Dame had his best season at 32, so yeah, players can get better. But it's incremental more years in the league and incremental improvement won't change the issues Ant has. * he's an undersized SG with few proven PG skills * he is one of the worst defenders in the league * he can't play as a wing because of his size * he can't be 3&D and he won't ever be a two-way player all of those factors significantly limit his value. His limited skill-set point to his best role being a 6th man; a scorer off the bench. But with the new CBA paying 26M/year for a bench player doesn't make sense Ant is just CJ 2.0, IMO. CJ at 24 hadn't reached his full potential yet. But CJ at 24 demonstrated what kind of player he was going to be. He didn't change his game or style over the next few years. Ant is on the same track ********************************************* as far as that trade, yeah, it sucked
What are you smoking bro? You want to trade a young 22 who has not even reached his prime for that garbage? Bad take my friend, that makes zero sense.[/QUOTE] I'm not a huge Ant guy. I think he's a one trick pony. That's a nice haul for him IMO. It's not a bad take at all. I don't think Toronto would ever give that up for him
Why do you believe this? I'd tend to think the Blazers want to get the most assets for Dame, if it's Miami then they're fine with it. They may insist on trading him East. Their lack of moves to win with Dame lead me to believe they either have wanted to trade Dame for awhile or at the least are not worried about it
Haven't thought of LaVine and Harden being in a trade before, interesting. But it makes zero sense to have any of these 3 on the Blazers. Blazers need to rebuild if trading Dame, not acquire over 30 all stars.
26 million for a 25ppg scorer in the new CBA where tons of players are signing for 250-300 million, with more increases in the way the next two years, is not overpaid.
because I've paid attention to what has transpired and reached a conclusion about what Portland in inclined or disinclined to do? I don't believe Miami will make their best possible offer for Dame this off-season. In fact, I would not be surprised if Riley has demanded protections on one of those picks, probably 2030
Yeah, I have a feeling that if Miami had offered their absolute best offer, it would probably be done. I think Riley knows that we have zero other offers and he's trying to squeeze us. So Joe's only recourse is to let the season start and let Miami suffer with a bad roster.
I think there also might be some actual resentment in the Portland front office about the tactics of Dame's agent; and a belief that Pat Riley has his fingerprints on those tactics. It might actually be a case of 'anywhere but Miami; never there'
I am with Dame's agent cause this front office put them in this situation so screw this front office and screw Jody / Vulcan cause if they would have handled this situation better from the start this would not be so much of a mess. This is the truth and some of you cannot handle this truth and at this point I just do not care if you do or not in the end I believe this will be proven to be right and I would bet everything on this. Now I will concede that I am sure there is other things we do not know but the heart of this is -- Blazers told Dame one thing and did another and then lied more to get him to comply and now we are here -- so screw this front office / ownership group and the fans who have turned on Dame --- I have 2 fingers for ya and will leave it at that.
5 FRP's and we get out of Nurk's contract? Sign me up. The only part I don't like is Miami getting Dame, they don't deserve him, although he might deserve them.
What is the situation that the Trail Blazers are in? They drafted Shaedon Sharpe in 2022 and Scoot Henderson in 2023. Those two look like they could be very good. On rookie contracts. Ready to contribute now. Who knows what will become of Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert or Jabari Walker, but they also come at a reduced cost. I would like you to spell out a realistic and possible trade that Cronin could have made to appease Damian Lillard. After you do that, people can make up their own minds which situation would be better.
Until the starters (Scoot -Sharpe) sign a new contract I see no reason why a 6th man can't make 26/year. Also, If you pair Ant with a defensive-minded Pt forward (yes I am suggesting Ben one more time) then you could actually start him for 2 years next to Sharpe, Grant, Ben, and ___x___(a good defensive center)
Perhaps there are some people stuck in the mindset that every player should be paid by their contribution or value. Or that playing time should be decided by salary. Or that a player should be traded no matter if it improves the team or not if playing time and salary don't match, even if some of his teammates are being underpaid.
