Pioneer10
Come home Sideshow Bob
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Teams would absolutely be able to offer more talent. Pretty much every team in the NBA actually lol. It doesn't mean they would do it though. It may make sense for certain teams to out offer for Batum (if he becomes available), but I imagine the amount of teams looking for a role player paid like an all star is pretty minimal.
The other side is, without Aldridge, Portland doesn't have much hopes of contending, so going through a rebuildijg phase, we all know from the last 4 years, the trades you are interested in change drastically.
You stop looking for talented players, and actively try to make a weaker roster, to get a better pick, and keep cap flexibility. Does adding talented players help much in that particular scenario? Draft picks, and cap space is what matters to rebuilding teams.
Edit: As for Batum's fit here, he isn't a worse shooter than Shumpert, he's taller, and as good of a defender, if not better. He won't win any three point contests, but he can and does hit shots, and he would get very wide open looks here. We also know the Cavs are the reason he has his current contract (and thank god Portland matched, or was that a rumour?), and the Cavs have a history of aqcuiring players they have had previous interest in (Shump, Moz for example).
It was Minnesota who offered that deal I thought: there's some bad blood leftover from those franchises because of this still.
Anyway if Gilbert would swallow that contract and Portland would deal this would be a scary team with Batum.