My point was never who is better Dame vs Luka. I agree with you that Luka is better. My point continues to be that 8 years after Portland realized Dame is the man, the have failed to provide him a solid #2 option. If Dallas goes another 6 years without providing Luka a better #2 than Portland has provided Dame, they will become only the third team in 3 decades to fail their superstar in that way and to dat. I'm willing to bet that won't be the case. This is why I'm not comfortable pointing to team success as the ultimate measure of Dame's talent. We've failed Dame in a way that no organization has done in 25 years. IMO, Steph has zero titles with the supporting cast Dame has had the last 8 years (and I think Steph is better than Dame).
Aldridge was an elite #2 option in his prime. Olshey just got caught with his pants down when he left. That never should have happened. He should have been traded for assets before walking.
100%.... but this doesn't change the fact that no organization in many decades has had a player of Dame's abilities (a tier lower than Luka) and failed to support him with better talent. This is why aligning Portland's team success as the key measure to Dame's individual value as a player makes little since to me.
100%... I think this team would have had far more success had they not lost LMA for nothing. It's made the last 7-8 years (whtaever it's been) so painful.
I'm not that low on CJ, but the fact that you can even make that claim paints a picture of how bad it's been!
CJ is an undersized, play no defense , shoot first 2 guard. Those type of players have been a dime a dozen for years. A glorified Tony Delk
I don't know about this, I'd say many teams reach a point where they fail to surround their best player with a second option better than CJ. The difference is when the team realizes they are at that point for a few years, they realize they can't realistically contend soon; well then they trade away their star to get assets and rebuild.
Please share an example, in the last two decades of a team with a player as good or better than Dame, who never played with a #2 option better than CJ. I'm not talking for 1-2 years, I'm talking 6+ years. I haven't seen an example. Punting for the sake of punting in hopes next time will be better is probably a worse strategy than hanging onto a HOF player until the age of 32, IMO.
It's also important that we're not just talking about a teams best player we're talking about an all nba first team player who has been an all nba second teamer on four other occasions.
Another way to look at this might be to first list the last 20 players that are as good or better than Dame, and stayed with a team for 6+ years. Then see what teams paired them with better and worse teammates than Portland.
Alright that right there is the perfect example of the same kind of managerial malpractice that Dame has had to deal with since LaMarcus was allowed to walk, leaving us empty handed and Dame without a legitamate complementary second option for the next 6 seasons. I liked and unliked and then liked your reply about five times. I don't think that gives you five extra likes but that's how much I liked the post.
Probably Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 2 time all-star... and as we know, that wasn't enough to keep him happy. Dame has been too loyal to Portland if anything.