Why Lillard's move might herald the destruction of Small Market teams

This is a good potential solution and I'm sure there are others. The point is this has really gotten out of hand and the Dame situation does seem to be an inflection point.

 

They also didn't tank when Lebron, Duncan, and Dwight Howard were eligible to be drafted. Much like whiffing on Giannis, Draymond, and Middleton just like everyone else - they need to be held responsible!!! Any good GM needs injury predictor glasses and hidden gem glasses or else they are incompetent. Whining about the CJ pick is probably the biggest bitch move possible.

 

The list for me would be Portland, Sac, Utah, OKC, Memphis, NO, San Antonio, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Orlando. Some have made up for it by having a great organization, great players, great coaches, better weather, or rich owners who will spend unlimited sums.

We used to be one of those model franchises. I think SAS, Utah, OKC and Milwaukee have those advantages right now.

 

If you have a good to great team (90’s Blazers) then free agents will come. If I remember right Moses Malone and Barkley both wanted to come to PDX back in the day. To be honest free agency is rarely the answer you need to build through the draft and make smart trades.

 

It's called Free Agency

 

I'm just waiting for the NBA to allow college players to have a 'No draft' clause to avoid going to teams they'd rather not play for haha.

 

who was "whining" about the CJ pick?

it was just a missed opportunity, among a list of missed opportunities, miscalculations, and mismangement

 

In order for this to become a legitimate problem:

These players have to actually be willing to sit out and lose millions of dollars like Ben Simmons was willing to do.

Otherwise his agent could say: “Yeah, he requested a trade to a specific team but they could’ve kept him and he would’ve shown up and honored his contract.”

I don’t think there has been any reporting to indicate if Dame wasn’t traded he wouldn’t honor his contract.

Part of the issue is our rookie GM “trying to work Dame” instead of saying, “if we get a meaningful package, sure, we will trade you. Otherwise, look forward to seeing you at the start of training camp”.

 

All I was trying to point out was that ascribing this situation to small-market vs big-market wasn't really the case. Portland's high water mark in the Dame era was probably 2013-14. That team fell apart and Olshey could never really build a comparable team. It's not like Dame didn't give Portland several years to get it right, or even appear to be heading in the right direction. They never did. If the Blzers had capitalized on just a couple of those opportunities we wouldn't be where we are right now. I mean, if Portland had taken Bam instead of Zach, that likely would have been more than enough to keep Dame on board for good

I agree that Dame's Miami or bust stance and the actions of Dame's agent are shitty. I am convinced that Riley has been colluding with the agent too. But this isn't really unprecedented. Kareem forced his way to LA nearly 50 years ago. Melo essentially forced his way out of Denver to NY. Deron Williams forced his way to NJ. Recently, Paul George forced his way to LAC

 

Teams get fined a shitload of money for tampering. How is what Dame is doing not the same idea as tampering, too? Don't explain what tampering is. I know. My point is that if a team can get in trouble for talking to or naming a player, why shouldn't a guy who is under contract get in trouble for naming a team(s) by name?!

 

We've already had Clyde and Lamarcus signal the demise of small market teams...Dame didn't start this trend although I think the trend sucks...Brandon going to Minnie too

 

I've wondered about this as well...only free agents or agents can lobby publicly

 

Lamarcus went to San Antonio.

 

I know....chasing a ring...he talked to the Lakers, the Suns and San Antonio.....San Antonio might be a small market but they had a championship core back then

 

I voted other. I would have voted for the 3rd option (trade to Miami if at all possible but only if it's a fair value return), it's just that I don't think it's possible to get a fair return from their assets. It seems Lillard doesn't care 1 iota about what Portland gets back and likely wants to screw the Blazers over for not bending even futrther over backwards to please him. If so (& management probably knows whats what), Portland should just let Dame Time go tick tick tick on the sidelines until they change their Miami or Bust tune. Tiiiiiiiiiieeeeeime ain't on his side & it's not like Portland is going to win this year regardless of whats coming back.

It takes two to tango and if Dame doesn't want to be a partner in this big move and value Portland's position, why should the Blazers value his position? Desirable Free Agents will come to Portland if Scoot and Shaedon show budding promise and Joe has cleared the decks of bad contracts. Stay strong Joe!

STOMP

 

Trade him to whoever offers us the best deal. Unless the BS continues. I'm still okay sending him to Miami for the best return, but itwouldn't take much to get me to the "anybody but" camp.

 

This is probably easier said than done. Assuming teams aren't offering any deals based on the fact that Dame would allegedly hold out if not traded to Miami.

 

Then he can sit and rot. By mid season he'll be eager to play for anybody. If not then, certainly after the season.