Would you trade Lillard?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Cippy91 said:
Kawhi Leonard or Anthony davis would be the only I would consider and I would keep Dame at PG but that's not gonna happen. The fans just wanna turn on any good player that stays on this team. Even if we had Kawhi, people would shit on him in some form
Click to expand...
So they aren't untouchable
 
Lillard is the face of the franchise but more than that he represents a player commitment to the local fan base. I can't stress how important that is. When Lamarcus left, it seriously fucked any chance of building a player core around an accepted All Star. We would essentially have become a halfway house for developing players if Dame hadn't committed right away. We owe him for that. The league doesn't care about Portland. It's obvious we aren't part of the agenda as our best players are denied even a chance at All Star voting. The inability to attract free agents is killing this franchise. Dame at least it gives a face and an identity. We would be fucked otherwise!
 
ripcityboy said:
Lillard is the face of the franchise but more than that he represents a player commitment to the local fan base.
Click to expand...
Ricky Rubio has been very loyal to Minnesota, too.

And if you want to talk loyalty to Portland, Lillard has a ways to go to beat Steve Blake. Poor guy came back, what, three times?
 
Cippy91 said:
Dame and CJ are untouchable as they should be
Click to expand...

If I really believed that were true then I would check out of the league until their contracts expired. Show me a team that had two equally bad defenders at the guard spots and even sniffed at a title. If they are both untouchable then get used to the one-and-done years. At least we will get a lot of 14th draft picks. Yeah.
 
Jokic is a lot more valuable than Lillard and I like Lillard. Jokic played at a very high level last year too--I said at the end of last year that Jokic, by advanced numbers, looked to be maybe a tick behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingas in terms of rookie play. This year, he's taken a step backwards defensively but a big step forward offensively and is a legitimate star.

Lillard has been a star longer, but Jokic is a younger, better talent.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Ricky Rubio has been very loyal to Minnesota, too.

And if you want to talk loyalty to Portland, Lillard has a ways to go to beat Steve Blake. Poor guy came back, what, three times?
Click to expand...

Rubio isn't in Adidas commercials or as good a player as Dame is. Dame has a brand identity that is linked with PDX. Every time I tell someone from around the world where I'm from, they say, "Oh. Where Damian Lillard plays?" People in Eastern Europe are Blazer fans solely because of Sabonis. That's how you beat every other single GM telling free agents Portland sucks ass. USC and UCLA do that every year to local recruits about Eugene. You show athletes it doesn't matter where you play because the exposure is the same. That's why Dame is so important.
 
Cippy91 said:
Ben simmons will never be a top 5 player, quote me on that. Lillard is a top 10 player.
Click to expand...
Lillard might not even be a Top 10 PG - he's definitely not a Top 10 player.
 
Can we please stop with all the negative Lillard talk... the dude has embraced the city of Portland like no other player in recent memory... the team is having a down year but he has proven himself and the team will bounce back next year... he deserves more respect than this
 
Natebishop3 said:
w.....t.....f

He was All-NBA last year. Ya'll mother fuckers need Jesus.
Click to expand...
This was discussed in another thread a month or so ago, and it's no less true now. It's not difficult to list 10 PG's who have arguably played as well or better this season.

Not saying that he's definitely not a top 10 PG, but it's not necessarily a slam dunk that he is.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
This was discussed in another thread a month or so ago, and it's no less true now. It's not difficult to list 10 PG's who have arguably played as well or better this season.

Not saying that he's definitely not a top 10 PG, but it's not necessarily a slam dunk that he is.
Click to expand...

I find this line of thinking to be a little absurd. Nobody was saying he was even outside top 5 last summer. So he is magically not the same player six months later?

Shit, why not go minute by minute? This minute he's top 3, but next minute he'll miss a shot so he's maybe..... 20th best in the league? And then the next minute he hits a deep three and he's back in the top 5. I just can't even keep track!
 
Natebishop3 said:
I find this line of thinking to be a little absurd. Nobody was saying he was even outside top 5 last summer. So he is magically not the same player six months later?

Shit, why not go minute by minute? This minute he's top 3, but next minute he'll miss a shot so he's maybe..... 20th best in the league? And then the next minute he hits a deep three and he's back in the top 5. I just can't even keep track!
Click to expand...

He doesn't look like the same player from 6 months ago, so yeah... "magically" he isn't.

He's a big boy, he can handle criticism.
 
Natebishop3 said:
I find this line of thinking to be a little absurd. Nobody was saying he was even outside top 5 last summer. So he is magically not the same player six months later?

Shit, why not go minute by minute? This minute he's top 3, but next minute he'll miss a shot so he's maybe..... 20th best in the league? And then the next minute he hits a deep three and he's back in the top 5. I just can't even keep track!
Click to expand...

By the same token, if he's a top-five point guard one year, surely he must be for the next fifty years? Exaggerations are silly.

A lot of point guards are playing well. Also, Lillard's reputation, nationally and on this board, was higher when the team was doing well (because he was assumed to be infused with leader-y winner-sauce) and is lower, nationally and on this board, when the team is doing badly (because he's the captain of a sinking ship).

You could have argued his standing last year, too, but no one would have wanted to with good feelings flowing.

One thing that Lillard boosters need to recognize is that Lillard is less valuable than his raw PPG. Defense is a big deal and he's bad at it. That saps a lot of value. And something Lillard critics should recognize is that Lillard's ability to be even this productive, offensively, despite not having a high-level team around him to take defensive pressure off is a rare and valuable skill.

Lillard is obviously a star point guard, but he plays in an era with an unprecedented number of star point guards. And the situation isn't helped by non-traditional players playing the point guard role and excelling at it (Harden, Antetokounmpo). John Wall is playing better this year than last year. Mike Conley is playing better this year than last year. Lowry is playing better this year than last year. Isiah Thomas is playing...much, much better this year than last year.

Just a tough era to rank highly as a point guard. Lillard is certainly in the mix, but definitely does not clearly shoot ahead of everyone.
 
Minstrel said:
By the same token, if he's a top-five point guard one year, surely he must be for the next fifty years? Exaggerations are silly.

A lot of point guards are playing well. Also, Lillard's reputation, nationally and on this board, was higher when the team was doing well (because he was assumed to be infused with leader-y winner-sauce) and is lower, nationally and on this board, when the team is doing badly (because he's the captain of a sinking ship).

You could have argued his standing last year, too, but no one would have wanted to with good feelings flowing.

One thing that Lillard boosters need to recognize is that Lillard is less valuable than his raw PPG. Defense is a big deal and he's bad at it. That saps a lot of value. And something Lillard critics should recognize is that Lillard's ability to be even this productive, offensively, despite not having a high-level team around him to take defensive pressure off is a rare and valuable skill.

Lillard is obviously a star point guard, but he plays in an era with an unprecedented number of star point guards. And the situation isn't helped by non-traditional players playing the point guard role and excelling at it (Harden, Antetokounmpo). John Wall is playing better this year than last year. Mike Conley is playing better this year than last year. Lowry is playing better this year than last year. Isiah Thomas is playing...much, much better this year than last year.

Just a tough era to rank highly as a point guard. Lillard is certainly in the mix, but definitely does not easily shoot ahead of everyone.
Click to expand...

Damn, post of the year candidate right here, folks! Really well said.
 
Minstrel said:
By the same token, if he's a top-five point guard one year, surely he must be for the next fifty years? Exaggerations are silly.

A lot of point guards are playing well. Also, Lillard's reputation, nationally and on this board, was higher when the team was doing well (because he was assumed to be infused with leader-y winner-sauce) and is lower, nationally and on this board, when the team is doing badly (because he's the captain of a sinking ship).

You could have argued his standing last year, too, but no one would have wanted to with good feelings flowing.

One thing that Lillard boosters need to recognize is that Lillard is less valuable than his raw PPG. Defense is a big deal and he's bad at it. That saps a lot of value. And something Lillard critics should recognize is that Lillard's ability to be even this productive, offensively, despite not having a high-level team around him to take defensive pressure off is a rare and valuable skill.

Lillard is obviously a star point guard, but he plays in an era with an unprecedented number of star point guards. And the situation isn't helped by non-traditional players playing the point guard role and excelling at it (Harden, Antetokounmpo). John Wall is playing better this year than last year. Mike Conley is playing better this year than last year. Lowry is playing better this year than last year. Isiah Thomas is playing...much, much better this year than last year.

Just a tough era to rank highly as a point guard. Lillard is certainly in the mix, but definitely does not clearly shoot ahead of everyone.
Click to expand...

And yet.... Lillard has done things in his first 4.5 years that not many people have achieved. :dunno:
 
I think it should be on the table if you land in the top-3 and have a chance to draft one of the big three PGs in the draft.

Rudy Gobert, anyone?
 
Natebishop3 said:
And yet.... Lillard has done things in his first 4.5 years that not many people have achieved. :dunno:
Click to expand...
The position is so flooded with great talent and there is a huge "the grass is greener" mentality when the team isn't doing very well. If you want to look at the media side of it, we are a small market team so the media likes to ignore us unless we are overachieving, if Lillard was on NY/LA/Texas Team he would be viewed quiet differently by the media.
Edit- Also people weren't saying these things the first 20 games of the season as well. Its pretty easy to see that Lillard hasn't been right on the court since he came back from his injury. I think its effecting him a lot more then its let on.
pre injury 45% from the field and 36% from 3. Post injury 41% from the field and 33% from 3. Could just be a slump but watching the games he does not seem to be 100%, especially on D. Where he used to fight through screens now and then he is almost always going around them and he is very slow footed when having to move change directions. Heck even on offense he can't shake his man that effectively at the moment.
 
Last edited:
Natebishop3 said:
And yet.... Lillard has done things in his first 4.5 years that not many people have achieved. :dunno:
Click to expand...

That's true and impressive--but we're talking about overall performance and this year. Being one of the youngest to X points and Y assists is pretty cool, but doesn't really impact how he compares this year to a host of other talented guards. And factoids like that never captured overall value (including scoring efficiency, defense, etc).
 
This whole conversation is out of balance in that it's a lot of back and forth about just how good Dame is. What I want to hear in any discussion about trading him is what package are we getting for him? Irving or Thomas? Pass. Durant? 'Bye Dame.
 
We are not getting from other teams any player that is as good as Lillard, so no, there are no circumstances which Lillard is traded.

This is not necessarily true for CJ, but it would take a heck of an offer.
 
Minstrel said:
By the same token, if he's a top-five point guard one year, surely he must be for the next fifty years? Exaggerations are silly.

A lot of point guards are playing well. Also, Lillard's reputation, nationally and on this board, was higher when the team was doing well (because he was assumed to be infused with leader-y winner-sauce) and is lower, nationally and on this board, when the team is doing badly (because he's the captain of a sinking ship).

You could have argued his standing last year, too, but no one would have wanted to with good feelings flowing.

One thing that Lillard boosters need to recognize is that Lillard is less valuable than his raw PPG. Defense is a big deal and he's bad at it. That saps a lot of value. And something Lillard critics should recognize is that Lillard's ability to be even this productive, offensively, despite not having a high-level team around him to take defensive pressure off is a rare and valuable skill.

Lillard is obviously a star point guard, but he plays in an era with an unprecedented number of star point guards. And the situation isn't helped by non-traditional players playing the point guard role and excelling at it (Harden, Antetokounmpo). John Wall is playing better this year than last year. Mike Conley is playing better this year than last year. Lowry is playing better this year than last year. Isiah Thomas is playing...much, much better this year than last year.

Just a tough era to rank highly as a point guard. Lillard is certainly in the mix, but definitely does not clearly shoot ahead of everyone.
Click to expand...
Clearly that's what I MEANT to say. (Atlanta/Orlando.)
 
Sarni said:
We are not getting any offers for him because he is staying. We will be bulding around him not without him.
Click to expand...
a) You don't know we're not getting offers. Blazers FO isn't the Trump White House - it doesn't leak like a sieve.
b) But as long as Olshey is here, we're sticking with Lillard, for sure. NO has hitched his wagon to his star.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
a) You don't know we're not getting offers. Blazers FO isn't the Trump White House - it doesn't leak like a sieve.
b) But as long as Olshey is here, we're sticking with Lillard, for sure. NO has hitched his wagon to his star.
Click to expand...

I really don't see many teams in the league who will be willing to trade a lot for Lillard. All contenders already have point guards who are equally good or better - Warriors, Cavaliers, Raptors. Spurs do not have a point guard better than him but they do not need one anyway and because of how they play, a defensive liability at point guard would not be welcome anyway. On top of that they do not have the assets to trade for Lillard and they also know it. Boston will definitely not be looking at him when they have Thomas. Clippers have CP3 and do not have the assets to take Lillard. Thunder have Westbrook and even Rockets have Harden who has been doing better than Lillard at PG.

You might look at some of the weak teams as they could trade picks for Dame but none of them will do that when the next draft will have 3-4 point guards with massive potential.

Basically it'd be easier for us to trade everyone else than Lillard because teams who a) need him, b) have the assets to get it done are few and far between. And I'm not even talking about some immense incredible assets. A well positioned first round pick plus a good player could start the talks but nobody will offer that.
 
Sarni said:
I really don't see many teams in the league who will be willing to trade a lot for Lillard. All contenders already have point guards who are equally good or better - Warriors, Cavaliers, Raptors. Spurs do not have a point guard better than him but they do not need one anyway and because of how they play, a defensive liability at point guard would not be welcome anyway.
Click to expand...

! They've won 3 championships with a defensive liability at point guard!
I've been trying to come up with possible trade scenarios with the Spurs for a while, but their contracts are remarkably sane - shitloads for Kawhi and Aldridge, peanuts for everybody else. The only exceptions are Parker, Ginobili and Green. I don't see them trading Parker or Ginobili, even to make the numbers work, and Green has dropped off considerably. I want SloMo, but I want more for Lillard than just him (OBVIOUSLY).
ALSO: Lillard and Aldridge reunited? AWKWARD.

Sarni said:
You might look at some of the weak teams as they could trade picks for Dame but none of them will do that when the next draft will have 3-4 point guards with massive potential.
Click to expand...

I disagree a little. A team like Philly doesn't want to add a rookie PG, however talented. All the "star" PGs in the next draft are very young - Lillard was good in the NBA from the get-go, but he was a 4-year guy. Philly is one team I think would love to have Lillard, particularly as Lillard is a great shooter, and shooting is a weakness in that team (and in the star PGs in the draft). Again, if they would give up Simmons, it's a no-brainer. But obviously they would much rather offer Okafor. What if they offered Okafor and their pick? I say no, because they're already pretty good and with Lillard they might even make the playoffs, so their pick would be of comparatively low value. Noel and a pick? Still no.

Orlando is another team that has actually said they still want to compete. Mainly because Hennigan is trying desperately to save his job. But I really don't like any of their players. Maybe a player and TWO picks, unprotected?

Other teams that could be interested:
Sacramento
New Orleans
Milwaukee (Thon Maker, Greg Monroe and Malcolm Brogdon?)
New York
Phoenix (to pair with Devin Booker to make Splash Brothers II)
 
Sarni said:
Basically it'd be easier for us to trade everyone else
Click to expand...
"Easier" in what sense?
Who wants Crabbe and Turner with those ridiculous salaries?
Who wants Meyers Leonard AT ALL?
Even CJ is on a poison pill contract. And the rest of our players are, frankly, scrubs. At this point our most tradeable players are probably Harkless (provided people haven't checked his stats recently) and Ezeli, just as an expiring contract.
I guess someone like the Spurs might be interested in Aminu, too. But is he that much better than Simmons?
 
Rasta didn't you want to trade Lillard for the #2 pick two years ago because Russell was going to be oh so much better then Lillard
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top