Absolutely, but all of those teams have more balanced rosters than the Blazers. Grant is a solid player and I have no problems with him in a new roster rotation. Ant is streaky as hell and pretty much defers to Dame. The small forward rotations have been abysmal as far as steady offensive production. Nurk can either be near All-Star or totally checked out. And, when Dame plays with our so-called bench? To think of one of those guys taking a shot instead of Dame is laughable. I'm not saying that I'm in favor of a continued steady regimen of Iso-Dame; just that I'd love to see him in a more balanced roster and offensive scheme.
You aren't breaking it to me as we don't have a roster yet, but yes, I'm banking on the front office to build a contender this offseason. Nobody thought Miami was a contender this year either...I can only name a few of their players without looking it up but yeah....shit happens...the 8th seed can beat the higher seed ...Dame is a winner. I'm optimistic with the assets Joe has this off season to make improvements. Chauncey will have my support unless he takes a deeper team and misses the playoffs without injury bugs to the roster. I'd move Chauncey to the front office under Joe and hire a vet coach myself, but we'll see. As a Blazer fan I have nothing to lose from starting each season with a fresh outlook moving forward....if they trade Dame....I'll probably check out of following the NBA. Dame is one of the few stars in the league that I can honestly root for and be loyal to as a fan. Choices...I'd trade the whole bench before I'd trade Dame and I'd definitely trade Ant in a heartbeat for a two way wing.
well, then to meet your expectations, here comes some fire * blah blah blah...CJ would be an all-star without Dame; CJ needs his own team; Dame is holding CJ back. Yeah we heard that for several years here, it was complete bullshit, and was a primary excuse for not getting Dame some real talent to play with. CJ just had his worst season in years in New Orleans. Ant is no better than CJ except he plays worse defense...and that's saying something, and it's not good * "Dame the selfish stat-padder"....just GTFO with that nonsense. Your posts in this thread are just a bunch of dumb anti-Dame bile. I wonder if you're a noted Dame hater who has posted before but just created a new account ************************************************************* I said in this forum 2-3 weeks ago there were posters here who didn't give a shit about what Portland got from trading Dame (but be the most inclined to propose unrealistic godfather trades as cover), they just didn't like him and wanted him gone. I got quite a bit of push-back on that view. Since then we've had a weird-ass petition; a thread saying Dame is terrible because he doesn't recruit stars to Portland (even though it's next to impossible for dame to do that); and now this thread yeah, I was right
Yep, who honestly thought Phx would go from missing the playoffs to adding an aging pg to the nba finals? How can anyone say we can't be contenders without knowing how this summer unfolds?
Fans on here, maybe. But we (message board/twitter) represent a very small group of the fanbase. If you were to poll fans as a whole, you'd probably find an overwhelming majority would say to keep him.
Oh. Well, the good news is, you're a Blazer fan, so you're well-used to disappointment. Miami had been to the finals a couple of years ago! Miami has the best coach in the league!
I rarely venture out into the real world, but @TBpup often interacts with other fans, and I remember him saying that he has been hearing more and more that fans are coming around to the idea. Correct me if I'm wrong @TBpup
1. Maybe people who watched the Suns win EVERY SINGLE GAME in the run-up to the bubble and only just miss the playoffs? 2. "aging PG" = all-time top-10 PG in league history, who had just (a) helped take Houston to within a quarter of knocking out the winningest team in league history, and (b) taken the OKC Thunder from pre-season "worst team in the league" status to the playoffs. "How can anyone know that this egg will shatter without dropping it first?" The only way one can hold out hope for building a contender is by not thinking about the realistic options we have.
here's a radical thought...get Dame a partner of equal talent and Dame wouldn't be the only focal point and the only 'best' player who the fuck, besides Dame, should have been taking over games during the last 6-8 years? CJ? Nurkic? Aminu? Melo? Hood? Napier? Harkless? Turner? Meyers? Stauskas? Hezonja? Layman? Trent? RoCo?.....geeeeezuzzzz he's had a stream of unworthy partners substitute Curry for Dame without any other roster changes and Portland would have had the exact same mediocrity. No change. Prime Lebron may have been able to drag those rosters to a few more playoff wins, but not more real playoff success Portland's lack of 'success' in the Dame era isn't because of Dame, or because he's 6'2, or because of his defense, or because of his usage, or because he's a PG. It's because of the front office and ownership never really attempted to get him the necessary help
I went to the Rip City Radio Lottery party. I met only one fan who was trade Dame. Maybe 2 if you count Godfather.
I don't think anyone is disagreeing with that. The point is what player do you build a team around to be a contender? History would suggest its more likely with wings like Sharpe than a PG like Dame. If there is no realistic chance to build a contender around Dame - then shouldn't the Blazers try a different path? Dame jacks up a lot of shit deep shots and does play ISO ball - its a legit observation Nate had to question if there is a way that type of PG can be the best player for a contender.
November 2020 ESPN Power Rankings 14th place Phoenix Suns 2020-21 Title Odds (via PointsBet): +6600 Using the tenth pick on Jalen Smith came out of left field for a team building around Deandre Ayton. Still, their young core is the envy of many in the league after a strong 8-0 bubble showing, and they added Chris Paul without sacrificing much of it. A return to the postseason for the first time in a decade appears well within reach.
Show Dame some love and loyalty cause he has earned it and if fans cannot get behind that then .... well I will leave it at that before I say something I should not --- ahh screw that if you cannot understand that then I question if you know what is it to be loyal. I am getting sick and tired of the clueless nature of this fanbase cause in reality there really is not many teams that can give the package the Blazers would need to trade him and even if there were it still comes back to the my first sentence -- Show Dame love and loyalty --- simple and too the point and it is the TRUTH NEXT .... BTW -- Welcome to the board but your opinion is flawed but GO BLAZERS !!
right now I think Mike Malone is the best coach in the league...no knock on Spoelstra, but Malone has outcoached the league this season. I've seen many chapters of Blazer success and failure but I don't think winning a championship every year is the end all of a successful team. I saw us win a championship...saw us play the Bulls in the finals, saw us almost beat the Kobe, Shaq Lakers in the WCF and saw a contending roster go down with Wes achilles another year...then saw a one armed Kanter and Dame and Rodney Hood get us to the WCF when Dame was in terrible pain...yeah...there's a rollercoaster ride of fandom if you measure it by championships...I can find something to enjoy in Blazer basketball most seasons but tanking isn't one of them...as I've said...if they don't keep Dame next season, I'll probably give up on the NBA. You're welcome to bask in disappointment but I don't follow sports with those expectations. A lot has to line up to win a championship in sports. You can hire a dozen coaches but a team has to stay healthy and be consistent to win on that level.
Until you really try, and put actual quality talent around Dame, do you really ever know? Why give up on the one asset you know brings it at an All NBA level, for a bunch of unproven, hope, wanna be's. There is plenty of time after Dame retires to build again around Sharpe if he ends up being special. He will be only 26 to 27 years old.
