Merged: |0fficial| Trade Deadline

From Dame:

"I’ve seen my name thrown around,” said Lillard after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s a surprise, but then it’s not a surprise just because on the business side, it doesn’t surprise me. Sometimes people like to rock the boat, it could be a rumor. If there was any truth to it, then that would be disheartening, especially for me because I’m really invested in Portland. I want to be here. It’s been tough to attract stars to Portland, historically, for this organization. For me to be 26 years old and invested in Portland and want to be in Portland, I don’t see why (being traded) would make sense.”
2 hours ago – viaNBA.com"

 

Cause defense wins championships?

 

Okafor's first destination would be Chicago.

 

Right

 

Exactly the types of teams Portland needs to make a deal with for either a pick or a player on a rookie salary in return.

 

Any interest? Mirotic is a RFA.

 

http://hoopshype.com/2017/02/22/nba-rumor-notebook-nba-teams-expect-an-active-trade-deadline/

"The Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics and Sacramento Kings are among the teams that have been linked to Okafor, according to sources. The belief among executives is that Philadelphia is just weighing the different trade offers at this point and will execute a deal soon."

 

Could be a wake up call for Dame that he not untouchable.

 

Disapointed the last few deadlines, it's the first time I have absolutely no expectation. Trying not to be upset for once.

 

I think there will be 2-3 small moves and nothing more. Deadline last year was abysmal, nothing happened.

 

This year is tough because largely, the moves made need to be made to create cap space, not necessarily to make the team better.....even though they have so much room for improvement. This is a case where it might have to get a little worse before it gets better.

 

For a small market like Portland to have an All-NBA 2nd teamer invested so much in Portland and actually want to be here shouldn't be something fans take for granted. That's not something we've had a whole lot of. I really don't understand some of you. At least the vast majority of Blazer fans appreciate what he means to the organization.

 

Nobody is untouchable!

 

As much as I like Dame and CJ, it's tough to imagine that if they are as good as most of us feel that they are, that there wouldn't be more of an impact on wins. If you have 2 players that are that good, you shouldn't be 2+ games out of the #5 Lottery spot. It doesn't help that they play almost the same position in the back-court.....ball dominant scoring guards. If one of them was SF, it might be a little more balanced.

Will be sad if one of them goes but it may be necessary for Portland to move on and get better.

 

Should I make a trade deadline thread? Do we have enough?

 

Right? If people think its hard to get free agents to play here, trade the one guy who is 100% invested and wants to play here and win a championship for the fans and see just how hard it will be to just talk to free agents then.

 

We are all kind of bouncing back and forth between three threads that are basically trade deadline threads as of now. I hesitated starting this one..

It would be much better if we had an actual Trade to have a thread on.

 

I suspect that Olshey views the roster the same way most of us do: nobody is untouchable...as long as it brings us back a better player.

 

Sad but necessary long term, and it will be cj who is the one moved due to pdx's commitment to Damian.