I don't think the Dame news was positive or negative.
"Improve the roster or I'm out."
That's the constant in literally every leak about Dame or Dame's preferences.
Haynes:
Olshey:
Quick:
Everything else from Windhorst and other various sources are saying the rumblings are out but he's not serious yet. He's "waiting" before he makes any commitments.
My read was the Olshey telling the team "we aren't making any major changes" after losing to Denver set Dame off. That's the main source of his displeasure. He's seen what Olshey has done in the past few years. The 16-17 and 17-18 offseasons were DISASTERS to say the least. 16-17 hamstringing the team with terrible contracts, and 17-18 missing out on multiple all-stars for someone that might not even be on the team next year. He cannot be patient or give Neil the benefit of the doubt anymore given these two catastrophic off-seasons. The coaching search did him no favors. I am certain Billups was Dame's preferred choice among the many names brought to him or were being seriously considered by Olshey. Trying to argue otherwise is just horsewash. But he didn't make the decision, or have a hand in personally selecting the candidates, so he was mad that people came after him for it. That's perfectly reasonable. Additionally, I think watching these teams that were not considered championship contenders be in the conference finals is massively disappointing to him, especially considering how Phoenix trounced the injury ridden team that ousted us.
As far as what we need to do to keep him? Nothing has changed. He wants to see improvements to the roster. Nothing short of that will make him happy. We're not even done with the season yet or at the draft so it's unlikely any major trades or free agent acquisitions can happen. If we want to placate Dame now, like Neil said, it's on him to build a roster that can compete for a championship. If we go into training camp with a much better roster I think the rumblings regarding Dame will die down in the short term. If nothing major changes, I think they increase. Either way, Dame has 3 years guaranteed on his contract, and I think he would at least give us the courtesy of riding out one more season, even if Olshey cannot meaningfully improve the roster. Another first round exit and he's asking out next season, or maybe we move him at the trade deadline if we are sucking next year.
I don't know how many people remember this, but the rumblings about Giannis asking out were HUGE last year. Then the team sold it's future for Jrue Holiday and (at least tried) to get Bogdonavic. Yeah they overpaid to do so, but it made Giannis happy, and they are in the conference finals this year. Giannis's situation is a bit different, his contract was expiring and they needed him to sign to supermax. Dame is just starting his supermax. But we need to go all-in a-la the Jrue Holiday trade. Otherwise just trade Dame.
I was a fan of moving McCollum for depth pieces before this stuff about Dame came out. Now I think if you move McCollum and don't get someone better in return Dame is asking out immediately....
