So, when you said that the Blazers wouldn’t be walking away from an impressive playoff run, you were referring to the fact that the Blazers have not been a playoff team the previous four seasons. You weren’t assuming that they wouldn’t potentially be walking away from a brilliant playoff run with Dame next season after a major trade. Why didn’t you say so?
It would be interesting to see the reaction around here if the Blazers traded Dame to the Lakers for Russell, Hachimura and picks.
I want the team to be the feared, merciless, undisputed baddest MFer on the planet. Not a hopeful contender or even a one off, I want an era of dominance. STOMP
If the Blazers get Wemby, there's a chance. Spurs tanked for Duncan. Rest is Championship Glory History.
Getting Wemby changes everything. So all this debate and arguing is pointless until we know where our pick is.
Win #1, draft Wemby. Trade Dame for #2, draft Scoot. Scoot/Sharpe/Wemby big 3. Then get a better coach.
of course, the vast majority of teams think they've a chance going into the season but few of them are actually even competitive. Your proposed path of appeasing a star well on the wrong side of 30 by trading away the future for vets is hardly good odds on a championship either, especially a team as bad as Portland which is several players of the caliber you're talking up away. Having just looked at the list of champions over the past 20 years, only the 2020* Lakers even sort of fit that bill, but of course the future they gave up was for one of the league's elite talents (26 year old Anthony Davis) who basically forced his way to LA. I'm open to that sort of move, not Ant + the 2023 lotto pick for Pascal Siakam or fuckhead Randle. The Spurs & Warriors provided a blueprint of how a team hitting on multiple picks can dominate for an era. STOMP
Golden State being a doormat for decades isn't really a path I'm interested in following... Getting the #1 pick twice in a decade like San Antonio did isn't as easy now either. They drafted their other talent mostly mid to late first round, which we've also had the opportunity to do while making the playoffs. We've just not been lucky or evaluated talent well enough. We followed San Antonio's "strategy" by tanking when Dame was injured. We got #7 rather than #1. We got Sharpe. Which is awesome. San Antonio didn't trade Robinson after getting Duncan.
What a odd reply. It didn't take them a decade of losing to turn it around, it took their new management hitting on 3 draft picks the highest of which was #7... the same spot Portland took Sharpe. It also took them moving the clearcut fan favorite for a viable Big (Bogut) because they rightly recognized that Steph and Ellis were too small a backcourt combo to adequately D up, but mainly it was drafting Curry #7, Thompson #11 & Draymond #35 Ding ding ding. Portland has the opportunity to add a major piece for their future in this upcoming draft. As you noted, the new management showed their talent evaluation chops in their very first draft taking Shaedon. I'm for giving them another shot at putting together a team... it's the Portland Trailblazers not the Damian Lillard appeasement tour. you are really grasping at straws aren't you? Why in the world would they have traded Robinson after getting Duncan? Everyone knew they were going to be a great combo as both were super mobile versatile Bigs. It came as zero surprise that they were immediately dominant with TD. If Portland lucks into the #1, you won't hear me suggesting they should trade Dame or Ant or even Nurk as VW can operate outside the paint and is a versatile defender... they'll be ready to compete with the best. STOMP
That would be guys like Buck Williams, Mo Lucas, Kermit Washington or Brian Grant. Some of the toughest Blazers that I can recall.
All if which we could get with Dame. We've already got the #7 (Sharpe), and Ant is the late pick that turned out to have big potential (and we can trade him since he doesn't fit with Dame), and we can turn this year's pick into another something special that fits well with Dame. Which means we'll be well prepared to transition from Dame if swinging for the fences doesn't work out. Just like Dame and Sharpe should work really well together, being a top PG and a skilled and athletic wing.
What if other GMs don't value Ant highly? His advanced stats sure aren't great. Dame has stated (basically) get me vet support now or I'm out. You've stated you're for moving Ant + the lotto pick to target a guy pushing 30 that IMO have no chance of putting Portland over the top into contender status. So after they've moved Ant + the lotto for a 30ish player that won't get them into the elite status, they've neither today or tomorrow to look forward to. Sorry no. It means management will be hamstrung with overpriced guys on the wrong side of 30 when things don't work out and they'll have no young talent coming up to surround Shaedon with because they traded it all away. The potentially elite guys they could have been developing to run beside SS will be on other rosters. You've now pivoted to try and paint sunshine comparing this situation to Robinson-Duncan. First off, while I love Sharpe's potential as a player he is no where in the vicinity of where Duncan was when he came into the league. But where I see this comparison primarily falling apart is the difference between positions. There are very very few guys of David Robinson's size let alone athleticism, so when he was only 80% of what he was at his peak, he was still an effective 5. Because of the number of guys PG sized, they don't have the same sort of slack when they start their slide. While Dame is very skilled, he's not a Jason Kidd sort of PG savant. The basis of his success has always been his quickness and tremendous J. The day is coming when he won't be able to take his man off the dribble, when his physical advantages fade. When that happens even somewhat, it's a steep hill to irrelevance. STOMP
We'll know if it gets us close this coming season. Dame's value will be roughly similar to what it is now. We'll have Grant locked up, sure. But we don't need to bid against ourselves to get him. Just pay his market rate. Sharpe is 19. We can push his timeline back a year to take a poke at a title. I'm not. I'm saying that IMO the odds of us finding ourselves in a San Antonio like situation with the next Robinson/Duncan are far more remote than getting a shot at a title with Dame. I get what you're saying. I'd just like to give it a shot with Dame. Another season is not likely to ruin his trade value. Though I do understand that it's a risk.
But (going your route) Ant and this years draft capitol will have gone to acquiring some 30ish year old forward. If they trade your hoped for proposed package for Siakam (which I don't think will be available), you do know that he's up for a new contract after this next year right? Among other things completely unrealistic, I'd like Dame to stay healthy and at the peak of his abilities forever. However, reality is often a bitch. Older players get injured more often and take longer to recover from injury. An injury at his age is likely and would absolutely ruin his trade value. Who wants to trade for a guy coming off an injury making 45 Mil? STOMP
