I don't think going from a failed Dame/CJ back court to a Dame/Ant back court solves any of the issues that have held the Blazers back. But if Portland is only going to keep one of CJ-Powell-Ant, it makes some sense if it's Ant. He'll likely have the best trade value over the next few season. Blazers have to abandon the Powell-at-SF experiment. That's a failure too. If Ant gets a contract similar to Powell, Portland would be committed to 90M/year (more than 75% of the salary cap)for three guards. Three short guards who play bad defense while dominating the ball, usage, and shots. That just doesn't make sense to me...at all. But it would be so like Portland to try and thread a needle almost impossible to thread
Well it's pretty close with Simons and I would take Maxey personally. And this is just basketball wise because Maxey is not as good of a shooter but is a better slasher and defender. As for their trade value Maxey should be the winner there by a wide margin since he is only in his second year so he is locked for dirt cheap for 2 more and he has been proven as a fine starter already. For a second year player he is already too good.
We are staring at an opportunity to start over and build around Ant and Nas. We could pull in a lot of young talent if we trade Dame and CJ.
That's what I have been saying but people refuse to believe he will be offered more than like 17 million a year. Pistons. Magic. Spurs. Magic have lots of guards already but idk. If simons keeps playing like this i feel like someone will offer him a lot knowing we have so much money wrapped up in three guards already.
Isn't this Maxey second year. Its Ant 4th year and CJ going on a decade. My post said Philly guards are playing well meaning Curry, Thybull?, Kork & Shake. You think adding Ant or CJ gets them a championship? if so why the hell trade em? Those 4 guards of theirs give them offense, defense & Depth. Why would you trade Ben for Ant or CJ?
It's unbelievable how many short, ball dominant guards Neil thought would be a good idea on the same roster. It's not that they aren't good/very good players. It just reeks of poor roster construction and cap management.
Whatever he gets it’s obvious there isn’t room for both him and CJ, and Powell probably needs to go as well.
So be it. If teams are throwing a max at him, then he'll prolly be worth it. And his max is not that debilitating.
I think we all just need to trust players when they say someone has game. Guys like dame for years has been pumping up Ant for years saying hes gonna be a star. These guys are the first to know. Ant must have been killing in practice. The same happened with Devin Booker. From Durant to Lebron, everyone and anyone was hyping Booker up as being a star, and it only manifested years after.
Playing well doesn’t matter. You need people who can get you buckets in crunch time, during the playoffs Mano y mano. A lot of people hate CJ, and he has disappeared a couple times, but that’s what they need in the playoffs to get over the hump. They need someone that they can go 1-4 low, “get us a bucket”. And I’ve already said I wouldn’t trade for Simmons unless we couldn’t get anything else for CJ OR unless we play Simmons at the 5. part of the reason is because we are gifting the 76ers a championship, the other part is because I don’t want Simmons. But I really, really don’t want CJ. And if Ant or Nas is included in a Simmons deal, then I’m really not interested.
I believe he thought Ant would breakout in year 2-3 and be a valuable trading chip that he could flip for *disgruntled star*. I also think that’s why he was calling out Stotts for not playing young guys at one point. (Could be remembering incorrectly.)
Fend off Detroit by sending Powell + a pick (maybe flipped from a Roco deal) for Jerami Grant. Hope that Magic and Spurs rely on having too many guards (although Dejounte + Ant would be filthy). Present Ant with $20M offer right away and try to lock shit down quick. I'm ready to sell low on CJ. Honestly, CJ/Roco for Love/Okoro would be fine with me. Lillard/Ant/Smith Okoro/Ant Little/Snell Grant/Love/Nance Nurkic/Nance/min That team probably isn't a championship contender, but it's a hell of a lot more fun and athletic than the one we started this year with. The passing would also improve by a lot.
I can see "building around" a Lebron or a Durant or a Giannis or a Curry or a Dame. Those are all NBA franchise talents that can be at the core of a team. Ant and Nas are not all-NBA talents; they are not franchise players. Not yet and probably not ever. Putting them at the very core and saying "let's fill in around their talent with complementary pieces"....which is the same as 'building around'...sure looks like just another path to mediocrity I mean...would you, or would you not trade Ant and Nas for Giannis? Is Dame on an entirely different tier of talent than CJ or Powell or RoCo or Nance? What near-term (the next 2-3 seasons) advantage does Ant + Nas have over Dame + Ant + Nas?
