Would Mr. I Take The High Road do that? If so, I guess his descent to the Dark Side would be complete. That petty that you hate the organization that gave you more than any player in the NBA because it didn't throw away everything for a guy to take you deep into the playoffs that you'd try to cut their legs out on the way out, too. I hope Fentress is just being a bad pundit and isn't really hearing this somewhere, because, if he was, it'd mean the Damian Lillard we thought we knew was total fiction, a complete fraud.
Loyalty's a two way street. Dame was loyal to the core, but Joe didn't think he had to be. The only thing Dame did wrong was believing what Joe said. Shut it down, and we'll get the assets. Then you draft his successor. That fucking , fateful , Lottery day. When we didn't get the #1 pick to draft Wemby, i had a sinking feeling in my gut.
The Pelicans thing is exciting but the more I think about it this makes the most sense with all things considered. Add 2 1s from both Miami and Brooklyn to us, so 4 total.
Getting quality veterans to add to the team, wouldn't be throwing anything away. These youngsters haven't proven shit. It's all speculation. And while dunks and passes against poor defense are fun to watch, we won't know anything till we actually play against real competition during the season. I'm not saying they had to trade away every pick. I think Murray will be the steal of the draft. But they could have added veteran difference makers and decided not to. They chose a path. Why can't Dame?
I guess it could be worse. If he demanded LAC or LAL, we wouldn't get jack shit. Even worse than Miami I think.
So you're okay having the franchise get pennies on the dollar because of loyalty to a guy who requested a trade but in reality forced his way to a team that had less than stellar assets? Dame knows it's a business. He did his part by requesting the trade. He doesnt get to hurt our team for years so he can go to where he wants. It's really simple.
Going to say this as nice as I think I can. You're being a sycophant. No one has said Dame can't choose a path. In fact, most of us critical of him have said he totally had that right. On the other hand, most of your posts have been like someone who has a Dame shrine in your room. I noticed several posts where you make accusations against the Blazers that you couldn't know unless you actually work in the front office. I haven't addressed you until now because I don't think you can carry on an adult conversation on the subject. I've just let you be miserable in your unlikely one-sided hero worship. Right now, Dame's the one dragging the team that's done everything for him for 11 years and its fans. Yeah, if his circle told Fentress this, it's trolling us, the Blazer fans. He had all the input on the players we acquired (except who we draft). He had input on the coaches, the style of play. Gave him the super-max. The Blazers traded good assets for meh players because he wanted it. We probably overspent a little to re-sign his friend just so he could bail. We put his cousin on the team for two years for heaven's sake. And you think the Blazers did Dame dirty? You need to do stand-up. I'll give you another thing, and then you can go off on another tirade: Dame said all these players wanted to come to Portland to play with him. Who? Why didn't we ever hear of any? Why didn't we hear of any even borderline all-stars pushing for trades to Portland that might have allowed the Blazers a chance to trade or sign them without robbing Peter? BUT, when Dame wants to go to Miami, he's going to do everything he can to get them a sweetheart deal from the Blazers if Fentress is to be believed. That doesn't sound like the paragon of virtue you and others and Dame's handlers have presented him to be ... and maybe it's just Fentress making stuff up to rile us up more and get clicks, so I'm just saying if this report has a factual basis, Dame's a fraud and always was.
Think of it this way. In an alternate universe, if we had the exact same roster as we have now, except Dame is on another team, would you try to trade for him? I don't think wouldn't really make sense for us.
He only has two years left. Who cares. He was a #1 pick for a reason. Even if he can't regain his old form he would help us lose games and then he is a massive expiring next year.
We might have to take on a big expiring contract to make a deal work (which will probably include picks and some younger players). Ben Simmons is an almost-expiring contract, that has a chance to turn into an all-star perfect fit for this roster. The chance may be small, but it's not nothing.
As GMs, they're both exceedingly frustrating. As people, they're in different universes when it comes to likeability. Masai is a super cool guy, Morey is... something other than that. I know this doesn't matter at all in trade negotiations, but having met and worked with both, once upon a time, their personalities couldn't be more dissimilar.
If Dame effectively turned down a good return for Portland to a team where him going there would make them good have have a chance to compete (as he said over and over and most recently) so he could go be part of a SuperTeam with Bam/Butler/Dame when he also said he would not do that, then that would be akin to personal suicide as well. It sucks that it has all come to this.
It's kind of ironic. If we did the trade Dame appears to have wanted, we would have had to sell the farm and mortgage our future. Now, it looks like Dame wants to make the Blazers mortgage the future by accepting whatever scraps anyone wants to trade back from his preferred destination. I have to qualify this as I don't know if Fentress is believable. I'm just saying if there's truth in this tweet, Dame might have to go down as one of the biggest villains in Blazers history, a guy that was determined to undermine the team in whatever way he could whether he was in Portland or not, but especially if he wasn't a Blazer.
Here's the really sad part of this behind-the-scenes BS Dame's agent is orchestrating: If Dame had a press conference in the offseason (when Dame's agent started the misinformation campaign) and said, "I love Portland, and I always will. My roots here are deep, and I plan to live here after my career is over. With the fans support, I've been able to become a top 75 player in the history of the league. But, whether you or I like it, I will ultimately be judged by a metric of championships. I love the new direction of the team, but it's unlikely that we are able to win one with the current "double-timeline". So, I am asking for a trade. While I don't need to be traded to some "superteam", I would really appreciate being traded to a contender like the Miami Heat." Blazer fans, including me, would be crying their eyes out and begging the team to trade him to Miami and Milwaukee.
I would rather roll the dice with Simmons than with someone like Lowry. If he can't pass a physical then no, but if he can then he is an excellent defender with size. He could help make this young team competitive. The question I have is would the Nets include Clowney, and I doubt they would.
