where do you think the Blazers are compared to a week ago, before the first trade? personally, I think Portland is in a better position today than a week ago. They were locked on a treadmill of poor draft picks, 1st round exits, no real flexibility, and luxury tax They have added significant flexibility. And they have increased their lottery odds however, their position should be better because Cronin didn't secure enough for trading Powell and RoCo.
A week ago we had CJ, Norm, RoCo and Larry all of whom are now gone. In there place we have Hart, Johnson, a precarious possible lottery pick, two second rounders and cap room. Due to the fact that we've never been able to land free agents and didn't acquire a lot valuable assets to sweeten unbalanced trades, I just don't see the cap room being very valuable. Hart is a nice piece but he's not as valuable as CJ or Norm. Johnson hasn't shown anything except that the guy drafted behind him beat him out for a spot in the Clippers rotation. If there weren't protections on the NOLA first it would be more valuable but there are. The seconds aren't worth much. I just don't think that what we got in return for 4 of our top 6 players was close to enough. I really think it's close to half the value we should have ended up with.
Financially, the Paul Allen Trust will make more money. That was the goal and it was acheived. Congratulations.
A week ago, I wouldn't have considered myself interested in this team. I did not like them, they were hard to root for. But now... Heart, hustle, and ball movement. I don't really care what we got back as much, because I honestly believe the three players traded (RoCo, NP CJ) represent "addition by subtraction". I am curious about the timeline to finish this, and how it relates to Dame, but I am very excited about a change of style. I'm done with boring iso ball, and bad defense,and, I think Chauncey and Joe are too. Last night, we heard Coach telling his team "get it and go!"...And they did, and it was awesome. I trust these guys, and I gotta trust that Damian is involved as well.
I live in a crappy, dangerous neighborhood, and I need to move. I don't want to deal with real estate agents or open houses or necessary repairs, so I take a cash offer from Phoenix Redevelopment to get out of my house now so I can move to a nice new development. My new mortgage is way higher than it would have been if I'd taken the time to maximize my sales value, but at least I'm out of that neighborhood. In a better place, but should have received more assets.
i appreciate the analogy, but don't think it's apt for our situation. What was the urgency to make these moves for lesser assets now?
I dunno--I tried. Maybe the repeater tax is the equivalent of tweakers stealing my catalytic converter.
I've been searching for a metaphor for how we approached this trade deadline, and I think I found it. We may have had a fur covered van (which devalued the van in the first place), we may have needed money for fuel to get to our destination, but we could have gotten a car with money left over for gas rather than a homemade bike with a lawn mower engine.
