As of now, we still only have two big-time players to build around. The jury is still out on Nurk. There's already quite a few threads about him so I'll try to leave him out of this discussion.
Dame has made it known publicly time and time again that he plans on sticking around Portland for as long as we'll have him and he's shown nothing for us to question his sincerity.
CJ hasn't really said anything. We have him signed until 2021. He'll be thirty and an unrestricted free agent. He's not obligated to say anything though. To the contrary, he's actually tweeted commendations of other guys pursuing happiness with new teams. Also, he signed a max 4 year, not 5 year, which I always found interesting.
Here's a couple reasons why I believe he won't re-sign:
1. We haven't gotten close to a ring win by 2021. I don't think we will. Warriors will stick around for a few more years at least, LeBron is probably going to form a new superteam next summer. A lot of teams have gotten better while we've improved slightly. Nurk was supposed to be our missing piece and it looked that way in the 2nd half of last season. However, if our play from this season continues to be the norm going forward, we're going to be stuck in no man's land with no real way to improve significantly enough to contend, considering our payroll.
2. He's not THE GUY here. Dame is and likely always will be while in his prime, deservedly so. I could see CJ pulling an Irving and wanting to be the featured star of his own team. CJ and Lillard are good friends, but friendship is not enough to keep the players together when there's a better career opportunity elsewhere. He should be a perennial all-star in this league, but he doesn't get nearly enough attention playing in Portland and being the second option to a guard that has similar strengths. Dame has gotten snubbed the past couple years, but so has CJ. A move to a bigger West team or any East coast team would instantly catapult him into a household name.
If he left, I wouldn't blame him. As long as he did it the right way, I wouldn't hate him either. He's a got a good head on his shoulder and is fun to watch. He'll stay fun to watch on whatever team he's on. So that leads me to my ultimate point:
If Olshey doesn't have something up his sleeve to turn us into a true contender by 2019, he needs to be ready to ship CJ before it becomes too late. CJ with two or even three years left will net us such a bigger return than trying to deal him on the last year of his deal. And let's be honest, with our draft picks and assets, obtaining another star player is beyond our reach right now. Harkless, Collins and Swanigan had much more value before the season started. Now everyone knows they're just not that good right now.
Just a couple years ago, we saw Aldridge leave us with nothing in return. That was the first big blunder of the Olshey area that he has somewhat rectified with some decent trades. However, if we suffer another similar loss, I don't think it's something we can bounce back from.
Dame has made it known publicly time and time again that he plans on sticking around Portland for as long as we'll have him and he's shown nothing for us to question his sincerity.
CJ hasn't really said anything. We have him signed until 2021. He'll be thirty and an unrestricted free agent. He's not obligated to say anything though. To the contrary, he's actually tweeted commendations of other guys pursuing happiness with new teams. Also, he signed a max 4 year, not 5 year, which I always found interesting.
Here's a couple reasons why I believe he won't re-sign:
1. We haven't gotten close to a ring win by 2021. I don't think we will. Warriors will stick around for a few more years at least, LeBron is probably going to form a new superteam next summer. A lot of teams have gotten better while we've improved slightly. Nurk was supposed to be our missing piece and it looked that way in the 2nd half of last season. However, if our play from this season continues to be the norm going forward, we're going to be stuck in no man's land with no real way to improve significantly enough to contend, considering our payroll.
2. He's not THE GUY here. Dame is and likely always will be while in his prime, deservedly so. I could see CJ pulling an Irving and wanting to be the featured star of his own team. CJ and Lillard are good friends, but friendship is not enough to keep the players together when there's a better career opportunity elsewhere. He should be a perennial all-star in this league, but he doesn't get nearly enough attention playing in Portland and being the second option to a guard that has similar strengths. Dame has gotten snubbed the past couple years, but so has CJ. A move to a bigger West team or any East coast team would instantly catapult him into a household name.
If he left, I wouldn't blame him. As long as he did it the right way, I wouldn't hate him either. He's a got a good head on his shoulder and is fun to watch. He'll stay fun to watch on whatever team he's on. So that leads me to my ultimate point:
If Olshey doesn't have something up his sleeve to turn us into a true contender by 2019, he needs to be ready to ship CJ before it becomes too late. CJ with two or even three years left will net us such a bigger return than trying to deal him on the last year of his deal. And let's be honest, with our draft picks and assets, obtaining another star player is beyond our reach right now. Harkless, Collins and Swanigan had much more value before the season started. Now everyone knows they're just not that good right now.
Just a couple years ago, we saw Aldridge leave us with nothing in return. That was the first big blunder of the Olshey area that he has somewhat rectified with some decent trades. However, if we suffer another similar loss, I don't think it's something we can bounce back from.
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