You think I'm wrong, but that's just your opinion based on the same information that I have seen. We're both speculating based on what Dame has said. To me, these statements are very clear. "I want a chance to go for it." What do you think that means? I suspect he doesn't mean he wants to go for the 8th seed. He doesn't want to get bounced in the first round. If Dame wants a chance to go for it, that probably means he needs to go somewhere else.
From April
"I don't have much of an appetite for building and guys 2-3 years away from really going after it. I think we get Shaedon at 19 and he's just different. I think just being around him, his disposition, how he listens, his frame, his natural talent and his ability... that's enough 19 year olds. And you probably won't find one that will come along the way he has. I'm just not interested in that. This is not a secret. I want a chance to go for it. If the route is to do that, well that's not my route. I think we're all in line with doing what we gotta do to put a team together that we can actually go out there and get something done."
From yesterday
"We got an opportunity asset wise to build a team that can compete. That would be the number one thing, but if we can't do that, obviously like I said for months now, then there would be a separate conversation that we would have to have. We have to let things take their course."
"I'm not a fool. I'm not crazy. I love the organization that I play for, I love the city that I live in, and I'm going to give them every opportunity to give me... give us what we need to have a true chance to compete for that. If that's something that isn't possible, or something that can't get done, then we got a different conversation to be had."
Well, the difference is that one of us actually is looking at a full picture while the other is taking bits and pieces, keeping what fits his narrative and discarding what doesn't. Usually, a person that's trying to portray an accurate picture of what's happening wouldn't go so far as to tell his opposition that they do have a point in what they are saying but that they are missing or deliberately excluding vital information in pursuit of a narrative.
However, if you are comfortable in continuing to portray yourself and pursue your argument in that way, that's fine. I just think you're going to realize that it looks disingenuous.
None of the other quotes you posted or even the parts you bolded change anything. I already addressed them. In fact, as I mentioned at the very beginning of the post to which you're replying, I put more stock in Dame's actions than his words, but you are, as I just said above, taking his words and putting your own emphasis on what advances your narrative, completely free of context and even what questions he was answering.
The bottom line, though, is none of those quotes exclude the interpretation I present. It's not the win you seem to think it is.
You also completely ignored the bigger point -- and, not surprisingly, the 2,000-pound gorilla that crushes your entire position -- that Dame can say all of that and it doesn't exclude other possibilities (which, BTW, are more strongly evidenced in his actions and other comments that you avoid) or, more importantly, that Dame can want exactly what you say he wants but at the end of the day value other things even more than that.
Anyway, I guess we can keep going this way where you continue to double-down on stuff I've already addressed and effectively rebuffed, or you can read what I actually wrote, stop pretending you're in Dame's head, and reconsider your biases. It's your time. If I have time to explain the fallacies again, I'll try to do so.
that would be one hell of a trade package for Simons. Bodes well for the possibility of a good Dame trade return if it ever came to that in the future. We got two lotto picks for Ant, Dame is going to command much more.
