In an unprecedented move, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers have announced that they have waived their entire starting lineup. “We just felt like it was the right thing for our organization at this time,” said President Larry Miller. “This move gives us some real roster flexibility heading into the offseason.”

The move sends guards Raymond Felton and Wesley Matthews, forwards Nicolas Batum and LaMarcus Aldridge, and center Joel Przybilla to waivers. If they are unclaimed by any other NBA team then they will become free agents. If they are claimed off waivers by another team, that team will assume their current contracts and the move will likely give the Trail Blazers additional salary cap room.

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He once again proved that he:

1. Understands team concepts on both offense and defense.

2. Is a good shooter when he's wide open, is able to set his feet, and free of pressure.

3. Is able to make the appropriate pass in most situations.

4. Doesn't try to do too much most of the time.

5. Has no ability to make a big shot under pressure.

I think it's pretty clear he's a solid backup point, and should be playing 15-20 minutes a game on a good team. He should not be used at the end of close games, as he has shown time and time again the uncanny ability to miss easy shots and make stupid mistakes down the stretch.

He's dead to me. 

After reading everyone's trade ideas, it got me thinking that maybe there's a more fundamental concept about trading that hasn't been explored fully. I think everyone has a certain basic theory which they are using when they form an opinion about a trade. Here are some theories I could come up with. I'm sure there are more.

1. The "addition by subtraction trade" (eg. Zach Randolph/Channing Frye): This one is where a GM decides he has a certain player he wants to get rid of, and he goes out and gets the best possible player. This trade has a kissin' cousin which is sometimes known as the "Marcus Camby salary dump." It doesn't really matter why the team wants to get rid of a player, just that he must be gone.

2. The "value trade" (eg. Jarrett Jack/Jerryd Bayless): This one is where the GM has a couple tradeable assets (Jack, #13 draft pick) and decides to "maximize the assets". This is not really targeting a player as much as it is saying, "Here are player(s) that I am willing to trade. I'll take the best deal I can get." In this example KP moved up 2 spots to get a guy he thought was a value pick at that point.

3. The "target player trade" (eg. Al Jefferson/Kevin Garnett): This one is where a GM is targeting a specific player (KG) and is willing to deal half of his team, if that's what it takes. This is different from #2 because the incoming player is the one targeted, and the outgoing players are whatever is necessary, whereas in #2 the outgoing players are basically chosen to bring the best possible value of incoming players.

4. The "homerun trade" (eg. Bassy Telfair/Brandon Roy): This one is easier to pull off when Isaiah Thomas is running a franchise. This is the trade everyone would want, but you can't really expect KP to pull this off every year, can you?

By the way, I've been addicted to BE for about 2 years, but this is my first post. Thanks for reading and posting!