He's a significantly higher regarded prospect. I'm not sure we know all that much. He was often injured and playing for a team that wasn't in the business of developing him. Also, his position is harder to acquire than whatever those other guys project to be. If we overpay him for being mid, that's on Cronin, not anyone else.
Actually, Aminu did alter the trajectory of our team. What are his on/off win-loss numbers? Once he left, we never adequately replaced him and still haven’t.
Aminu was a role player; good at a couple of things, but flawed in several areas here are Aminu's BPM numbers while in Portland: 2015-16 0.1 2016-17 -1.1 2017-18 0.4 2018-19 0.7 (if people need a refresher on BPM: A box score estimate of the points per 100 possessions a player contributed above a league-average player, translated to an average team) and his winsahre/48 marks: 2015-16 .082 2016-17 .051 2017-18 .097 2018-19 .121 (winshare/48: An estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player per 48 minutes - league average is approximately .100) Aminu + Harkless + Plumlee + Nurkic + Crabbe + Turner + Zach + Curry + Kanter + Layman combined for enough impact to move Portland from around .500 to 8-10 games above .500. But Aminu was only a small part of that and his impact could have been supassed by dozens of players in the league because Portland has been a total disaster at finding any quality forwards doesn't make Aminu a good player
Trigg @ FanNation lobbed this idea out there; Mavs receive: Tyler Herro. Heat receive: Damian Lillard. Blazers receive: Tim Hardaway Jr., Christian Wood (sign-and-trade), Duncan Robinson, Jaime Jaquez Jr., three first-round picks and two pick swaps (from MIA).
Thj?? Oh fuck me what a deal for POR!!! And Duncan ?? Woweee what a haul. Most realize that Fentress fucked this whole thing up for Dame. It is not making him look good. He is coming across as the antithesis of what he claimed he was. Now he is just another star fucker like Kyrie/Harden/KD/AD etc. Real championship legends aren’t built by demanding a fucking trade. Who are the all stars surrounding Jokic?? None. Damian Fentress is simply telling us all he aint good enough to lead a team on his own. I think he is enough personally with a chemically robust roster around him, not all stars.
It's hilarious pointing out the flaws in their position to Heat fans. After weeks of crowing about how they're getting the great Damian Lillard, they wind up in the logic abyss of "his contract in three years is too much, plus we made the finals this year without him." I love pointing out to them that means they really don't need Lillard, so why are they even pressed about not getting him. They act like the guy who they started by saying was going to put them over the top has no value if they have to trade more than it'd take to acquire Robert Covington ... this is the guy they say brings them a championship. Usually, I just say, "Awesome. You've just admitted Lillard really isn't that important to your team, so I guess there doesn't need to be a trade. Portland didn't want to trade him. He still have value to the Blazers but apparently not to you." I never get a reply to something like that. They just rationalized their own argument down the toilet.
These people live completely ignorant of the Blazers. They have no idea what the team needs or wants or would be of value. They think because a player meant something to them, they'd have to be coveted by the Blazers. And, of course, a month after the Dame trade request and we still have people talking about how bad the Blazers have been with Dame and how he's been so uniquely loyal to the Blazers. Of course, the Blazers made the playoffs eight of Dame's first nine years and missed the playoffs in his 10th when he was injured -- the Blazers weren't bad, they just, like a lot of other NBA teams during the last decade, weren't the best. And, of course, the Blazers paid Dame the max, took Dame's input on trades, signings, coaches, style of play, and even put Blevins on the team two years, but that unusually amount of loyalty is completely written out of the script because we don't want to ruin a good story with facts.
They got there without Dame but they made the actual playoffs by the skin of their teeth. They definitely need the upgrade and they need to be willing to give up most of what they have of value to get that huge upgrade that Dame represents. They shouldn't be quibbling over Jaquez and Jovic. The honest truth is that they would be one of the favorites by adding Dame and even Nurk without giving up Jimmy, Bam or Martin. Signing some free agents and maybe getting some other piece back in the trade wouldn't hurt either.
Don't forget Jimmy's effect. If there is a guy, that can make other people play better, it's him. Aminu and Harkless players would be enough for Miami to be title favs.
The elephant in the room for the Heat, though, is he's even older than Dame. And he's looking for a big payday coming up, too. The Heat might never be really "bad." There are a number of things to attract players to Miami. But the door to winning an actual championship for them with this group of players, coaching staff and front office is closing. They are trying to avoid saying they want Dame to win a championship in the next two years. They have to take the subsequent two years of his contract as a trade-off for that. And, while they want to act like Dame is going to fall off a cliff performance-wise when he turns 35, his past season doesn't make that seem likely.
Did he? Or was it a key loss to improve out odds that ended up getting us Scoot? Is he the coach that got the team off to a 10-3 start, or the one who has been in charge of tanking for 2 years. ....likely, somewhere in between.
Miami will be fine without Dame. Miami Will Be Fine Without Damian Lillard "If the Heat don’t trade for the Blazers’ star, they will still have the core of the team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals." https://www.si.com/.amp/nba/2023/08/03/damian-lillard-heat-rumors-what-if-trade-wont-happen
I see Miami Heat folks have reached the acceptance stage of realizing we won't accept their poo poo platter. Now they are in the delusional stage of thinking they will make it back to the finals.
