That team led to arguably our best shot at winning a title since the 90s. The Roy/LMA/Oden team should have been good enough to win multiple titles. Fate was a fickle mistress but the draft put us in a position to be one of the most dominant teams of the 2000s. I'd rather have that opportunity to build something truly special than be constantly stuck in first round purgatory.
Honestly, our current predicament is a result of Neil bungling the LMA thing. He let LMA leave for nothing and that set this team back to the point that we never really recovered. He also kept Stotts, who was hired specifically for LMA. Just a complete mismanagement of Dame's career. Neil should be gone.
I tend to agree, but I think equal to that failure was Olshey's stubborn insistence on building the team around Dame AND CJ. He's committed the franchise to that pairing and it will never make for a contender IMO
The foundation has been rotten since the beginning. Although I think Neil's plan was completely sabotaged by Dame getting us into the playoffs with a shit roster the first year after LMA left.
Because none of those players indeared themselves to the city and franchise like Damian did. He was willing to sign extensions immediately, whereas I think every player you mentioned above, wasn't. This isn't a franchise that will ever attract a player similar to Damian via FA. They absolutely lucked into Damian via the draft. Players like Davis, Kawhi, Harden, Westbrook, KD, Zion, etc, would never ever demand to be traded to Portland, or sign with the Blazers via FA. Players like Damian are "best to ever play for your franchise" type players (DeRozan isn't btw). Players like Damian are "HOF" players who don't exactly grow on trees, nor has Portland had a ton of them (you could count *3* hall of famers who had their best years in Portland). This isn't a case of a player who was traded to Portland and played there for a while and wanted out. This isn't even a case of a 2nd tier player (like CJ) playing in Portland wanting out or getting traded. Damian is arguably the best player to ever play for the Blazers. Damian also makes an insane amount of money and is going into his 10th year and has 4 years and almost 200 million left on his contract (!). The chance of them trading for a player of his caliber is really small and I'm not so sure that they'd be able to get as many picks for him as the Thunder or Rockets got for Westbrook and Harden (both times Westbrook was traded). Both Harden and Westbrook's contracts are over well before Damians too, which makes his contract harder to swallow for other teams, and thus, they'll probably not be as excited about trading away multiple picks. so like I said, it would ruin this franchise. They'd be trading away the one player that has showed them insane loyalty, has connected with the city and the state stronger than *any* player before him, and probably any player after him. As I said earlier, this is a franchise that hasn't exactly been full of superstars playing for them, will to play for them, and wanting to play for them. It's not like when they traded Drexler, because Drexler was clearly on the downside of his career and he never showed that he was loyal to the city, or team (not even taking into account the contract issues the team had with him).
Dame is PAID to play. I have no reason to trade him so that he might have a chance at a ring. For shit’s sale, make him earn all that money and win a ring right here. Who go’s: OLSHEY Stotts Balance of coaching staff CJ DJJ RoCo Rondae H-J Blevins Stays: Dame Powell Nurkic Kanter Melo Ant Simons Collins Why keep Kanter and Melo? You always need vets send for another year, these guys will teach the incoming youngsters
I'd move RoCo to the keep list, right after Nurkic, or right next to Nurkic. If it's for a minimum I'd keep RHJ. I'd rather keep Kanter than Zach, but not both. Get Melo the fuck out of town. Ant?...don't care the thing is a new GM will almost certainly do most of that anyway
Gotta ask - why the Melo hate? Today he hit 5 in a row to literally pull us back in the game. It’s CJ that couldn’t live up to his 30 million a year. I’d trade CJ straight up for this Brooks kid who killed us twice
for the season, Portland is 9 points/100-possessions better when Melo is OFF the floor. That's the worst mark on the team. Melo is all about himself and his legacy
Chances with a player like Lillard don't come around often. I think it's time to reload and excise CJ, try a new coach, and see if we can salvage things. I'm not sure if anyone is interested in him, but if there was a way to move CJ to Philly and get back Curry and Thybulle (with Harris going to a 3rd team), we could sign Norm, bank the cap space, and add another scorer in Derozan. We'd still have a somewhat flawed team, but a much more interesting one (in my mind at least). Lillard/Curry Powell/Thybulle Derozan/Nas Roco/Nas Nurkic/Collins/Ed Davis You could basically roll out a pick n roll unit (Dame and Nurkic) and an iso/switching on D unit (Derozan and Collins). Lillard/Powell/Derozan/Roco/Nurkic - starters/closers Lillard/Thybulle/Powell/Little/Nurkic - Lillard Curry/Derozan/Little/Roco/Collins - Derozan/switching
I like that you're getting creative, but I don't know how we'd be making an unbalanced trade with Philly that would give us that type of cap room. Not to mention that the team you created is still is highly unlikely to get to the WCF. We need the Middleton/Brown types, but Olshey doesn't have the combination of good players, good contracts, and picks to obtain someone like that.
This type of strategy would basically bank on Little growing into that in the long term. Playing a switching style decreases the need for one on one stoppers a bit as well.
Agreed. Barring a miracle trade, and not blowing the team up. Little is likely our best shot at getting a star forward. I think Little would thrive in a system where ball movement are emphasized and defense are rewarded.
Stress on the arguably. I think Walton at least was clearly better - Dame has never sniffed a league MVP and Walton did. Dame has never even been the best at his position in his conference (when everyone's healthy). He is to Curry (and early, Chris Paul) as Drexler was to Jordan or as Roy was to Bryant. So you're saying we shouldn't trade him just to trade him. Of course not. But that's not an argument not to trade him at all. Yes, Damian is certainly one of the best people to play for the Blazers, at least in terms of the thing that fans value above all, loyalty. And that's probably the best argument not to trade him. But that's also the path to "ruin the franchise". If you hang on to players too long, you're weighted down with albatross contracts and you can't rebuild. Blowing up the team entirely, as OKC has done, is almost certainly a faster path to future success than hanging on to Dame into his mid-30s. Or, look at Memphis itself. The Grit'n'Grind, Conley-Gasol Grizzlies were better than we ever were, and somehow, despite us having Dame the whole time, they've rebuilt to the point that they're better than us AGAIN. The only example I can think of of a graceful rebuild around a franchise icon (in a place that's not a FA destination) is Dallas with Nowitzki, and that's only because other teams were stupid enough to gift them Doncic.
Don't worry Dame fans: there is about zero chance he would get traded without MAJOR changes above him. I think the team would have to be sold to a new owner itching to rebuild the team. Even then a new owner would probably want to ingratiate themselves and would be too scared to trade such an iconic figure. So get ready for steadily declining returns over the next 4 or 5 returns as we sink to Sacramento Kings level. (Is Dame our Mitch Richmond?)
NBA players are assets, fan support generates income. This whole loyalty deal is fluff. Dame is loyal to whom? Blazers fans are loyal to whom? Winning is defined differently by the owners.
There is no need to trade Dame. But there is too much duplication (Dame/CJ/Powell - small guards who are poor defensive match ups) Chuckers who hardly seem aware they have teammates and play little to no defense (Melo/CJ) ...and a coach who employs many of those players on the floor at the same time.
