This is in response to today's Oregonian article regarding the possibility of signing either Juwan Howard or Stromile Swift.

Hopefully if we sign either of these guys it'll be Juwan. I was never really impressed with him in his prime but he was a good NBA player. He's seen a lot and his limited role will not negativley impact our boxscore, rather his leadership and ability to not make mistakes while he's in the game would be very valuable in tight playoff situations.

If we pick him up I could see us making a blockbuster move for a starting, all-star caliber small forward. I love Batum but think he could be a great defensive stopper off the bench while he gains experience. After a few teams stumble out of the gates (particularly Detroit in this hypothetical case) I could see it going down like this:

Webster, Outlaw, Bayless and Draft Picks for Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey

Leaving our roster looking something like this...

Miller/Blake/Stuckey
Roy/Fernandez
Prince/Batum
Aldridge/Howard
Oden/Pryzbilla

This trade wouldn't happen unless Detroit struggled into December, and Martell played very well but not well enough to demand starter minutes. The deal checks out at theESPN Trade Machine. Add another veteran role player to Dante Cunningham and we've got a better over-all team with more defined roles than we have today.

I'm not in the camp that we NEED to make a trade to be a great team and compete in the west, but as a fan I would be behind a move like this. Feel free to sub in a different all-star caliber small forward if you think this deal is not attainable.