Notice 2023 Blazers Free Agency

I don’t really disagree with you.

He has the experience of being around a winning franchise. He could feel like Dame is the closest to Curry that he could play with. MM could have set himself up well for this, Draymond is a veteran All-Star. I’m not against it. I just hope that he would sign here on a contract that would keep things open to make other moves.

We could stand to have that kind of mentality around the young guys. Probably part of why Dame thinks it would work, and I’ll go with Dame on that. I just hope Draymond is actually in it to win it and nothing else. Dude has that kind of winning mentality.

I’m just making light of his villain status in the league, and to us. Draymond has been a crucial part of the Warriors championship success and you can’t doubt that.

 

For what it is worth, I don’t buy in to that whole “can’t attract people to Portland” stigma. And I’d hope anyone talking about trading Dame, or “Dame trade ideas” thinks about that. Dame is our best hope of recruiting players and Draymond could be a step in that right direction. I’m sure other players in the league respect the vet players in some sense. Like if you see Draymond in Portland and the Blazers are winning, you probably want to play in Portland if you want to win.

Truth is, compared to so many other cities, there’s a lot less to do other than basketball here. That’s why a winning culture is so important here, and we’ve had it many times, and in those times have had big names in the league.

We’re not that far off from a very fortunate situation of having a deep young team with our franchise player as the teams veteran.

 

Unless you're into nature.... which I would think isn't rated very highly on a lot of young players list of things to do.

 

Portland

Rains all season
High taxes
Small market
Not a winning tradition

 

Tbh maybe our school system bodes well too. What’s the dude from Boston who went to West Linn? Payton Pritchard? Oregon schools have both produced athletes and for the most part is a good place to raise children. Bro that conference has two players in the League today, one won a championship and the other has been in the finals with their team. Don’t sleep on the 3 rivers league.

 

Lol you're kidding yourself if you think Portland is on the "man, I REALLY wanna go there" list for young, primarily black, athletes

 

Its hard to know. If Cronin doesn't improve the immediate win now talent on the team it seems like the Blazers are pushing Dame into a corner and calling his bluff. His requests and demands start to be pretty meaningless if there is never any action from himself to back them up.

We traded away Hart and got Dame to help the team tank for two seasons with the rhetoric this would eventually lead to a more veteran competitive team. It's arguably less competitive in a win now sense today than at last trade deadline, at last offseason, at the trade deadline prior, or at any point of Olshey's tenure.

I don't think Dame wants to ask out but I think he wants better vets on the team as well as management working to win now. Some might suspect the Blazers are so blatantly going against Dame's requests they are trying to push him to ask out.

I personally love some of the long term potential of our players. But Scoot is going to have major learning moments. Sharpe is going to have major holes. Ant is still not in his prime. If the Blazers were selling Dame on the idea he is a vet leading a bunch of young kids thats one thing. But this roster is clearly not setup to win now with Dame as has been preached publicly, thus I totally understand Dame's frusteration.

 

How the hell did JR Rider and Jim Jackson get us Steve Smith back in the day...

 

I believe most of the league values Smart's skill set a lot more than Ants.

 

Having 0 leads or noise on Ant trades is concerning. Ya it could be happening behind the scenes but Jake is usually up on even whispers this time of yr.

Leads me my question last week if their phones still work at the PF.

 

Allen Crabbe

But JR was a better player

 

It is interesting, but is it concerning?

Would you be surprised to wake up and find out that Simons is no longer a Blazer?

I would not. I wouldn’t expect every trade or signing which happens to be talked about in major headlines. How many of the ones which are actually end up happening?

There could be a Simons trade waiting to be completed and the people who know are the people involved.

 

Did you really just imply 3 Rivers League high schools are going to attract NBA stars?

I know many Blazers fans have a warped perception of how appealing Portland is to NBA free agents; but this takes the cake.

 

I think something centered around Isaac and Harris would be interesting. There were talks of #11 but I think those conversations are out the door after the draft.

Does Isaac and Harris do anything for you? It's high risk, but if Isaac returns to his pre-injury play he's exactly the type of player we need.

 

Yeah I question if the Blazers even want to make an effort to put starters around Dame.

Yes the Blazers might be tight lipped and not leak anything - but if they were making calls we would be hearing about some of it from the other teams. There has been crickets on the Blazers before the draft, at the draft and now.

I think the Blazers might just throw out some MLE offers and wait for Dame to ask out. Wouldn't be shocked if we hear Grant agrees to go to the Kings or Spurs or Rockets on Saturday.

 

Concerning. It also could indicate reluctance from Cronin to give him up. This could be for two reasons:

1. Dame might still ask out in which case Ant could be useful to have on the roster.

2. Cronin is simply too scared to make moves or to give up home grown talent like his predecessor.


Either way, I don't like it.

 

This would be an awesome deal. I would even add picks to do it. I don't think Orlando considers it though.