I remember him say that about Ant, during the time when Ant has not showed anything praiseworthy. I dismiss Dame's comments as simply "saying good things about a teammate." Since then Ant actually made me realize Dame is more thoughtful about what he says. Now with Sharpe, very high remarks from him before training camp started. Already Sharpe has shown glimpses of what Lillard's talkin about. Sharpe is way better now at 19 than Ant was as the same age. CJ's presence slowed Ant's growth (he should still get better) but I hope we don't do Sharpe a disservice by not giving him playing time. His game looks beautiful, just needs repetitions. But man his defense is promising.
It's not negated for Steph. I think that Sharpe shows signs of being a really smart passer and would be initiating his own offense a lot if he and Ant were our back court. That being said, this is all a waste of time. Until Dame requests a trade he is staying here... that's all there is to it. If Dame wants to stay and the Dame/Ant pairing doesn't work then Ant will be the one headed out the door in a trade to help Dame, not the other way around.
This is the most exciting thing about him. Everyone knew his offense would come around, we wouldn’t have drafted him if we didn’t. It was all going to be about getting playing time to really get it going on that end, but you can’t get on the floor if you can’t play d. I remember watching that video of the team hyping him up during practice during a closeout drill and literally laughing going wtf. Doesn’t seem so ridiculous now I guess LOL.
And what will the Blazers get in return for a trade of Simons to make the Blazers an instant contender? Otherwise, trading a 23-year-old to make room for Dame to lose in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs makes zero sense.
not a good comparison in my view....Blazers don't have anybody like Draymond running the offense. They don't even have anybody like Durant or Iggy or Livingston to rely on for facilitation but I agree that Dame isn't going anywhere, and after that extension, I don't think there's much chance he'll ask for a trade
lol...let's see, Simons is excellent enough that Portland should trade Dame to make way for Simons. But he's not excellent enough to fetch an excellent return in a trade?
Honestly, I don’t think you HAVE to just trade Simons if the Dame/Ant duo doesn’t work, at least right away. We all expect Sharpe to start by year 2 at this point. I would definitely try Ant at the 6th man before trading him. The combination of the 3 can still be lethal imo. I think you’re right—after that extension, Dame’s not going to ask for a trade. If we’re around 10th-11th and the backcourt’s defense is a main reason for this, we need to amicably agree to tanking post AS break. But I don’t think tanking can happen until after Dame passing Drexler in scoring and playing in the AS game if he makes the team and Grant after his extension. Then start Dame and Sharpe at PG/SG with Ant subbing in at either position. We would have to trade Hart for a guy that can play SF for the time being and hope our lotto pick can grow into our starting SF/PF, or wait for a team to give up enough to make Ant their starting PG. Ant offensively still has superstar potential imo, and he’s probably close to at least being 6MOY Harden as a playmaker right now. It would be hard for me to give him up for anything less than guaranteed lotto picks.
I think if Ant plays well that we can get a lot for him especially if we trade him and another player. Ant has value for a team that wants a PG or has a bigger PG. That being said, it doesn't matter if it makes sense. This fucking team is going to ride with Dame, they've made that clear. The one thing I don't know is if they will pivot off of Dame and Ant if it's clear they aren't working or just have a Dame/CJ situation all over again.
Should not be too hard to figure out. How many teams are willing to trade us quality players and pay Dame 60 million a year? He is worth that to Portland but other than the Knicks who seem to be desperate for a star.... who else? It is a very short list.
I personally like watching Ant play point last year. Here’s my honest opinion on who’s better on each skill set shooting Dame = Ant honesty maybe Dame by a smidge which says a lot Scorer Dame>Ant not by huge margin but dames consistency spectated him Ball handling Ant> Dame Defense Ant=Dame Rebounding Dame>Ant Assist Dame=>Ant (I think skill set I like Ant better) This is a lot closer than I thought it would be, add in age
To me Dame is the proven take the game over score in the clutch all star. Ant may get there but he may not?
Toronto wasn't interested in the #7 pick, Sharpe or someone else they could prefer more, plus a pick and those Blazers you list for OG. But you think they will be interested in those players without Sharpe and without a pick for OG?
Dame $225 million vs Ant $100 million Dame 32 years old vs Ant 23 years old For a team not contending immediately the choice should be clear.
