Dame all but demanding vet roster

Because he openly wants to be a media whore....

 

Oh boy here we go.
This will be comical how many ways his statements are going to be analyzed and reevaluated. Saying he thinks we have seen the last of him as a Blazer means he thinks he’s leaving. Pretty hard to not take that statement seriously.

 

I just want Dame to win a ring, with Portland or another team. He deserve to win it. If he ask for a trade, hope he get to a contender and win it all.

 

It would be easier to discuss issues with you if you didn't feel the need to create a quote and attribute it to me. I didn't type that out. I stated to the effect that Dame could do whatever he wants in the off season including going into his studio or go camping. Whatever his heart desires. But you felt the need to go Screamin A and manufacture a false quote. Classy. Hope you are feeling it now. Meanwhile there is a lot of smart business stuff you completely ignored. Omissions are just as telling as the false quote you manufactured trying to be cute. As to the evidence that Dame talking to people is undermining Portland's leverage, there is none and may never be any. Why? Because they will never discuss it, except for maybe Dame. But the Trailblazers Organization will not discuss the coulda, shoulda, woulda's. They will not say they traded for player X because the asking price for player Y was just too expensive. Why was player Y too expensive? It could be for a whole myriad of reasons. But the one thing that can be controlled is not giving the play book away before commencing discussions for player Y. I know you understand this. I know you are smart. I've been around as long as you here. Sometimes I post, sometimes I just read. I enjoy draft/trade season. I become more engaged. Just be real and don't make up a quote attributed to me, and I will do the same.

 

I added the camping part because it's camping season and I'm getting ready to go

you were the one that entered this thread all hot-n-bothered saying that Dame should shut the fuck up because he's trashing Portland's leverage...that's all you

 

Copied from another post for continuity;

As to the evidence that Dame talking to people is undermining Portland's leverage, there is none and may never be any. Why? Because they will never discuss it, except for maybe Dame. But the Trailblazers Organization will not discuss the coulda, shoulda, woulda's. They will not say they traded for player X because the asking price for player Y was just too expensive. Why was player Y too expensive? It could be for a whole myriad of reasons. But the one thing that can be controlled is not giving the play book away before commencing discussions for player Y. Everyone wants the team to contend. And i'm sure you know this. I'm just shocked that anyone would even dispute that silence is golden when conducting sensitive negotiations that involve so many individuals. There is no gotcha or victory lap here. Brooklyn and Portland are not going to release details of what they have/have not discussed. I accept that. There is your answer. If you can't see it, so be it. I have no need, want or desire to further expound on something that seems so clear to me. Can you tell me why silence is not golden in player negotiations. I thought Cronin screwed up himself talking about the pick being available on draft night and also about bringing in vets for Dame. Just shut up and do it. Damn. Keep that shit internal. Did you notice the pullback he later did. Joe had to know he said too much. I'm done. I've explained my side. I'm not trying to convince you or others. I'm fine with knowing I would follow and prefer others to follow sound business principals. That is all.

 

He said that, if he were a betting man (which he says he’s not), he would bet that we’ve seen the last of Dame in a Blazers uniform. He says this in the context that he sets that:

1. Dame loves Portland.
2. He hasn’t spoken with Dame on this subject.
3. All Dame wants is a puncher’s chance.

He doesn’t know what players Portland may be able to get or what they will have to give up to get them. He doesn’t know whether Dame will think the resulting team has a chance to contend. He doesn’t know how much patience Dame has for the reload. In other words, he’s giving an opinion based on too many unknowns for it to have much value. At least, that’s the way I see it.

 

It’s not spinning. It’s called watching the clip and understanding context.

 

I think this is just an assumption, too. Before you even get to the "discussions about which teams fit," there should and I imagine would be the discussion about whether Dame and the organization want to move on from each other. They aren't remotely the same thing, yet I see over and over and over pundits and fans conflating them.

 

Maybe this will help;

I would also want Cronin to shut the fuck up as well. Everyone, anyone connected to the Portland Trailblazers. Not just Dame.There is a reason they put a cover on playbooks. There is a reason pitchers and catchers put their gloves over their mouths when talking out at the mound. "The first rule of Fight Club is there is no Fight Club." The analogies are everywhere. I'm not inventing this up. Seriously, enjoy the camping trip. I'd love to take my boys but they are training 5-6 days a week and made the choice that they want to be professional soccer players. They are making the sacrifices.

 

look, I know where you're coming from....Cronin needs to run a tight F.O. But what Dame says in loose-lipped interviews doesn't matter

and thanks, I'm looking forward to 10 days camping in NE Oregon.

 

It's not even Dame being loose-lipped. Dame's being authentic. He's being asked leading questions but he's answering them genuinely in the context with which they were asked.

Then everyone else with an agenda or an opinion completely discards that context and runs with "Dame said this," or "CJ said that," or "I heard this from my cousin's plumber's neighbor." And we all bite. I've been guilty of it as much as anyone. Then I step back and assess the situation fully and I realize my initial reaction had a lot more emotion in it than it merited, and it really didn't fit with what I actually know about Dame's thoughts or the team's inner workings. Sometimes a rose is just a rose.

 

Dame being engaging is coming back to bite him and all of us because there are elements out there -- talking heads looking for views, fans wanting a big acquisition for their team, other teams that are looking to stir discontent -- that want to keep the earworm at work that Dame wants big moves or else he's out of Portland, that the Blazers can't do what he's "demanding," etc.

There's a lot of static on the talk shows and social media where Dame and the Blazers' future are concerned and people tend to hear somewhere in that either what they want or what they expect. It's hard to filter through all the garbage and get to the truth, especially when we're all part of it, throwing out our own opinions or analyses just because we can.

 

It is just smart not to answer those leading questions. Even CJ is giving his opinion now. After the roster is set, sure, discuss things that you can.

 

If you repeat a lie enough, does it become truth? Screamin A has been peddling this Dame crap since Dame signed his first extension trying to make his lie true. Screamin A would love to go back to the old days when there were only 8 teams, all in the big markets. No need to bother going to Portland, Denver or Minny. That is beneath him.

 

I certainly can hope you are spot on as far as this subject is concerned.
I’m with ya.

 

I think your being way to literal with his comment and extrapolating far to much additional meaning from it. It wasn't a legal filing where he precisely chose exact words and reviewed them before approval. It was a spur of the moment comment.

I take his comment as saying there is a lot of value in what veterans bring, its important for each team to have a couple. Perhaps there are two additional roster spots that are for vet minimum players with 10 or more years of experience. Perhaps they can be around 30 years old (not 40 as you mention for Haslem). Who knows the details, he wasn't specifying the precise CBA rules to implement it, he was making a general statement that veterans are important to every team.

 

Wasn’t trying to ridicule you or your take. I happen to hope you are right.
I also know this clip is going to get thrown around for the next 2-3 months.

 

Only 1 more year?

 

It might not be completely wise to answer those, I agree, because there are people out there who're going to spin the answers in whatever way suits them.

Then again, answering those questions honestly is something that makes me respect Damian Lillard. It shows an awful lot of confidence for someone with his profile to put his actual self out there knowing people are going to misrepresent stuff he says or does for personal gain. He's basically brushing them off and saying, "I don't care what you do. I control me. I bet on me. I'm going to set an example that my truth always will overshadow your half-truths. Your narrative has no impact on my world."

He's a constant. He knows who he is and goes about what he does and outside stuff, at least to this point, really doesn't seem to faze him. We should all be that strong.

Now, where that leaves us is to take what we know about Damian Lillard and to trust that he's going to continue to follow that path and make reasonable decisions or if he suddenly deviates from it. We can't expect the latter, and, if it's the former, then we have to condition ourselves to not get so caught up in the garbage that's floating out there that is, actually, just garbage and really isn't playing into this in any significant way.