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

Sounds annoyed that this foo is bothering him at dinner.

 

It's clearly because they're getting ready to sell the team. I have seen corporations do the same thing. They start to penny pinch to make their books look better.

 

As has been mentioned ad nauseum here by multiple posters, saving ~$10-20 mil in luxury tax payments means absolutely nothing when the valuation of the team is nearing $2 billion. That ain't the reason.

I'd just say our ownership group is rather clueless on how to win in the NBA.

 

Then it's as simple as they're not committed to winning because they're looking to sell the team, so why would they spend more than they have to? The team is plenty successful (in their eyes) at this current price. If you were going to sell a house, and the house is perfectly habitable, but it needs a bunch of updating..... why would you do it in a hot market? You could just the house as-is and still make a bunch of money.

 

Possibly. but the Blazers have been an absolute cash cow for the Allen trust.

 

It's also possible they're not looking to sell the team, but the fans have proven to be more than patient with a treadmill team. So maybe they think the fans will continue to support the team, even if they dump Dame and keep CJ.

 

Absolutely but shit the way he’s going about it is annoying. Like there was no reason to answer that question on IG live. At this point what is he waiting for ? This team isn’t going to get better

 

You wouldn't get that sense reading any Blazer forum or reddit or Blazers twitter. I think that patience is wearing very thin right now.

I am really curious how season ticket sales are going this year.

 

Sadly I think this forum, or even Reddit are a small piece of the pie. The people who call into the radio shows and sound like they have never heard of PER or AST% or any kind of advanced analytics are a much larger demographic.

 

that is a sad state of affairs. We've become the Indiana Pacers -- this is exactly what i observed of that fan base during my almost decade there.

 

Anyone who has ever tried to have a conversation with a truly casual fan about the team knows exactly what we're talking about. It's the same as someone who is a Star Wars fanatic and someone who has only seen the movies once. You're over here talking about the cartoons and the comics and the books and they're like "I thought Rey was cool!"

 

With any team, the majority of followers are just that. Civic pride, and enjoy watching for entertainment. Us FANATICS , every move, or non move, is escalated in importance. For many of us, our world, at least entertainment - wise, revolves around the sports world.

 

But that's why they're less likely to think that trading Dame will send the majority of the fans to the exits. They're probably banking on most fans sticking around for a CJ led team that still probably makes the playoffs but continues to get eaten up in the first round.

Frankly, if they trade Dame and don't fire Neil, I'm going to hit the pause button on my fandom.

 

I'm wondering how this saga hanging over the team's head will affect their play on the court. Any sign of a downturn (losing streak, Chauncey having a slow start, or injuries, what have you...) early in the season is going to spiral out of control. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) is going to pounce on even the most minute negative thing that will happen to the team over the course of the season. Hell, even the NBA scheduled nearly all of our national TV games earlier rather than later potentially because of a pending trade demand come deadline.

None of this sounds like a recipe for a winning season. You have CJ looking absolutely JACKED working out daily, Nurk is looking like a monster in workout vids, Powell is getting after it daily, Nas and Ant look like they're all gonna improve, and then you have Dame letting out subtle jabs expressing his opinions on a weekly basis.

I get Dame's frustrations and share many of them, but part of me wants him to just STFU. He's under contract for 4 more years and said repeatedly that anything he has to say he will to Olshey directly-- i just wish he'd get off IG/Twitter sometimes and do what he says he's gonna do. He's not an idiot-- he knows how this will play in national media.

 

It's just weird to me how Dame's attitude shifted so abruptly. I wanted him to start being more vocal and throwing his weight around, but it feels like he's a lot closer to the edge than I would expect. Makes me wonder if he has been privately telling Neil the roster sucks for a while, and Neil just isn't getting it done.

 

the cryptic IG posts, the lack of a firm commitment long term, the jabs in media will inevitably cause tension in the workplace.

It's what Lebron and Kawhi have done for years with their respective teams. We haven't experienced that with Dame ever. This was the guy who would always dismiss the idea of asking for player options in the last year of deals because "why would he want to leave?"

Olshey has not done his job well, Terry was a disaster, and ownership group is middling, but they have ALWAYS been loyal to Dame and included him in every decision. Think it was just a coincidence that Biofreeze (for whom he was a national spokesman) just happened to be our jersey sponsor three years ago? They have given him every penny they possibly can. And he has more benefits with this team and city than any other he can imagine. Loyalty is earned, I acknowledge that-- but the franchise and this fanbase doesn't deserve anything less from him.

It really pisses me off how much Philly fans and people like Morey/Stephen A are thirsting over our guy, and Dame is doing very little to curb it these days, unlike in the past.

 

I'm not gonna lie, it would be a giant kick to the jewels. Personally, I would be heart broken. He's my favorite player ever for the Blazers. I wasn't happy when Clyde was traded, but it didn't break my heart. But i did move away to Denver and turned my focus completely to the Broncos. And since i didn't have a favorite Blazer player, i rooted for them to win, but didn't follow even remotely as close as i follow the team in it's current form. I've been following closely again, since Brandon & LaMarcus joined the team. I totally skipped the Jail Blazers Era. Didn't have a whole lot to like about that team.

 

Because loyalty is not un-conditional, nor should it be.

 

Clearly, and that is disappointing. Was always under the impression that Dame was "different." Even today, there's an article in the Athletic exalting Dame's loyalty to Weber-- makes part of what he preaches seem like just talk.