Suppose (a) Dame has a change of heart and stays with us (b) in two years, there are a couple of expansion teams added to the league, with the expansion draft that that entails. ...would you leave Dame unprotected in the draft? (After all, we did it to Jerome Kersey...)
rewind it back to Lillard going public with "I ain't no ring chaser, don't care what other people think." It gave me the idea that Lillard loves being in Portland, and doesn't mind being on a stinky Blazers team that gives him paid vacation to lose on purpose. what happened? What changed? there must have been a big time falling out between Lillard and team management. The GM can't just openly lie to a 7x All-Star about making the team better while doing everything possible to make the team worse.
If he's playing under the value of that contract at that time but if he's still balling out, of course not.
this is what Cronin told Blazer fans after 2023 deadline "“The goal that we set when I started this job was to build a championship roster around Damian Lillard, so over the past year we’ve been transacting with that goal in mind. The goal going into this trade deadline was to be extremely aggressive." > trading starting SF Josh Hart for 3 waived players, and a Philly bench guy is anything but aggressive "Accumulate as many assets as possible in order to make a big push for high-end talent" > who, where? Does tanking for picks count as the big push for high-end talent ? "“We’re trying to support these guys with real defenders, with real size, with real length." > Blazers are down 1 legit NBA Center. Asking Nurkic to hold down the fort while the little guys run around and pad stats is how the Blazers ended up in the lottery. If Cronin is saying this stuff to Blazer fans, I'm sure the fabrication was cranked up even stronger being closed doors with Lillard.
Yeah there are a couple you tube guys that a number of people here have watched that have said it pretty much every day.
Tanking for picks to then trade is definitely a way of stockpiling assets to make a big push for talent. Also, we got a FRP from NYK for Hart which was an amazing return. Stockpiling assets is needed when the cupboard is bare due to Olshey being one of the worst GMs in my lifetime if not THE worst. Unlike rumors during Olshey’s reign I cannot think of any rumors that Cronin turned down a trade for a Star. Can you? No. Ergo, its speculation. It doesn’t seem Cronin had any decent offers and if they asked for Sharpe and/or Scoot and we weren’t getting an All Star wing, Joe made the right call.
The blazers have not been that stocked with talent since the lma-dame years. The only issue is that the talent timeline is mismatched because of market conditions. There was no lie made, just people putting their own expectations over reality
Even then.... I remember those LMA teams had a great starting five and no bench at all. The year we finally made it to the second round was when we added Mo Williams and Dorell Wright, but even that team had an extremely young bench. Not surprisingly, the next time that we actually looked legit, we added Hood, Kanter, Curry, etc. Almost like having a solid, veteran bench who can consistently contribute will actually help your team win.
Dame must realize Portland is asking Miami to show them (and Dame) how much they value him. Portland wasn't willing to sacrifice their future for a slight improvement. (And this is what caused Dame to ask out) Now if Miami isn't willing to give us what Dame is worth. Dame must be feeling not valued by them. He broke up with his girl to be with someone, someone who unfortunately didn't love him back.
I keep reading he broke up with his wife. Is there a citation for that, or just speculation? When I type in divorce all I get is "Seeking Amicable Divorce from Blazers". Any links?
I don't think it's been made official, but it's been referenced on podcasts and people in the know have mostly confirmed it. I have no doubt it's going on.
