Thanks...you made me $5. I was talking with a buddy of mine when I posted that and bet him I would get that type of response from you. An I wasn't using DRTG to evaluate him as an individual player. I merely mentioned he had a number of years as showing a lower number, but mentioned that his defensive ability had to do with whether he was engaged or not. Damn it though, the $5 won't even buy me a gallon of gas anymore.
fair enough...blame was the wrong word; sorry I just think that Dame has been more poorly served by the GM he had than any other top-10ish player Look at Lebron. One of the best players of all time. But he had DWade and Chris Bosh for his first 2 championships; Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love for his 3rd championship; and AD for his 4th Curry has had Klay, Draymond, and Durant there for his 4 championships. Duncan had DRob, Manu, Parker, and Kawhi for his 5 titles. Jokic has won two MVP's, yet he's only won 1 game more than Dame in conference finals. But that's the real issue: all these great players who have post-season success have that success because they play with other all-stars; sometimes multiple all-stars. Dame, has been disadvantaged by terrible management that had no fucking clue about how to build a contending roster, and when opportunities to add star power arrived, the GM was AWOL
Paul should have cleaned house after the pels series. I’m wondering if his health played a part. Didn’t want to start over.
Jordan had a talk with Kobe about 'making things happen'. If that means being adamant about the direction of the franchise, trades, personnel, etc, then so be it. LeBron made/chose both of his situations. Duncan was willing to be called out by Pop for his shortcomings. Curry was okay with having a superstar come in that was widely considered to be the better player and ended up winning the Finals MVPs. Dame did suffer from horrible management, but MJ would say he allowed it. Allowed Neil to be an idiot, instead of going to Paul and demanding that it wasn't good enough. Dame is not responsible for Neil being an idiot, but I'm guessing if he wanted him gone earlier, he would have been. Same with Stotts. Dame was adamant about how great a coach Stotts was and when Paul wanted him gone after the Pelicans disaster, it is widely speculated that it was Dame who saved Terry's job. If not Dame, who else had the power to talk Paul out of it? Dame is a TREMENDOUS player, but he left his career in the hands of an idiot, and a very average coach for far too long. So I agree he was poorly served. I also think Dame, as the franchise, a community pillar, had the ability to do more about his own situation.
really??...you have forgotten already that Dame went over Olshey's head and went directly to PA and wanted to know what the direction and plan was? That was in January of 2018. And I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first time Dame talked to PA about the team and Olshey's management decisions. Unfortunately PA died 8 months later and it took 4 more years before Olshey was fired Players are not the GM's. They don't have the power. Lebron has been ridiculed repeatedly for being the shadow GM of the Cavs and Lakers and for making terrible choices. blaming Dame for Olshey doing a shitty job or the Allens being shitty owners makes no sense. Dame doesn't sign free agents or make trades or scout players or make draft picks
I disagree with everything you said about Dame's culpability, it's on management to manage the players and sell them on the more realistic vision. It's not on players to do the thousands of hours of work that a front office does and make franchise defining decisions. The one thing I do agree with is that Curry wasn't the best player on his team for two of the championships he's had. All time, KD has to be seen as better than Steph but hey, everyone is a captive of the moment and now wants Steph on the "Mt. Rushmore" of the NBA, which is absolute bullshit.
I'd say it definitely played a part--also probably told Jody when he was close to dying about not blowing up the team for at least a few years. But again just speculating.
Not Murray. SGA would work because OKC has sooooo many current and future picks. Would try to get as many of those as possible.
I love Murray’s game. Elite defender at his position and evolving on the perimeter. Still only 25 years old with more upside. San Antonio wouldn’t do it though. Just hypothetically I’d love to get a player like that for Lillard
At this point, I think I'm leaning more towards trading Ant because there's so many damn shooting guards around where we pick. I think Mathurin or Daniels could both work very well next to Dame. So to me, that makes Ant expendable. Especially since he's due for a big payday. I'd try to work out a nice sign-and-trade for a three or four. I'm not sure he's really what Atlanta wants, so Collins is out. I don't think Toronto would want him, so probably not OG. I could see him working in Charlotte with LaMelo. I think Miles Bridges would be a nice get. But again, I'm not sure Charlotte would want him. We need a team who doesn't have a lead guard. I wonder if LAC would do Paul George for a sign-and-trade Ant/Bledsoe. Draft Mathurin or Daniels. I think Daniels could be pretty amazing if he was surrounded by scorers. Put him out there with Dame/George/Grant and I think he would thrive. Trade Ant/Bledsoe for George. See if we can swing Grant for the Milwaukee pick and filler.
If we do take Sharpe, Daniels or Mathurin with the seventh pick and don't trade them on draft day then I think it's a good possibility that we trade S&T Ant for Grant.
I would submit if Dame has no culpability whatsoever, then is he really the leader? As the 'best leader in the NBA', you get the good, but also take on some of the bad. That is just what happens at that level. You can't have one without the other. Magic got put pressure on to get Riley. Kobe put pressure on that he was going to leave. LeBron put pressure on to get certain players. Sure, it can backfire, but the greats are not willing to leave things in other people's hands that they don't believe is in the best interest of winning.