TRADE SUGGESTION: Trade Faried And Foye for Gasol

Is the West wide open? Maybe!




The Portland Trailblazer look legit.  What they are doing is not only dominating the West, but exposing the reality that OKC and San Antonio are not really getting better.  They are both really good, but the pace of change demands that you look dramatically better each year, because your opponent is chasing you down.

The Blazers may have chased and captured the big dogs in the West.  If that is the case, then the future for the Nuggets might be different than we thought.  If we seize the day with a blockbuster trade, we could be playing for a chance to win the West by making the Blazers the new hunted team in the West.

This is a good thing and a bad thing.  The good thing is that we have the ability to pass up the big boys too.  With Galinari we are a much improved team.  He has yet to shine in the playoffs, but he penetrates the lane and gets to the line when you need free throws.  However, he is not a post man and the Brian Shaw philosophy demands inside outside play.  Hickson is getting better, but he won't match up to LaMarcus Aldridge.  Pau Gasol could, but it might cost us Kenneth Faried to make it happen.

I can't tell if Gasol is done or if he is simply done with D'Antoni.   I think there is some game left in him, and he could stand to return to his roots of being a number one option on the court.  Pick and roll with Gasol can be beautiful, and no one attacks the glass late in games as well as Gasol.  It will be hard to watch Faried blossom in another city, but this could be the formula for winning it all.

Trade Foye and Faried for Gasol. Faried is young enough to be a juicy worm to dangle and Foye can trick somebody into thinking he has value.  In a D'Antoni offense, they both should play better.  The absence of Foye could create an opening at the 2 spot for Robinson and Fournier, especially Fournier who needs some minutes to have his breakthrough moment.  Our only other option is to become the best rebounding team in the league, which probably doesn't happen with Foye and an undersized Faried who forgets to block out too often.

Nuggets fans might not like the idea, but the Portland Trailblazers are telling the entire league that the game is about to change a bit.