What I understand after reading everything, Dame was given a list of candidates and he said which ones he liked the most, Kidd and Billups. He WAS NOT the one to come out and suggest those two, he picked those two out of all the candidates the Blazers presented him. He said he didn't know about Billups past and I believe him. I am older than Dame, a die hard Blazer and NBA fan for over 20 years and never heard of this Billups rape case until last week. How many didn't know about it either until just last week? So let's stop this Dame bashing shit man, media is spinning it like he endorsed him from the start and he is supporting someone with a rape past. Someone as loyal as Dame, who has been the loyalist superstar the Blazers have ever seen and is ok playing in an small market, I could see how he could get pissed at the backlash, finger pointing and people bashing him. You got some here calling him a fraud now and a bunch of unnecessary bullshit. The ones doing that, should really be ashamed of themselves. Let's not fuck this up anymore than a small bag of sour ass fans have done.
Bashing Dame is just insane. He's the best thing we have going and has done absolutely nothing wrong. He is a model player and person.
Well, Lillard did sit in on one of the interviews with Billups, and has been in contact with him during the hiring process. It’s not unreasonable to expect Lillard to do some homework on his guy and know about his past.
Yes, actually, it is incredibly unreasonable. That's not Dame's job. Sitting in on an interview to see how the conversation went doesn't require anything more than being there. It's the responsibility of the front office to do the background search and know how the results will mesh with the local pulse of the city. It's their job to make him aware. It's their job to prepare Dame for any backlash he might receive. It's their job to make sure they are out in front of this and taking the heat of this hire rather than leaking the news on Friday during a playoff game and forcing the players to deal with the fallout all weekend. This has been handled incredibly poorly by Olshey.
Lillard is the leader of the team. He can’t play that role and then back away from it in off-court matters. If he really cares about Portland and the image of the Blazers, he has to know what he’s doing when he gives his approval to a head coach candidate.
The only thing that bothers me about Dame right now is.. - report that dame sat in the interview - report dame has not been involved in the hiring process at all which one is it?
Your right but if Dame or any other member(s) of this team is going to be apart of the interview process they should have done there homework on the guy the team is hiring. Even model player/person have goof ups.
I've never seen Dame "play a role" on court or off court....I think this is pure sensationalism and fishing for drama..it's the media that's "playing a role" when it comes to Dame....and I promise you Chauncey has been on the phone with Dame throughout this process...probably since he was offered an interview. All this other bullshit is just throwing shit on a wall and seeing what sticks. Dame did not make a mistake endorsing Billups....Dame wants to get to the next level and Chauncey on paper fills the gap that the team is mired in right now. I'm also sure that the vetting team Neil put together has filled Dame in on their findings and that today he's completely informed about the checks and balances.
My 2 cents is he didn't know about Billups past at the start, just like I didn't know like many others and whenever he was informed about it, him like the Blazers did their homework and came to the conclusion he wasn't charged of anything and have faith and trust in Billups going forward. Just like the Clippers did before they hired him, before ESPN hired him, before the Cavs offered him the GM spot. You can then say, Dame may not knew about Billups past but he could have known about Kidd's past, and still endorsed him. That's a different topic though. If we hired Kidd, I could understand the uproar a lot more, he was charged, he was guilt etc. Billups was not, huge difference.
It’s not clear that Billups was innocent. He paid the woman to shut up and she did. Have you seen the medical report on the woman? It’s not pretty.
The majority of Blazer Fans aren't bashing Dame, but in this era of Social Media empowering the Loud, obnoxious, hateful, and bulling personality to have a platform to spew their diatribe. It's happening in every form of life. No matter what you like , or follow, their is always someone there to belittle you, or mock you in some way. The only solution is to turn it off. The problem is , most of us are glutton's for punishment. Dame , who thrives on proving people wrong about his abilities does open himself up to this by reading every, or at least a lot of these messages, as others have stated already. That being said, the attacks that are made via Social Media go way below human decency. It's sad, but a sign of the times we live in. I think Dame is hurt by these allegations, and rightfully so. But they DO NOT represent the majority of the way we feel about him. Now ,as a fan base, us Blazer Fans are on thin ice with the prospect of losing our favorite, generational player. It's like we have no voice. The grass isn't always greener, but when your ears are filled with how bad a situation, or place, is, you start to hear the noise, and sometimes start believing that maybe a change is best. I think Dame, Alpha Dog, His own man, will see above the B.S. I think change will come to the roster, and with a new voice leading the charge, help fulfill what Dame wants to accomplish. Joining another team and being viewed as riding the coattails of another talent is not Dame. And believe me, that same Media that is pushing the leave agenda, will say that he was a nice Robin to some other team's Batman. Dame ain't Batman, he's SUPERMAN.
that report is about what happened by Antoine Walker's roommates...Chauncey is guilty only of driving her to their house and leaving her there after she performed oral sex on him in his car....everything I read says Chauncey didn't choke her or sodomize her but people he knew did.....his guilt is by association...people need to stop looking at Chauncey as a violent abuser in this case...he wasn't according to everything I've read...he did endanger her by leaving her in an environment where she was abused. This case is closed...move on. Turns out it was a very expensive blow job
Its not clear he was guilty either though! here is the thing… Both the victim and the accused aRe adults. They both signed an agreement. They both agreed to this agreement. At that point its their private business and no one elses. people should really stop sticking their nose into other peoples lives with this moral superiority complex they want to exercise authority with, when both parties agreed to terms and moved on. Ill say it again. Both parties agreed to terms and moved on!!! funny how many others who don't know the facts, cant see that and just move on themselves, leaving their judgments behind…. People be more up in arms about this than the parties involved. Just shows how little people pay attention to themselves vs how much they worry/pay attention to others. Many many people would be better off using that energy to focus on themselves vs focusing it on two people who agreed to terms 20 years ago… But. You know.. everyone has their own right to prioritize how they like, what they spend their energy on….
Plus the fact the woman was Walker's "on-again, off-again girlfriend" at the time. So dropping her off at his house would not have been considered dangerous.
We don't want Dame doing background checks or homework on coaches. that's a waste of his time. We need our front office to do that. THAT'S THEIR JOB. It is literally what they get paid to do.
