His IG photo is him with his 3 boys, no wife. Maybe there is a truth to the divorce rumor? Maybe I'm assuming out of nothing.
if he would have simply asked for a trade, listed 3 or 4 preferred destinations, and left it at that, I don't think there would be near this level of vitriol and bile but he didn't do that, or at least his representatives didn't. He limited the trade demand to only one team and that team just happened to have the worst trade assets of any other contenders. And maybe one of the most arrogant fan-bases and this came after he had several times criticized other players who wanted to team up on super teams...so Dame demands to go with a team that has 2 high level all-stars and just played in the finals. It seriously undercuts his decade of image building. But more than that, after professing loyalty to the fans, the team, and the city for a decade, his actions over the last 10 days shit all over the fans, the team, and the city. OK, we get it, he has a grudge, maybe justiified, against the Blazer front office and ownership. Understood; but right now it's the fans that are witnessing the damage his messy exit is doing to their team so yeah, if he didn't expect this kind of reaction, he should NOT have committed to the kind of action he did...action-->reaction is a simple equation somebody needs to explain to Dame in blunt terms
pretty obvious that has agent has implemented a strategy and Dame is going along. But it's a scorched earth strategy and Dame's camp is obviously betting on the Blazers folding
IF he is really going through something in his non basketball life you can't blame him for what he's doing now. Things can brake you up and fuck with your chemistry. It is funny, how biology works and how it affects your life. I can easy see him as a guy, that don't really care about some things, that were important just yesterday. That's how it works sometimes. Leave him alone, let him be, let him heal and let's wait, as long as it takes, for good package from Miami.
for the "best" package out of all teams, not just Miami and only if "best" package is correct value for a player his caliber. blazers do not have to trade him now if the "best" package sucks
This. Perfectly said. But for me it’s even simpler. Request the trade. Give a short list of 3-4 teams and we all move on. I don’t even care about what he’s said in the past about super teams and “running from the grind.” But no, he decided to go scorched earth and handcuff the franchise to one option with limited assets. I feel for Dame. He genuinely loved the city, franchise and fans. He truly wanted nothing more than to bring a championship to this city and fan base. It sucks that the organization was unable to foster a contending team around him. But the way things have unfolded is so ugly and unfortunate.
I agree with Dame. Everyone is acting like they know so much and we really know next to nothing about what’s going on.
And we still no almost nothing about what brought Dame to this point. I actually think it would be better for Dame to stay completely silent right now but he is right that people should not
If the Blazers and Dame want drama, here is the statement I want Cronin to issue: “We have listened to many proposals for accommodating the requested trade by Damian Lillard. None have come close to the value that our franchise and fan base put on Dame as a player and community icon. At this point we want to welcome Dame to stay, with open arms, and help us rise to a new beginning.” That would put a stirring paddle in the pot.
I could understand his wanting to go to a competitive team rather than rebuilding but as each report comes out, I lose more and more respect for Dame. His agent calling and telling teams not to trade for him and the latest: So now it is trade me to the Heat for scraps or I won't even report. I'm fine with that. Trade him somewhere else. I assume if he doesn't report he doesn't get paid his millions. Talk about being a spoiled brat. Yeah, I used to respect him and yes, I don't know everything but what I do reflects poorly on Dame and his so-called "professionalism". I wonder if the Blazers don't end up trading him due to non-offers except for the Heat's refuse, if he'll actually report to the Blazers or hold-out. Would save the team a boatload of money if they could just suspend him without pay due is own petulance.
Does anyone really care though? We need Dame to confirm something? The #runfromthegrind guy? The only Miami guy? The guy poisoning the well? I, for one, don't want to hear from Dame. So far he's just pretending that he doesn't understand. If that's not the fakest bullshit ever, I don't know what is. So what's the point. This is the classic case of personality catching up with persona thing.