Blazers were never going to go the route of cap space with Jerami Grant and Jrue Holiday on the roster. Cronin has made it clear he doesn't value cap flexibility, so I don't understand the criticism there. Next year, Dame will be making 8% of the salary cap. This year is pretty meaningless, they're still over the cap and below the tax. Getting a talent like him for nothing, on a good contract, and not being able to generate assets by trading him down the line isn't "hamstringing the team". There is literally no downside. Who cares what he's making with Milwaukee. That's their cost, not the Blazers. Cronin's done far worse things for the Blazers cap flexibility than sign an all-star (albeit injured) to 2.5x LESS than what Jerami Grant is making.
We're worried about extending Avdija in 2028 when the cap may be $200M because the Blazers gave Dame $14M a year ending in 2028? I'm sorry but I don't follow.
I agree. The argument that it would be better if we signed him to the minimum is true, but that would be true with any signing. And clearly, Dame wasn't willing to take the minimum, which is totally fair!
Some people just refuse to give the man his flowers. He is lightyears better than Neil. Neil inherited a great starting five and drove it into the ground. Dame Wes Nic LMA All we got for Wes, Nic and LMA was Noah Vonleh and Gerald Henderson. He should have been fired. I think he WOULD have been fired if not for Dame carrying his spray tanned ass. Cronin on the other hand took a shit roster that really only had Dame and has completely rebuilt it. It’s not done yet but at least it has a future.
First of all, the question mark needs to be removed from the tit Now on to my post Damian Lillard in 2019 via The Player's Tribune: “Bruh, not being a Top Five guy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Thank God I didn’t go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Because who was at six? Who was at six? Portland. My city. My people. I’m saying, you think you know how deep this goes, but you have no idea. When I say that I will never, ever switch up on the city of Portland, I mean what I say. When I say that I will never, ever switch up on this organization, I mean what I say. They might switch up on me. That’s business. That’s basketball. But I will never switch up on the city. I don’t want it easy. I’m drawn to the struggle. When I came here, we hadn’t won a playoff series since 2000. You had so many injuries to franchise guys like Brandon Roy and Greg Oden over the years, and it’s so tough to come back from that. Even going way back, you had All-Stars like Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton who didn’t choose to end their careers as a Blazer. Well, I’m going to be that. I’m going to carry that. I’m going to bring a ring to this city or go down swinging.”
Dame getting the Portland’s max (of what they could do) AND a player-opt-out AND a no trade clause was pretty much it — that with Milwaukee paying what Portland originally signed him to. Thanks, Milwaukee. Dame maxes his money, good contract terms, returns back home — rehabs for a year. Good for him. Portland has Jrue and Scoot at PG, Shaedon and Jrue at SG, gets great PR and has real options at both guard positions and no logjam for a year to sort it out. TBpup is reasonable to note the high cost and using most all of the available dollars and with the NTC limiting flexibility. When it comes to Dame on THIS contract, it’s not about flexibility. The timing of his return in 26-27 works well … and the Blazers could have veterans coming off the salary in 2 years + 3 p-opts. By that time, there should be restocking with the upcoming draftees and 2 EC’s (Matisse and Time Lord). While it was no “hometown discount,” he did go back to Portland. The most interesting off-season/summer I can recall since Trader Bob’s Off-season-Weekly-Monday-Trade-o-Rama (or it seemed that way one summer).
it takes so much teamwork, talent, chemistry and most of all, luck, to win a title. 48 years! In the 1990’s we came so close (twice) but luck just didn’t roll our way. 48 years! But on our 50th Anniversary of winning it all, and with a little lady luck, talent, teamwork and chemistry…Portland will do it again!
Honestly, can you ask for a better result to the Dame deal? - Dame nets us Camara, Avdija, 2 unprotected 1sts, and 2 unprotected pick swaps as the most notable pieces coming back—in hindsight, a solid deal for an aging star - He comes home for a very team friendly deal, and best of all, will not be needed. The goal should be to play up Holiday’s value, trade him for a 1st, then bring Dame back as the backup PG for the next two seasons. I don’t ever expect Dame, Scoot, and Holiday to all play in a game together. Team construction-wise, there’s really only one thing we need left, finding that superstar do-it-at wing.
I feel like we already have that do it all wing in Deni. Deni is really good. Maybe not quite a super star but there’s probably only a handful of other guys in the NBA I would take over Deni all things considered.
That’s fair. But as we’ve seen, teams can never have enough wings who do everything. Maybe we don’t need a superstar, maybe we can rely on internal growth from Deni to be that guy and just find one or two guys who can really play the 3-D role. As it stands though, I still don’t see him as a superstar talent. I still project him to be a better Ginobili, which is already very high praise.
Exactly. While I think every player wants to win, it is still their profession. Would anyone work for 1M less, let alone 10M? We had a parade planned for Hedo signing and should be happy that we are making good use of our MLE. Definitely the best signing we have had since Miller.
You put this better than I would have. I’m excited that he’s back. He is a franchise legend and he loves it here. One of the better leaders we have ever had. that being said, the basketball part of it all could get complicated. He’s been a starter since day one and never looked back. Now we have a young core that really should be developed and it seemed like we didn’t have that until this season. Dame not playing will be great so we can really give the reigns to Scoot and Shae and then go forth with a different direction if needed. Ideally, Scoot breaks out this year and Dame is around to mentor him through it all along with Jrue. Dame comes back in 26-27 to be super sub with a green light as I just can’t see him coming back to anything more than 70% of what he was. I hope he proves me wrong, but history is not on his side.
