It’s been reported that at the time of that interview where he made the comment about the roster, his frustration had to do with the possibility of Powell leaving.
Norm said Dame was excited to talk with him when he got back from Japan....CJ was working with Roco when Chauncey was hired....I feel really good about the new focus they're talking about...Dame asked Norm about championship defense after he joined the team on the road...can't wait until Norm gets a real training camp with the starters and they knock it out of the park...I really like what Chauncey said about corner 3s and how we never use them..I expect those to increase
I think so too. Best friends or not, things can get lost in translation. I just prefer to hear it from Dame himself instead of playing telephone.
Whether or not CJ's words mean anything is up to the person listening the fact is that Dame tweeted out that he's not responding to anymore rumors so we're not getting word from him any time soon.
It's been reported that Dame was asking for a trade in the near future as well. Do you believe those reports? I don't, I'm taking Dame at his word, on both fronts.
That doesn't make any sense. The question was basically if the roster that played the Nuggets could be contenders under Chauncey and Dame's answer was no that they wouldn't be good enough because they just lost to an injured Denver team. If Dame has changed his mind I'll be happy because he's my favorite player and more so than that the Blazers are my favorite team but I hardly feel like with what we've not done this off season, we're out of the woods in regards to Dame's uncertainty about his future.
Exactly... If Dame was only concerned about Powell resigning, he would have said that if we brought the core back, he thinks they're a contender. “I don’t disagree that maybe Chauncey can really change our team and make us a better team and get us going in that direction,” Lillard said. “But I think if you look at our team as it is going into next season, I don’t see how you can say, ‘This is a championship team. You just need a new coach.’” Doesn't sound like someone wanting to run it back to me.
They are in denial. Then they get all mad at us when we want the team to do something to make Dame happy (or just trade Dame and start over if we aren't willing to make him happy). It is bonkers.
Well I think with all of our first rounders intact and CJ and our young players (Ant, Nas and DJJ) we should be able to get something that makes Dame excited about being here. I don't think there's any reason to trade him now, just change the roster in a major way so he gives us more time.
reported by whom? Not all reports are the same. If a Woj or someone connected to the team reported it I might.
Without knowing if this is a sencere question (I'm assuming you've seen these reports because you're typically well aware of what's going on), I will answer it as if it is: Chris Haynes & Henry Abbott were two people who reported Dame was considering requesting a trade. It appears you do not buy those reports, which I think it totally valid stance because Dame himself said he was not asking for a trade. However, to be consistent, Dame also said he wants to contend for a title and only making a coaching change would not be enough to make us a contender. He said both all things in the same press conference. I think it's only fair if we're taking him at his word for one of those things (that we want to agree with), that we take him at his word for the others. No?
There has been nothing to suggest the league values CJ as much as Olshey or that there is any real demand for Ant, Nas, or DJJ. I believe this is why many people here are concerned with Dame wanting us to bring in another legit player to help contend. Olshey has built as roster, most of which is either overpaid, has injury issues, or just don't have enough talent that other teams would want to give up a great player in return. Dame and RoCo might be the exceptions here (I'm excluding Powell since we can't trade him), but as I've been saying for a while now, this roster has been poorly constructed for a variety of reasons, in particular when it comes to on court makeup (size and versitility) and roster flexibilty in the trade market.
So basically he’s saying that even though he is a professional, and supposedly wants to win, he only played hard on one end of the floor
He didn’t say that though. He even brought up teams that have made jumps with only a coaching turnover. But that part of his quote has been ignored, almost like he didn’t even say it. Why? Because it doesn’t fit the narrative? And at the time of the interview, Powell’s status was up in the air, so when he mentioned the roster not being good enough, he was primarily talking about the roster without Powell.....reportedly. Dame isn’t dumb, he knows what bringing in another “star” would mean for CJ, and I’m still of the belief that he wants to play, and more importantly win with him. So this push for a hypothetical “all in” move is coming more from the media than Dame himself.
whatever....tea-leaves-r-us however you land on reading-between-the-lines, there's no doubt that Dame is less committed to staying in Portland than he has ever been. Which way he leans in the near future very likely depends on this season and if the Blazers can put together a run that doesn't require Dame going super-nova. The Blazers haven't been able to do that since the 2013-14 season I sure hope he stays because him as the centerpiece makes the team watchable. If CJ was the centerpiece I'd find that unwatchable.
The fact is overpaid or not, CJ has positive value to certain rosters in this league. He's a bucket getter and when he wants to a really good facilitator. I think he has a lot more value than George Hill and Eric Bledsoe did when the Bucks used them along with picks to get Holiday. So it would stand to reason that we would be able to get an all star player on Holiday's level, from the right team for less picks than the Bucks had to send out or an even better player with the same amount of picks. The problem is that Olshey overvalues CJ so he may never be willing to send out enough other assets to get the return we need because he'll feel like he's overpaying. I think even if we are overpaying (which would mean Olshey would feel like he was overpaying by double) we have to take a big swing.
I wonder how much positive value CJ really has for instance, Philly. The assumption around here is that CJ would really help Philly. But, help Philly do what? Philly's problem is that Harris is not a good enough #2 and Simmons is not even a #3 on offense. Sure, he's a great playmaker and defender, but Philly is really in about the same position as Portland...that being that their #2 doesn't have enough impact. Adding CJ as either the #2 or #3 with Harris plugging into the other option might make their offense better. But their defense and rebounding would suffer...a lot. They'd gain nothing significant by exchanging Simmons for CJ; if anything they might get worse it's easy to trash Morey for being unreasonable, and he probably deserves it. But he's certainly familiar with Portland and the issue the Blazer have with CJ as the 2nd best player. I can't really blame him if he doesn't want to trade Simmons for that issue
He didn't say "... I think if you look at our team as it is going into next season, I don’t see how you can say, ‘This is a championship team. You just need a new coach.’”? I never said Dame said it was impossible for us to contend with only a coaching move, just that he implied he doesn't think that's likely. I'm not sure how you can read the quote, from him, and think otherwise. Again, I'm taking him at his word that he isn't asking for a trade right now. I'm also taking him at his word that he doesn't think this is a championship team just with a new coach. I think that's a consistent stance, is it not? I think cherry picking what direct quotes of his we do and don't want to believe, what reports we do and don't want to believe, all so it's in line with the narrative we want to believe, would be a disservice to objectivity.
John Wall has positive value to certain rosters in the league, but not at his salary. Trying to remove salary from the equation when you're trying to factor in a trade of any player takes out a very important component of trade value. If we can get a player of Holiday's level in return for CJ, even a loyal Olshey would be nuts to not make that move. That's why I'm finding it hard to believe that we really can.
