Zombie Damian Lillard to request trade in coming days (nope, he's not.)

He knows where the bodies...er...bones are buried.

 

The thing I want to know about that meeting is whether CJ’s future with the team was discussed. Is Dame okay with trading him for a player who’s better fit? Does Olshey plan to keep him and is Dame okay with only marginal roster changes? Just how much “urgency” does everyone really have?

 

Salary matching would be very hard while keeping that core in tact.

 

while I love Damian and would hate to see him go, he is 31 and a point guard, very few point guards have been able to lead a team to championship. If he wants out at all I think maybe we should just do it while his value is the highest. Maybe not I have not idea what to think but what we are doing now is not working.

 

Doh

 

Yup it’s win win really. He leaves ah well. We get stuff back. He stays then we must have done something right. Plus he’s getting old anways

 

fact is , if he is legit about making some moves to improve, he's likely gonna need to wave adios to some of his friends.
get him involved, try n make it work
if he buys in, awesome. if he is being a prick he can maybe just embrace the loyalty 'grind' elsewhere.
as long as its not ben fuckin simmons coming back, im open to listening.

i hope he can get the involvement he's looking for and we can make the moves happen, god only knows its been the goal for a long time, just executed rather shitly.

 

We obviously need some quality two way players. What none of really know is what Billups and whatever defensive assistant can do with the current roster. Can some accountability and a decent scheme improve the current roster enough to make a difference?

In 17-18 Portland was 6th in defense with the same 3 and better defenders, but virtually the same roster construction. No reason to think Dame and CJ won’t turn up their defense to even where it was then under Billups.

Kanter and Melo are shit defenders, so replacing them with people who try on defense probably moves us into the teens from last in defense

 

I agree with this but is that enough to appease dame? I feel like he knew we over achieved with that group and knew we still needed to upgrade and never did

 

to be precise, if you're gauging by defensive rating, Portland was 8th that season....but for your larger point that's essentially the same thing

I disagree though that the roster construction was the same. Yes, there was the Dame-CJ-Nurkic trio in place, but the supporting cast was simply much much better at defense.

the year after that 8th place finish in defense, Portland finished 16th. and there were really only 2 changes to the roster: one was replacing Napier with Curry which I'd say was a push. The other was replacing Ed Davis in the primary rotation with a combo of Meyers and Kanter. That was a massive downgrade in defense. Davis was integral to that defensive rating in that 17-18 season

Blazers also had the starting forward tandem of Aminu and Harkless. Both long and agile defenders. As a defender, I actually think Aminu was as good as RoCo. He probably wasn't quite as good out on the edges, but he was better at defending size and a better defensive rebounder. And Harkless was a much better defender than anybody Portland had on the wing this season, other than RoCo (and that includes playing the 6'3 Powell out of position at SF)

and when the Blazers brought in their bench unit, besides Davis, Portland had Turner, Zach (who was welded to davis), Napier, and Connaughton. Blazers just didn't have anybody like that this year, except for maybe Jones (didn't see enough of Little). Even down the rotation, Connaughon was a much better defender than Simons

the offensive strength of the NBA is at wing. That 17-18 team had 3 solid wing defenders. The current Blazer team has 1, really. But more than that is a team needs two-way players at wing and Portland has none

 

I just don't see this team as far away as others, especially the media, do. I do think the role plays on the bench must be better, and more impactful. A quality backup PG like D.J. Agustin , as mentioned in here by others, fits the mode. A tough back up SG like Josh Hart, as i've mentioned would be nice. Nas & Simons obviously have to be more impactful, and all signs are they are working hard to be just that. I think the main position that needs to be addressed to contend, is PF. Tobias Harris is the guy who might be had for CJ. He had a fantastic year last season, and really showed his worth when Embiid was down. He's a great character dude as well. He'd fit perfect next to Nurk & RoCo. The 76ers are most likely gonna keep Simmons. I'd rather have Harris. He's an under appreciated talent. Then you re-sign Powell. I believe these are makeable moves that make this team way closer to contending then some think. All the contending teams have warts. The Media likes to overlook them. Father Time is creeping up on LeBron, and Elijah Price ( Mr. Glass), A.K.A. The Unidufus, A.K.A. Anthony Davis is no guaranty to stay healthy either. Same goes with the Nets lineup. Phoenix isn't a juggernaut either. Denver most likely won't have Jamal Murray for most of 21-22. Even with him, they are not light years ahead. Dallas, C'mon man! The Media darling Luka Doncic still needs some major pieces as well. And don't get me started on the Clips. The Blazers, under achieved against Denver for sure. Maybe because CJ wasn't healthy and played under expectations. Nurk played not smartly, and is the guy i look to gain the most from Billups leadership. He will give Nurk more responsibility, but will also be on his ass to put the work in to get back to his Beast Days. But the key is acquiring that PF. CJ would get an infusion from going to Philly IMO, and Harris would fit like a glove here. It's a win-win for both teams. Add A couple veteran role players and i see great things ahead for a team that the Media, and some fans are trying to destroy. Blazers/76ers in 21-22 Finals anyone. Rematch of '77.

 

no offense but there is no way Aminu isn’t even half the defender that Roco is. Roco’s rotations are at an elite level.

seeing Jrue Holidya in finals is exactly why I kept preaching that he’d be perfect fit next to Dame. Damn wish we could have gotten him for CJ and picks

 

It's funny that both Chris Paul and Holiday have been available in the past few years, and people on this board were SCREAMING about acquiring them, and now they're both in the finals.

 

When I want to give myself hope, I look at my Other Team, Leeds United. They were stuck in "the Championship" - which is actually the second of the four English professional leagues, behind the Premier League, for 16 long years. They were a solid mid-table side, going nowhere, when Marcelo "walks on water" Bielsa was hired as coach. He took players that nobody thought were Premier League quality and just transformed them. The clearest example of this was Kalvin Phillips, who is now not only unquestionably at home in the Premier League, but made himself a fixture on the England team, and was voted to the team of the 2020 championships. Bielsa didn't say "I need all new players," he said "I can work with these guys" and just transformed them. But part of that is an insane fitness regimen (so that the whole team can just run relentlessly). I want a coach that has a system and that can just demand of the players that they transform themselves. But Bielsa is an international legend. Billups.... isn't. But I guess everyone has to start somewhere.

(If you haven't watched it already, and you're in the mood for an awesome sports documentary narrated by (HUGE Leeds fan) Russell Crowe, watch both seasons of this)

 

I guess I don’t totally understand this. The one and only one thing this team everyone unanimously loves is the point guard and the key to getting over the hump would be to add point guards like Jrue or CP?

 

Exactly. But no one knew Pop was gonna be who he would become either. I'm sure they had an idea. But like you said, everyone has to start somewhere. Let's hope Billups is the beginning of a special run, where he is the person who can get SPECIAL out of our Blazers.

 

with CP3, sure, there's could possibly be a conflict but he's done really well when playing with ball dominant guards like Harden and Booker

Holiday is as much a SG and wing as he is a PG



he is versatile enough to play with Dame and mesh well. And he'd add the defense the Blazers are really lacking with CJ and Dame together on the floor.

 

I bet this argument is what Olshey wants to do this off-season and is trying to sell to Dame. Bring in some bench defense and tweak the roster. And Dame isn’t buying.

 

probably because Dame is well aware that 17-18 team was by far the best Blazer team, gauged by rating, in Dame's career and he knows that was the team that got swept by the Pels because the offense stalled

 

I guess you don't like "Best Player Available," huh. So Sam Bowie over Jordan was the right call?

Also: traditional positions matter less and less. Also: CP3 played next to Harden, who routinely gets way more assists than Lillard. Also: Holiday's major contribution is on defense, and he can defend 1-3 easily.