I'm an absolute Saint!!! (until people start spamming bad arguments that trash on Blazer players and call for them to get outta town)
You're not allowed to make fun of people's appearance whist hiding behind a Captain America cartoon. You're just jealous.
Your reason for wanting to get rid of ALdridge was you grossly undervalued him (which you've admitted you were wrong about) and that you didn't think his age was in the same window as Lillard (which you have not admitted you were wrong about). So you saying your opinion was based purely about us not being especially competitive this year had nothing to do with it. You didn't like Aldridge as a #1 option and you thought he was too old.
If you take all of the offseason acquisitions off this team the core was still a promising group before the season started. Last year our starters played toe to toe with Miami, the Spurs, and other contenders half way through the season. The core was younger than all but a couple playoff teams, with every player in their 20's entering their prime. The team had assets in cap room and a lottery pick to add talent. Many of us thought it was extremely stupid to dismantle that core because Aldridge was frusterated at the end of the season. What all-start would not be frusterated with missing the playoffs? There are dozens of contributing role players that pop up out of no where ever year. Teams find borderline all-stars in trades at the deadline all the time. If you have two all-star talents as the Blazers for sure had with Aldridge and Lillard finding role players is the easiest step of building a winner. A disgrunted Kobe wanting a trade in 2007 was a similar situation and the Lakers turned it into multiple titles. Posters now saying trading LaMarcus was a poor idea only because of the summer moves is bullshit. Trading away major assets for less than fair value would've been a huge mistake. It would've been a mistake regardless of what happened at the start of this season. Those panic moves are how perennial losers attempt to build teams, out of fear. Many on the trade Aldridge bandwagon wanted him gone for whatever the team could get and they still won't admit that was a horrific idea. Just because Neil found Lopez or the team has been hot doesn't invalidate a poor strategy.
Actually, I feel that I'm blessed to not have a hairy back or shoulders, but I can't grow a beard to save my life.
You continue to reinvent the past by saying that your "guarantee" of LMA leaving it was purely based on how good the team was going to be. That isn't at all what you were claiming. You claimed he wanted to be back in Texas and didn't like Portland, etc, etc, etc. Your "guarantee" didn't have any qualifiers, which you're now trying to add. That is reinventing the past. Also, you're reinventing the past by saying those of us who argued that your "guarantee" was stupid also didn't know how good the team was going to be. Those of us claiming a guarantee that LMA is leaving and making a trade based on fear was stupid were admitting we didn't know what the future would hold or how good the team would be. We were taking the rational approach and advocating not making a trade on a baseless guarantee and fear.
No, no, I think that's where you're misunderstanding. I didn't think they were in the same window until after Neil hit a home run in the offseason. By adding Rolo, Mo, Dorell, Robinson and CJ, he had essentially closed the gap between the two players. By adding those players, we could be competitive now, while also watching guys like Dame and Mo continue to get better. I thought he was too old because I didn't think Neil could put together a competitive team this fast, and the fact that most people barely predicted us to finish 7th or 8th in the west before the season started confirms that. The window comments were based on the fact that we didn't make the playoffs last year, and before the acquisitions that Neil made, many people figured we would at best make the 8th spot and get ousted in the first round. That didn't inspire much faith that LA would want to sign on for that. I honestly thought we'd use our cap space to sign one shitty guy like OJ Mayo, he wouldn't be enough, and we'd maybe make the 8th spot. I completely underestimated Neil's ability to use what we had to remake our bench. He did an outstanding job and it will be an absolute travesty if he doesn't win GM of the year. My underestimating Aldridge as well as underestimating Neil contributed to the window issue becoming a non-issue.
I. Was. Wrong. At what point do you shut up? Also, if you are trying to say that you knew the team was going to be top three in the league before the season started, you are lying. Flat out. Not one person on this forum thought we would be better than third in the west, and I think that was maybe Kingspeed. Now who's reinventing the past?
First off, I have nothing against you, and if it makes you feel better I greatly regret having picked at this scab... But second, adding other players to the roster does not in fact change the window between Aldridge and Lillard. It's the same now as it was back then. The difference is now you see that they in fact can be compatible with the right guys around them. The point people were making way back when, is that if you didn't know what Neil can do in one offseason, let alone two, why make reactionary decisions? I said it back then, that 2 years in the NBA is a lifetime so trying to assume where the team will be when it's time to extend/trade Aldridge was an exercise in futility. We're both Blazer fans with opinions and I hope we can leave it at that.
The scab was going to come off eventually. It will be probably be rehashed again at some point, and it won't be put to bed until he does finally re-sign. No worries man. It's not so much that adding the players narrowed the gap, but instead made it a non-issue, or less of an issue. Bringing in Rolo for virtually nothing, bringing in Mo for 2 million, bringing in Wright and Robinson and CJ. These were all moves that were very solid and took one of the worst benches in the league and made it at least respectable. I've had my concerns about the bench this year, but it's still miles better than it was last year. Now that we have CJ back, I think we'll finally see the bench at full strength. CJ provides that versatile scorer that we really needed coming off the bench. I just didn't think there was any possible way that Neil could take a team that finished out of the playoffs last year and in one summer make them into one of the top three teams in the league. That was completely outside of my scope of thinking, and I couldn't be the only one because most people figured they'd finish in the 45+ win category. Obviously LA is a huge factor in that with his MVP-level play this year, but the addition of Lopez has been huge for us. I definitely underestimated Neil and his ability to make the right moves. I really hope we lock him up long term.
Yes! The decision that is still being argued needs to be disconnected from what actually happened with the Blazers in the last 6 months. Would it have ever been correct for any team that was in a situation like the Blazers had to trade Aldridge for less than fair value in the summer? Many of us think a team should never accept that type of deal. Certainly a team that had all the other pieces on the roster the Blazers had with a chance of building a winner. Posters are "admitting" to being wrong today only with the way the actual outcomes have played out. I have not seen admissions that their strategy was wrong. Always adding a qualifier to the "trade Aldridge" statements implies the strategy is correct. I strongly believe it was a terrible strategy.
How can you admit to being wrong until after you watch things play out? If the Blazers didn't start out hot, and were currently sitting at 9th in the west, do you think LA would be talking about re-signing? Do you think the trade rumors would have gone away? We had the best case scenario play out after all the rumors last summer. Most, if not all, of the rumors about Aldridge came out before the free agent period began. Neil hit a few home runs and the team is playing its best basketball in a long time. LA is playing MVP level ball, he is happy, and he's talking extension. Let's be honest, that's the best possible outcome that anyone could have imagined back in June. If someone had predicted back in June that we would be second in the west, LA would be averaging nearly 24 points and 11 boards, and Dame is looking like a lock to be an All-Star, you would think they were a super homer, no?
That was my frustration here last summer. It was a few posters working under the assumption that LMA definitely would not re-sign, and therefore the Blazers should get whatever they could for him, even if it meant weakening the roster. That was a panic-driven strategy that was stupid at the time, and is even more stupid in retrospect. Yet one of those posters is now playing the ultimate in 20-20 hindsight, and it's an amusing (and a bit delusional) stance to take at this point. It would be like spending literally days of one's life here complaining about drafting Lillard, and how it is such a big mistake, and acting adamant about it, and then saying "I didn't know how good he'd be!" after some time had passed. Perhaps the lesson here is that being adamant about an unknown is never a good message board long-term approach to posting.
A man tells you he'll flip a coin, if its heads he'll give you $100 and if its tails he'll give you $0. Would you forgo this opportunity for $30? I never would. Some posters wanted to take that $30 in the summer because we could end up with nothing. Others of us said you have to hold out for at least $50. Some posters are arguing only now because we hit heads they are wrong. Others of us are saying they were wrong the entire time.
