Miami version of Fentress. These dudes look like if you passed them a basketball it would go threw their hands and hit them in the face.
I think it's interesting that in the space of a few hours Jackson has gone from the Blazers will accept what the Heat give them to now grudgingly, covertly guiding his readership to trade that's fair. I'm sure it's just coincidental that it's also the return that most people think the Blazers want. Yeah, just a coincidence.
Saying Martin would have been a first rounder if the draft were redone... I haven't looked at all the guys in the class he would be, but the dude was waived under two years ago and has only started 61 regular season games while averaging about 9.5ppg the last two years. What a stupid statement.
Give that chump a couple of more days of waiting and he and the rest of the Heat fans will realize that Dame ain't holding the cards. The more national media that step up and say what's right, like Broussard, Gotlieb, Parker and the rest of them, the more will fall in long the longer this drags out. Some will hopefully look at themselves in the mirror and say "What the hell was i thinking"?
Every free agent that signs somewhere else is an option knocked off the Heat's list when this trade gets done and they have to put a team around Dame, Butler and Bam. Pat Riley has multiple reasons to try to get this done quickly. He needs a deal before some other team can guarantee the Blazers something better and the Blazers say "the heck what Dame wants," and he needs to put some capable role players around his big three for the Dame trade to mean anything.
So is all of this theater going on because Riley is somehow lowballing us? Like...... if they were actually offering 3 picks, Jovic, Jaquez, and Martin with whatever they can get for Herro..... would we have accepted that? What are the odds that Riley is offering us Herro/Lowry/Robinson and 3 picks for Dame and Nurk? What if he's not even offering Jovic?
Those first 2 packages are a fucking joke. The third is better, but I still don't think it's nearly enough. The arrogance of some of these posters and journalists really shows through their trade ideas. I really, really hope the trade is with a different eastern conference team. Then, all the Miami posts will be about how much team X overpaid for Dame and they're glad he's not coming to Miami.
Firing up a recording of the Heat/Kings game. Gonna be watching Jaquez really closely. He didn't have a good game. I'm wondering if Keegan dropped most of his 40 on him.
Being a Dolphins fan, I follow a lot of Miami media. From what I've seen, that seems to be the view of their reporters and fan base. They don't want to give up Jovic, Jaquez and Martin (I've seen that quoted in various reports for each of the three). And we know they don't have anything really to offer in terms of draft picks for a few years. Essentially, they want to give the Blazers back contracts, nobodies and draft picks down the road. They don't need an aging Lowry if Dame's there, so they're willing to give him up. They're willing to part with Herro, who has flaws in his game and didn't even play in the finals. So, yeah, I think that's exactly it. They're strapped because they don't have resources to make the trade, they don't even want to part with developmental pieces because their depth is compromised, so they've taken the approach of letting the local media and national allies try to strong-arm the Blazers into making a rushed, unreasonable trade or else they'll make the Blazers look bad. That's how I'm reading it, and the fact that Barry Jackson now is throwing out the potential deal the Blazers likely would take is reinforcing my opinion of that. The longer this takes, the more it straps the Heat. At some point, Riley just has to part with Jovic, Jaquez and Martin because those three guys combined aren't making the impact on the Heat's title hopes this season or next that Dame is. He has to take the risk and trust his personnel people to find role players to take over for Martin before there aren't any suitable free agents left to fill their rotation.
Jovic has a nice shot. I'm worried he's a tweener. He plays out on the perimeter too much. He doesn't rebound enough. Only 3 boards tonight in 26 minutes.
I have a feeling that we wait until August 1st when Jaquez can be traded, Riley finally concedes and we end up with Jovic, Jaquez, Martin, 3 picks and whatever they can get for Herro. Riley will be pressuring to just take the shit deal.
That's my suspicion, too. The Blazers don't need to rush. Heck, they might get an offer before Jaquez can be traded that blows the Heat's offer out of the water. However, if that doesn't happen, again, I think Riley eventually gives in because if they're going for it now, they need Dame and they need to fill out their rotation. Right now, Jovic, Jaquez and Martin are nice pieces but they're replaceable for a title run -- the first two become bigger losses over the next few years -- but they need Dame alongside Bam and Butler to really be entertaining realistic championship hopes.
Jaquez is just.... I don't know.... not an amazing defender. I just watched Keegan Murray school him pretty hard. He's one of those guys who you can't really point to one thing that he's really good at.
Jaquez is a must if we aren’t getting more picks than 2. Jovic doesn’t seem very assertive, which I don’t like. I can live with… Jaquez Jovic Miami 28/30 1st picks Simmons Phoenix 2027 1st Clowney and someone takes Nurk. Hold firm Joe
