by actually trying?...unlike the decade of olshey-vision if you are really concerned about the flexibility to add a 2nd star then you should be a lot more pissed off about paying Simons and Nurkic 42.5M/year than paying Dame 45M/year
I dont think so. If so, then You brought up the past with different gms, different players and different cba rules even though i clarified thos blazers with Dame. But i don't get to comment on them without moving the posts? Even though you loved them first? Okay. Anyhow. It ain't happening here. I would out money on it. And it saddens me to have that opinion.
You can't be serious. Jokic has been carrying a team of stiffs the last 2 playoffs. Nobody mentioned Harden because he has always been overrated. Luka is 23. Durant and Lebron have 6 of the last 10 titles.
Did they really have to extend him now? Was he going to ask for a trade if they waited to see him play some games first?
Not sure but at least we should see a decrease in all the stupid ass posts about trades or lack of trades that might upset Dame. Or that we will most definitely not be keeping our lottery pick because Dame clearly prefers we trade it. We are totally invested in Dame and the odds of some other team trading us a shit load of assets for his contract....... seems highly unlikely.
The point is exactly that. Jokic can't lead a team to the finals by himself. Just like Dame can't, just like Durant can't at Brooklyn, just like Lebron can't do NOW at LA with two other stars. Stars aren't enough. You need a team. Durant is the best in the world. So what happened in Brooklyn? There was no chemistry. Going to a 60 win GSW team and getting a ring isn't really the same as doing it like GSW did before him now is it. Everyone knows that. Durant cannot lead a team to the finals. Can't do it. Curry deferred to him offensively but it was and is Curry's team. The idea Dame was holding the team back the last few years is insane. There was no supporting cast. Dame is certainly good enough to lead a great team to the finals.
It’s a combination of a few things Need a top 5 player. Need multiple all star caliber players. Need a top 5 defense. that kind of thing.
and Dame carried "teams of stiffs" to 6 straight playoffs 6 of the last 11 Durant didn't win a ring till he was with Curry. Lebron didn't win a ring till he had DWade, Bosh, Irving, and AD.... two stars....that's the formula in those examples. Portland has one but some of you guys want to go back to zero believing that Portland can get to 2 stars from 0. 1 + 1 looks like better odds than 0 + 2
I still think you can win without two all stars but you have to have a top 5 defense. Toronto was an example, unfortunately I think we are a ways away from that type of defense. Guys like Little, Sharpe and Ant have to become very good defenders (likely few years away from that happening). This is what Billups Pistons did and I think they’ll follow that model. Payton, Hart, Winslow, even Nurk to a certain extent are those type of players. Got to get a little nasty to our game. It might mean putting some people onto their ass. You also have to train the refs to accept your playing style meaning you will have to bite the bullet and accept at first you’re going to get a lot of calls against you. Similar to DB’s playing tight on receivers and holding some on each and every play.
Why would that be easier? We've had summers with plenty of cap space since Dame's been here and we squandered it on overpaying our free agents and middling free agents we expected to get better. There have been a lot of all stars traded during Dame's tenure here but we haven't managed to snag one and what Dame is making won't impact if we can or can't. Dame's supermax salary might make it harder for us to sign top level role players if we got another max player to go with Dame but I think the team is trying at this moment to accrue as much talent as possible on tradeable contracts, while keeping their future draft assets intact so if another superstar is available after we know which players fit the best around Dame, then we can make a play to trade for one of those max level superstars... while still having the role players around Dame and the new second superstar that would allow us to win a title or more.
Again. Different ownership and gm making those decisions. Its just math. “X” amount of money to spend. Spending too much on just one player will strap this team down to not have rhe flexibility to make better decisions in the future. Just my opinion.
Opinion unfounded. Nine out of the last ten championship teams have had at least one supermax player on them. Steph and LeBron were 34 and 35 when they were on their supermax deals and won a championship. Duncan was on a lower salary. The evidence shows that in this day and age you almost have to have a very very top heavy payroll to compete in this league because as has always been the case, one player in basketball can have far far more influnce on the outcome of games than in any other sport. You have to be smart about the supporting cast and the numbers would say you need a second supermax player that by your logic would even further hamstring the team but with the very rare exception of Tim Duncan teams have had to have a player on a supermax deal to win it all. I think most of us are pissed that we don't have another guy worth paying what we're paying Dame not that we have one that's worth it and that we're paying him.
like I said earlier today...over the next 3 season Portland is paying Dame about 45M/year. They will be paying Simons & Nurkic 42M/year. The problem isn't Dame's salary
At the end of the day I just really admire the loyalty by Lillard. I mean to stick with a job after years and years of being mistreated and disrespected is quite admirable.
Kyrie can’t carry a team either. He has shown it again and again. A lot of those secondary stars aren’t good enough to carry a team.
yeah...good call... just like Orlando mistreated Shaq; and Utah mistreated Deron Williams; and Denver mistreated Melo; and Toronto mistreated Bosh; and Cleveland mistreated Lebron; and Indiana mistreated PG13; and San Antonio mistreated Kawhi; and OKC mistreated Durant; and Brooklyn mistreated Durant those situations are just like Portland and Dame....except for one small thing