I think the fit is great. But scouts have to question, is the best prospect at 7 a drop off, or major drop off from 12? Is Daniels going to be way better than Sochan or Duren if they're there at 12? Adding, Dort, Grant and Sochan or Duren would be pretty damn good in the direction of defense. Gotta admit.
PG - Dame, Ant SG - Ant or Dort, Dort or Ant SF - Little, Hart PF - Grant, Sochan, Winslow C - Nurk, Sochan That actually looks pretty damn awesome defensively. Plus more opportunities for deals as you get further into the summer with MLE and other exceptions.
People are still thinking of the NBA of old. Hart could totally play SF. The SG/SF/PF are often positionless. Andrew Wiggins used to be a SG and was playing as a PF on a championship team. Tatum was often playing PF out on the floor. It's a different time and it's less about height as it is just great defense. Dort and Hart together would be deadly to be honest.
I think Powell is to blame. He was so bad defensively that now the thought is no other guard can play the three. I remember having the same convos when I wanted to trade for Marcus Smart earlier in the season. Hart was starting at the four at one point for the Pelicans and is a top rebounder. He can def play the three. Just give me all the dogs.
Lazy response. If that's your bar, might as well not make any moves then. Can anyone beat a healthy Warriors? The Blazers just need to get within earshot and see where the chips fall. I don't see why this team can't be a top 4 in the West to be honest. Probably even better if everything lines up.
hart and Dort guard multiple positions. You can find a forward elsewhere and you still have Nas, Winslow, and Watford.
It isn’t a lazy response. If we’re gonna shoot our shot and our best shot is a fucking 5th seed, we need to blow it up and trade Dame while he has good value. Sorry but I’m not the least bit interested in climbing back on the Neil Olshey treadmill of mediocrity.
Cronins goal should be to build a team that’s capable of winning a championship. And if the team as it’s currently constructed can’t get there, we need to make the moves to put us on the path to a ring. That includes trading literally anyone on the roster.
What move makes Portland a contender exactly? All they can do is put the best team around Dame as they can. And no, trading him doesn’t get them closer to a championship either. That’s just a bullshit dream teams feed their gullible fan bases when their best player leaves. TRUST THE PROCESS. I don’t remember the last time a team traded their best player and then won a championship or even sniffed the finals shortly after. We will probably never have a player like him on the Blazers again in our lifetime. Maximize it. Cronin made the move that Olshey resisted for years. Let’s see what else he has in store.
So we fuck around for another three or four years while we waste the last few drops of Dames prime and then we are right back where we are now. Sounds like a blast and not at all like the last six years.
It is, though, because you're basically expecting Rome to be built in a day. This offseason doesn't have to be championship or bust. as long as it gets us pieces and/or assets that helps move that goal even closer next year it's a positive. So many don't see a path to a title with dame because they expect that to be next year only. Shit, wade added LeBron and bosh and didn't win a title that first season.
No. I'm not expecting it to be built in a day. Adding Lu Dort isn't going to win a championship. If we really want to win a ring with Dame, there's only a few possible ways to do it. One, you go all in on a short window. You trade Ant and whoever else it takes to acquire a second bonafide star. We aren't going to win a championship with Dame and a bunch of role players. It's not happening. We need a second All-Star caliber player (preferably at the wing.) I don't consider Dort or Grant or really even Collins to be that guy. Maybe Collins. We would need to subscribe to the 2007/2008 Celtics plan. They had Paul Pierce and they went and got aging stars in KG and Ray Allen. This is the short window but if you can pull it off, it's probably the best shot at a ring with Dame. Two, you keep the pick and you draft the BPA. You hope upon hope that the guy you're taking is a star. This could take a couple years but Dame would still potentially be in his prime. This could give you that second star without needing to trade Ant or Nas or any of the other young guys. Three, you take a guard at 7 (Mathurin, Daniels, Sharpe) and then you trade Ant for another similar talented player but at another position. I'm just not at all convinced that Dame/Ant is going to work. We're trying to straddle contending with Dame while preserving the future, but trading the pick for a fucking role player isn't going to get it done. We probably won't be back in the lottery next year, which means we lose the pick to Chicago. Most of the moves that people are describing will make us just good enough to make the playoffs. It's not even the least bit exciting, and Dame is another year older. Trading for Dort is basically Robert Covington all over again. Or Norm Powell. Or Arron Afflalo. It's not the kind of move that changes our trajectory.
