I'm personally okay with rolling the dice on trying to build through picks. There is plenty of examples of teams who have built through the draft. But if we keep Dame, we leverage our future to put a middling team around Dame, and in 4-5 years he's at the end of his career and all we have to show for it is maybe a couple second round exits... I'm not going to be happy. And that's assuming we're good enough to even get to the second round. That's kicking the can down the road and to me that's the worst case scenario here. If we can get elite talent, so be it. Let's roll. If we can't and the best option is to take our pick and trade Dame, I'm good with that too. But going out and getting some crap talent like Porzingis or Ayton or even Siakam.... just isn't going to cut it for me. Dame is an asset. He has an expiration date, we don't know what that date is, but there is a date. His time in the game is finite, and his time as an All-NBA player is finite. He has two timelines that are ticking down. One where he's still a very good player, and one where he is still in the NBA. I believe that it's highly unlikely that we can actually put a team around Dame that could compete for a championship, so to me, it makes logical sense to cash in on Dame and get some assets that will hopefully help us build a contender. I don't want to be caught holding the bag. Would you agree that Dame will probably have less value in 3 years than he has right now?
"A conversation" is not a absolute declaration of "I'm out of here". Because no one, but Dame, knows what he's thinking. And even he won't know for sure, how he feels if the Blazers keep the pick , till it happens. If they keep the pick, he may say "That's all". Or he may say, " I can play with this Cat" . It's all speculation.
It's not "a conversation." It's "a separate conversation" It's an important distinction. It says that they're already having a conversation. Let's assume the first conversation is "how can we build the team around Dame." So what would the separate conversation be?
I can see both sides as to why people may lean towards keeping Dame and why others may lean towards trading Dame. Of course, I'm not sure how one can be confident either is the right direction without factoring in what we're getting in return. I agree Dame is unlikely to win a championship in Portland. I also think whoever is the #3 pick this year is unlikely to win the championship in Portland. To me, debating between which highly unlikely scenario is more unlikely, is splitting hairs to some degree. I would assume Dame would have less value in 3 years. However, I'm unsure what his value is right now to be honest. I think there is a scenario where Dame continues to produce at a high level and Dame with only 2 years left on his deal might be of equal value to a team as Dame with 5 years left. I can also see a scenario where the #3 pick has much more value this week than that player will in 3 years. A lot of unknowns!
" More top star players being offered to move up" . That doesn't happen very often. Shams, and others have said the same thing. Time to pounce Joe. Don't be scared. And please, "don't play it safe". That gets you stuck in concrete. I've always played it safe, and i struggle to survive. Had people say, "Hey" ," you'd be a great salesman". But i just stayed in my physically challenging ,mediocre paying, job , because it was steady employment and gave me a check. I was too scared to take a chance. Now i can't afford to live on my own anymore. Keeping the pick is safe. But there may be a player later in the draft that everyone goes, he should have been 2nd or 3rd. when it's all said and done. That's the Draft in a nutshell. But getting , proven, star, talent isn't available very often, with giving away your best player in return. The 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
Maybe, let's go out to dinner. Lets go to a boxing match in Vegas. or it could be, WTF man. I hope it doesn't come to that conversation.
There's a part of me that loves the idea of taking a huge swing, trading for Zion, and going for it. It has been 20+ years since we have "gone for it." Even if we failed, at least we could say we tried. But to me, trading for some borderline all-star isn't going to get us there, and it just feels like the fans want to just pull the blanket over their heads so they can feel warm and snuggly for a few more years.
That could be true as well. Maybe Dame says, "Millers Good" , " can we get more done at the deadline". I think Scoot is going to Charlotte. Kupchak is trained by the best, Jerry West. He hides his cards. I think all the Miller stuff is just fluff. They want Scoot.
To me, the interesting part about Zion is that WHEN HEALTHY, he's way better than a boardline All-Star. He was probably top 5 in the MVP convo back in January. Of course, the super scary part about him as that he hasn't been healthy. Of course, if he had been healthy all this time, he wouldn't be available. Zion might be the only trade that tips the scales if it worked. However, giving up nice assets and having it bomb, could crush the franchise for many years.
So what are the new assets we have now that we didn’t have before that he is referring to? It’s not rocket science.
Do they really "want" to trade Dame, or do they possibly think that one direction might be better than the other in terms of the health of the franchise, not necessarily the player? Some people are tired of the mediocre results, some are tired of the endless interviews that raise even more questions, some want Dame no matter what our record is, some think a trade or two and we go from way under .500 the last 4 years to legit contender, and some are just happy to have a player like Dame and enjoy him while he is here. Out of all of those, I don't know how many really "want" to trade Dame, but instead are resigned to do so while there are still assets Portland can get back for the team.
Joe stated from the start it won't be quick. Obviously this offseason is pivotal, landing Sharpe was, and 2024 will be as well.
Nobody in this thread or board has a crystal ball. Neither Miami or Denver was pre-season favorite to win it all. We can win with Dame and pieces. This number three pick, while nice, isn't the end all, be all. We were lucky to get it. Hopefully it's used correctly.
Yes we can discuss this issue in this thread. We can discuss trading or not trading Dame. Your engagement in this discussion is proving this is a useful, wanted, popular thread, thank you.
