either get demoted or fired. So either demote him by bringing him of the bench and letting Crawford start as the point guard position, or trade him. Crawford has run the point way better than Felton has this season anyway. If you forgot, that game in which we should have won at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Felton didn’t play and the offense ran great.

Let’s assume that our front office remains stubborn and we ride this year out with what we have. That leaves us to make moves this offseason.

With the L-Train’s recent addition to the 2012 USA basketball players pool (of 20 players), he may have the opportunity to recruit a top player – especially if he can land a final spot on the official roster. One player I have in mind, who I mentioned in last week’s column, is Deron Williams.

Williams and LaMarcus would be 5 times better than the Utah Jazz team of Williams and Carlos Boozer. Those guys have made it to the western conference finals once and to the 2^nd round twice. Williams has wasted 2 seasons away in New Jersey with the Nets.

I know this is a stretch to think about. But look at it this way, it’s a better situation than the Nets are in right now, and it’s a better situation than what he had in Utah. So why wouldn’t he consider it? This is a combination that could definitely bring a championship here to Portland. As long as we can keep some of our core guys around (mainly Nicolas Batum), we will be solid. So Paul Allen, LaMarcus, and all you Rip City fans… let’s get this done. Start your tweets during the All-Star weekend while Williams and Aldridge are in Orlando together. Then continue those tweets during the summer time when he is deciding on where to go.

I am hoping that Paul Allen is willing to splurge a little if this dream becomes reality. A point guard like Williams with a big man like LaMarcus would be a dominant duo. Team that duo up with Batum, Crawford, and Wesley Matthews, and you have yourself a solid foundation. All that would be missing is a center – assuming that Greg Oden retires of old age.

I wonder what we could get for Felton and Oden. Well, apparently, we are not allowed to trade anyone that we just signed during the offseason – this includes Oden. It would not let me add him when I was playing with the ESPN trade machine today. I am not sure how that works with new signees (I also couldn’t select Craig Smith, Crawford, or Kurt Thomas, not that I wanted to, just couldn’t). So it looks like it might be best just to wait until the offseason. Trading Felton for any other point guard or center would be an upgrade at this point. I think most can agree that Felton needs to go.