I am so tired of the national conversation that seems to imply that Dame has never had a chance to win here, as if he's been on something like that old Clippers team back win the day. It's BS. For starters, that team with Wes, Rolo, Lamarcus, Dame, and Nic was very solid. Had Wes not blown out his achilles, they would have gone far. Similarly, just a few years ago, they went to the WCF. As we say in my tribe, that's not chopped liver. Dame has had plenty of chances to win here. I don't see how, for instance, he goes to Miami and they have any better of a chance, given what they would have to trade away to get him.
That’s the problem. Miami will trade a steaming pile of trash for him. They’d keep Jimmy and Bam. That’s the most important thing.
I actually think adding Caleb Martin would be a nice role player starting at SF next to Scoot and Shae. How do we feel about Jovic and Jaques?
Since getting off his rookie deal, Dame's supporting cast hasn't been good. In fact, I've been unable to find a 7 time, All-NBA player, who stuck with one team, that was never surround by another all-star after that rookie deal was up. If he were traded to Miami, Jimmy and Bam would vault to two of the three most talented players he's ever played with. Of course, this doesn't mean he'd win a title, but he'd certainly have a better chance. Dame has won a lot of games in Portland, but a narrative that he hasn't had much talent around him is probably not emphasized enough. I was certainly banging that drum a few years ago when a common narrative was attributing us not winning 50+ games more often being due an offense with a low assist rate and a drop coverage defense. It was always a talent issue.
Along with them only having two picks to swing our way, that's just not close to enough. The other guys they have aren't close to enough if they want to leave the core of Dame, Jimmy and Bam together... I guess if they could find teams that significantly overvalue Lowry and Herro they might be able to put something together. Again Miami might be Dame's number one preferred destination but he already mentioned another preferred destination in Brooklyn who has a boatload of picks and expiring contracts one of which Nic Claxton that we would probably want if we felt good about re-signing him. As far as the OP goes, @Stevenson I have no fucking clue what you're talking about. LaMarcus left after just three seasons with Dame and while that roster had a nice starting lineup its bench was absolute shit. Since then not an all star and never a starting lineup that came close to making sense around Dame. Yeah we got to the WCF but that run was generated by a combination of luck but more so the amazing position Dame put teammates in with every team trying to replicate how the Pelicans had swept us the previous year. Dame had more gravity in that run than any player I can remember because no one really respected anyone else including CJ on that team. Just abysmal roster construction around him since his third year in the league, with his first season the team not even being good enough to make the playoffs and like I said during those next two seasons we trotted out pretty nice starting lineups with absolute shit coming off the bench. Give me a fucking break.
It's the Dog Days of Summer. The NBA Dudes need shit to write about so they keep the agenda alive. Keeps them relevant to act as if they know what's going on. Only took them and a lot on this board to completely twist Cronin' words into what they have.
Well based on the trade proposals I've seen (Herro, Jovic, crap, and two 1sts), I'd say they aren't trading away much to get him, so they definitely would have a better chance than us.
Dame's best chance to win a title is not in Portland, and given Dame's contract and age Portland's best chance for contention IMO is to build with Shae and Scoot and assets garnered from a Dame trade and the huge cap flexibility down the road with Dame's huge contract off the books and likely shorter contracts coming back
Ya but it’s highlights. Let’s not forget both Zach Collins and Myers Leonard could both do those things too lol plus he was picked 27th in the draft. 26 other teams passed on him, so not sure I would get too hyped on him
Something something Cliff Robinson, Draymond Green, et al. Just because a lot of folks pass on a guy doesn't (necessarily) mean he's garbage.
Doesn’t mean he is good either. Those are diamonds in the rough. I would rather a better package than one that includes him personally
I like Jovic too, think Martin would be the perfect SF for us and Jaques is a complete stud and does that dirty work a winning team needs someone to do. With all that said I don’t want to trade him to Miami out of spite, their fans have been more delusional than most delusional NBA fans. They aren’t on a Steven A hate level yet but they are climbing. No Heat or Knicks trades. Brooklyn or Bust Dame.
I get the point yes, it can happen. But 98% of the time it won't turn into that, so not sure why you're using that example. No reason to think it's ok to take Miami's package but you like the upside of Jovic, which won't pan out 98% as history as proved.
