Enough is enough: Trade Lillard

[wizenheimer]

True....but sometimes...

Spurting can be hurting.....

there's always somebody dragging conversation into the gutter....where it may belong

 

[TBpup]

I rarely venture out into the real world, but @TBpup often interacts with other fans, and I remember him saying that he has been hearing more and more that fans are coming around to the idea. Correct me if I'm wrong @TBpup

@Natebishop3 ...I've actually been surprised by some of the most die-hard Dame fans that I know starting to think that regardless of good Dame has been individually, perhaps it is time to get assets for him while his price is as high as it will be, and built around younger players and see what happens. No one had any idea that Gobert would get such a haul until he did. Do I expect Cronin to pull an Ainge? Absolutely not, but Dame will never be worth more. One of these opinions comes from a die hard Blazers fan with ties to multiple NBA coaches and front office personnel. Dame is his favorite player but he is pleading for the Blazers to move Dame so he has a shot at a ring and in the process, the Blazers get assets to move on and move forward.

There are some fans that say, 'don't trade Dame no matter what and just keep going like we have been' because they have such an emotional attachment to Dame. That is there prerogative, but it seems they are bigger Dame fans than Blazers fans. Guess that is why fan is short for fanatic. I love that they have that much passion for their basketball hero, but can also disagree with their direction for the franchise.

Around the league, I haven't spoken to anyone that things Portland can make enough moves to get anywhere near being a real contender, so throwing assets at such an attempt would be a waste. More often than not, they think Portland should move Dame before he gets older and that contract becomes an albatross even with the cap going up. Then again, those aren't Blazer fans, but just NBA guys I've gotten to know over the years.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Can you please point to which year/years Stotts was told to tank?

for Billups its 2/2.

Maybe wait until Chauncey is given the green light to try to won every game of the season before having such a comparison?

This reminds me of the quote in First Blood where Rambo says "But somebody wouldn't let us win!"

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I'm all for keeping Lillard and trading picks, and players to make the team a contender. My concern is the Blazers haven't proven capable of doing that so far and we don't have much time to figure it out (if we're on Lillard's timeline). Are we saying the Blazers org hasn't been trying to build a championship-level team around Lillard this entire time and only now giving it a chance?

Ex-fucking-actly

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

This reminds me of the quote in First Blood where Rambo says "But somebody wouldn't let us win!"

okay….

and this response reminds me of that viral video where the customer asks if the clerk has any tampons and the clerk says “no, but kleenex is right over there”… as if they have the same affect and work the same…
(Okay i made that up).

Come on. If you sit 3/5ths of the starting line up of any team for a quarter of the season, your just not gonna win many games.

Not sure what you should be expecting but comparing the two seasons to stotts is not an apt comparison. Period.

 

[wizenheimer]

Are we saying the Blazers org hasn't been trying to build a championship-level team around Lillard this entire time and only now giving it a chance? .

correct....Olshey never tried to build a contender around Dame. It was always around CJ and Dame and yeah, in Olshey's mind CJ came first. If Portland had actually tried to give Dame a contender, Olshey and CJ would have been out the door as the first and second act. And that would have been in 2015-16

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

I'm all for keeping Lillard and trading picks, and players to make the team a contender. My concern is the Blazers haven't proven capable of doing that so far and we don't have much time to figure it out (if we're on Lillard's timeline). Are we saying the Blazers org hasn't been trying to build a championship-level team around Lillard this entire time and only now giving it a chance? That is my main concern with keeping Lillard. We would need to mortgage our future in the process and I have little confidence in this front office to pull off something that truly gives us a chance to win it all.

I hope we find a great opportunity to give Lillard a chance to win in Portland! I'm just unsure if the players needed to make that happen will be available for us to trade for.

Ex-fucking-actly

are you guys able to equate context?
Olshey shit the bed. Everyone agrees.
We have more assets now than he ever did because he shit the bed.

Joe said from the get go this is a process.
Get out of your “drive-thru”, instant change, expectations. They are simply unrealistic aNd not accurate.

 

[PCmor7]

Not to mention the fallout that the franchise would have to endure. It would be even more unpopular than trading Drexler with no guarantee they could build a winner with players that have never won anything.
No. You don't trade Dame at this point. Now next summer this conversation might come back around or even as soon as the trade deadline but you don't move away from Lillard until you give him at least one last shot.

I'm not saying I agree with the OP, but the only way this is a winning situation is if the Blazers win.

If the Blazers go Dame's way and end up in the play-in round, they're going to get roasted nationally and you know a significant chunk of this board is going to complain they didn't do enough or were smart about it even if they trade five firsts for Anthony Davis and get Siakam, too.

If the Blazers draft the BPA because they got no reasonable offers for 3 and that player turns into a star in 2-3 years along with Sharpe and the Blazers are in the WCF, no one is going to remember that Dame wanted vets or that Cronin didn't gamble the house on OG Anunoby and Jaylen Brown.

The front office just needs to be smart and not give in to desperation or pressure. We hired a great scout and I have little doubt if they make the picks at 3 and 23 they're going to get good players. The freaking Heat are in the finals with seven undrafted players, four of whom are in their rotation.

 

[Bingo Bango]

A long time reader, opened an account especially for this post.

Trading Ant and the 3rd pick to get Lillard help as you call it would only make us mediocre and absolutely destroy our future.
When you consider age and talent, both Ant AND the 3rd, each are more valuable to us than Lillard. On the other hand, we can get an excellent package for Lillard, think Franz Wagner, Cole Anthony and the 6th from Orlando. That would give us a talented future up to par with teams like the thunder.

To me, it's a no-brainer but since so many people here don't seem to get it, I went through the trouble of opening an account.
Trading our future for mediocre success next year would be devestating. Especially when the writing is on the wall. Please make the right decision and let go of Lillard

I and several others have been advocating for a Lillard trade for weeks. Glad to have more support.

 

[Bingo Bango]

Dame's trade value is going to start taking exponentially bigger drops from here on.

Exactly. This is the summer to trade him, when teams are still thinking about that 71-point game.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Typo. Meant Brown. My brain is overloading with all the possibilities.

So Dame Grant Brown core. No probably not a title core.

Now if Sharpe becomes an allstar and the core is Dame Brown Sharpe? Yes. Blazers would still need production from Grant and another couple key vets. They probably wouldn't be favorites, but they'd be somewhere between a dark horse and legit contender.

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

Is it possible for a thread to suck so powerfully that it creates a black hole in the underverse?

If we trade Dame there will be some with a black spot on their underpants.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

national media would absolutely rip us apart and I agree probably not effect signing all stars (they aren’t coming here anyways) but say Sharpe explodes into a star it would have to cross his mind that this franchise doesn’t take care of their stars. I also think it’s a horrible way to take care of the best player in franchise history. Trust me I would love nothing more than get best possible return for Dame if he ask out but no way would I do that to him.

I appreciate loyalty it’s so rare

I just don't see how this ever becomes an issue. Teams that trade for Dame would all be aiming to be possible contenders. At worst it's a Kawhi to Raptors thing and he even got a title there. Or it's a young lottery team like CP3 to the Suns, but similarly they'd have upside.

Blazers just need to shop for the best return if trading Dame. The other team will inherently have to make it a good situation to Dame in order to give the Blazers the best return.

 

[STOMP]

And Iverson wasn't really a point guard. He was a shooting guard. They had Eric Snow playing the point next to him.

And what is LBJ? He runs the point. Is a PG someone who runs the point or someone who guards the other team's smallest player?

STOMP