After the championship team that wasn’t — Roy, Oden, LMA, Batum, Rudy — to the Lillard era with LMA, Wesley, RoLo, Batum that almost was and then it fell apart … with Wesley’s heel problems to the Achilles … Batum’s inconsistency and paid big $$$ … LMA high maintenance and bailed. Done. The asset acquisition phase never got there despite getting to the WCF. I had one hope. Rodney Hood. Got his own shot in the paint and the fadeaway on the baseline with decent handles, size, and D at the SF like Evan Turner BUT he hit from 3 and didn’t pound the rock into submission! I thought he could be that actual frigging 3 and D guy. Not a star but what the team needed most. Hoodie got hurt. He was soon gone, and the Blazers have not had a SF since. Because Olshey was an idiot, put patches on top of patches and wasted DPs at the same time and wouldn’t trade CJ … that was it. It’s not Cronin. He cleaned up Olshey’s gift that kept giving. Imperfectly, no doubt, AND he didn’t get what Lillard needed to have a contending team. He did get 2nd round draft capital, got 2 young studs for the rebuild along with hardworking young forwards in Murray, Walker, and Rupert to go with Matisse and Jerami … and we’ve got Ant and Nurkic — the old-timer-Blazers. I enjoyed the Lillard years. All of them. Now, I’d like to see them play with positional size, take care of the defensive glass, grab and go, or get right into the offense — with ball and man moving. I look forward to what he adds from the Lillard trade.
but if those 3 first round exits are sandwiched between 7 years of lottery can the rebuild be considered successful?
Just realized Drexler will still hold the record for number of games played for the Blazers and Kersey is #2.
I've come to realize that we might actually break the cycle of incompetence/bad luck about our star players. Rasheed was a cornerstone, and we lost him for Shareef Abdul Rahim. Roy looked amazing, and we lost him for nothing due to injury. Oden looked amazing, and we lost him for nothing due to injury. Aldridge was an All Star and a cornerstone to build around with Dame and CJ, and we lost him for nothing to free agency. Imagine if the Spurs had lost Duncan, Robinson, Ginobili and Parker all early-to-mid their career without hardly any compensation. That's basically been our life this millennium. We've had guys, really good guys, and they all just vanished like tears in the rain. So much equity lost without compensation. Now here we are again facing the same goddamned thing, and for once, just once, we may actually come out of it with, I don't know, SOMEthing. Christ, ANYTHING would be an improvement given our track record. But jeez, it's looking really fucking promising! And on top of that, we actually have cornerstones in Shae and Scoot to build around? Sign me the fuck up!
Don’t forget Ratliff was part of that deal; he was a key part in the PritchSlap that got Portland the Roy pick.
The big question, for me, is will Portland acquire a single breathing active player in the Dame trade that will be on the team in 4-5 years? Or will it merely be salary ballast and picks?
You think Utah is moving off of Kessler in 4-5 years? I don’t. Portland will indeed slough a bunch of players and get picks. Getting one actual player isn’t too much to ask.
obviously, Portland won't be moving off of Scoot and Sharpe soon either but rookie scale isn't the same as all the other players. Portland will be getting some vets from a Dame trade and those won't be coming locked up for 7-8 years like Scoot and Sharpe on a rookie scale. Ant & Nurk only have 3 years left on their deals. Grant has a player option at 4 years what is the pool of "actual" players you see Portland picking from? Lowry is an expiring contract; Herro has 4 years remaining but almost everybody around here doesn't want him (I'd take him over Ant); Caleb Martin has 2 years left, the same as Ben Simmons; Dinwiddie is an expiring; Siakam and OG are expiring contracts.
- get 1 piece - get movable/expiring filler - get picks Miami heat fans seem perplexed about what Joe is looking for. He’s spelled it out pretty clearly.
problem is that the only "piece" Miami has to move is Herro, and the Blazers don't want him. Caleb Martin is their next best piece. Robinson is negative value
