Dame all but demanding vet roster

But i do see now after reading some more posts here, that those tweets i saw may have given a somewhat distorted picture, especially if he was asked about specific teams. And his overall tenor seemed to be that he preferred to stay in Portland and knew there were risks in going elsewhere to seek a title.

 

Custer was bending his arm , and he gave him a answer to make him move on. It was just an if's and But's, were candy and nuts. Dame said what he wanted to do, and he wanted to do it in Portland. Because Bam & Mikal are his buds, and they're on other teams is just what it is. He also said that any deal to send him to a contender would weaken their chances to do so by the compensation that would be sent back. And that team probably wouldn't be any better than where he left.

 

I'd encourage you to listen to the entire video. I did, and I did not walk away thinking Dame wants out. Very much the opposite.

He restated he wants to win in Portland. He restated he expects to be a Blazer next season. He restated he wants to play his entire career in Portland. He restated how much he likes the organization and the city.

Edit: Does that mean that's how it's going to end? No. It may make sense for Dame and Portland to go different directions. But the narrative that he's actively making things worse or that he wants out has can't be supported with any facts that I've seen.

 

Dame is not doing the Portland Trailblazers any favors at all. Those of us that own businesses or are in upper management know that Dame should be keeping his damn mouth shut. He is massively weakening the Blazers position in ALL NEGOTIATIONS. It is not even debatable. Now that the world, and especially Brooklyn and Miami knows that they possess Dame's dogs, the price just went up exponentially to trade for them. Likewise, he is tanking his trade value by stating who his dogs are and where he prefers to play. What he is doing is stabbing Cronin in the back. Actually no, he is slitting his throat. Cronin has zero leverage. Dame has diminished the value of the third pick with this self serving promotion. Now, the only option is to draft BPA. I know the Dame fan club will make excuses for him, but as a business, the business of the Portland Trailblazers, he is damaging the brand and assets of the company.

 

That’s all true. But he also restated twice that they would be having a conversation if the team didn’t use their assets to improve the team. He pretty much reiterated what he said back in April.

 

Then he should keep his damn mouth shut and let Cronin do his job. Why all of a sudden does he have to give an interview to anyone that asks questions? He is literally killing the Blazers position in everything. It is plain to see as the Dame Dolla hat he was wearing in the other interview. Whatever, it is just disgusting to me. I'm getting to the point I would prefer him gone so the club can move forward without the knife in the back.

 

Open communication is good.

He didn't say he'd demand a trade out of Portland. That's the narrative though.

 

He isn't weakening Cronin's abilities whatsoever, in my opinion. Cronin has an impetus to either improve the team dramatically or move Dame. Those two almost opposite directions that Cronin can go in give him a lot of leverage. The value of the pieces Cronin has to work with give him a lot of leverage. The fact that there are 30 teams and not just 3 teams gives Cronin a lot of avenues and thus gives him a lot of leverage. Dame hasn't publicly demanded a trade, he's said he wants this team to get better... every team needs to get better. Due to the fact that Dame hasn't demanded a trade, the teams he mentioned don't have added leverage, they might think they have a potential deal but that doesn't equal leverage when there are so many other options in any direction that are out there.

 

If one thing should become apparent in all this, it's that whatever Dame says, it's going to be taken largely out of context, spun and twisted into whatever the listener wants it to be.

Case in point: In Dame's recent interview, he was asked if he was traded, what would be his preferred destination out of I think three teams. He answered honestly.

Today on Twitter, we have a bunch of Heat fans all ga-ga that Lillard wants a trade to Miami. No mention to the fact that he's said he sees himself staying in Portland, wants to stay in Portland, or that he was asked a specific question and answered the hypothetical.

The more this goes on, the less stock I put into "Dame said he wants a veteran team," because that's really not the question. He's saying what he'd prefer. He's not saying he's chained to that position, that anything other than that is a dealbreaker ... there's a lot of room for nuance that a lot of people just don't want to recognize.

What irks me is that Dame, in the interest of being transparent and honest, feeds the beast because the people hearing what he says aren't being transparent or honest.

 

I am not typing about Dame being traded as much as the other assets to achieve the goals that HE wants immediately. I never thought Bridges or Bam were obtainable. Those teams don't want to trade them. Even if they considered it Dame has killed the value of Portlands assets. I know you will never see it. Portland will do a shit trade to placate Dame or draft BPA. At this point, the best players available will be negative value players like Simmons, KAT, Gobert, etc...

 

Ahh, the old "shut up and play basketball" take. Having just watched the first two episodes of the Bill Walton 30 for 30, I thought people had grown out of this stance.Have you considered, that maybe he did spend a decade of shutting up and letting the GM do his job? In that time, while he was keeping his "damn mouth shut", he watched the only all-star teammate of his walk for nothing, a revolving door of forgettable forwards, no signficant moves made, etc.

He's always been in an honest person. It's possible his stance and desires have changed. There is ZERO proof that his interviews have negatively impacted Portland's abilities to build a contending roster, let alone that he's "killing the Blazers position in everything". While you may be at the point that you would prefer him gone for thoughtfully and respectfully speaking his mind, I am at the point of wanting anyone who thinks he should be silenced or a robot to go be a fan of another team.

If people want Dame gone because they don't think the Blazers can win with him, I disagree, but I get it. If people want Dame gone because of the way he speaks with the fans and the media, they clearly have no clue how good they have it with this guy.

 

Crazy enough, I've had conversations with posters who are doing exactly that... it's incredible...

 

It's probably Dames fault that Jody is ignoring Uncle Phil too...

 

Please point to the deal that didn't get done or was weakened by Dame speaking to the media. Also, please list all the great deals that were able to get done because Dame wasn't as vocal about his desires in his first 8ish seasons.

This is a made-up narrative with ZERO proof to support it. The thought that other teams would have made a great trade with the Blazers, but because Dame is on a boxing YouTube interview, they are no longer willing to make that offer is total silliness.

 

Yeah, Dame specifically said he doesn't want to go to another team that will have to be gutted in the trade to get him there. He knows Portland isn't going to give him up for less than a good return.

He knows that being traded likely won't get him any closer to a championship than just staying here. He just wants the team to compete, not rebuild. I'm with him on that. He expects to be in Portland next season. I think what Dame has done is make sure that management is ultra focused on competing.

 

I did not say "shut up and play basketball." I said shut up and let the GM do his job. Go to the studio and do your thing. Go camping, whatever he likes non basketball related. It is the off season. Do off season stuff. Talking to anyone that will listen when the NBA Finals are in full swing is disrespectful to the Nuggets, Heat, NBA and is only self serving. I am sure the league office does not appreciate this. But thanks for the offer to go be a fan of another team fan boy. Good to know someone as astute as you is running the Lillard Fan Club. Peace.

 

I really don't think that's true at all.

I think the 3rd pick in a draft will have the same value whether or not some star is chatting about his druthers. We've already heard, plenty, that just about every team in the top-10 of the draft besides San Antonio is considering the possibility of trading their pick. That happens every draft by the way. Ant & Nurk's value isn't going to crater because Dame gave an interview; neither is Little's or Keon's. And the TPE hasn't dropped from 8.3M to 5.2M because Dame talked. And the perceived value of Scoot or Miller or Amen isn't going to change one fucking bit because Dame called Bam his dawg

teams will always be fishing for bargains & steals; always. Doesn't mean another team will cooperate. Portland hasn't made Sharpe untouchable because they are dealing from a position of weakness

as for Dame's value, him chatting it up doesn't matter either. After everything he's said and done confirming his loyalty to Portland, and everything the Blazer Org. has done confirming their commitment to Dame, if Portland suddenly starts shopping Dame, all 29 other front offices will know exactly what happened: Dame asked to be traded. And the Blazers will get offers according to that reality

the number of weird 'reasons' that people in this forum find to justify trashing Dame is fucking ridiculous

 

I don't think Dame is preventing the GM from doing his job. Or impacting the difficulty of the GM job. At all.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Cronin is encouraging Dame to do these interviews.

 

All I can say is it is fantastic.

 

I think it's actually funny how Dame is baiting the media rumor mills...he's riffing for the camera...my gut says he's never leaving Portland ...loved his "look what happened to Russ in LA" comment. Right now he's team captain...assistant coach...lead scout and assistant GM of the Blazers....that's nowhere to be found in the NBA and he knows it. Best locker room crew in the league year after year. In the words of Wheels, "it's a great time to be a Blazer" Keep Dame and the 3rd pick...put a vet on the starting core with Jerami and Dame and have a dynamic bench mob with the 3rd pick playing with Sharpe coming off the bench. We're in a good position this off season to bolster the roster