I wonder if part of the 3-team trade discussion re: Vanderbilt, is maybe the Twolves asking for him back? They missed him IMO
The Lakers are willing to sell their future for an attempt at success today and if we do nothing and they make a run in the playoffs, I cannot imagine Dame is going to be OK with that. Don't get me wrong in order to access our future picks we would have to guarantee Chicago this year's pick, so the deal those picks went out in would have to make us a lock to get into the playoffs but making three future firsts and three swaps available should be able to net you someone who would be the difference between hovering around .500 and solidly making the playoffs, especially given how bunched up things are.
depends, but he's past getting a pass. The Nurk, Payton, and Simons contracts got him past the pass line. as far as trades.... let's see, there was the Kyrie trade but that wasn't anything the Blazers should have been involved in * the Kings traded for Kesler Edwards, a player averaging 1 point a game in 14 games while shooting 33% on two's and 17% on three's * The Spurs used a TPE to take Dedmon so they could land a 2nd round pick * the Lakers traded Nunn for Hachimura that's it...that's the list of deadline trades so far. Where is the value in those deals that has you so upset Portland is missing? Where is the rush of deadline trades that mean Cronin is 'going slow'? I'm sure there will be more deadline deals. We can be pretty sure that Cronin had a tentative deal for Vanderbilt lined up. And we know for pretty certain that Cronin has been shopping Hart & Nurkic pretty hard. But none of us know if the reason nothing has happened yet is if the offers have been shitty rather than Cronin dragging his feet personally, from what I've seen in this forum, I think those showing the most impatience are often those who I believe are significantly overrating the value of Blazer assets. The Blazers are NOT going to make their first round pick this year unprotected; and unless they do there's no incentive for the Bulls to cooperate. Portland has only 1 second round pick between now and 2027. Nurkic likely has neutral value at best, and wouldn't you know it, is injured again. Hart is a decent player but he's on an expiring contract, and he's a SF that has gone 4-19 over the last 7 games on three's, and just before the trade deadline is a bad time for a perimeter player to do that. the value of the rest of the players, other than Sharpe and Ant is kind of meaningless. Blazers shouldn't be shopping Sharpe unless the target is an elite player. And I think Simons has inflated value in Portland compared to the rest of the league, mainly because he's not a good fit on most rosters
Add in that everyone laughs about the inability to land a needle mover, while refusing to put Sharpe in any deals.
If we truly want to give Dame a shot at a title there is one name out there that would make us title contenders….Anthony Davis. Yep injury prone but when healthy top 10 player in NBA instantly makes you better both offensively and defensively. You could make available anyone but Dame. Do I like it no but he’s one of the very few players in NBA that is a difference maker. You’d be selling out for win now but you could offer Simons, Sharpe and Nurk plus make Chicago pick unprotected, then throw in draft pick. Boom title contender
if trader joe can do some good business, okay, if not, its better not to make a deal just for the sake of making one
