They're here now, right when Dame needed them most, telling journalists that the team better treat Dame right
I first want to say that I don't think the team should take pennies and as long as it's a competitive team, I don't care where we trade him... actually I want him in the eastern conference. As far as getting paid goes, the superstars in this league are underpaid, I know that's hard for a lot of people to grasp but the superstars bring in way more than 17.5% of the revenue (That's what a supermax salary comes out to), so just paying someone less than what they're actually worth doesn't count as loyalty to me. If you don't agree with Dame's definition of loyalty that's your prerogative but he made it pretty clear at that presser right before the Olympics. He said he does everything he can at all times both during the season and off season, with a sense of urgency to get better and he doesn't see that from the team. I also don't see that from the team and do see it from him. He thinks that is disloyal from the team. You can disagree with him, I don't. I think when you have a superstar, building a roster around him that makes sense is showing both that superstar and your fans loyalty and when you are managing the team the way that Olshey and Cronin have it's disloyal to us and to the superstar who is giving it everything he can to win games for himself, for the team and for us the fans.
Dame's camp obviously pushing to have him traded quickly to Miami for a flaming bag of poo. Not even the pu-pu platter. Ding dong! Here you go Trail Blazers!
What's worse, is that most fans on this board are apparently unable to hit the "reply" button on the post so we know what they were responding to. I get it....that certainly takes a massive effort.
So the rational (per these idiots) is that if Portland sends Dame to Miami, players will think that is so great and start coming to Portland? I'll....
unconditional loyalty is fiction....and it's stupid it is entirely possible, and there are rumors supporting this, that Dame felt betrayed by promises Cronin didn't keep; the Blazers didn't keep. Maybe Dame was unrealistic in believing the promises, and yes, they might not have been the promises Dame perceived, but loyalty can be damaged, and it can be destroyed. I think people here are a little too quick in judging Dame as the bad guy in this and the Blazers innocent I also think people may be forgetting that it isn't just Cronin on the other side of this relationship. it's Jody, Bert Kolde, and the Vulcans and those people don't have good reputations
Haynes: "I don't know... obviously that's his first choice. That's the main place he wants to go to. I see a little bit of a debate going on, do the Blazers owe it to send Dame where he wants to go.... people are pointing to his contract. He was paid very handsomely over his 11 year career and they don't owe him anything. He signed a contract. I hear all that. I get it. But Dame's situation is a little bit different from any other player. I think the only other player who can probably relate, or has a similar path is Kevin Garnett. Somebody who held it down in an organization for so long. Did everything he could. Didn't complain. Just stayed the course. I wasn't covering the league then, I wasn't an NBA reporter at that time, but I remember people were saying "KG it's time to go. Time to go. Time to go." I feel like for the Blazers, the league is watching. Players are watching. They are watching how the blazers are gonna treat Dame after the way he held down the organization, the community and just being a noble citizen and spokesperson for the team that he was for a decade. They're watching to see how this is gonna play out. Young players are watching. I think the Blazers should look to see how they can get him to Miami, but also figure out how they can get the best package. If it involves a third team, which it would have to involve a third team at least, or if it involves a fourth team, trying to go out your way to make/appease both sides. I think there's a way that can be done. So that's what I kinda hope so that situation won't be such a tension filled exit between Dame and the Blazers. I'm hoping that both sides can come to a situation where they're both taken care of, and I think that solution does exist." What. A. Load. Of. Shit. The TWolves got some good young players for KG. July 31, 2007: Traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Boston Celtics for Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, a 2009 1st round draft pick (Wayne Ellington was later selected) and a 2009 1st round draft pick (Jonny Flynn was later selected). And to say that Dame hasn't complained is also horse shit.
I know because of what the Blazers have had the last few years, there's a bit of trauma over this. Maxey as part of the return as a result of a Dame trade is not a bad thing, so long as he's not the centerpiece of said trade. And he wouldn't be. He'd be swapping places with Ant, and a guy like Ant who shoots better than 40% from 3 is an asset.
Haynes is really beating the Miami drum. Stein asked him if Dame would accept another team and Haynes just repeated "Miami. Miami. Miami" over and over.
Cute that you answered your own question. I don't think that Dame's loyalty had an expiration date but it definitely should have had conditions. No loyalty in the world of business should be without conditions... that's a crazy crazy expectation. I think starting with the presser before the Olympics, Dame has explained pretty well what his conditions are. I think he gave the team plenty of chances to meet those conditions and they just didn't. That's not disloyalty from Dame in my opinion.
Dame hasn't complained? Sure, he can say, "I never said that" all he wants, but he got his narrative out through Haynes or through countless interviews over the last couple of years. And who are all these players that are watching? Seriously? I bet if they thought they could get $440,000,000 from the Blazers, they would be all in. Haynes is turning into a serious shill. At the very end, he backs away a bit from the hyperbole and is more reasonable. But the first part is straight Dame agenda.
Point to where I answered my own question. Or did you just want to go off another diatribe and needed an excuse?
Of course, the team might very well have done that, but OK. I'm not frustrated so much anymore at the shortsightedness of thinking the Blazers not making a trade somehow equals the Blazers didn't even try to make a trade as I find it humorous. When someone comes forward with a trade giving up either of our first round picks that we reasonably KNOW was available and wasn't an absolute fleecing against us, then I'll give these kinds of posts more weight.
I absolutely don't mind him asking out. If it's Miami or die, I will absolutely blame him. But his big PR shtick, which helped him get so much money from Portland and required that they build their team to accommodate him as much as possible, was the constant loyalty tale. It is no longer the story - and it is absolutely fair to point out that his loyalty goes only as far as it is beneficial to him. Like it or not, that's what is happening here. If he did not like the FO, the owner etc.., did not have to sign a big extension after coming back from a big injury and proving he can be durable going forward. You can't be loyal and not loyal, you can't push for a big extension coming out of injury and not accept that the team needs to get fair value after you ask for a trade. Again, absolutely loyalty is a myth. But it is absolutely fair to point out that it is such when a guy that built his brand on the loyalty tale shows that he is not.
And what happened to Haynes saying that Dame didn't need to be on a team with superstars.... what a load of crap.
So all the players Dame got to come to Portland that he said wanted to play with him now ... still won't come to Portland.
