Zombie Damian Lillard to request trade in coming days (nope, he's not.)

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dame is such a quality human. If this guy isn’t worth going all in for, no one is.


this just screams…I want the roster improved or I’ll threaten to leave.
He doesn’t wanna leave. It’s all leverage…and at the same time he killed Portland’s leverage in trade talks
 
I haven't paid close attention to the latest Dame BS, but in all the media/twitter chatter about Dame "giving back" money, has a single media member pointed out the CBA won't allow it?
 
this just screams…I want the roster improved or I’ll threaten to leave.
He doesn’t wanna leave. It’s all leverage…and at the same time he killed Portland’s leverage in trade talks

Tell me what "leverage" it was that Dame killed

do you really believe CJ's value is less now than it was 2 months ago?
 
Tell me what "leverage" it was that Dame killed

do you really believe CJ's value is less now than it was 2 months ago?

Uhhhh it makes us look desperate to make a move so other teams decide to make us add more value in a trade?
 
Uhhhh it makes us look desperate to make a move so other teams decide to make us add more value in a trade?
That was true with or without Dame going public. If a trade goes down now, I highly doubt the value will be any different than if a trade was made in the scenario Dame didn’t go public. Our cap and roster situation doesn’t change just because Dame seems gruntled.
 
Uhhhh it makes us look desperate to make a move so other teams decide to make us add more value in a trade?
So they can put the screw to us just a little and ask for an extra future first. Cry me a fucking river. That will not keep us from getting what we can out of our more valuable assets. Just ask the Bucks.
 
That was true with or without Dame going public. If a trade goes down now, I highly doubt the value will be any different than if a trade was made in the scenario Dame didn’t go public. Our cap and roster situation doesn’t change just because Dame seems gruntled.

Him going public does not help the situation at all
 
So they can put the screw to us just a little and ask for an extra future first. Cry me a fucking river. That will not keep us from getting what we can out of our more valuable assets. Just ask the Bucks.

cry me a river? With limited assets…it matters
 
Do people know the Rockets signed only one first round pick in Hardens entire prime there? Morley knew what he had and tried to capitalize on it.
 
I get that and i agree, but couldn’t Dame hold the gun on Olsheys head behind close doors? Like Jaynes said now every trade becomes very difficult
Why don't you think he's been TRYING to do that for a while now?
It was 3-4 years ago that he met directly with Paul Allen.
Dame said that he talks to Neil about the roster frequently.
When the 'behind closed doors' options are not working - you have to go public.
 
Uhhhh it makes us look desperate to make a move so other teams decide to make us add more value in a trade?

I know what the 'logic' is and it's straight out of Olshey's CYA file. I'm just not buying it

Portland was going to have to take a risk and pay a high price in any event. If Dame had kept quiet and Olshey was out there shopping CJ, other GM's are smart enough to read between the lines and know why Olshey was finally shopping CJ
 
cry me a river? With limited assets…it matters
The fact is, if Dame's experience was just telling Olshey to take a big swing didn't get Olshey to do anything, then Olshey can't wine about the next step that Dame took (that so many have taken) to get Neil to do what he wants. So it did just get a tiny bit more expensive to improve, Olshey put himself in that position, it wasn't Dame's fault.
 
this just screams…I want the roster improved or I’ll threaten to leave.
He doesn’t wanna leave. It’s all leverage…and at the same time he killed Portland’s leverage in trade talks
False narrative.
It may have a SMALL impact in negotiations, but other teams are always going to take the best deal they have on the table. Additionally, a team will not avoid trading with Portland just to 'screw with them'.
 
False narrative.
It may have a SMALL impact in negotiations, but other teams are always going to take the best deal they have on the table. Additionally, a team will not avoid trading with Portland just to 'screw with them'.

haha I’m shocked at the response to what I said.
At the end of the day, dames comments made our leverage situation worse. I’m not going to argue with everyone about how much worse
 
haha I’m shocked at the response to what I said.
At the end of the day, dames comments made our leverage situation worse. I’m not going to argue with everyone about how much worse
So you think if we make the best offer that a team gets for a player someone will now take a lesser offer from another team because of what Dame said? Is that your line of thinking?
 
haha I’m shocked at the response to what I said.
At the end of the day, dames comments made our leverage situation worse. I’m not going to argue with everyone about how much worse

it definitely didn’t help the situation, but he probably felt it was the only option short of just asking for a trade,which he didn’t want to do.
 
I see where you're coming from but why would Dame do that?

Norm was part of the team that lost in the first round. Norm returning doesn't change the team. Dame has said he needs to see a lot more than that to commit to staying and not demand a trade. I think it's obvious Dame feels the only power he has in this situation to compel Olshey to upgrade the roster is to threaten a trade demand. If he commits to "at least a season or two" is Norm re-signs it gives Olshey total cover to sit on his hands again and risk little

I guess because if he doesn't, he may as well go ahead and ask for a trade now. Norm is going to get plenty of offers and, IMO, he's pretty unlikely to return here to a rebuilding situation. If he doesn't know that Dame is committed to being here, he's gone. No, Norm isn't the missing puzzle piece, but him being here makes CJ available as a trade piece that, hopefully, can be packaged to get that additional piece.
 
Keeping this behind closed doors has not helped the situation for the last 4+ years....

airing issues out to the public doesn’t help. If you’re in a bad marriage do you decide to tell everyone to try to improve the situation at home?
 
airing issues out to the public doesn’t help. If you’re in a bad marriage do you decide to tell everyone to try to improve the situation at home?
You shut your mouth and keep sleeping with the nanny!
 
airing issues out to the public doesn’t help. If you’re in a bad marriage do you decide to tell everyone to try to improve the situation at home?
No because there is no possible advantage to that for your marriage because the outside parties you're airing your grievances to can't possibly make the marriage better. However, in professional sports, there are outside parties that can make the situation better so making a demand public after years of those demands falling on deaf ears... just might get the ball rolling.

I understand that it seemingly puts your GM behind the proverbial eight ball but in fact it doesn't. They still have the same assets and the teams out there still have the same needs. It just makes it so everyone knows your GM is open for business. Neil should love every time he gets a call about Dame because he can say that we're not ever trading Dame but we do have a guy in CJ that does a lot of the things Dame can do.

Dame just made Neil's life busier but I don't think he made it harder. He greased the wheels for change.
 
I guess because if he doesn't, he may as well go ahead and ask for a trade now. Norm is going to get plenty of offers and, IMO, he's pretty unlikely to return here to a rebuilding situation. If he doesn't know that Dame is committed to being here, he's gone. No, Norm isn't the missing puzzle piece, but him being here makes CJ available as a trade piece that, hopefully, can be packaged to get that additional piece.


I get that but I don't think that should be Dame's concern. Yes, Norm leaving would hurt the Blazers, but him staying doesn't make Portland a better team than last year. And last year wasn't good enough. Dame did not create the bind of Norm being UFA, that was Olshey

I think Dame really wants to stay in Portland but right now he's disillusioned with Seattle and doesn't believe a word Olshey says. The only lever he has to compel a roster upgrade is a threat to demand a trade. If he gives up that lever just to get Norm re-signed, I think he's convinced Olshey would do nothing more
 
Dame never had to go over Neil's head to talk directly with Paul Allen...he didn't need an appointment at all..they talked all the time and Paul even lent Dame his recording studio in Los Angeles and had him on his yacht....I think the idea that Dame needs a chain of command to talk to anyone involved with the team is nonsense....they all talk directly and sure...Neil isn't always there when they do...nothing burger in that narrative from my view.....nobody should be shocked Dame met with Paul...they had a relationship...Dame went to bat for Terry Stotts and don't think his getting fired didn't add to Dame's frustration..it did. He said the day after Stotts was fired that he loved Terry and missed him already.....enter the Jason Kidd drama shortly after....people around here didn't like Stotts much but Dame clearly did as did most of his teammates....they had a really close working relationship and are actually friends.
 
I get that but I don't think that should be Dame's concern. Yes, Norm leaving would hurt the Blazers, but him staying doesn't make Portland a better team than last year. And last year wasn't good enough. Dame did not create the bind of Norm being UFA, that was Olshey

I think Dame really wants to stay in Portland but right now he's disillusioned with Seattle and doesn't believe a word Olshey says. The only lever he has to compel a roster upgrade is a threat to demand a trade. If he gives up that lever just to get Norm re-signed, I think he's convinced Olshey would do nothing more
I also think Dame is an incredibly ethical guy and unlike Olshey, Dame won't give his word unless he knows it can be counted on. So he can't tell Norm that he's going to be here when he knows that it might result in Norm being here without him.
 
I get that but I don't think that should be Dame's concern. Yes, Norm leaving would hurt the Blazers, but him staying doesn't make Portland a better team than last year. And last year wasn't good enough. Dame did not create the bind of Norm being UFA, that was Olshey

I think Dame really wants to stay in Portland but right now he's disillusioned with Seattle and doesn't believe a word Olshey says. The only lever he has to compel a roster upgrade is a threat to demand a trade. If he gives up that lever just to get Norm re-signed, I think he's convinced Olshey would do nothing more

I have no problem with Dame using the leverage provided by the threat of looking for an exit if the team isn't improved. I just think that by doing it in such a public way it actually reduces the chances Olshey can accomplish it. Dame is a pretty effective communicator. I'd be willing to bet that he made his position pretty damned clear to Olshey behind closed doors. I get that you really dislike Olshey, but I doubt that Neil is so obtuse that he would ignore Dame saying flat out, "improve the team or you're going to get to experience a Harden situation right here in Portland." Dame was really upset, and rightfully so, by the Blazers' inability to get by a wounded Denver team. I think he let it impact his judgement (which is usually stellar) about how to handle this situation. Now Olshey has to convince Norm and probably at least one other significant FA to sign here and he has to do it with a cloud of the team's best player threatening to push for a trade if things don't go right. That likely makes Olshey's job not just difficult, but impossible unless Dame is willing to make commitments to these guys.
 

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