Dame doesn't want a trade

[Natebishop3]

I like our four guards too. But if a deal is outthere that gets us an upgrade, you take it.

Imo the core is Cj and dame. The rest are role players filling roles. They can be replaced. But I don't want to lose Henderson. I've loved what he has brought to this team. I can't remember the last time we had a guy like him.

I wish I was that confident, but honestly we haven't had a bench like this in 15 years. It's not as easy to replace as we would think.

 

[riverman]

Henderson is one of the only guard we have that can finish an alley oop and slash, play above the rim. He's explosive...I want him to stay for the next 3 years at least

 

[riverman]

The thing is...if we traded any of our current rotation bench players or starters mid season...we run the risk of becoming the Houston Rockets with a guy like Josh Smith on the roster...there's a revolving door of panic attack moves across the league this year and it's not working out for the most part

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Some team like Memphis may need a stop gap big guy with Gasol down for the count...enter Chris Kaman...even if it gets a pick we draft and stash in Europe

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=hfd3duq

 

[HailBlazers]

lol Neil is not trading for Howard.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I just don't see it. What short term big contract is out there for us to get?

I don't see it either. He made it sound like it was all about money. The other team would want something in return for a short rental. The only thing I can think of is Roy Hibbert . He gives us a big for the rare occasions where we need more size. Against SA we could use him. Against GS.....he would not see the court.

Moving forward Roy IMO will be only effective as a center by committee type player. Does he know that? if he did and was good with it and would take a pay cut.......he would be a good addition. But the Lakers will want value back and I see no reason to give them any, since Hibbert will be a FA

 

[KingSpeed]

How about Olshey for GM of the year too? Nobody (nationally) thought he could put together a playoff team after losing 4 of 5 starters.

We didn't "lose" 4 starters. We traded one and didn't make offers to Lopez or Wes. Getting rid of those 3 guys was a choice.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Nice sentiment from Lillard, but there's a reason he's a player and not a player-gm.

Neil's job is to look out for the long-term health of the franchise, not focus on just the next 30 games; I expect he'll make a move if the right one presents itself ... No matter what Damian thinks.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

We didn't "lose" 4 starters. We traded one and didn't make offers to Lopez or Wes. Getting rid of those 3 guys was a choice.

...a choice driven by the fact that the fourth guy was leaving. Had he stayed, offers would have been extended to the others.

 

[riverman]

...a choice driven by the fact that the fourth guy was leaving. Had he stayed, offers would have been extended to the others.

I don't think so...Nic was gone and we weren't bringing Wes back...we might have kept Rolo if LA stayed

 

[Dan Marang]

Dame's being a leader.

NO should do what he thinks is best. He's earned my trust.

This.

While you have to take Lillard's opinion under consideration, you can't let him dictate the terms (see: Cleveland). That typically doesn't work out the best. Dame is paid to play ball, and he's damn good at it. NO is paid to put together the best team possible, and he's shown he's good at it. I'm perfectly content letting each do their respective jobs without one dictating to the other.

 

[BBert]

What could he say? He could say the same thing that every pro athlete says when they're asked about trades. It's a business, that's not my decision. Blah blah blah. You can't tell me you haven't heard that line before.


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Dame could have said that. But it would have been the wrong thing to say. The right thing to say is what Dame said: I like my team, I like my guys, I trust my guys, I've got their back.

He can make the 'it's a business' speech after the trade.

 

[Natebishop3]

Dame could have said that. But it would have been the wrong thing to say. The right thing to say is what Dame said: I like my team, I like my guys, I trust my guys, I've got their back.

He can make the 'it's a business' speech after the trade.

When they ask me if I think Denny should trade any of you for Kate Upton or Blake Lively, I say it's a business and that it's not my decision...... but we all know the truth.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

This.

While you have to take Lillard's opinion under consideration, you can't let him dictate the terms (see: Cleveland). That typically doesn't work out the best. Dame is paid to play ball, and he's damn good at it. NO is paid to put together the best team possible, and he's shown he's good at it. I'm perfectly content letting each do their respective jobs without one dictating to the other.

Dame is also being paid to be the leader and face of the franchise. He's essentially the Lead, and as Lead he represents the team as it exists on the court. He should be in regular communication with management, and while he shouldn't be running the show, his opinion should be respected and considered. Ed Davis? He is paid to play ball. Dame is paid to be more than that, and should engage in that part of the process.

 

[Draco]

Some team like Memphis may need a stop gap big guy with Gasol down for the count...enter Chris Kaman...even if it gets a pick we draft and stash in Europe

Kaman for Vince Carter works. What else are they giving us though, second round pick?

The thing is...if we traded any of our current rotation bench players or starters mid season...we run the risk of becoming the Houston Rockets with a guy like Josh Smith on the roster...there's a revolving door of panic attack moves across the league this year and it's not working out for the most part

Yeah I think in general moves to win need to be made in the offseason. The exception is when you are already a contender and having a glaring hole from injury or whatnot.

If we make a trade it should be for more future assets not to win now.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

We didn't "lose" 4 starters. We traded one and didn't make offers to Lopez or Wes. Getting rid of those 3 guys was a choice.

Semantics. No matter how or why they are gone, we no longer have 4 of our starters from last year.

 

[Draco]

I don't think so...Nic was gone and we weren't bringing Wes back...we might have kept Rolo if LA stayed

I've wondered, was Neil adamant that the team wouldn't resign Wes? Maybe Aldridge disagreed with Neil on this and would only come back along with Wes. When Neil said thats not happening Aldridge got pissed and left. Thats about the only scenario I could appreciate Aldridge's decision to leave.

 

[Draco]

Dame could have said that. But it would have been the wrong thing to say. The right thing to say is what Dame said: I like my team, I like my guys, I trust my guys, I've got their back.

He can make the 'it's a business' speech after the trade.

Bingo. Dame understands this PR stuff, his role with the team and how others view his words on a high level.

 

[riverman]

I've wondered, was Neil adamant that the team wouldn't resign Wes? Maybe Aldridge disagreed with Neil on this and would only come back along with Wes. When Neil said thats not happening Aldridge got pissed and left. Thats about the only scenario I could appreciate Aldridge's decision to leave.

Wes was all over the media as soon as the season ended in Los Angeles saying he wanted to be a go to guy, not ride Lamarcus coattails and get a max deal...Wes priced himself out of any chance we'd bring him back and looking at Wes with the Mavs...we dodged a bullet..I don't think Neil was going to do that anyway..he said we gave that core 3 years and in the end we weren't good enough..Neil was right

 

[HailBlazers]

 

[Draco]

Wes was all over the media as soon as the season ended in Los Angeles saying he wanted to be a go to guy, not ride Lamarcus coattails and get a max deal...Wes priced himself out of any chance we'd bring him back and looking at Wes with the Mavs...we dodged a bullet..I don't think Neil was going to do that anyway..he said we gave that core 3 years and in the end we weren't good enough..Neil was right

Wes never said that. I saw all the Wes interviews on sportsnation and whatnot. He is confident in his abilities as all good NBA players should be. He wanted a fair market deal and thats what he got. Him and LaMarcus were close, he never said anything about LaMarcus' coattails.

Just because a guy parts with the team you don't need to bad mouth him. LaMarcus deserves the flack he gets; Wes shouldn't get any. He got the contract that multiple teams offered him and thats what he deserves. It might work out best for us we didn't pay it. Dallas still has more wins than us with not much difference in talent and this was supposed to be his recovery year so who knows.

 

[Natebishop3]

Wes never said that. I saw all the Wes interviews on sportsnation and whatnot. He is confident in his abilities as all good NBA players should be. He wanted a fair market deal and thats what he got. Him and LaMarcus were close, he never said anything about LaMarcus' coattails.

Just because a guy parts with the team you don't need to bad mouth him. LaMarcus deserves the flack he gets; Wes shouldn't get any. He got the contract that multiple teams offered him and thats what he deserves. It might work out best for us we didn't pay it. Dallas still has more wins than us with not much difference in talent and this was supposed to be his recovery year so who knows.

I agree. He seemed pretty upset when we didn't even make him an offer. That doesn't sound like someone that wanted to chase money/stardom.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Nah, I'm just not living in homerville.

As constructed, this team will not reach the spurs or golden state level. They need more talent.

Its been what? One and a half months since Christmas? I'm not buying it. They have had a great run as of late and I'm happy for that. But "let the cake bake" is tired. Teams should always look to improve the talent.

I'm not buying it until I see the growth continue.

And please, every team, even golden state should be looking to improve talent on the team. If Kevin Durant wants to play for them, should they say no?

Thats exactly it. Its only been 1 and a half months. How can you say they are done improving? How can you say we wont continue to improv this year, GS comes back to earth and we aren't competitive in two years as constructed? You cant. Just like we cant say they WILL improve and be the best team in the league. We cant. So until more is clear, you are as wrong as I am.

I may be in homerville, but you live in pescimist nation, not realitytown.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Thats exactly it. Its only been 1 and a half months. How can you say they are done improving? How can you say we wont continue to improv this year, GS comes back to earth and we aren't competitive in two years as constructed? You cant. Just like we cant say they WILL improve and be the best team in the league. We cant. So until more is clear, you are as wrong as I am.

I may be in homerville, but you live in pescimist nation, not realitytown.

I never said they can't continue proving. But it's going to have to be a ridiculous jump, skip, and sprint for them to be considered championship material soon or in the future as constructed. And I'd rather try to improve today while we have cap space to do so, instead of locking our own guys to expensive deals now and locking us into less flexibility.

Every team, no matter how good they are, wants to improve. That's reality.

Baking the cake sucks

 

[Orion Bailey]

I never said they can't continue proving. But it's going to have to be a ridiculous jump, skip, and sprint for them to be considered championship material soon or in the future as constructed. And I'd rather try to improve today while we have cap space to do so, instead of locking our own guys to expensive deals now and locking us into less flexibility.

Every team, no matter how good they are, wants to improve. That's reality.

Baking the cake sucks

Fair enough. I guess my premise is they already made some ridiculous jumps, so why think they cant continue to do so?

Also, I dont want to improv today at all if it means expiring to try to win now and not building for the long term.

 

[trailblazer18]

Dame and the players want that extra money coming their way if we stay put. $14 million under the salary floor. Not sure if it is divided evenly between the players or weighted some how. But that is a lot of extra money for most of the guys. They don't want to lose that money just because.

 

[Dan Marang]

Dame is also being paid to be the leader and face of the franchise. He's essentially the Lead, and as Lead he represents the team as it exists on the court. He should be in regular communication with management, and while he shouldn't be running the show, his opinion should be respected and considered. Ed Davis? He is paid to play ball. Dame is paid to be more than that, and should engage in that part of the process.

Absolutely, he should engage. The difference between engage and dictate are what we saw with LeBron in Cleveland or McHale getting ousted in HOU- that kind of stuff is ridiculous. I don't think Dame would be THAT guy- but I'm also growing incredibly confident in Olshey's decision making, and at this point I'm confident in him making the right choice- whether he agrees with Dame or not.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Fair enough. I guess my premise is they already made some ridiculous jumps, so why think they cant continue to do so?

Also, I dont want to improv today at all if it means expiring to try to win now and not building for the long term.

They could, I'm just not buying it. Maybe they will prove me wrong, and I'd be the first one sitting and eating crow if so.

Of course you want to build for the long term. I wouldn't take someone like channing Frye unless they gave me a pick that looks awesome. But we need to use the cap space while we can to acquire assets. Which can be picks or players. A lot of our cap is going to be taken by dames extension, crabbes extensions, cjs extension, plumlee etc. In the next couple years

 

[riverman]

Wes never said that. I saw all the Wes interviews on sportsnation and whatnot. He is confident in his abilities as all good NBA players should be. He wanted a fair market deal and thats what he got. Him and LaMarcus were close, he never said anything about LaMarcus' coattails.

Just because a guy parts with the team you don't need to bad mouth him. LaMarcus deserves the flack he gets; Wes shouldn't get any. He got the contract that multiple teams offered him and thats what he deserves. It might work out best for us we didn't pay it. Dallas still has more wins than us with not much difference in talent and this was supposed to be his recovery year so who knows.

in fact he did...he stated on LA tv that he didn't want his value to be tied to Lamarcus..and that he wanted a bigger go to role..also said he wanted to get paid...I too watched all his interviews...he got what he wanted. I loved Wes but he did also say he didn't see a return to Portland in the cards. I'm happy he got paid and happier now we didn't pay him what Cuban did

 

[riverman]

in fact he did...he stated on LA tv that he didn't want his value to be tied to Lamarcus..and that he wanted a bigger go to role..also said he wanted to get paid...I too watched all his interviews...he got what he wanted. I loved Wes but he did also say he didn't see a return to Portland in the cards. I'm happy he got paid and happier now we didn't pay him what Cuban did

This isn't me giving Wes flack at all....this was me being an audience and a fan following the process