Trade If push comes to shove: Dame Lillard or Shaedon Sharpe

as we all know, dame lillard wants to win or at least compete for the chip with the portland trail blazers, so naturally he wants a competitive team and in order for that to happen, front office will have to make a big trade, one that would certainly require shaedon sharpe, as any sane general manager would rather have shaedon sharpe than anfernee simons (this is not bashing simons, but the reality is that sharpe is 4 years younger and obviously with higher upside on both ends of the floor)

if front office says NO to trading sharpe, that big trade wont happen and dame lillard will ask out, which would be heartbreaking for all of us, as we all would like to see dame lillard play his entire career in rip city

CONSIDER THIS: Would that big trade really make Portland Trail Blazers a legit contender

PS I know that we could possibly pull a big trade with Simons + this years pick + other picks, but this is about Sharpe only

 

If the right player is made available and they want Sharpe, it should be considered imo. Say if Siakam was the player made available and we had include Shae, not sure you pass that up.

 

let me tell you right away, if the trail blazers want siakam or og anunoby, raptors would gladly take sharpe, but of course, we would need to add more salary, so simons would have to be included as well (they have poeltl, so they wouldnt take nurk)

then, they can see what to do with simons, test him and see how it goes, if he does/fits well, they could keep him or if not, they could trade him

that being said, im not trading sharpe for siakam or og anunoby, its not worth as far as im concerned (simons + picks, maybe, but not for sharpe)

 

A player like Siakam I would consider but not Anunoby.

 

lillard, thybulle, grant, siakam & nurk, its a really good starting five on paper (maybe we would try to get someone else at guard or/and center positions)

still, if we dont become a legit contender (and im not convinced we would become one), im not ready to deal sharpe, im just a big believer in the kid, he has an all-star written all over him

 

Yeah I like him as well. It would need to be the right All Star coming back our way.

 

Plenty of good shooting guards available next season . I really like Nurk, but he's such a conundrum. 1st, can he stay healthy. 2nd, can he play more consistently at his highest potential. We all hope so. Fingers crossed on that one.

 

Of course, if the Blazers get Wemby, it's moot point. Wemby, Grant, Bridges, Sharpe , and Dame.

 

I can't imagine a scenerio in which we'd have to choose... We could have added Randle and the #10 last season in exchange for #7.

We picked Sharpe for a reason. He is a part of Dame's championship team.

 

Agreed there doesn't appear to be any reason to have to make the choice.

However, if there was, this shouldn't be close at all. You pick Dame in a second.

 

it depends on other teams general managers, if we can get an all-star caliber player for simons + picks, that would be ideal, but like i said previously, any sane gm will ask for sharpe and stay persistent with it knowing we have to satisfy dame lillard, so we are likely to find ourselves with our back against the wall... to me, its easy to envision that scenario, but hopefully not

 

I love Siakam. He is exactly who we need, Having said that Toronto has a shit load of talent, and is still under 500.
So I am not sure I would risk our future to get him. We would need to send out 35 million during the draft to get him. (38 million this summer) What worries me is that he is a free agent in a year. Now I would give up Nurk, Ant, and our 2 first-round picks.

 

there were rumors about dealing 7th pick for og anunoby, but ultimately nothing happened

maybe trail blazers became unwilling to deal 7th pick once it became clear that sharpe was available or maybe raptors had no interest in sharpe at that time (apparently they liked mathurin a lot, so maybe they would make a deal if mathurin was available)

 

There were good deals for legit all star caliber players available.

We chose Sharpe instead.

 

Agreed.

 

Joe needs to hit a home run this off season one way or the other.

 

he isn't slowing down and had his best season yet.

he's an ambassador for the franchise and city.

he's locked in contractually and embedded in the community.

obvious choice.

 

I'm with Ed on this one. It's just cold, hard, uncaring reality.

 

Despite what the front office says, until they financially commit to making the playoffs, let alone be championship contenders, how would we ever know if Dame is capable of being a part of a championship team?

Things like not using all your exceptions over the last two years (MLE last year, BAE this year, TPE'S, etc), not addressing holes in the buyout market, not being willing to pay someone like Josh Hart, not accepting any players back in trades that have guaranteed contracts next year, making trades simply with tax evasion as the main priority over talent and asset acquisitions. These things may seem irrelevant individually but how many teams have won a title recently without using every possible method to improve the team?

Let's say this team did trade Dame and went super young. What's gonna happen in 3 or so years when all that young talent needs to get paid if Jody is still the owner? You think she'll be willing to do what it takes then but not now after promising Dame they would? And what happens when the next star we draft or Sharpe or whoever isn't loyal to Portland and wants out?

Trading Dame doesn't solve the problem, it masks it for a few years.