Notice 2023 Blazers Free Agency (2 Viewers)

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e_blazer said:
Sorry, I should have been more clear. The first part was just my general commentary about the Green to Portland idea. I don’t see any way that works out so it’s not worth worrying about. The second part wasn’t directed at you at all. More at what seems to me to be all over the place anger at the Blazers and/or Dame without having much in the way of factual basis for that anger.
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No worries, I overreacted anyway and I see your point.
 
B-Roy said:
He was talking about O'Neale. And the context was saving some money. So we could move Nas who makes about the same as Osman. But IDK if Brooklyn wants long term salary at the spot. Also O'Neale is expiring.
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really? i must have heard wrong then.
 
https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-nba-f...rd-remains-a-serious-challenge-152827475.html

For all the speculation surrounding the Portland Trail Blazers — Monday’s meeting between general manager Joe Cronin, Damian Lillard and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, only added to the noise — there’s been little chatter of substantive movement for the Blazers outside of Portland’s well-known intention to re-sign versatile forward Jerami Grant.

The Blazers were resistant to trade the No. 3 overall pick that became Scoot Henderson, league sources told Yahoo Sports, for any return outside of packages that would have netted a select group of second stars to pair with Lillard. Even after dangling the No. 23 pick in last Thursday's draft, Portland stood pat and chose Iowa forward Kris Murray, the identical twin of Sacramento standout Keegan Murray, who helped the Kings right away as a starter last season. Now Portland appears to be moving forward into the offseason quite similarly to how Brooklyn proceeded last summer following Kevin Durant’s trade request that came an hour before free agency.

The Blazers don’t appear to be in panic mode to restructure their roster around Lillard. Far from it. Portland officials believe that a strong offseason of additions will further reinforce Lillard’s longstanding commitment to the franchise and essentially call Lillard’s bluff — like the Nets did with Durant — even if Lillard hasn’t played his trade request trump card just yet — and maybe never will. What additions are coming for Portland is a little more challenging to figure out.

There’s been plenty of other trade conversations across the league, most notably with the Houston Rockets continuing to gauge rival teams’ interest in young players like K.J. Martin, Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher on Tuesday, sources said. The Hawks, as another example, have made well-known contact with various teams about De’Andre Hunter. The Clippers continue to canvas the league, seeking what a trade package of Marcus Morris and Norman Powell can return to Los Angeles, sources said. But there’s yet to be any type of list forming for teams interested in Portland’s best trade asset at the moment: 24-year-old guard Anfernee Simons, who’s entering the second season of a four-year, $100 million contract. There were brief discussions with Cleveland about Portland forward Nassir Little before the draft unfolded, sources said, but no deal structure ever gained real traction there. An expected increase in league-wide trade calls Wednesday and Thursday before free agency opens Friday night can certainly bring more developments for the Blazers.
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Ant has no market.
 
B-Roy said:
https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-nba-f...rd-remains-a-serious-challenge-152827475.html



Ant has no market.
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If Ant has little to no value and the Blazers are keeping Sharpe/Scoot how can the Blazers add any starting level forward to this roster to get a competitive team around Dame?

Taking emotion out of it from a pure asset perspective it seems better to hold onto Ant for the chance his value is higher in a year, Blazers get something for Grant in a sign and trade, Blazers get a bunch of good picks for Dame, and work to rebuild this thing for a number of years down the line.

Yeah it will be sad as hell to see Dame go but I'm just not seeing any path to keep him happy here or have a roster that makes any sense.
 
Dames ‘Dream Off-season’ is to sign Draymond “Titty Bar” Green? Good old crotch kicking Draymond?

If Draymond comes to Portland I hope to see somebody wearing a Karate forehead wrap and belt with their Draymond jersey.

Maybe if he weren’t veteran status. If he takes veteran status money then yes, sign me up immediately.

Did you hear Cam’ron say that the reason Draymond punched J.Poole was because Poole was talking about how he (Michigan) got more action with Mich. St. girls than Draymond(Mich. St.). That Poole took jabs at Draymond basically about how he’d be traded or wasn’t going to get another top level contract. I guess this went on for a while at practices. Poole just basically talking trash to Draymond as if he was on the other team.

I hope we don’t overpay for Draymond. Of course you’d take Draymond even if you’ve disliked him sometimes or often. The very reason one dislikes him is the reason one should want him.

But let it be known that I’m going to ball up my socks and throw them at the wall if we sign Draymond to a contract that makes him feel like he can talk trash about it to Poole.
 
We want to make Dame happy, but we're also super picky about players! I'm sure we can get something done even after artificially limiting our own options!
 
PDXFonz said:
Dames ‘Dream Off-season’ is to sign Draymond “Titty Bar” Green? Good old crotch kicking Draymond?

If Draymond comes to Portland I hope to see somebody wearing a Karate forehead wrap and belt with their Draymond jersey.

Maybe if he weren’t veteran status. If he takes veteran status money then yes, sign me up immediately.

Did you hear Cam’ron say that the reason Draymond punched J.Poole was because Poole was talking about how he (Michigan) got more action with Mich. St. girls than Draymond(Mich. St.). That Poole took jabs at Draymond basically about how he’d be traded or wasn’t going to get another top level contract. I guess this went on for a while at practices. Poole just basically talking trash to Draymond as if he was on the other team.

I hope we don’t overpay for Draymond. Of course you’d take Draymond even if you’ve disliked him sometimes or often. The very reason one dislikes him is the reason one should want him.

But let it be known that I’m going to ball up my socks and throw them at the wall if we sign Draymond to a contract that makes him feel like he can talk trash about it to Poole.
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Regardless of your wall or your feelings, getting Draymond would be great for this team. We have needed that edge for a long time and to instill his work ethic and IQ on those around him would be invaluable, regardless of whether or not it results in a championship.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I guess I read that differently than you do. I think many GM's still think that the Blazers are trading Dame, and are thus keeping Ant. I think if Joe were out there shopping Ant, there would be plenty of interested buyers.
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I think two things:

1.) Players have more value to teams that are calling about them.
2.) Teams haven't been calling about Ant.

Ant's value is quite different to a team calling about him versus a team where we call them about Ant. I read this as there's no teams that would value him enough to give the Blazers a call. If we offered him to teams, maybe we could get some value, but it's probably not as much as people think. Personally, I don't see the market for him. I've checked the status of all 29 other teams in the league and I can't come up with a good enough argument for any of those teams to give up any assets of significance for Ant. I'll eat my words if something happens and I'm wrong.
 
B-Roy said:
I think two things:

1.) Players have more value to teams that are calling about them.
2.) Teams haven't been calling about Ant.

Ant's value is quite different to a team calling about him versus a team where we call them about Ant. I read this as there's no teams that would value him enough to give the Blazers a call. If we offered him to teams, maybe we could get some value, but it's probably not as much as people think. Personally, I don't see the market for him. I've checked the status of all 29 other teams in the league and I can't come up with a good enough argument for any of those teams to give up any assets of significance for Ant. I'll eat my words if something happens and I'm wrong.
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I definitely agree with the bolded part. I'm not sure what qualifies as "assets of significance", but I think we'll see Ant dealt within the next couple of weeks for something that is of greater value to the team than what he provides.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I definitely agree with the bolded part. I'm not sure what qualifies as "assets of significance", but I think we'll see Ant dealt within the next couple of weeks for something that is of greater value to the team than what he provides.
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Well. John Collins was traded for cap and a second. I think Ant is worth cap and a few seconds. Or cap and a late first. My favorite scenario is using him to dump Nurk on the Spurs. Probably not what people are expecting, but let’s see.
 
B-Roy said:
I think two things:

1.) Players have more value to teams that are calling about them.
2.) Teams haven't been calling about Ant.

Ant's value is quite different to a team calling about him versus a team where we call them about Ant. I read this as there's no teams that would value him enough to give the Blazers a call. If we offered him to teams, maybe we could get some value, but it's probably not as much as people think. Personally, I don't see the market for him. I've checked the status of all 29 other teams in the league and I can't come up with a good enough argument for any of those teams to give up any assets of significance for Ant. I'll eat my words if something happens and I'm wrong.
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Toronto if FVV leaves, Chicago if they rebuild, San Antonio if they want to get some scoring with Wemba (as well as they have cap room to absorb his contract).

I see plenty of teams where Ant could do well next season. The problem is how to get enough value back so the Blazers can come away with a starting forward? Maybe Cam Johnson in a sign and trade if Brooklyn is told the alternative is he goes to Detroit. That would probably require Dame convincing Cam to push for Portland as Grant pushed to come here. I'm not sure Dame wants to do that because it still might not be enough to meet his demands, as well as he is very close to Ant so he probably doesn't want to be directly himself pushing for moves that directly remove Ant from the team.
 
SharpesTriumph said:
If Ant has little to no value and the Blazers are keeping Sharpe/Scoot how can the Blazers add any starting level forward to this roster to get a competitive team around Dame?

Taking emotion out of it from a pure asset perspective it seems better to hold onto Ant for the chance his value is higher in a year, Blazers get something for Grant in a sign and trade, Blazers get a bunch of good picks for Dame, and work to rebuild this thing for a number of years down the line.

Yeah it will be sad as hell to see Dame go but I'm just not seeing any path to keep him happy here or have a roster that makes any sense.
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They can't.
 
B-Roy said:
https://sports.yahoo.com/2023-nba-f...rd-remains-a-serious-challenge-152827475.html



Ant has no market.
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According to Highkins Ant does have value around the league and a friendly contract for what he brings...he's pretty plugged into multiple team reps. Teams are rumored to want to throw Sharpe into Ant deals and Joe said Sharpe in untouchable. Every GM in the league thinks they can fleece the Blazers to please Dame...that'll fade as free agency kicks in. Dame's short statement about Nets and Heat really fucked up Joe's leverage around the league...Haynes didn't help matters
 
So if Cronin can’t improve the team with Free Agency? Dame will ask for a trade. Is that correct?
 
Ant's deal was not smart at all. Good scorer but allergic to defense. He is a bench player, clearly, or teams would be calling to get him. Why didn't they let him go FA then match the top deal if they want him? Some things I will never understand.
 
DDolla said:
So if Cronin can’t improve the team with Free Agency? Dame will ask for a trade. Is that correct?
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Hard to say. Dame has yet to make a line in the sand like that. He said he'd see where we are after free agency. Who even knows what that means :lol:
 
AmirIcon said:
Regardless of your wall or your feelings, getting Draymond would be great for this team. We have needed that edge for a long time and to instill his work ethic and IQ on those around him would be invaluable, regardless of whether or not it results in a championship.
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I don’t really disagree with you.

He has the experience of being around a winning franchise. He could feel like Dame is the closest to Curry that he could play with. MM could have set himself up well for this, Draymond is a veteran All-Star. I’m not against it. I just hope that he would sign here on a contract that would keep things open to make other moves.

We could stand to have that kind of mentality around the young guys. Probably part of why Dame thinks it would work, and I’ll go with Dame on that. I just hope Draymond is actually in it to win it and nothing else. Dude has that kind of winning mentality.

I’m just making light of his villain status in the league, and to us. Draymond has been a crucial part of the Warriors championship success and you can’t doubt that.
 
For what it is worth, I don’t buy in to that whole “can’t attract people to Portland” stigma. And I’d hope anyone talking about trading Dame, or “Dame trade ideas” thinks about that. Dame is our best hope of recruiting players and Draymond could be a step in that right direction. I’m sure other players in the league respect the vet players in some sense. Like if you see Draymond in Portland and the Blazers are winning, you probably want to play in Portland if you want to win.

Truth is, compared to so many other cities, there’s a lot less to do other than basketball here. That’s why a winning culture is so important here, and we’ve had it many times, and in those times have had big names in the league.

We’re not that far off from a very fortunate situation of having a deep young team with our franchise player as the teams veteran.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Unless you're into nature.... which I would think isn't rated very highly on a lot of young players list of things to do.
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Tbh maybe our school system bodes well too. What’s the dude from Boston who went to West Linn? Payton Pritchard? Oregon schools have both produced athletes and for the most part is a good place to raise children. Bro that conference has two players in the League today, one won a championship and the other has been in the finals with their team. Don’t sleep on the 3 rivers league.
 
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Cugel said:
Ant's deal was not smart at all. Good scorer but allergic to defense. He is a bench player, clearly, or teams would be calling to get him. Why didn't they let him go FA then match the top deal if they want him? Some things I will never understand.
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Marcus Smart just got Porzingis and a couple of firsts, partially due to his amazingly team friendly contract at 3/60M left for a 29y/o. Ant's at 3/77M at 23, not nearly as accomplished, but way more accomplished than Smart was at 23.
 
Predator said:
Lol you're kidding yourself if you think Portland is on the "man, I REALLY wanna go there" list for young, primarily black, athletes
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Or middle-aged white engineers. ;)
 
DDolla said:
So if Cronin can’t improve the team with Free Agency? Dame will ask for a trade. Is that correct?
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Its hard to know. If Cronin doesn't improve the immediate win now talent on the team it seems like the Blazers are pushing Dame into a corner and calling his bluff. His requests and demands start to be pretty meaningless if there is never any action from himself to back them up.

We traded away Hart and got Dame to help the team tank for two seasons with the rhetoric this would eventually lead to a more veteran competitive team. It's arguably less competitive in a win now sense today than at last trade deadline, at last offseason, at the trade deadline prior, or at any point of Olshey's tenure.

I don't think Dame wants to ask out but I think he wants better vets on the team as well as management working to win now. Some might suspect the Blazers are so blatantly going against Dame's requests they are trying to push him to ask out.

I personally love some of the long term potential of our players. But Scoot is going to have major learning moments. Sharpe is going to have major holes. Ant is still not in his prime. If the Blazers were selling Dame on the idea he is a vet leading a bunch of young kids thats one thing. But this roster is clearly not setup to win now with Dame as has been preached publicly, thus I totally understand Dame's frusteration.
 
How the hell did JR Rider and Jim Jackson get us Steve Smith back in the day...
 
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