At this point it's clear. Dame gives zero fucks about what we end up with. He's forcing the issue. Even the staunchest of Dame supporters have to admit that. I believe in Joe here. For no other reason is he's taking some hits nationally and still saying the right things. It's all about the Blazers now
Trying to draw attention on a bigger stage. We already saw it with Fentress when he got skewered by Broussard. His approach easily was exposed as being intellectually dishonest because he had no good response when Broussard and his co-host took up for the Blazers' side. He thought he was sitting in on the Miami-driven national echo chamber that the Blazers had been mistreating Dame all these years and now were going to kick him one more time on the way out.
He's a clown. They replied to every comment but mine. They didn't want the smoke. Wish he still posted here but he doesn't have the balls.
He might have. I think the bigger point coming out of that was another national voice saying the Heat aren't or shouldn't be the only game in town when it comes to trading Dame. He actually said from Dame's standpoint going to the Heat makes no sense and he had some interesting data on how no team whose top two players are in their 30s have won an NBA championship, or something like that.
I don't disagree with that the pool of assets the Heat have is limited. I think Riley was a snake for signing Jaquez when he did, but the Blazers could wait that out, and Jaquez is not that good of an asset. He's not the make-or-break fulcrum of the trade. Portland has Dame; Miami has what they have. The real problem is that Miami's assets aren't good enough so other teams will have to be involved. And those other team won't give a shit about any pissing contest between Blazer-Dame-Heat. Those teams won't care about national or PDX/Miami narratives I guess what I'm saying is that the PR battle between PDX/Dame/Miami is a sideshow. Unless some surprise team comes in and offers a big package for Dame (unlikely), it sure looks like it's a PDX/Miami/BKN deal in one form or the other. It's kind of crazy that a Dame trade package will probably come down to the value some 3rd team assigns Tyler Herro
I think that's all fair and quite likely. The one area I deviate from your thinking is Jaquez. He's a 22-year-old, 5-year college guy (because of the COVID exemption) who does so many little things well and has such an advanced understanding of the game. The only hole in his game is a little bit of lateral quickness, but his savvy covers for that a lot of the time. I think Riley signed him because he knows that, knows that he'll be able to contribute sooner than other rookies and figured the Blazers would want him but if he could push for a quick trade, signing him would remove him from the picture. He's a low-visibility asset, but I think he's a lot better asset than people realize, and I think personnel people know it.
But he had barely been hurt before they acquired him from Boston... he has one year where he only played 1 game, and then he missed 30 games in his final year in Boston. Compare that to my hypothetical where Zion would have played 58 games in four seasons, which is only six more than the final year Hayward was in Boston (he played in 136 in three years for the Celtics overall), and Gordon has played in 143 in his three years for the Hornets. I'm not trying to be pedantic, but Zion (in that situation) would be historically injury prone and on an entirely different level at that then Hayward was/is (and, again, Charlotte hasn't been able to move his contract).
We should be getting Jaques and Jovic along with Caleb Martin and Clowney. We're talking about guys who mostly project to be role players. It shouldn't even be a conversation.
Maybe not that great of an asset but I bet he will turn out better than most draft picks we end up with. He was picked 21st in a deep draft. So yeah he is worth the wait. I am also glad Riley did sign him when he did so he gets some run in the summer league. He won't be a star but he will be a solid player. He does a little of everything. Pac-12 player of the year for a reason.
By doing what supports their platform....they write anything that causes extreme emotion in fans.....and it entices drama based fans into retweeting what they have wrote. There is their sole objective....to get folks to retweet the air that blows out their ass.
I don't believe the tough talk and we have no choice but to wait if some of the rookie guys are in the deal like Jaquez. Did Clowney sign his rookie deal too?
