A lot depends on the trade package that the Blazers could get back in return for Dame. Do they get a solid young player at a position of need (you can keep Herro, Miami) or is it all cap-clearing dreck and future picks? But with a reasonable return, and if Sharpe and Scoot are who we think they are, I could see winning a play-in spot in a 3-4 year timeframe. Change the question to actually competing, which is the metric being used regarding keeping Dame, and I’d say 6-8 years.
God it's so hard to say without actually seeing Scoot play. It really all depends on how they build around Scoot and Shae. I could see 4-5 years as being realistic. Roy/LMA got us back in to the playoffs in 2 years. Dame/LMA got us back in to the playoffs in 2 years. We actually never missed the playoffs between the Drexler/Porter/Kersey era. Bob rebuilt us super fast.
I refuse to vote. Need more information. Also slightly salty about the Dame trade talk. Mood: Let FA begin and see what happens.
I am a Sharpe believer. Sharpe + whatever is left + whatever we get for a Dame trade, 2025. That kid can be that good. It is unbelievable how good he was at the end of the year as the first option for a rookie that was away from basketball for a year and played as a backup 4th-6th option for most of his rookie year. If Scoot is as good as advertised...
I'd say we are effectively two years into a "rebuild" or whatever the fuck you want to call it, so I'll knock two years off what I think it would've actually taken if we were starting from '0' (or should I stay, without '0'). I'd assume Dame means Grant, Nurk, and most likely Ant are gone. Not sure for what. BEST CASE SCENARIO: Scoot is an all-star by his second year since he's so generational. Sharpe is an all-star by year 3. Murray is an extremely high-level role player by year 2. Then we make the playoffs. Given that, IMO, none of that is very likely... I say 4-5 years, including the two years we already tanked.
The Drexler/Porter/Kersey era was so different though - there was what 16 teams that made the playoffs and 7 in the lottery? I'd almost consider all the first round and out years to be part of "the lottery" back then.
Yeah at the end of last year we were starting Skylar Mays, Eubanks, Jeenathan Williams and Kevin Knox. Many fans were yelling at me how dumb it was to keep playing Sharpe with those scrubs listed above against playoff teams. They weren't totally wrong though, Sharpe was leading those horrific Blazer groups to some big wins. If we actually sign legit NBA players up and down the roster, and try to win along with some assets in return for our vets - yeah I could totally see the playoffs sooner than many expect in only a couple years. Now contending if it can ever happen is going to be a good 3-4 years after the playoffs though. Thats just a much harder step. Playoffs if the team really wants to go all out in the regular season isn't as hard as many are making it sound.
For the past two years, it couldn't be said aloud, but we were actively trying to lose. We are a significantly better team than our record the past two years. My guess is, we were probably a 36-41 win team two years ago, a 39-44 win last year and this year I suspect without major changes we will be in the 42-47 win range.
2035. Sharpe & Scoot left for La La Land in the late 2020's. Blazers had to find new players and lucked out with a player almost as good as Dame in 2032. Even with all that it's only 12 years away.
