Damian Lillard discusses Blazers' season, his future in Portland, trade rumors and more

http://hoopshype.com/2017/01/24/dam...his-future-in-portland-trade-rumors-and-more/

 

Pretty good answer; seems realistic about things, but doesn't come across as a kiss-ass either.

 

It just shows how lucky we are to have an owner like Paul Allen. Sure, he may have over indulged and overpaid for some of our players last summer, but that willingness to commit to players financially makes it easy to keep the guys you want to keep, happy.

Outside of an occasional ass hat like J.R. Rider, who was never happy anywhere, the players that have actually played here during the Paul Allen era love it here. It's too bad Paul Allen can't use all those billions to invent a time machine to show prospective free agents what life would be like if they actually signed with the Blazers. I think it would make it a lot easier to lure top free agents to POR.

BNM

 

I think they both like it here a lot. Splitting hairs. However, I think CJ would be much more likely to jump at a chance to play for Cleveland someday then Dame would with GS.

 

Sorry. It shouldn't have been a quote as much as it's own separate post...But yes I get it.

 

I guess Dame don't read this forum on trade rumors.

 

Expanding on this... LeBron James just made the emphatic statement that he needs more help. He said the team needs another playermaker. Would anyone trade CJ for Kevin Love after the season? I personally wouldn't do it (I might even keep CJ over Dame - not that POR would) but I am almost positive that CLE would do this deal. Love has played A LOT better this year. And of course it would balance us more both offensively and defensively.

So even though I would turn it down, is there anyone who wouldn't?

 

Wow, can you imagine how scary good CLE would be if they added C.J. to their current roster? He would be the perfect fit for them and I think would give them a clear advantage in a 7-game series against GSW. See LeBron's recent comments about the CLE roster being top heavy. C.J. is better at hitting open shots than anybody on the CLE roster, and outside of LeBron, better at creating his own shot. He would take a huge load off LeBron, Kyrie and Love. Too bad CLE doesn't have anything, outside of those three, even remotely worth trading for a player like C.J. We already have their 2017 first round pick, and the rest of their roster is full of a few young guys that suck and old coat tail riding ring chasers whose better days are about a decade in the rear view mirror.

Dame on GSW wouldn't have nearly as much of an impact. They already have a much better version of Dame in Curry, so he'd just take away Shaun Livingston's back up minutes.

BNM

 

They would have to give us Love for POR to even consider it. And even then I think POR would stand pat. See my post above yours....

 

Great interview. Glad he's on our team.

 

Funny you mentioned LeBron's comments at the same time I was typing about the same thing.

No way would I do a K-Love for C.J. swap. Love is three years older and is a great third option on a win now team. He can't create his own shot and adding him as our second option would not make us any better. He would make no sense in POR. Yeah our roster would be more balanced, but also older. Getting older, as long as GSW is still GSW makes no sense. Getting better while getting younger is the only thing that makes sense for POR.

As much sense as C.J. makes in CLE, I'm not sure they do that deal either. Again they are in win now mode. So, the older Love makes sense for them. Yes, C.J. would give them another play maker that can hit open shots and create his own shot, but giving up Love leaves them without any big that can score and kills their rebounding.

Adding C.J. to LeBron, Kyrie and Love would make CLE scary good. Swapping C.J. for Love doesn't really help them. Their roster would still be top heavy, relying entirely on 3 players for scoring. LeBron wasn't asking for different 3rd option. He was asking for a reliable 4th option to take some of the load off their Big 3.

BNM

 

Like I said, it will never happen. CLE isn't breaking up their Big 3 and have nothing else to offer us. As I posted, I actually don't think either team would do a Love for C.J. swap.

BNM

 

I love how there is one team out there with a really really really good 4th option so every other team now thinks they deserve or should get one. Not how it works unfortunately.

 

Well not every team, most are still looking for a really good second or third option. A few are still trying to find a viable first option.

BNM

 

Every time Lebron see his team start going down he wants more great players so he can win championship. Some how gets his way because some team like us helps him to achieve that goal. Know I don't think we are going trade CJ to Cleveland. Lebron right now don't think they can beat Golden St in a 7 game series. That why he asking for more.