I can't believe I'm missing an LMA recap...but you're right, that was a totally different situation from this.
Just after the trade deadline, after the team had traded off Hart and GP2 and waved the white flag, the Blazers (on Dame's 71pt night) were 29-31. That may not seem great (narrator: "It wasn't") but they were 3 games out of the 4th seed and 2 games behind Conference Finalist GSW and NBA Finalist Miami. I get the concepts that people think a .500 team is "purgatory", but both of those "contenders" showed in different ways that flawed teams can still go far.
There are definitely changes to be made with the defense, and Scoot et al. may not be franchise saviors Year One, but Dame and Goodwin aren't dumb. They got their bag, they have the chance to be almost immortal in Portland (have you seen a Clyde Drexler Day at Moda recently?), they can cement their status as the guys who don't chase rings and superteams, and can start working with the young guys to start building an identity.