...no way he will be an all-star this year, unless he gets hot and scores 25+ for 6 straight weeks and Blazers win 70% of their games!
Man that's why I love this guy. Just pure efficient and gets the job done. Hardly ever takes a terrible shot. Plays incredibly smart. The one negative I will say about Cj. He tends to miss open players with open shots and slightly over dribbles. But I understand I'm just nitpicking and finding flaws. Other than that man Cj is very fun to watch. Glad he's a blazer
King, since when has deserving played a factor in the all star game? You know how Dame has been treated and he has more national respect than CJ. I liked your op because I agree and love your optimism. But he is not gonna make the team this year, Sorry. Deserving or not.
You have never been the biggest Dame fan. Right now. Do you think the Blazers would be better moving forward with whic of the three following options? 1. Trade CJ and let the team be all Dame 2. Trade Dame and let CJ take over 3. Keep them both at all costs and only work trade options with the rest of the roster
How hilarious would it be if Damian didn't make the All Star Team this year? Hilarious in a maddening sorta way I mean.
I don't know how many times Dame could take it before the fire starts to get watered down in him. Careers are only so long and he wants to be a legend of sorts. Hard to do while missing the all star year in year out. However the reality is he wont be a starter. the coaches will have to put him in and I think he now has enough respect around the league that they wont dismiss him.
Your right I'm not SUPER huge on Dame like that. Please don't get me wrong he's a very nice player and has gotten better this year. This year in fact his my favorite year from Dame. It's just his defense is almost historically bad for a starting PG at his caliber. Those chucking shots he does as well is incredibly frustrating. Although he has calmed down on that. I just love Cj's game much more. It's efficient, surgical, calculating and just plain smart. This guy is shooting 48% from the field and 46% from 3!! That's steph curry type numbers! Has Lillard even cracked 40% from 3 ever? Anyways I'm glad we have both so I'll def choose number 3
I've been saying for the past year that #1 and #2 are a toss-up, and #3 is what we'll do because management is paralyzed by the fear of fan reaction to moving a popular player. The difference between #1 and #2 is that #2 likely brings back more value.
Dame was at 39.4% ... .1 % and everyone is rounding up to 40. lol. And CJ was at 41.5% last year. 2.1% difference (Also, Dame's was his 2nd year) For the record, as well... Dame is shooting a much better % from inside the arc... and you know he's only going to shoot better from 3. CJ is at 55% eFG and Dame is at 52%... while that is a big gap in between, it's still damn good for both players. Now, I was giving KS some shit for fun about CJ... I really do like CJ. And he is the more efficient shooter... But, it would be really, really interesting to have this team without Dame. CJ gets a LOT of his looks because Dame is on this team. Now, I understand he plays some with Turner and the bench guys... in fact, I'd love to see a breakdown of his minutes with and without Dame. Dame takes a lot of pressure off CJ... I am wondering if that is a by-product, and if CJ needs an "elite" scoring PG with him to ultimately succeed. (Not that we're going to really know the opposite). But, as you said, we have both. Still, if push came to shove - given how it works with the marketing here - CJ would go first well over Dame - at least for the next few years. Dame gets traded without proper value back, heads will roll. CJ leaves, people would freak out, yes... but we'd still have Dame. The psychology of it is what I'm looking at - not numbers here. Dame is the grenade pin... if he's released(figuratively speaking)... I think that's how the team/a lot of the fan base look at him.
Man, can you imagine if the Blazers traded Dame? Forget the fans. Dame would LIGHT US UP every time he played us. Straight up assassinate us. I shudder at the thought of it.
Wasn't Tracy McGrady voted into the All Star game without even playing a game due to injury one year?
