Dame wants to play with Simmons

There's some irony here.

Over the summer, the pro-Simmons crowd said a notorious non-shooter would work because it would allow Dame to play off the ball. Now that most people have given up on Billups' experiment of playing Dame off the ball, Dame speaks up that he wants that very change.

At the same time, team chemistry has been slumping game by game, indicating they've known something like this is brewing. I don't care how genuine a pro athlete appears, they're still just human beings and everything they share is weighing the benefits to themselves of full or partial honesty.

 

Be interesting now if we hear anything from Simmons or his camp about coming to Portland, ya think maybe Dame talked with him ?

 

got a question, you guys think Dame did this on his own or was in communication with mgmt and they said ok?

 

wonder what Dame thinks about this report.

 

CJ + Roco + pick for Ben + Green. Call it in. I ain't giving up our two lone bright spots this season for Ben.

 

make it happen.

 

I kind of believe these reports within reason but maybe in a context of like --

Reporter -- Dame how would you feel about playing with Simmons ----- ( DAME ) -- I would not mind it he is an all star and a good defensive player ( or something thing like this )

Then this question gets spun into Dame wants Simmons over CJ or something like that or what's happening but only time will tell

 

Dame would never say that directly. But might it come from someone in his camp or his agent? Much more likely.

Doubtful Ant would go with CJ unless someone like Maxey or Curry came back. Otherwise, Philly would have a completely overloaded backcourt. CJ/RoCo + pick(s) would seem good. Blazers also want to get under the cap that they are over by $3,006,158 per Spotrac.

So for CJ/Roco, someone else has to come back from Philly but it can't be Curry unless the Blazers include another small contract player like Elleby. Likewise, Philly could include a smaller contract like Maxey and that would work both for the Salary Cap and get the Blazers under the Lux tax. Same would work with Thybulle.

 

Roco and CJ really aren't great offers. Roco/CJ/Simons and Nas probably does get it done, though.

If we could swing that, I'd probably do it. It's giving up on a lot of upside for the future, but that's what you do when you have little talent and are trying to maximize a franchise player's window. We'd get the best player in the deal.

Assuming Nurk could be re-signed. Dame/Norm/Nance/Simmons/Nurk would be a pretty nice starting unit. Our bench would be terrible, but I guess we'd just have to fill it in with what we could find.

 

Zero chance they would do that.

If they didn't do CJ, pick and simons or Nas, no chance at this.

This is the fork in the road. Do we push for all in and trying to appease Dame with the chance of it blowing up in our face? Or do we blow up the team?

Pick one. Tired of this bullshit treadmill around the edges shit.

 

if you break this article down, there really is nothing of substance here outside of two key things:

- the idea that dame would balk at playing with Simmons (as was said multiple times by people in the media and here) because he (dame) would play off ball is false.

- chauncey was a neil hire through and through (doesn't necessarily mean that dame isn't bought in to Billups).

wayyyy too much drama on social about this article that was actually not that revelatory.

 

That was in the summer. Now, we are nearly two months into the season where Ben is still holding out and Philly's record isn't that distant from ours.

I want to win with Dame. It would be a complete and utter disservice to the best player in franchise history if you don't even take a swing ONCE. The risk with a Ben trade is minimal as I have been saying ad nauseum. Are we really going to be worse than we are now? Once this iteration of the build is over, we will have to go into the tank for a few seasons as is-- why not give it a shot before you press reset now?

 

what if you have to give up 2 or 3 picks? is that worth the risk?

 

of course. i have been probably the biggest proponent of ben here if you haven't been following.

nance makes roco expendable. and nas and Ant have become reliable contributors. i did question the idea of ben as our "final" piece to justify emptying our chest, and still do to an extent, but the upside is much greater than status quo.

the teardown would inevitably bring back enough draft assets if we put dame on the market so hesitating about throwing in picks is futile in my mind.

 

A tear down "might" bring back some picks but Dame's age and HEALTH IMO HAS to be considered, just how bad/perhaps chronic is that injury and what needs to be done?

 

Wonder how CJ feels about Dame trading him in his mind.

 

Is this too homer of a deal for Blazers? An extra benefit is that it drops Portland out of the tax this year.

 

Is this article just based on dame saying Simmons is a top defender? Where is dame quoted saying he wants Simmons to Portland? Can he say that?