Lakers wanted to pair Dame with Lebron, Nets wanted to pair Dame with KD in 2019

The post I responded to was talking about championships. So none of them worked because none of them got a ring.

Payton and Malone had already been to the finals, so they did not get any further than they did with their own team once they paired up. Shaq and Kobe had already won on their own so this was a downgrade for them.

 

Ah, ok.

Well, LeBron and Wade and Bosh joined forces and got a couple rings.

LeBron joined up with Kyrie and Love and got a ring.

Technically Paul was dealt to the Rockets before signing there, so I guess we could say that Kawhi joined up with Lowry and got a ring. Garnett and Allen joined up with Pierce and got a ring. Or are you specifically thinking of free agents joining together?

 

Either or. And by no means am I saying it doesnt or wont work. KD did it with the warriors. But to just say he will get a ring if he were to team up, I think is not accurate. It doesn't guarantee a ring.

 

Cap doesn't mean shit. If these guys want to pair up and play on a team, it gets done. Agents can control a lot of the movement. We've seen that over the past decade.

The key is finding the right guy who wants to play with Dame and respects him. Some names I think might be applicable just based on comments on social and whatnot that stick out to me recently:
-Devin Booker (such much love between the two over the past year or so)
-Draymond Green (weirdly)
-Bogdan Bogdanovic (lol)
-Derozan (same agency as Dame too)
-Aldridge

 

Ummm... duh?

 

If we take Dame at his word, he values acheiving as much as he can with the core he started with. He could've left Weber St to win an NCAA championship, but didn't. I think Dame should walk on his own two feet and if he doesn't feel like jumping teams to chase rings, who are we to tell him what he should do?

 

If Dame was to win a ring in Portland it would surpass both the Dallas title in 2011 and the Cleveland title in 2016 as the most improbable title in recent history.

I have way more respect for a star who doesn't take the easy way out. Dame knows it's going to be incredibly difficult but he accepts the challenge to be great. Having to join LeBron to win is a weak loser mentality.

I'm proud to root for Dame.

 

Me too, but I hope the Blazers are realistic about it. He's got 3-5 more years as a top-tier point guard. Build a team capable of truly challenging for a title inside that window, or trade Dame for both his and the team's benefit. I'm really hoping for the title-contender, but I want Dame to have that chance elsewhere if it can't be done here. I also don't want the Blazers to fritter away the return in assets that could be obtained by trading a top-level superstar.

 

Wait I know we didn't have the best record in the league last season but was our final outcome your definition of worked because it was the same final outcome as those Rockets. The truth is every player gets judged on if they get teams into the playoffs, if they can have any measure of success in the playoffs but ultimately if they win championships... making the championship or conference finals doesn't get remembered by anyone... hell you just seemingly forgot that we made the WCF last season. Dame has a different measure of success, he is striving for a championship but will only win one on his terms... here. Thats commendable not foolish or pitiable. Also he should do whatever the fuck makes him feel good about his actions not what AD does, not what LeBron does, not what KG and Ray Allen did... what Dame does is about how he sees things and because you should respect the guy you should realize that is what he "should" do.

 

I think the current roster, if healthy, is built win a championship. We miss Hood, Ariza, and Collins.

 

Even if Dame doesn't want that? What if Dame says "if I cant win a ring here then I don't want a ring? I don't want to be traded?" What if he takes much less on his next contract to allow for the team to go get another top tier player and continue longer than 3-5 years?

 

There are far too many variables to really have an opinion on this that means much. But let’s say that 3 years go by and Dame is still at the top of his game, but the Blazers are still floundering around with a middle of the pack roster and don’t have any immediate prospects to improve. Of course I hope it works out for Dame to get his title run as a Blazer, but this franchise has a history of hanging on to stars too long and ultimately getting squat for them. Walton, Clyde, Rasheed, and evening LA all ended up leaving with zero significant return for the Blazers. If it’s not going to happen here, I would much rather the Blazers work with Dame to move him to a place where a title run could happen for him, and which would benefit the Blazers with good building blocks. That said, Olshey needs to get off his ass and make something happen this offseason.

 

Clyde and Sheed were never committed to the organization like Dame is. Dame wants to retire a Blazer and should be allowed to do so.