Noah Vonleh offers Blazers insurance if LaMarcus Aldridge departs

— -- June 24: Hornets deal 2014 lottery pick for Batum

Hornets get: Forward Nicolas Batum

Trail Blazers get: Guard Gerald Henderson, forward Noah Vonleh

Charlotte: C+

The 2015-16 Hornets are a better team with this trade, which gives them the kind of complementary piece on the wing they hoped they were getting with Lance Stephenson a year ago. Batum figures to be a better fit because he understands his role in the offense (his usage rate last season was 14.6 percent, as compared to Stephenson using 21.1 percent of Charlotte's plays), is a more willing playmaker and a better shooter.

After enjoying the best season of his career as Portland reached the second round of the playoffs in 2013-14, Batum slumped in 2014-15, shooting just 32.4 percent from 3-point range -- the worst mark of his career. Since Batum is 26 and theoretically in his prime, it's likely that a wrist injury he played through and simple random noise are the primary culprits. Expect Batum to shoot more like his career average (36.3 percent) next season, which would make him one of the Hornets' better outside shooters.

Primarily a small forward throughout his career with the Blazers, Batum can slide next to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as a shooting guard. He's actually better defensively against smaller players -- his wingspan makes him most effective defending point guards -- and runs pick-and-rolls well enough to share ballhandling duties with Kemba Walker. I'm also intrigued by the idea of Batum and Kidd-Gilchrist playing together in smaller, quicker lineups at times, providing Charlotte can find another good option at shooting guard.

The downside is the Hornets are guaranteed only one season of Batum, who will make $12.2 million in the final season of his contract before hitting the market as an unrestricted free agent. If he plays as well as Charlotte hopes, Batum will be handsomely compensated next summer, whereas Vonleh stood the potential to be a good value over the remaining three years of his rookie contract. If you're giving up a former lottery pick for a player on a veteran contract, he better be a big upgrade, and I'm not quite sure Batum will qualify.

Portland: A-

From a pure value standpoint, this deal is a no-brainer for the Blazers. To get a former top-10 pick for one year of Batum is a good piece of business, in soccer parlance. Portland will overpay Henderson next season (he'll make $6 million), then be left with just Vonleh on his rookie contract.

In the context of the Blazers' complicated summer, the assessment isn't quite so easy. Three of Portland's five starters are unrestricted free agents, and one of the two who was under contract just got traded. Much as the Blazers might insist this move is unrelated to LaMarcus Aldridge's free agency, it's hard to see Vonleh as anything but insurance at power forward. While Aldridge and Vonleh could potentially play together, Aldridge has always preferred to play with a traditional center rather than get beat up defending bigger opponents, so that idea -- plus the loss of a starter -- doesn't figure to help lure him back in free agency.

Henderson and C.J. McCollum are now the lone Portland players under contract on the wing. Henderson can play some small forward, as could Wesley Matthews if the Blazers re-sign him, but Portland surely needs a bigger option at the position in the event the other starters return.

With cap holds for Aldridge, Robin Lopez and Matthews on the books, the Blazers could have something like $11 million in cap space if they renounce the rights to Dorell Wright and waive backup center Chris Kaman, whose contract is guaranteed for just $1 million. This deal added about $3.6 million to that total, but it still wouldn't figure to be enough for Portland to chase after the best unrestricted small forwards on the market like DeMarre Carroll and Danny Green. That would leave the Blazers looking at players like Al-Farouq Aminu, Jae Crowder (a restricted free agent) and Mike Dunleavy, players who would be a downgrade from Batum.

So there are a lot of moving pieces from Portland's perspective, but if Aldridge does leave this could be a solid first step toward rebuilding around a young core led by point guard Damian Lillard. In McCollum and stretch 4/5 Meyers Leonard, the Blazers have some interesting young pieces, and Vonleh adds to that collection.

Though Vonleh barely played as a rookie in Charlotte, he was reasonably promising when he did take the court, grabbing 18.3 percent of all available rebounds. He won't turn 20 until August and rated as one of the better players in last year's draft by my projections in large part because of his youth. He's got excellent size and length for a power forward, and figures to eventually develop the ability to step away from the basket and space the floor. (In a miniscule sample size, he was 5-of-13 from 3-point range as a rookie.)

All of that makes Vonleh a good addition to Portland's roster. It's just that acquiring him for a veteran starter might signal the Blazers acknowledging the end of their mini-run with the Aldridge/Lillard core and a move in a new direction.