LOL...you mean the "assets" that couldn't even help Dame beat an injured Denver team in last year's playoffs when Dame averaged 34 & 10; the "assets" that had propelled the Blazers to a record 13 games under .500 when Dame was unhealthy. Those were not the assets of a contender, they were very expensive but mediocre assets, and mediocre assets are not going to be exchanged for premium assets (unless Billy King is around) geeeeezuz....the "4 starters" myth again
don't get angry glaze...just having some fun I'm certainly willing to admit I'm advocating for the Blazers to at least try for a year or two to build around Dame
We're likely starting over in 2-3 years regardless of what happens now. We should make whatever moves we can to be as competitive as we can for the next 3 years. Cronin knows that he will likely be fired in this time frame, so he is going to be aiming to make the biggest improvements possible over this time frame. Expecting anything else is just setting yourself up to be disappointed.
This is what I expect. But I also expect the Blazers to have 0 chance to contend during this period. So it's a very stupid delusional strategy in terms of building a team that one day may contend. Contending doesn't appear to be the goal. I guess if your aim is to win a playoff game at all costs but with no chance to contend, ya know less than DameCJ accomplished, this strategy makes sense. I can't fathom why fans want to give up youth and picks for that goal. But we all have our different preferences of what the Blazers should do.
Yeah agree thats an indicator its possible they could be. But you need to wait till playoffs to really see how close of a contender they are and that road is unpredictable.
* I have said, in this forum, many times, I don't want the Blazers to trade their pick for Grant. But I would for players like Siakam or John Collins * I'd certainly consider trading Little for any roster upgrade because I have no confidence he'll stay healthy * but I also won't dance around the possibility of trading Simons. There are enough questions about the Dame/Ant pairing to warrant at least considering other options. And I would absolutely consider trading Simons before trading Dame.
What we want doesn't matter. All of the incentives are there for the management and team to try and compete now. We can be all pissed off about that and have a miserable few years or we can hope for the best. Those are our choices right now.
Not angry at all. Also not advocating for a rebuild, that's just the side of the topic that I think you're wrong-er about. There's a huge piece of me that would love to see us give Dame REAL weapons to compete with. He deserves it and I think this fanbase deserves it. I just don't have enough faith in Cronin, ownership, or our chips to cash to see it being successful. Put it this way: if I could time travel 5 years from now and look back on this moment, I see the "rebuild around Dame" plan having a very low chance of success, and feel like we'd probably still be wallowing in mediocrity at that time. While it might not be enjoyable or have great odds of success either, I think a rebuild probably has at least slightly better chances of long-term success... If I were to advocate for anything: I'd like to see them try to split the difference. Focus on acquiring young players who have at least some modicum of "win-now" ability OR players whos stock will likely increase. Give Dame one more year to see what he can do while healthy, and if that doesn't work, go all in on getting 1.1 next year and build around Wembanaya (definitely butchered that one). THAT'S what I'd be advocating for...
which is essentially what I said in the OP that being that at this point in time, the kind of talent that Portland is looking to put around Dame is the same kind of talent they would be looking for in a rebuild. Length, mobility, shooting, and defense
I can root for the team and support or critize them however I want. Maybe you want to hope for the best and leave it at that... whatever your choice. But when the team does good or bad decisions I'll comment on it. Maybe I'm a bit grouchy now, same as many many Blazer fans, since Cronin did huge franchise altering trades that setup the team to fail for the years ahead.
If the Blazers rebuild they don't need any of those specific attributes. They would need talent, and can create the final starting lineups years later when the talent matures.
We should have done moves that improve the team. Not change for the sake of change that sacrifices talent, saves money, and leaves no realistic way to add talent back.
Our lottery pick The Bucks pick The TPE Our cap space All realistic ways to add talent back…..maybe even talent that compliments Dame
We don't have cap space. TPE rarely provide the value of a second round pick. We traded away 4 starters and got a Milwaukee pick 3 years from now, Hart and Didi. Would much rather have those assets back to remake the roster this summer. Even at that prior talent point we were as you say a middling playoff team. Instead, now with less talent we're one of the if not the least talented team in the NBA.
I would thought we'd have had a much better record than we did starting 6 players instead of thr normal 5. Other than that, disagree with the whole post, but it's just going to repeat the same stuff over and over, so no real point.