I still don't know what the fuck we're talking about here? Is it just @Rastapopoulos very unrealistic wet dream that we would ever trade Dame if he didn't demand one? If it's just personal, I personally thought Ant got a bigger overpay than Dame this off season. If it's actually just personal, I like Ant and everything but the dude's not Dame. If it's about game, Dame has proven he has all nba game.
This isn't a question of Dame or Ant because every rational person would say Dame. This is a question of sticking with trying to build a win now team or blowing it up. Don't be reductive and make it about two players because when you do it becomes silly because Dame is so far superior to Ant even when considering the amount of years left being effective and upside. This is how silly this thread is. If Ant was on another team would you trade him for Dame straight up if the team had the cap room to absorb Dame's salary? Fuck no you wouldn't!
I think the earlier post about a window for contention "
7-10 years from now" might be pretty revealing...
now, this is just my opinion; theory; hunch; suspicion...whatever. That being: some people are saying trade Dame because Portland almost certainly can't build a contender around him in the next 3-4 years...they are aware of something deep down which is that Portland isn't going to build a contender around what they trade Dame for in the next 3 or 4 years either. In other words, all the hoopla about contending is just cover for their desire to see another direction...
now, I get that...I really do. I spent several seasons desperately wanting the Blazers to go a different direction than the perpetual reboots of Olshey. I wasn't inclined to let go of that desire, so there's that
but the thing is we pretty much know what it takes to be a contender: at least one elite player plus at least one, better if two, teammates at solid all-star level. And, at least one of the best two players has to be a two-way wing. That's the formula and we all know what it almost certainly needs to look like
so then, Portland has the elite player. And he might very well remain elite for the next 3-4 seasons. What Portland does not have is an accompanying all-star who happens to be a two-way wing. They aren't close. So the solution, according to some, it to trade the one elite player Portland has, the only player close to all-star level, and actually move further away from contention in the long-shot hope that somehow Portland can loop back around and not only land another elite player, but a couple of all-stars as well.......which as I said is why those advocating this know it isn't really a path to contention within the time frame they are using to criticize building a team around Dame
