I would hope that as a franchise, they would start valuing mostly players who can contribute on both sides of the ball. Dame is getting better, but has not very good for most of his career. Ant has never been good and is still terrible. One you can hide. Two, you can't.....and it has shown....FOR YEARS.
You neglected to mention that the Lakers traded him for ANTHONY FUCKING DAVIS. Yes - I like Josh Hart, but if we can trade him for Anthony Davis, I'm okay with it.
On the other hand, he is a big guard who plays defense, so why would he instead want to sign with a team that already has what he offers?
I think he would just like to play for a team that knows what they are doing and has a balanced roster, one that has a chance to win a lot of games. Hopefully the Blazers can still prove they are that team.
He did quite well playing SG, but that isn't where he gets to play now. Ant played quite well playing PG for a short stretch (and got a big contract out of it), but that isn't where he is playing now. Seems to be a theme.
Josh Hart has spent most of his career at SF obviously, those positional assignments are full of flux and interpretation. But still he's spent a lot of time at SF, even before Portland. "You are what you can defend", and Hart is a fairly versatile defender. the NBA has essentially evolved to 3 on floor positions: PG's, Wings, and C's; and often, teams don't have C's on the floor. Hart is a wing, and generally, he's a little undersized as a wing, but he doesn't play undersized; 8 rebounds a game is impressive, especially when added to 4 assists a game with a 12.5% usage rate and an assist/turnover ratio close to 2.7. That's why there seems to be so much interest in him and the contrast with Hart is why Ant's value is limited. He only a PG, sometimes, by default because his team doesn't have anything better. He simply doesn't have the court vision or timing of a PG; not yet at least. So, he's a SG who can't really be a wing because he's way too undersized for wing and he can't defend a chair. A SG who is extremely limited at wing really needs to have a consistent and dynamic game to have good value (think Donovan Mitchell), especially if his PG skills only elevate him to 'tweener guard' level. that is Portland's major puzzle...Hart is much better at the things he does than Ant is at what he does. And Hart is capable of plugging into a lot of teams in a lot of positions in a lot of situations. Ant is quite limited while playing on a pretty substantial contract considering those limitations I've been reluctant to say Ant 'should' be traded. I wanted to see how he fit the roster and didn't think he could show all that in half a season. But Portland is underachieving while being wildly inconsistent, and Ant is part of that. There's a CJ problem, but I don't mean the match with Dame. I mean the actual trade value of CJ was a hell of a lot less than many thought, and that's because CJ had the same limitations that Ant has. If Ant is traded, and I don't expect it, I suspect he's going to be traded for a lot less than some people are imagining. And with Hart's contract status, I'd expect his return, if he's traded, will be disappointing too.
I am still holding out hope Hart will play more at the 2. Right now though he is our best SF. But if that were to change.........
My prediction is Hart is the only deal done at the deadline. Probably won't net a huge return, hopefully a center long and athletic and fast
Whaa??? Wasnt one of the biggest gripe last year that he made the first trade a week early and should have waited? now he is too slow joe??? this place… lol.
