Zombie December 15th

[Chris Craig]

Grant and Timelord will be a Rocket for Brooks / Smith Jr / Whitmore / 2 FRPs

Ant will be a Magic for Isaac / 2 FRPs

2rnd picks maybe

 

[inconceivable]

2rnd picks maybe

I did not make up the trade scenarios. I found them somewhere. I would agree to both deals as presented, but not if the 2 FRPs are 2 SRPs instead

 

[Phatguysrule]

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I did not make up the trade scenarios. I found them somewhere. I would agree to both deals as presented, but not if the 2 FRPs are 2 SRPs instead

Might as well post trade scenarios of us sending out scraps for Giannis and Luka - all these scenarios are as likely to happen.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Blazers and some Blazer fans, post Dame forcing his way out of Portland after a decade of being on overachieving untalented teams. A decade which began and was hampered by trying to win too quickly without building the talent base of the team first.

 

[Foxx]

Blazers and some Blazer fans, post Dame forcing his way out of Portland after a decade of being on overachieving untalented teams. A decade which began and was hampered by trying to win too quickly without building the talent base of the team first.

Meh. Been burned too many times to have lost sleep about the dame situation. I was his biggest advocate, but that died immediately when he turned primadonna towards the team that made him.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Meh. Been burned too many times to have lost sleep about the dame situation. I was his biggest advocate, but that died immediately when he turned primadonna towards the team that made him.

Oh I get that, and I don't blame you.

This post is about the people who want to start building a team the same way we built it around Dame.

By refusing to commit fully to rebuilding, shortcutting the rebuild process, climbing out of the lottery too soon thereby forcing ourselves to put flawed role players around talent that isn't good enough to make up for those flawed roleplayers.

It seems like we always try to shortcut a full rebuild in Portland. And we always come up short because we don't have enough talent on the team. Except that one run when Paul Allen spent double any other team and was able to flat out purchase enough talent before the CBA changed to prevent that kind of thing.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Oh I get that, and I don't blame you.

This post is about the people who want to start building a team the same way we built it around Dame.

By refusing to commit fully to rebuilding, shortcutting the rebuild process, climbing out of the lottery too soon thereby forcing ourselves to put flawed role players around talent that isn't good enough to make up for those flawed roleplayers.

It seems like we always try to shortcut a full rebuild in Portland. And we always come up short because we don't have enough talent on the team. Except that one run when Paul Allen spent double any other team and was able to flat out purchase enough talent before the CBA changed to prevent that kind of thing.

Theres really just not many franchises that have a great contending roster, its very rare and difficult to build in the NBA. The warriors had 40 years of nothing, the Bulls haven't done squat since Jordan, the Knicks had 25 irrelevant years. Denver had about 3 great years with Jokic and now looks destined for mediocrity again as they had for 40 years. Many of those are big market destination cities too.

 

[THE HCP]

. I was his biggest advocate, but that died immediately when he turned primadonna towards the team that made him.

Curious what you consider the “prima donna” type behavior Dame showed towards the team?

 

[Phatguysrule]

Theres really just not many franchises that have a great contending roster, its very rare and difficult to build in the NBA. The warriors had 40 years of nothing, the Bulls haven't done squat since Jordan, the Knicks had 25 irrelevant years. Denver had about 3 great years with Jokic and now looks destined for mediocrity again as they had for 40 years. Many of those are big market destination cities too.

Definitely the most important part is good ownership and smart management who are committed to winning and bringing in a coach who has the power to develop the right culture.

Then you have to get lucky enough to get a guy like Dame (or better).

Agreed, it's very difficult to do. We got Dame. But we didn't have good management.

 

[MickZagger]

Theres really just not many franchises that have a great contending roster, its very rare and difficult to build in the NBA. The warriors had 40 years of nothing, the Bulls haven't done squat since Jordan, the Knicks had 25 irrelevant years. Denver had about 3 great years with Jokic and now looks destined for mediocrity again as they had for 40 years. Many of those are big market destination cities too.

I mean if the only qualification for contending is winning championships than yes.

But all those teams listed had at least got the conference in finals in the timeframes you listed. I’d say that’s contention.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Curious what you consider the “prima donna” type behavior Dame showed towards the team?

Probably demanding a trade to a single team to join with a bunch of superfriends - while he spent 11 years here saying he was the type of guy to never do that.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I mean if the only qualification for contending is winning championships than yes.

But all those teams listed had at least got the conference in finals in the timeframes you listed. I’d say that’s contention.

Warriors weren't in a conference final from 1975-2014
Knicks 2000-current
Nuggets from 1985-2019 (excluding fluke Melo 2009)
Bulls 1998-current (excluding Rose 2011)

Yes two of those teams made conference finals, the Jazz made it in 2007, we made it in 2019. I don't consider any of those teams to have been contenders as none of them went on to win multiple conference games so they never really had a shot at winning the title. To be a contender you need to be a team that had a realistic chance to win the title.

We were certainly contenders in 1999 and 2000. Maybe we were contenders with Aldridge in 2015. We certainly weren't contenders in 2019 even if we made the same conference finals as in 1999 and 2000.

 

[THE HCP]

Probably demanding a trade to a single team to join with a bunch of superfriends - while he spent 11 years here saying he was the type of guy to never do that.

And you took offense to this? Guy gave this town and organization EVERYTHING and then some…..and then asked for help for 2+seasons in the middle of his prime and didn’t receive it…. He earned the right to be sent where he wanted. Not at the detriment of this team, but he had the right to request a destination. If that offended fans, you gotta be kidding me.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

And you took offense to this? Guy gave this town and organization EVERYTHING and then some…..and then asked for help for 2+seasons in the middle of his prime and didn’t receive it…. He earned the right to be sent where he wanted. Not at the detriment of this team, but he had the right to request a destination. If that offended fans, you gotta be kidding me.

If Dame just said I want out and I would like this one destination and that was all he said then that would've been fine. Hell I'd probably have pushed for the Blazers to make a solid effort to accommodate him. The Blazers roster was a mess and it made no sense for him or the Blazers to continue with him here.

But instead Dame and his agent planted stories that he wouldn't report to other teams and that he would refuse to play for them and would be disgruntled. The NBA had to organize a meeting between both Dame and the Blazers where they stepped in and said he was not allowed to do that. Dame tried to lower his trade value and back the Blazers into a corner where they had to give into him for that crap package Miami was offering. Do you not recall the media circus nationally and out of Miami about "doing right by Dame" and all that nonsense?

Cronin had to cut off all communication with Dame and his agent as they were working to sabotage any negotiations to other teams.

This coming from a guy who preached loyalty and criticize other players for going to super teams. But when it came time for his own change of teams he was about as toxic as any player has been in many years. Durant never demanded a trade to ONE team, and LeBron waited until his contracts were up - not less than a year after signing a supermax extension.

If you think Dame had the right to demand whatever he wanted - I certainly have the right as a Blazer fan to be annoyed by it. I'm far from the only Blazer fan that was put off by Dame's behavior.