Dame all but demanding vet roster

C'mon man! Apples and Oranges. Dame is a better player with some incredible Playoff moments that led to series wins. I don't remember Beal ever having that kind of success.

 

The biggest difference is that Beal has been a shell of himself for the past two years and constantly (and legitimately) injured. You could argue Dame just had his best season.

 

Game changing plays to move on to the next round is pretty damn good. And that Denver series in '21, he was spectacular. He's a generational talent that rarely comes around. That in itself dictates that the team should do everything in their power to surround him with talent and a legit chance to contend.

 

“…..If we use the pick on another young rookie that’s going to take years to develop…. Dame will end up asking for a trade.”….. May 2022 - @THE HCP

#BAM

 

Ed, I’m not a stats guy, but wasn’t this his best season ever?

 

And I would hope that Dame gets more of a say than Beal. Dame is the greatest player in team history and heading to the hall of fame. Not sure what is on Beal’s resume.

 

Exactly H.

 

Ok. Dame is looking for a veteran team.

Note: Blazers have an inexperienced GM, and a second year coach that’s only ‘coached’ tanking teams.

This is not a good recipe for success.

 

I believe it was.....and we still ended up with the #5 ranked Lottery pick. So again, personal stats aren't translating to wins. Not a blame statement, just what is.

 

Kapernick wasn't collusion either.
The talent level did not exceed the headache level.

 

Being the 'best player in franchise history' says more about the Blazers history than anything tho. That status is partly tied to the fact that historically the Blazers rarely bottom out and actually get top end picks... and when they have got them they've squandered them.

Dame has been in the league 11 years. In that time his career has crossed over with the careers of James, Curry, Duncan, Kobe, Dirk, Paul, Harden, Tatum, Jimmy, Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, Kawhi, Durant, Wade, Howard, Davis, Westbrook, Shai, Luka. That is 20+ players clearly above or at his level of play and I'm probably forgetting a few. That is 20+ 'generational' talents in the league in 11 years.

 

Dame has shown extremely rare loyalty to a small franchise. I personally think that buys him some slack to finally demanding talent around him. Had this been Durant he would have left after first contract. I think this is slippery slope bad mouthing his desire to put a contending roster around him shouldn’t be something we complain about he wants championship here. Love that! That said if we trade him it can’t just be to where he wants with shitty deal coming back to Blazers. I assume he’ll give 4-5 teams he’d like to play for and then Blazers go out and see what the best deal is they can get for him.

teams I can see him wanting trade to that make sense for us
Lakers- all they have is future draft picks way down on my list especially since I hate them. Their picks might be valuable 3-5 years down road when Lebron is done
Jazz- lots of assets to trade and picks
Heat- IMO they would be front runner
Bucks
Sixers
Boston
NY-maybe but not really a contender
Phoenix- don’t think they can give us what we’d want back they don’t have assets

 

Riley needs scoring and we need defense, trade Simons and some for Butler.

 

Yeah but they have Herro, which IMO is too similar to Ant

 

I'm not sure either are close to a great example of Dame's value around the league. And if you're someone who believes Kap is out of the league due to political reasons (a debate I won't touch), I do not believe Dame has done anything to put him in that category.

I'm comfortable saying I don't think NFL GM's are colluding to make a collective statement about a players political stance or negotiation practices. I believe the stance is based off what they believe is in their teams best interest.

 

I agree Dame has a bias in terms of roster construction. Cronin, Billups, and Jody also have bias regarding that as well. Us fans, we have a bias also.

As I said in my previous post, I hope Cronin looks at all options and picks the best one. Dame wanting this franchise to put a competitive roster around him seems like perfectly reasonable request. Doesn't mean Cronin will do or can do it.

 

My bias is making the Blazers better.

And Dame's want doesn't mean he has a great idea on how to accomplish it. The fact that he's setting parameters on how to go about it and that following those parameters could both accomplish nothing now and put us in a hole after he's gone on to life after basketball is problematic.

 

The request is reasonable, so long as he's not married to the request and understands we aren't in an NBA that's working with us to accomplish his goals in his ways and he has to be open to putting together the best team no matter what the age, race, experience, political party, favorite forum and hair color are.