Trade Idea Realistic trade options for summer of 2023

He can play center, but he is still only 214 lbs with a 7'3 wing
Grant is 210 with a 7'3" wing

Not a big difference. I see them both as stretch 4's

 

A 30ish year all-NBA level PG with amazing range, leadership, etc. would be the perfect fit! Getting a guy that good in Portland seems near impossible though.

 

I was asked to produce a top 10 list, so I did. If I was asked to produce a tiered list, I would have.

Agreed that neither path (Staying with Dame or building around Sharpe) seem likely to product a contender with out a lot of other very good moves.

 

Agreed here.
Grant at $30M/yr or Wood at $12M/yr... I think Wood is much better value.

 

Disagree. At least about 2018-2019. That team was insanely overrated.

2014-2015 was on the edge of that 10 years, but that was the last actually decent starting lineup that we had. But I think Sharpe/Barnes/Grant/Bam could be much much much better defensively than 2018-2019 and could hold its own against 2014-2015.

 

WTF.... who the hell is saying that trading Dame is going to make us a contender next season? That makes absolutely zero sense. Show me one person on this forum who thinks that trading Dame is the key to becoming an instant contender next season. You're just creating a strawman.

 

Wood has been dumped by three teams in a row.

There's a reason.

 

sorry...I wasn't clear

what I was getting at is that whenever anybody suggests keeping Dame and making a trade or transaction to upgrade the roster, somebody is absolutely guaranteed to dismiss the move because it wont make Portland an immediate contender. Ergo, they say trade Dame instead

in other words, if the resulting team after a Dame trade is several moves and some good fortune away from being a contender, it isn't really the significantly better option than keeping Dame

 

Another example of judging how good a player is by only looking at the box score. He's a hard pass.

 

That's because realistically there isn't a move that can be made which can turn us into a contender. Probably not this summer. Probably not next summer. It's highly unlikely that we can put a team around Dame that can contend while he's still this good. That's why some of us lean towards trading him. Because we can get quality assets for him that will hopefully help us build a contender down the road.

If we get the #1 pick, I'm going to change my tune. I think adding Wemby would drastically change our projections.

 

ok...but that's essentially saying that keeping Dame or trading Dame won't make a difference for Portland over the next 4-5 years. That's why a lot of us are saying we'd rather watch the Blazers with Dame and having a remote chance of being a contender, than watch the Blazers, without Dame, but still having a remote chance of being a contender.

 

I get your point. The only guarantee in either scenario is most of us enjoy watching Dame play. So I tend to prefer keeping Dame if the change is not to our clear benefit. Sure if there is a deal for Dame that we can't refuse then that changes things, but it needs to include a really good young player, not just a bunch of protected draft picks and filler from a contending team. I can think of a couple of scenarios where I would trade Dame, but I doubt the other team would go for it. Essentially we would need to trade Dame to a team with a surplus of talent, yet that needs a scoring PG...or it doesn't work for anyone.

 

I cant like this post enough. Id say lock the thread but… its mine so…

but really this sums up the trade Dame argument better than i have seen as of yet.
Either way, we don't contend for a few years. Watch dame during that time or watch dame on another team during that time.

To me its a no brainer.

 

I wouldn't say that. We should have a pretty good idea how good Sharpe will be in the next couple years. If we keep this pick and maybe add some other young talent from trades of Dame/Simons/Nurk, I would think we would be well on our way to being back in the playoffs in the next 4-5 years. Maybe even contending depending on how good our young guys end up being.

The difference is that trading Dame will add some pieces to potentially go out and try to get other guys who fit Sharpe's window. See if Billups can actually coach. See if Cronin can actually GM. If we keep Dame, we will just continue to treadmill OR Dame will get pissed and demand a trade and we will lose leverage.

 

I am fine with keeping Dame, Grant and our picks. We've tanked two years in a row. Best way to get cheap talent and control it, draft it. I'm fine with moving Simons, Nurk and other filler. I'm also fine with trading Dame. Point being, Portland tried giving up picks, landed us Nance and Covington. Would rather have those picks back.

 

Sure, but the difference is that we don't contend for a few years and then Dame is in the twilight of his career and we're back to square one.

Let's say we go all-in and trade our picks and maybe even trade Sharpe to try to put a team around Dame, but that team still isn't truly a contender and we're essentially back to square one in 3-4 years. OR we trade Dame, build around Sharpe and pick and other young players and we essentially reset the window by building around a much younger player. Maybe we can't build a contender around Sharpe in 4-5 years, but Sharpe will only be 25 instead of Dame being 37.

 

Trading a top 10 player to move the window onto a guy who we dont even know can be a top 50 player all in the name of being better than before instead of "being on a treadmill"...

The difference in mindsets between "there's absolutely nothing we can do with Dame" to "without him we could potentially make a bunch of good moves for guys that fit Sharpe!" is strange to me.

 

I respect the hell out of you man, but what path is there to put a contender around Dame while he's still a top 10 player?

 

Key point left out of your post:

if we trade dame for picks, those picks will be late first rounders, not lottery picks.

To me, trading Dame has less of a chance of making is a contender in five or les years than keeping him and continuing to try to find the right pcs to out around him.

Now i will toss this out there because i think its plausible even though i bet most do not.
If we do what we can to win with Dame but it doesn't work before his extension is over, i bet he signs cheap to allow us to have more financial flexibility to win with him as a role player/mentor to the up and comers like Sharpe.
If we swing and miss but he sees the effort, i think he stays loyal.
Im not trading him for those two reasons alone.
Late first round picks for a return and his potential loyalty to retiring in Portland tells me not to trade him. Ride it out.

One last thing, we will NOT see anyone like Dame anytime soon no matter which path is taken. Im not giving that up.

 

He doesn't have to be a top ten player to contend. is chris paul still a top ten player? Is phoenix a contender?