Bosh for Aldridge : would you do it?

An interesting trade proposal idea from Bleacher Report by Brett Fulmore was forwarded onto me by good friend Jeff of Pete Marasmitch. The article discusses trade ideas for the Toronto Raptors to get some value for Chris Bosh, before he leaves as a free agent next Summer. One such trade idea involves the following:

Many outside of Portland Trail Blazers fandom would look at this as a simple matter of Bosh for Aldridge.  This is not the first time that a trade idea has been floated between these two players. Assuming this was the case, let’s analyse CB4 vs LMA.

2008-09	FG%	FT%	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PPG
Chris Bosh	.487	.817	10.0	2.5	0.9	1.0	2.3	2.5	22.7
LaMarcus Aldridge	.484	.781	7.5	1.9	1.0	1.0	1.5	2.6	18.1

The edge definitely goes to Bosh, for now. He is more of a legitimate inside player than Aldridge and hence has a strong rebounding edge of 2.5 rpg on the Blazer. Bosh also scores 4.6 ppg more, being the key option on offence for the Raptors. Worth noting however is that whilst Bosh is a six-year NBA veteran, Aldridge has just completed his third season, meaning that there is still room for development in the young Blazers power forward.

Very simply, if given the option, most NBA observers would take the Olympian over the inconsistent and as yet unproven Aldridge. However, this trade would not be a straight up Bosh for Aldridge. There is also the inclusion of Przybilla and Bayless to be considered. For this very reason, I am here to point out that Przybilla is a much more valuable player than many will give him credit for.

The nine-year veteran centre has averaged 11.2 rpg and 2.7 bpg per 36 minutes during his career to date. His interior toughness against the league’s elite big men has won the Blazers many a game and without his presence, Portland would have found themselves in a great deal of trouble many times in the last couple of seasons. It is clear to almost everyone that Greg Oden is not ready as yet to be the force that many have envisaged him to be — that time may come, but it is unlikely to be here on a consistent basis in 2009-10 — and so the Blazers can not do without the Vanilla Gorilla just yet. Along with Oden, he provides Portland with perhaps the best centre combo in the NBA.

All of this without even mentioning Jerryd Bayless, the enigmatic young tweener who seems to have more confidence than he should and has shown an amazing ability to put points on the board when playing against lesser opposition. Will his game translate into a long-term career as an NBA starter at one of the guard positions? That is unclear, but he is definitely worth holding onto at this stage purely on potential value. You could also argue that the Blazers could get some pretty solid returns on Bayless purely from a trade perspective in other scenarios.

Conclusion: If I was Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, I wouldn’t be rushing to the blackberry to go for this trade. It would bolster the Toronto Raptors’ fractured situation significantly, but would not make sense for a Blazers team that is on the rise and mere steps away from building a championship contender.

What would you do?