I know you were just joking. But of course, a superstar will not come to Portland without Dame being here. (or maybe not even then)
You’ll get no argument from me on that. Wish they were contenders but they aren’t. A bunch feel it’s time to trade him. I honestly love watching him play here. I want to continue to have himhere but yes eventually his value will decrease and his earnings will continue to rise. $50 million is a bunch of money on one player.
I am. He's almost 30 and he's played 2055 regular season minutes in his career. He relies on his athleticism but can't stay healthy and, as we all know, few guys get more durable as they start their fourth decade on this planet. He was helpful with Golden State as their 8th- or 9th-best player, but Portland adding him to our roster is just a waste of money and a missed opportunity.
And/or were younger. And/or were cheaper. Payton ticked all of the "makes no sense" boxes other than he shares an agent with Dame.
I think Nate's or whoever post you originally responded to was saying a problem with GP2 is we have to choose between one of Dame or Simons being on the court. Wouldn't it have made more positional sense to have a lead point of attach defender at a forward position that could play along side both Dame and Simons? If we slide Dame or Simons over to forward; we are stuck with an odd lineup that gives up length and defense at multiple positions. If we only have one of Dame or Simons on the court with Gary it defeats the purpose of having the two highest paid players on one roster.
Of course they will be over the cap...the only thing that affects is FA, and we aren't clearing a max slot anytime soon. I am talking about having a 3 year window where the luxury tax does not matter and pieces on the roster that make it much easier to construct a trade for a co-star for Dame. Cronin hasn't had even a year on the job yet, I don't see how we can blame him for not building a contender when the roster he was given was both talent and financially-flawed. I'm not sure Cronin is the savior that everyone is hoping for, but I think he has a vision for how he is wanting this to play out. The dude has been behind the scenes for 15 years, this is his one opportunity and I'm sure he doesn't want to blow it. I'm disappointed we didn't make a bigger move, but again there are so many angles behind the scenes that we fans on S2 have no idea about. I think this roster is going to be a lot of fun to watch. If we play a fun brand of basketball, Dame shows he is better than ever, Ant continues to ascend, Nas shows he is a starter, etc we have the necessary pieces both salary and talent wise to net a true star next to Dame and a window where we aren't facing a huge luxury tax due to the repeater tax.
None of Winslow, Watford, or Nurk should be in the discussion of Draymond level playmaking. GPII won't have those opportunities here he got in Golden State. It's a joke to compare the level of playmaking on the Blazers he will get from basically scrubs in Winslow and Watford.
Sure. Can you point at an elite one that will cost only $8m/year? It is not enough to discuss ideal options, you need to give specifics. But I do not think there is any option of getting anyone as good, as a lead guard defender for that price. We have seen that per/36 GP2 and Marcus Smart have pretty much the same offensive output and both are elite defenders. Seen how much Smart makes? Have you seen how much Dort got? It certainly does not, because the Blazers can play Dame + Anf next Nas, Hart or GP2 for 24 minutes a game and each one of them plays an extra 12 MPG as the lead guard next either GP2 / Hart and NAS / winslow - we just need to stagger Ant / Dame more than what we did with Dame / CJ Again, GP2 is a PF on offense. He is an elite backcourt defender which is exactly what the Blazers need next to Ant + Dame.
Agree. But you have to remember that in GSW, Draymond is the primary facilitator and Curry is the secondary. The one you would compare Draymond to in Portland, as a facilitator is Dame (which is as good as a facilitator as Draymond). Their secondary facilitator (Curry) is certainly better than either Ant or in the small amount of time someone like Winslow is, but he is not going to be playing in a system you expect your guard on offense to be a facilitator. On offense, for sure. On defense, his value to Portland is bigger than it is for GSW because they are so lacking. Wiggins + Draymond next to him are much better defensively than Nurk + Hart. I suspect you will see him play close to the same 18 MPG he saw in GSW in Portland.
At this rate, i am hoping Sharpe is good enough to play that spot for us this year. Not ideal but we need a 3 that can score. He's probably more of a two, traditionally but unless we find one we are gonna have to get crafty
What are you talking about Jerami Grant and Little can both start at SF. Little is a totally fine starter at SF for crying out loud. He just has injury concerns, that's it. Also, hear me now, you will see Sharpe at the SF, possibly even starting by the end of the year. So we have at least one SF who is a legit starter and another guy we want to get minutes at the SF. Also, Hart is totally fine off the bench at SF. Little covers the starting position so really it's not nearly as unbalanced and doomsaying as you say.
With Grant, Ant and Dame and Nurk we have plenty of scoring ..Sharpe will take Ants old role as the spark plug off the bench if he's that good. We'll see if he can hang on defense against NBA talent.
Both Nas and Dame have had the same core surgery which means hopefully they will both have career years!