WOJ: Dame wants the super max extension

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by B-Roy, Dec 7, 2021.

  1. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    No. It's not.

    If you're looking at the team as a pragmatist, it's very clear that we have a very very very slim chance of winning a championship with Dame while he's still one of the best players in the league. So if you're really pushing to keep Dame, you're putting Dame above winning.

    Chasing a championship at this point is putting off the rebuild, and we are turning our backs on our greatest asset to help that rebuild.
     
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  2. John Law

    John Law Member

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    Shouldn't the person arguing to give Lillard everyone else's lunch have the burden to justify that? I mean, he played in 29 games last season while the team, which has been steadily declining for several years, sank into the lottery. What about that says, "Pay that man as much as we possibly can" ? I mean, I don't really want to bag on him by bringing up his lack of defense or getting punked by Jrue Holiday...like I said, he is a good player. He just doesn't have the resume of a superstar who can carry a championship team without saving money for other good players.
     
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  3. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    Also as far as your simple math goes. The last several champions all had players taking up as much or more of their cap space than Dame does and all of those players are set up to be making 50+ in the years that Dame will... if LeBron is still playing. Do you know why? It's because superstars win in this league... not spreading your money around evenly. Going in with big money on the best talent and then having the understanding of who the role players are that will help that superstar talent the most.
     
  4. MickZagger

    MickZagger Well-Known Member

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    Yeah let’s dole out a bunch of money to an aging star so it hampers our future.

    If Lillard is that serious about winning a championship he wouldn’t hamstring the organization with an unreasonable deal.
     
  5. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    if you want a rebuild then not only trade Dame but also trade Simons, trade Hart, trade Nurkic and build a bottom-5 team because any wins those guys add are bad for the rebuild

    It may be that I'm straddling a fence in purgatory that keeps Dame, but you guys are most definitely straddling a fence in the same damn zip-code by saying trade Dame for essentially a completed rebuild
     
  6. MickZagger

    MickZagger Well-Known Member

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    100%
     
  7. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    The only part of the resume that he doesn't have is the championship. The fact is that is because of Olshey's shitty team building around him. If you don't think that then I don't really give a shit because it means that you either haven't been paying attention or you don't know what you're talking about. If you think staying with the Dame/CJ experiment so long was a good idea, I feel bad for you. If you think that Dame was the bad variable in that experiment, I feel worse for you. The fact is that Dame has been one of the top 5 offensive weapons in the league over the past six seasons before last season and he was surrounded but uncomplementary teammates and a bad coach.
     
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  8. MickZagger

    MickZagger Well-Known Member

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    We should be trading Lillard now. These talks about an extension make me want to trade him even more. Rebuild, re-tool. We have a solid young core. We could add to that even more if we unload Lillard.

    We aren’t winning SHIT with Lillard no other stars next to him and the way we’ve made moves shows we don’t know how.
     
  9. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    you're using last season as the template for his pay scale? LOL

    6 months before Dame & the team shut him down for the season, Dame averaged 34 & 10 in the playoffs with a TS% of .660 while posting the best winshare/48 and BPM of all playoff performers. Portland did not lose that series because they were paying Dame 35% of the cap, they lost it because they were paying CJ-Nurkic-Roco-Powell-Jones 68% of the cap and Dame did more to win games in that series than the other 5 combined
     
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  10. SlyPokerCat

    SlyPokerCat cats rool dogs drool

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    They should be looking towards acquiring talent that makes them contenders. Not running on the same treadmill expecting different results.

    Our best player is 32 years old. If trading him gives us the right assets, you don't just blindly say no.
     
  11. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    Simons is only 23, but yes.... Dame.... Nurk.... Hart.... you trade all those guys if you're going full rebuild.
     
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  12. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    I'm not satisfied yet with what we have but we're hardly going to be running the same treadmill this upcoming season that we had the six seasons before this last one... unless the only thing you think is keeping us on that treadmill and from advancing further is Dame.
     
  13. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    I don't "blindly say no"...that's bullshit

    come up with any realistic trade that makes good sense and I'll discuss it. But you're not doing that, you're blindly saying trade Dame
     
  14. SlyPokerCat

    SlyPokerCat cats rool dogs drool

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    It will be the same treadmill in terms of doing the play in or 6th seed. And not having a chance to compete. Just different personnel.
     
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  15. SlyPokerCat

    SlyPokerCat cats rool dogs drool

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    No. I'm saying we would be morons to turn down any offers and not listen to what his value is. That isn't blindly saying trade Dame.

    I'm not married to one Player. I'm a Blazers fan above all. Watching a team make the playoffs with no chance of winning it all is depressing and not fun.
     
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  16. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    I'm just not sure of that yet. I think Ant can be much more complementary to Dame than CJ ever was, I think Grant is the best forward we've had since LaMarcus and I think we still have to see what they do with the rest of the off season. If they add one more forward that's better than what we've had in the past, why wouldn't we expect better results than we've had in the past... especially with a coach that I'm pretty sure all of us think will utilize the personnel in a more dynamic manor than the last one did?
     
  17. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    and you know the Blazers are not doing that due diligence?

    I'm assuming they are. I'm also assuming that the potential sale of the Blazers would be a monkey-wrench in any 'trade-Dame' scenario. Are either of those unrealistic expectations?
     
  18. John Law

    John Law Member

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    I agree that Olshey was a horrible GM, but the worst mistake he ever made was making Lillard out to be a superstar and paying him as such when Dame didn't have the chops to lead a team to the championship. Olshey had been doing a great job up until he lost LMA to free agency, and then he just got scared. Scared that he would also lose Lillard, and scared to lose other players. So he wildly overpaid them all and put the team into a salary cap purgatory that they still haven't recovered from. He also traded first-round draft picks away for temporary players to placate Lillard. Making Lillard the focal point of the team HAS NOT WORKED. It's been tried for a number of years now, and he isn't even in his prime anymore. It's time to look to the future and stop mortgaging that future for one guy who will never win our team a championship without significant help.
     
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  19. GrandpaBlaze

    GrandpaBlaze Predictions Game Master

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    Walton didn't have more than Dame. He had Lucas who was not necessarily a star but a very good player. Everyone else on that championship team were role players. Solid role players but role nonetheless.

    I got your reference to Duncan/Dirk but I guess I look at a franchise player differently.

    So....was Jordan not a franchise player? Kareem? Shaq? Chamberlain? Lebron?

    I guess I look at franchise players as the ones who shape and change a franchise (in a positive manner). To say they had to play for only one team in order to be considered a franchise player is a pretty narrow scope.
     
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  20. SlyPokerCat

    SlyPokerCat cats rool dogs drool

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    Of course not. But there are many folks on the "i don't care, we must keep Dame" train that is infuriating. One player is not above the team.

    I haven't felt strong about a Dame team competing since Wes went down with that injury.

    Before that, drafting Oden with pick #1 gave us that same feeling of potentially contending. Obviously, that didn't work. But we had the potential talent.

    I don't see a reasonable path to get there with our assets right now around Dame. Sad to see. I'd love nothing more than for him to win one here.
     
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