It’s been a rough year for the Portland Trailblazers, and an even rougher one for Raymond Felton. I guess actually it’s been roughest for Nate McMillan really, who was fired in part because Ray averaged a career low 10.4 points per game this season, but all of this is besides the point. What’s important, at least for the purposes of this blog post, is that the Blazers will probably be getting a new point guard next season. Who you ask? The answer to that, at least as far as the Blazers best player LaMarcus Aldridge is concerned, could be Steve Nash maybe.
This according to Oregon Live’s Blazers Insider:
Earlier this season, at the All-Star Game in Orlando, Aldridge said he planted a seed with Nash about signing in Portland. “Just messing with him about coming here,” Aldridge said. “I was throwing little stuff out there.” Aldridge said he was impressed with Nash’s personality — “he’s nice” — and the two developed a playful banter throughout the weekend about Nash coming to Portland. “It was like a running joke,” Aldridge said. But clearly, a rapport was established.
Aldridge also happens to be close to Williams, the New Jersey guard who sat out Wednesday’s game with an illness. Aldridge and Williams grew up together in Dallas, and are one year apart in age. In the offseason, Williams is an avid golfer, and he often plays the TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas course in Irving, where Aldridge has a home on the third hole. “We have always joked about going home together one day, of playing in Dallas one day,” Aldridge said. “But I haven’t talked to him. I haven’t looked at the free agent market, but I will after the season is over, just to see if I can help get anyone that they are trying to get.”
Miller said the Blazers’ top priority will be finding a point guard, but he stopped short of saying Felton will not be re-signed when he becomes a free agent.
The Blazers should’ve never let Andre Miller go, and even Steve Blake was an upgrade over what Raymond Felton has been this season. Regardless, LaMarcus Aldridge is a really good player who deserves a solid point guard. Steve Nash would be that, and he’s going to have a couple seasons left in him it seems after this one. Will be interesting to see where Nash goes, there will be a lot of guys around the League planting seeds and running jokes with him about it I think.
