Making Stuff Up: Detroit Could Trade For Zach Randolph

I just heard a juicy trade rumor. And by "heard" I mean "made it up out of thin air," but that's beside the point. A reader emailed me about something David Aldridge apparently said on TNT last Thursday. I was watching and must have missed it, but apparently he mentioned that Detroit may have an interest in Portland's Zach Randolph. My first reaction was to completely disregard the notion, but then I got to playing around with RealGM's Trade Checker ...

Bear with me here: the only way I could see such a trade could happening without disrupting Detroit's core -- and it's far too early in the season for Joe Dumars to even think about doing that -- would be for Portland to agree to what amounts to a salary dump. Detroit could offer Dale Davis (an expiring contract), Antonio McDyess (who could be an expiring contract depending on whether or not he activates his player option for next year) and [something else] for Randolph.

What's that [something else]? Flip Murray could do the trick, though I imagine Carlos Delfino would be more attractive to the Blazers. Delfino appears to be happy this year now that he's cracked Detroit's rotation, but he frequently complained (to the Spanish-language press, at least) last year about too much time on the bench. To sweeten the pot, Detroit could also offer one of their two first-round picks in this year's draft. Granted, their second pick belongs to Orlando, so it's looking less and less likely that either of their picks will be a very high one, but that may not matter too much considering how deep this draft will be.Portland wouldn't be receiving equal value this year, but Blazers are a young team and they may be willing to get out from under Randolph's bear of a contract, not to mention shed the last real connection to the team's "JailBlazer" days. Plus, they'd have two first-round picks in one of the deepest drafts of recent memory. It'd open up room for rookie LaMarcus Aldridge to play starter's minutes and it'd give the team a ton of front court depth. (In fact, maybe too much for it to make sense ... but let's not quibble over such details right now)

Detroit's locker room isn't quite a bunch of choir boys, but I think it's balanced enough to absorb a headcase like Randolph and help him mature. I'm not the only one: Pistons.com editor Keith Langlois wrote the following last week in a mailbag column in response to why the Pistons didn't go after Bonzi Wells harder this past offseason:

No question he's an impact player if his mind is into it, but the guy comes with some baggage. That doesn't necessarily scare the Pistons away – Joe Dumars has stocked the locker room with enough quality people to absorb the occasional loose cannon. But you only take those gambles on home-run hitters.

Randolph, who's averaging 25-10 this year, is a "home-run hitter," not to mention a potential ticket-seller given his Michigan State connection -- and despite a sell-out streak that's technically still alive at 140-something games, the Palace certainly hasn't had as many butts in the seats as in recent years. Of course, this does nothing to address Detroit's lack of point guard depth (ideally Portland could send back Jarret Jack or Sergio Rodriguez, but since I'm already treading knee deep in B.S. I probably shouldn't press my luck), and if they move Delfino they'll also be lacking a legitimate backup 3. But if someone floats this notion past Joe Dumars, he has to at least consider it, right? (But would the Blazers? Wouldn't the Bulls, who have a far more desperate need to add a scoring big man to their lineup, try to outbid Pistons? Again, stop quibbling...)

In 2004, Dumars got Rasheed and Mike James at the deadline for a song, but if he's going to pull of an impact trade like that this year he'll likely have to move legitimate, tangible assets, especially in the East where almost every team feels like it has as good of a chance to advance deep in the playoffs as the next guy.