We couldn't offer better than Harden without including Dame. All Stars find their way to large markets. That's just the way it works. It's not that major markets get a discount, rather that mid markets don't typically get a sniff. Because teams keep their All Stars until the All Star wants to move on. We can theoretically trade for an All Star, but we weren't going to get one in return for CJ, RoCo and Norm with those contracts. When the opportunity arises we need to have hands down the best offer on the table, or be close enough that the player picks us over others. And that wasn't going to happen with those 3. Probably still won't happen. But we're moving in that direction...
From my understanding, shoe contracts (& such) automatically go up exponentially for players who move to the biggest markets. All the side deals pitching for the local companies are worth much more too. Who likes to make more money?[/rhetorical] STOMP
The national endorsement deals going up is not a real thing but there are definitely a ton of local endorsements in big markets for decent money that aren't available in smaller markets but it's chump change when you're someone on even Dame's level, let alone a bigger superstar. So I guess for a B or C list all star a big media market can make a difference but again that would be why the big markets have an advantage in free agency. No one gives a shit if a small time all star demands a trade and a specific destination or even to a large market. You have to have some superstar level sway not to get laughed out of your GMs office with a demand like that. In this day and age superstars can make as much in Cleveland as they can in New York... they might go to New York or LA like LeBron did so he's closer to business opportunities he's pursuing as a mogul but again, I just don't see how that makes the trade market in the NBA uneven. Free agency is bullshit... I honestly think that small market teams should get higher odds in the draft lottery because of how badly they get fucked by free agency but trades are almost as equitable as the draft.
But all but 3 or so these players that are being demoralized are even going to be in the NBA next season let alone on the Blazers.
2-3 max?? Try 2-3 at least. In fact, we have at least 5 more good years with Dame if we want him. This was only his 10th season. Yes, he was 22 his rookie year but Chris Paul took the Suns to the Finals when he was 37, I think. Toronto has a major advantage over us. The Raptors have a whole country backing them. And Toronto's population is about 4 times that of Portland.
I simply think that is wishful thinking. I believe if this team isn't back to playoff form next year he will be gone. In my opinion that is a very real possibility. New Coach, Center with a terrible attitude and who won't be playing for a contract, untested team with a bunch of role players, Same duplicity of smallish guards, No true Power Forward, The team is still reliant on Dame to save the day. Those are just the issues we can see. Now throw in the basic possible injuries as obviously we have never seen Nurkic actually play a season and Little can't seem to make it a full month. What are they going to rely on to get past the next season ending foot, leg, wrist, injury that Nurkic sustains? What happens when Dame goes down for a month? This team will have a rookie coach because you can't say he is coaching now and he simply has not shown he can make even the most simple adjustments in a real game. Seriously to this point Cheeks had shown more than Billups. Not impressed with Chauncey at all. Sorry but this is essentially a total rebuild with the softest center in the NBA around a 6'-2" guard. Blazers will be lucky to get .500 ball next year. I'll call it now 41-41 with a first round out if they make it through the play in.
This is my point here. How can we act like the Blazers are not in total rebuild other than Lillard and Nurk at this point? How can we say Billups is getting any real experience at coaching when he's just going through the motions. How can we feel confident this rebuild won't take 2-3 years like most rebuilds do? We can't. Some of these guys better get ready for a bumpy ride and hope all the pieces fall into place because if the Blazers don't get a top three pick this could last for a number of years. You cannot expect a game changer at #8-10 pick.
First round out? So basically, the majority of years recently except with younger talent and a better cap situation and either an upgrade in talent from a trade of a Lottery pick, or potentially 2 young studs to grow with Ant/Nas. To be honest, that sounds better than in previous seasons.
Selective interpretation is a funny thing. That is not "The Majority of years recently" sorry. Your dependence on the "Lottery Pick" being a game changer is highly suspect. One of your "Two young Studs" can't stay on the court due to injury. The other one of your "Two Young Studs" is a small guard that duplicates what CJ brought. Not sure how you don't see that but I'm good with your positivity. Not sure how that sounds better than .592 winning % over the last 7 of 8 years not including the covid season for obvious reasons. I also dropped the first season after McMillan for obvious reasons as well. That produced playoffs every year with two conference semis and one conference finals appearance. Like i said your faith in a late Lottery pick being a transformational player is suspect but i do find it intriguing.
I don't think this sentence says what you mean (I think there's a "not" missing) but why don't you list the players YOU think are going to be out of the NBA next season.
I think the Blazers will win at least 48 games next season unless they have injury problems. Dame, Ant, Nurk, Hart, Little is 48 wins no matter who you're bringing off the bench, IMO.
That is a pretty optimistic prediction at this point without even knowing the pick/picks. Even more so if you are looking past injuries. Nurk is a walking injury. Little hasn't played a full month without injury yet? Hart can't shoot to save his life. What is the difference between Dame/CJ and Dame/Ant really? It has been proven time and time again you need depth to win in the NBA. 6th, 7th and 8th man are very important. A team that tries to make it on a 8 man rotation is toast. You need at least 4 serviceable players off the bench. CJ Elleby ain't gonna cut it.
This ignores everything we've all seen going on. We are in the midst of a shameless tank and our pick will end up higher than 8th. We'll also very likely have a a pick in the late lotto to go with a top 6 pick. Of our pick doesn't land in the top 2 or 3 then I would expect a trade for an established PF. So we'll go into the season upgraded at the position you identified as our biggest weakness. I also share in your concerns that Dame/Ant will have similar issues that have plagued us for 6 seasons of Dame/CJ but Ant isn't a duplicate. He'll be able to cut off of the ball better than CJ to get open jumpers or high percentage looks going to the hole. So there is a better chance for more assisted points by Ant from Dame. I also don't think that Ant and Dame have the same relationship as Dame and CJ. So I don't expect Dame or Chauncey to be cool with all of the time wasting MeJ is shit coming from Ant and don't even think Ant wants to do that. Also, Ant is young so he's malleable. So with a defensive minded coach and athletic gifts that CJ never had there is a reasonable expectation that he will rapidly become a lot better than CJ on the defensive end. We'll also likely have both Nas and Hart so better depth at the 2/3 spot than before. In general your prediction that we'll have a repeat of what we saw most of the last 6 seasons doesn't have a lot of basis in our current reality but it is understandable given the rut we have been in for so long.
Awkward point in Blazer history to be sure. But Chauncey has showed me enough with his style of play that with a finally healthy Dame and a crew of unselfish hard playing teammates I'm high on our outlook moreso than anytime in the recent era.
that's definitely looks like cherry picking the gauges What Portland had for almost 7 seasons was a Dame/CJ team. Olshey gleefully committed to that team in the summer of 2015. He kept doubling down on that team every year, refusing to consider that his vision was clouded by ego-driven cataracts. In the 6.6 years of the Dame/CJ team, Portland had a .541 winning percentage. Normalizing the seasons to an 82 game schedule, Portland averaged 44 wins and a 6th seed. That is purgatory in a nutshell. Chugging some Red Bull while trudging on a treadmill Blazers were going to the same fucking nowhere this season that they had gone for the previous 6 seasons. Portland lost nothing of significance at the trade deadline. Maybe they should have received a better return for the players they gave up, but those players were making 70M and generating no upside...at all at least right now, the Blazers have an opportunity to not simply reboot the same core and hope for a different outcome. Saying there are no guarantees in the draft seems pointless to me because nobody has ever said there were. But the top-10 all time leading scorers in Blazer history were all added with draft picks. CJ-Powell-RoCo-Nance were not altering Portland's trajectory. A rebuild starting with a pair of lottery picks might
Do you have any evidence of this or am I supposed to take your word over multiple interviews with athletes & agents saying otherwise? Money is a powerful motivational factor for most people. Setting aside sordid stuff like the league may favor big markets with their officiating (which they've kept in-house even following the Donaghy scandal where they promised they'd finally change this dynamic which isn't found in any other sport), why do you think there is such an obvious pull towards the bigger markets as the small market NBA superstar moves along in their career? Why doesn't it work the other way when a smaller market team has the cap room, cash and obvious interest? STOMP
