Dame all but demanding vet roster

You guys are talking about drafting Dames replacement and you don’t think he’s be unhappy with that? Completely ignoring the fact that he said he doesn’t want another 19 year old draft pick, this would literally be his replacement. In what world is Dame excited about the prospect of us drafting Scoot?

Dame loves to post these cryptic messages, but you guys don’t think there’s even a remote chance that he could be annoyed with Joe if he told Dame that this was the summer he was going to go out and swing for the fences. Convinced Dame that tanking was worth it. And then we are bringing in a player that would hopefully eventually take his spot. You can’t imagine a scenario where he spoke with Joe and Cronin told him that we would take Scoot if he drops to us?

Nah, I’m being unreasonable imagining a situation where Dame considers Joe Cronin a Judas.

 

Apparently obsessing over who Dame follows or unfollows on social media and interpreting what that means is cool, but speculating on the meaning of a cryptic message on social media is embarrassing. Boy is my face red.

 

Who cares lol

 

So what do you think it all means? And why does it matter?

The veteran Warriors made it not secret that they wanted to trade all their picks for vets the past few years. Didn't really matter.

Dame has repeatedly been up front and told management, peers, fans, you and everyone else what his thoughts are. He is about as transparent as they come. But choosing to be chicken littles and pouring over every mundane detail about some hidden message appears to be a hobby for some here. We have a no name real estate agent creating drama all over twitter about Dame selling his house but ignoring that he is most likely moving to his newer house nearby. It's lazy. Freaking out over stuff he posts on insta? Oh he went to the zoo yesterday with his kids, wonder what that mean..... Like come on! He has time and again TOLD YOU what he wants. And he's a grown man who knows his place in the franchise to not be worried about an 18 yr old taking his place and feeling jealous (even typing this is hilarious that you believe this).

If he has some gripe about Scoot, he would tell Joe and Mike. Not play some cryptic mind game on social media while apparently asking the min wage photographer for the team to deliberately not post his pic on their account.

 

It's sounds ridiculous to say Dame is trying to cryptically portray Cronin as Judas LMAO.

 

Dame bought that house because he wants to be closer to Giannis and the Bucks

 

This is funny because now that terry Stotts is with the Bucks their fan base is all over this.


It seems they fail to understand that he just built a new home here and it's worth a bunch more than $7 million.

 

They be trippin'

 

Dame DID tell us what he wanted. He specifically said he did not want to be a part of a plan that included another 19 year old rookie. To my knowledge he has not said anything publicly to retract that.

I don’t know why you’d bring up the warriors. Firstly, Steph never said anything publicly about not wanting rookies. Second, they had won multiple chips and still had that core in place. They just weren’t healthy. When everyone came back, they won another ring. It’s not comparable to the mess that is our roster.

lastly, I don’t pour over anything. People post shit on here and I make observations. Fine, Dame was at the PF yesterday. To me it seemed conspicuous that he was not in any of the photos or sitting with the management team like he was last year.

 

Should I bump the meltdown thread? Maybe the Salty Sunday thread?

 

Well, I think we should trade Dame, so I’m not really melting down or being salty.

 

first, there's no replacing Dame. He's been too good and has meant too much. And yes, I know that's not exactly what you meant, but this is my answer so I determine the direction

secondly, I'm pretty sure we've seen enough from Dame over the 11 years he's been in Portland to know that his direction of thought very often won't match the thinking of fans. He may be just as likely to judge any player by talent and character as anything else; more likely in fact. And Dame might see enormous talent in Scoot, and feels he & Scoot could play really well together

so to specifically answer your question: I don't fucking know if he's happy, ambivalent, unhappy, or outraged. My bet is he's fine and has already established a relationship with Scoot. How deep it goes, I don't know

fuck that....I'm not letting you drag me down the conspiracy-laden path you want to charge down that ends with the exact result you apparently want so desperately, and that's Dame pissed-off enough to demand a trade.

I can imagine a situation where I win the lottery next week. That doesn't necessarily make me unreasonable. It does make me wildly unrealistic and illogical.

you're simply not giving Dame enough credit for intelligence, logic, and experience...the 'been-there-seen-that-before' factors. And I don't think you're giving Cronin enough credit for honest intentions; or giving Dame & Cronin enough credit for having a good relationship with open communication

here's what I think the situation most likely is: Dame has been a Blazer for 11 years; Cronin has been a Blazer for longer than that. Their relationship didn't start the day that Olshey was fired. It started years before that and was likely solid before Cronin became GM. And I think Cronin immediately pivoted at that point to communicating to Dame what was going on; what the Blazers were going to try and accomplish. According to Dame, Cronin kept him informed in real time about Portland's attempts to trade #7 for OG; and he was informed of Toronto's responses. So Dame saw first hand the 'reasonable' side of a trade proposal; and the unreasonable counter offer(s). He saw how a trade idea can fall apart because of too big a gulf in assigning value. And Dame himself said the ask was way too high

so Portland used the 7 on Sharpe because there were no reasonable alternative options. And then Dame and Cronin, both saw the value in using the 7 on Sharpe. The talent Sharpe brought to the floor, the promise of upside. And, the Sharpe experience is almost certainly going a long ways in informing both Cronin and Dame about the value of #3

what Dame said inanely a couple of months ago in frustration does not define Dame's thinking. It's only part of it, and maybe a very small part he kind of wishes he hadn't said. I don't know. But we do know his loyalty to Portland. And I think it's safe to assume that loyalty is still there and a big part of Dame's intentions right now

you asked if Dame viewing Cronin as Judas was "unreasonable". That may be the case but I think the chances are stacked really high against it. I think it's reasonable to assume that Dame detested Olshey, especially toward the end of Olshey's tenure; It's why Dame went over Olshey's head twice to talk to PA. Maybe that's meaningless in the current situation; or maybe it has instilled a distrust of management in Dame. Again, I don't know

but I'll see your 'not-unreasonable' and raise you a few more:

* is it not unreasonable to assume that Cronin has already had several substantive discussions about trade options already and has kept Dame informed?

* is it not unreasonable to assume that the asking prices in those trade situations has been kind of ridiculous and Dame sees that (like he did with OG & Toronto) and that's one reason he's been showing up at these workouts?...because he knows there's a decent chance he'll be teammates with one (or more) of these prospects?

* is it not unreasonable to assume that just like Dame's frustrations boiled over in 2021 after the 1st round loss to Denver, and he then calmed down, a similar thing happened a couple of months ago? And that when push comes to shove, his loyalty to Portland and his desire to remain a Blazer and live in the city wins out?

* is it not unreasonable to assume that Cronin is looking at options that split the difference and do both things we're talking about: Portland keeping the 3rd pick but still adding an important veteran or two? And Dame is aware of and OK with that path?

in other words, in the Cronin-->Dame-->Blazer situation, while you seem to be assuming incompetence, dishonesty, feelings of betrayal, and 'fuck-it-I'm-outa-here', I'm assuming honest intentions, decent communication, options to keep everybody moderately happy, and that Dame will probably retire as a Blazer

 

I'm sorry the camera guy didn't execute the shot list that you were expecting.

 

The camera guy has nothing to do with it.

 

Awesome!

 

Thank you for the reasoned response without ridiculing stupidity.

 

Good. Since you know what I meant, I'm not going to respond.

You can't compare the last 11 years to the present day. Dame is not 25. He's not 29. He's almost 33 years old. The clock is ticking. He has already said that he's not interested in a rebuild. Dame is basically the girlfriend who keeps getting told that her guy is going to propose, but it has been 11 years and she's almost too old to have kids. At what point does Dame get fed up with being placated to?

I didn't ask if you knew if he's happy. I asked if you think he'd be happy if we drafted his replacement.

I'm not desperate for him to demand a trade. I think that would hurt his value even more. I either want the team to realize that the time is up and start exploring trades, OR go all-in and try to build around Dame. I think this bullshit straddling two timelines strategy is only going to hurt both potential futures.

So we're clear, you think it's wildly unrealistic and illogical that Dame would be pissed off that we don't trade the pick and we go into next season with another 19 year old rookie, after he explicitly said that he wasn't on board with that? Boy, I must have misunderstood Dame's statement.

Again.... time is running out. Dame isn't a kid anymore. He's almost 33. He only has 3-5 years left where he's playing at a high level. The clock is ticking. Patience can only wear so thin.

It might not even be Joe. It might be Jody. Or Bert. The fact is, Joe had zero GM experience and he was given the full time gig with zero interview process. The dude has, to this point, shown to be a puppet of the ownership group. What has Joe done to earn any credit or trust from us or the players?

Again.... loyalty needs to be reciprocated. The team has NEVER done a good job of putting talent around him. How long is Dame supposed to twiddle his thumbs and wait for the team to wake up?

Sure. Those are all reasonable. I just wanted people to acknowledge that my scenario wasn't unreasonable or embarrassing, as some put it.

 

Don’t you have some Twitter accounts to stalk? We are counting on you to let us know who Dame follows and unfollows.

 

Dame posted video of him boxing his trainer. I wonder if this means he's gonna quit basketball and challenge Floyd next week. But wait, his trainer kinda sorta looks like Cronin. Maybe this means Dame wants to fighe Joe.

 

Maybe. Does he follow Floyd? Maybe there’s some beef there. Does Floyd follow him?