I don't think loyalty in business is the same as it is with people you love. I think when your place of work no longer works for you, it's healthy to try and find another place of work, regardless of if the history you had with your company was great, when that changes you should look and see if you can get out on your terms. Very different from friendship and family. You can be a loyal employee or business partner for 15 years, extremely loyal and if things change at your place of business it doesn't make you disloyal to move on... it just means you're willing to do what's best for yourself, which is healthy. I mean especially if you've warned the business that you've been working for, time and time again that they aren't living up to your expectations of them.
I'm sure Haynes will address that apparent contradiction as soon as Dame's representative tells him to and what to say.
Absolutely not a problem as long as you do not build your brand on being different by being loyal. When you do that and later start looking for yourself, you absolutely deserve to be called for the the snake oil you sold. If a brand told you that they were better because they use much better raw materials and later you find that they stopped doing it because the margins were better on cheaper materials, you are 100% right to call them out. As a fan, I was sold a bill of goods that proved to be wrong. It does not change anything other than my respect for the merchant of snake oil.
He never took less than the supermax to facilitate trades/free agency He always wanted his friends to get paid hurting our cap situation and consequently our chance to compete Now he's forcing us to trade him to the team with less assets in the league Good thing he loves Portland, imagine what he could do if he doesn't
I agree that there has been a lot of spin. I don't love the way it's going. I really just want some resolution because I don't like how ugly it's getting. That being said, I don't want Cronin just to take a shitty deal to get out of this shitty situation. I want to be clear, I don't blame Dame for trying to force his way to where he wants to go but I don't think that should make Joe take a shitty deal. He should shop Dame all over the league, I personally would only shop him to competitive teams. Joe should also pull the trigger on the best deal he can get regardless of what Dame wants. Both sides should be done worrying about what's best for the other... I think that time has come and gone. I just don't know how much power Dame has. Does he, along with his agent, have the power to tell every team outside of the Heat not to deal with Joe? If they do then I guess that leaves us in a bad place but I don't think they do. We may end up with a deal from the Heat that is not great. I don't think we'll ever end up with an honest answer for why we got that bad deal because I think Joe will call it great regardless. Despite the fact that I've been defending Dame I would love to see him on another good team that is not the Heat at this point. I get why Dame might be doing what so many in here are convinced he is doing but I don't think that means our team needs to go with it.
Yeah, but I love it. I interrupt it as he is laughing at those who suggest free-agent players might view us differently depending on how we take care of Dame. It is laughable because Portland never has been or will be a top FA destination. And that is not changing. He is pointing that out in a sarcastic way.
I get what you’re feeling and have some of the same issues. I’d be a lot happier about Dame moving on if he was pushing to go to the Jazz. It would fit his “brand” so much better than being just another NBA superstar on a bloated contract forcing his way to South Beach to join a super team. He has history with Utah, his Letter O tag still works as he’d be in the same state as his college town. The Jazz have enough pieces to be a legitimate contender with the addition of Dame, but he’d clearly be the top star having to lift them to contention instead of riding with Butler and Bam. And most of all, the Jazz can offer a legitimate package to the Blazers, the team he’s professed loyalty to all of these years, instead of trying to stick them with the shitty deal the Heat could offer.
Dame deliberately took less than the max on his 2nd contract so Olshey could work some deals. But Olshey did nothing and dame learned his lesson Stars almost never take less than the max they are eligible for. Last time I recall was Lebron and Bosh in Miami, and that was not a significant sacrifice for either. this is a dumb reason to trash Dame
Nobody, not a single fucking person, who is talking trash about Portland doing Dame dirty now, was ever a Portland Trailblazers fan. They were and are Damian Lillard fans. This is the real breakup. Dame and Cronin and Riley are just doing business. The real knockdown drag out fight will between the Blazers fans and the Dame fans.
