... That Portland needs to sorround Lillard with better talent... Every year we overpay for the likes of Afflalo, Covington, Powell and so on... ... We already know how this will end up, John Collins or OG Anunoby and another meaningless season till Dame is 40
I’ve been advocating trading Lillard ever since the beginning of last season when it was obvious that we were not going to be good. Cronin won’t make any kind of splash to put us in contention this offseason. I love Lillard. My favorite all time Blazer. But, part of being a good executive is knowing when to cut ties and move on. We can do a quick rebuild trading Lillard and be more of a contender a year from now. I give him maybe one or two more years at the top echelon of play before we see a dramatic decline and that could be generous. Sometimes you need to know when to cut bait. We took forever to cut bait with CJ and look how that panned out. Pennies on the dollar.
Call me a troll but I'm on this forum since 2014 and I always told ya that with this direction we weren't going nowhere... And here we are 8 years later, nothing has changed, the only thing that is now clear is that i was right about what I was saying and you were all wrong I wanted better for this franchise
Loyalty is a two way street. Do you want stars to stay in Portland in the future?Trading Dame doesn't get us any closer to a championship. His stock is also probably at its lowest compared to the fact that he'll be fully healthy next year for the first time in a while. You think he's going to dramatically decline at 33 or 34 years of age? Meanwhile Steph is out here winning rings at 34 and CP3 played some really good basketball at an age even older than that.
I profoundly distrust any statement that begins with "everybody". Everybody eats, sleeps, breathes, and shits but beyond that there is little that can be said about everybody.
I'm fine with a few options the team could take with Lillard; 1. Get Lillard healthy, see how he and the current major pieces of the roster perform. At the deadline or next summer possibly move Lillard if we don't see the steps from Ant/Nurk/etc to have this roster be reasonable moves away from contending. 2 Keep Lillard long term in a role as Durk/Duncan/Reggie Miller had. Eventually he could even perform the Kobe late career washed up role, letting the team draft and develop young player, he could jack up shots, sell tickets, and provide something fun to root for. The one thing I don't want to see this team do is trade away rookies, picks, or valuable young players that could really help contend in 5-10 years. Right now such a move would be a destined to fail attempt to win with mediocre veterans. I fear that is the direction Cronin and the Vulcans are going, possibly with Dame even pushing for those veterans.
To me, this kind of thing is reserved for guys who win championships. They didn't trade Reggie because they were still contending pretty much right up until he retired. The Pacers were able to stay relevant for a very long time.
Living with this sort of negative affirmation is what I call meaningless...we just fired or lost the FO staff and leader, coach and almost every player Olshey brought in....it's a breath of fresh air and it's to be enjoyed...fine if you think you want to trade Dame...I want him here ..he's not replaceable. I like Josh Hart better than Afflalo, Covington or Powell. Golden State has overpaid and has 4 rings now with an older pt guard than Dame. Your doom and gloom projection doesn't pan out. I plan to thoroughly enjoy this era of Blazer basketball...maybe next time start a thread about who you'd like to see join the team....Afflalo has nothing to do with what's going on in Portland and apparently "everybody" doesn't know we're doomed to fail....if I felt that way I'd find another team to cheer for...choices. We have our Dirk, Reggie or Duncan franchise draw right now....it would be stupid to give that away thinking you're going to improve ..Portland has never had a player with an international brand like Dame...he is the reason talent wants to play here ..
So you think any hall of fame level player without a title has to be traded away once their team isn't contending? I don't agree with that at all. Its cool John Stockton finished playing his whole career in Utah. Would trading him after the '99 lockout season have given Utah a significantly better chance at a title the following decade? I very much doubt it. Lets say the Blazers have a 1.5% chance at winning a title in the next 10 years while keeping Dame. Lets say they have a 1.6% chance at a title if they trade Dame. Yes trading Dame in theory improves their chances, but its so insignificant that it really is fine to just keep him and enjoy rooting for him playing as a Blazer his entire career. Now if the Blazers find a great trade that changes their 1.5% chance to 8% yes I'd flip my vote to strongly push for Dame trades. The problem is I don't think such a trade will be available. I just think with either direction, keeping or trading Dame, its extremely unlikely this franchise contends in the decade ahead. So watching and rooting for a player such as Dame is fine and might even be my preference. What I'm more afraid of is the Blazers make a bunch of stupid win now moves mortgaging their future; and drive their 1.5% chance at a title down to 0.01%.
