I just want to know: does it affect the roster, viewers, ticket sales, or team value? What difference does it make if fans from other teams dont like POR? I think none of those are affected by Joe holding out. I like the team more than ever.
Toradol week was rough in Portland. I'm surprised Jason Quick didn't get fired for throwing rotten eggs at Cronin. I guess bad PR is good PR. As long as the Blazers logo is in the national spotlight for any reason, its a PR win.
Yep. It is Portland, not Dame/Miami/Goodwin, who can actually afford to go scorched Earth. No reason to, but we could. It's Dame/Goodwin who need to win the PR battle. We are already one of the least desirable locations in the league based on taxes, weather, side income from local endorsements, and nightlife. How we treat Dame really doesn't matter other than just to be decent people. I feel like we've comported ourselves like shrewd negotiators. It's not like we've openly threatened to send Dame to Detroit. It's "Dame's camp" (code for Goodwin or is Dame using friends and family?) that has gone scorched Earth via the media.
The GP2 thing is ridiculous and I'm sure we can just send the relevant articles to Sharpe and Scoot's family if pressed. I don't think PR matters almost at all and again, we haven't done anything wrong, that would be the Heat/Dame's "camp" and media.
It's easy to get caught up in tunnelvision. Blazers fans are probably overly focusing on the narrative coming out of the Dame camp and the Miami media. Most of the league's fans think it's ridiculous what Miami is trying to do—a complete and utter fleece in broad daylight. The GM community stuck its nose up at the Herro and picks offer that the Heat were attempting to trade the last two trade windows. If you don't like Cronin, you might think he's a little dim, but he's not dim enough to know that that's a meh package, and that his peers in the GM community agree. I believe Cronin when he says he'll wait as long as it takes. I'm starting to wrap my head around a lame duck roster to start the year; the alternative is much worse.
Just so we’re clear, Simons is in his 5th year and Tari Eason has a higher win share (on a worse team). Jabari Smith has a higher win share (on a worse team) than Shaedon Sharpe. Playing defense is a pretty important part of basketball it turns out.
Exactly this. Still not even slightly factoring in that Jabari, Eason and Amen(most likely) are all elite defenders where as you won’t find a plus defender out of Simons, Sharpe and Scoot. We can remove Amen and Scoot because they’ve done nothing at the NBA level yet; but acting like Simons and Sharpe are even in the same galaxy as Smith and Eason is laughable at best.
So, just so we're clear you, have Eason and Smith as better than Simons and Sharpe...and maybe Scoot? Lay your cards out.
I would 110% take Eason, Smith and Amen over Simons, Sharpe and Scoot. I would take Eason over Simons all day every day and twice on Sunday. Jabari and Sharpe is really close. Probably a wash. I think after SL (which I don’t factor in) most people would heavily lean Jabari though. Amen and Scoot as of now is a wash although it’s no secret I would prefer Amen but I won’t factor that in for this.
You should bookmark this post. Eason is the only one I remotely agree with and it's really about what you value. I grant that a 3&D wing is more valuable than an elite scorer, but I don't think Eason is elite at anything currently, Ant is an elite 3pt shooter and very likely an elite all around scorer which we will see next year. Smith over Sharpe is laughable to me. Amen vs. Scoot I don't think is close, even though I have Amen rated quite highly there is a reason every GM in the league had Scoot over Amen. So to sum up, Eason over Simons is a maybe but I will grant you that one, but Sharpe over Smith and Amen over Scoot? Wow!
Eason is elite at defense. I am pretty sure a vast majority of the league would take Smith over Sharpe. 6’11. Great defender. Supposedly elite shooter. Most “all around” stats favor Jabari over Sharpe and it’s not particularly close. Sharpe certainly has a higher ceiling IMO. That’s why I called it a wash. Jabari is, IMO, quite better than Sharpe right now — as evidenced in SL. And I said Amen vs. Scoot is a wash since I’m placing 0 value on rookies who haven’t done squat in the NBA. GM’s, do, quite frequently, get the draft wrong so I don’t particularly care where people are “rated”. I guess we will see in a few years. Certainly hope I’m wrong!
Cronin must realize Pat Riley is in the same position with Jimmy as he (Joe) was with Dame. Jimmy asked Riley to get Lillard. If Dame isn't traded to Miami, will Jimmy ask out? Joe probably tried to get a Mikal bridges type player for Ant and Nas type package and got shutdown. So now Miami is trying to solve their problem and wants us to be their solution
I am going to thoroughly enjoy bumping this when Shae is a star. Eason is a role player and Smith has thus far been a bust.
Summer league…… summer league……….. summer……. League. Man it’s really too bad we don’t have actual NBA stats to look at from those two players. If only…..
They were both shit teams... who cares about win shares? That's the one stat you're going to snipe? Smith couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. In the 30-39 minute per game bracket, Sharpe outplayed Smith pretty handily. Smith was just as bad defensively as Sharpe, but horrible offensively. I already posted those stats. Overall, Sharpe was a MUCH more efficient scorer. Smith was a massive disappointment last season. He was supposed to be NBA ready.
Just so we're clear... you're comparing: Eason 6'8" Smith 6'11" Amen 6'7" to Simons 6'3" Sharpe 6'5" Scoot 6'2"
Whitmore is not close to equal to Amen or Jabari + Eason. Whitmore is a chucker drafted at #20. Amen was #4 in a loaded draft and might end up as the best player.
I don't see the problem with the Blazers telling Miami to flip Herro to a 3rd team for a 2025 pick but have OKC accept the better of that pick or the 2025 Heat pick and Miami gets the worse. Then Miami sends the Blazers Martin, Jovic, Jascquez, plus filler (not Duncan Robinson). 2024 2026 2028 2030 1st round picks all unprotected. Blazers get swaps in 2025 2027 2029. Blazers also get Miami 2nd round picks in 2026 2029 2030. Doesn't really matter right now if OKC would agree to the deal or not, just tell Miami this is what the Blazers want Miami to give up in the trade. It doesn't have to involve OKC, another team can get Miami a pick matching the one they sent OKC which frees up all 4 Miami firsts. Or sending picks from the 3rd team straight to Portland and Miami gives Portland extra swaps. If Miami ever got to the place of giving up all of those assets then both the Blazers and Miami can work on finalizing the 3rd team aspect. I don't see the harm in the Blazers saying this is what they want. Maybe there is no advantage so its fine to not say that at this time. I guess if the Blazers need to show Dame they are making a good faith negotiations offer they can go ahead and say this is what they want. Then if Miami comes nowhere close to the offer, Blazers tell Dame he either adds teams to his list or comes back and plays.
I think the Blazers won't care too much about short term PR. If its some local Portland fans complaining like when the Blazers didn't initially hand Roy a max contract they won't care. But they will want this to long term look they they made the correct decision as well as treated Dame fairly. That doesn't mean they hand Dame away for a poor return. But its arguably the greatest player in franchise history so they do care about how this could be remember long term for Blazer fans. Right now Blazer fans are very united in that the Blazers should hold out for a better return or Dame should add teams to the list so both long term and short term I think the Blazers are fine at this time and can stay the course.
