Dame is almost 27. CJ is 25. Yesterday Neil said during his presser that he was trying to bring in players that fit Dame's career arc. I fail to understand how a 19 year old rookie fits into Dame's career arc. Dame is just now entering into his prime. I really thought we were going to use these picks to add another established veteran. Someone that we could count on to contribute on a nightly basis. Right now we have so many inconsistent players. Mo, Aminu, Vonleh, Crabbe..... these guys are all capable of putting up big numbers, but they don't do it consistently. I didn't think there was a chance in hell that we would be keeping all our picks... and I guess that was true because we traded two of them, but we still ended up with two rookies at the end of the night. And this makes no sense to me because we're still developing Noah, Patty, Layman, and to a certain extent Mo, Crabbe, and Meyers fucking Leonard. Why do we need more young rookies? I really hope Neil has some trades in the works before the season starts.
There's no other way of getting someone of his caliber on our team. Sometimes it's worth the shot. There's always a chance you draft a guy like Paul George, but can we wait for him to develop?
The reason we need rookies has more to do with cap space than building around Dames timetable. Olshey has added as many age-right vets as PA can afford. Now it time to fill in the holes with rookie contract players. Turn over a bunch of young prospects on rookie contracts and see if any of them are worth keeping.
I completely get what you're saying but what leverage do we have? With Dame, CJ, and Nurk untouchable, what assets do/did we have? Realistically, no combination of first rounders, Meyers, Crabbe, Aminu, Davis, or Harkless were going to get us that top tier #3 all star. All our guys are at the beginning of their contracts so no other team is going to take our salary dump. Neil panicked to keep Crabbe last year and then overspent on Meyers. He needed a FA win and overspent for Turner - that's what it's going to take to get another all star here... we just don't have the $$ anymore to throw at FAs. Neil is doing what he can to get the pieces we need. I see Collins as a potential starter next season. When was the last time we started two 7-footers? Other teams won't want to bang with us down low on both sides of the court! I like Neil's moves yesterday.
It's not enough. The team as it's currently constructed will not compete. Either add some more firepower or trade Dame and start building around Collins/Nurk. Nurk is about to turn 23. Collins is 19. The worst thing we can do is keep making the 8th seed and drafting middle of the road. That's not a recipe for success.
Established veteran would not help us win championship. When Collins and Swanigan are 23-24, Dame will still be only 30 and most importantly Warriors will not be the team they are today. We couldn't have traded those picks for Butler or anyone like that so our best hope is we hit the next Myles Turner, Devin Booker or Kristaps Porzingis i.e. player who is ready to contribute straight from college (or Sevilla in Porzingis case). Would you have preferred to get players like Young or Lopez?
This team will definitely compete. We saw that last year without the two new rookies. Collins is exactly the type of player we needed and should help right away in my opinion. Dame still has 4 years of prime playing time and Collins will slide nicely into that time frame.
I don't think anyone other than the Warriors will compete for the championship next year. We should be able to push them though and possibly get to the WCF. The 2018-19 season is when I think we'll have a legitimate shot.
Isn't the right time to start worrying about this sometime in August? I suppose the Blazers could choose to just roll with what they have, but the roster seems a bit overburdened with duplicate talent and the cap needs some pruning. I'm definitely hoping that there's some sort of a trade after the July moratorium that will bring in one more experienced player and shed some dead weight.
Even aside from drafting Z-Co, this team needs another year or two to peak. That is Dame's career arc. Now, I like the current plan because Z-Co and Nurk should be very good or at least solid contributors in 1-2 years. After that the Blazers probably have a 3-4 year window. If they can't make anything happen in that time, then you still have a very prime Nurk and Z-Co to work with. I think this lengthens the window substantially and also allows flexibility in the long term. If Blazers could get a stud PF for free, then that would be great. But, I don't see any of those available right now. Drafting one is the next best option.
the allstars in the league will be pushin' 40 when Dame hits 30...we're good. ..everybody wants to develop young guys now after the last few NBA finals..
It's not like Dame and CJ have played deep into the post season during their careers so far...I think they'll both have plenty in the tank at 30
I don't think Dame, and especially C.J. will see their performance fall off a cliff after they turn 30. The Nurk trade increased our window - which makes sense given how much better GSW is than everyone else is in the West right now. Sure, it would have been great to get Paul George, but in lieu of that, it's better to be on the rise when GSW is on the decline, not declining right beside them. Collins will be 20 before the season starts. Unless there are some serious injuries, no one is beating GSW for the next 3 years. At that time, Dame will be 30, C.J. 28, Nurk 26 and Collins 23. That actually seems like a good combination of a veteran leader still in his prime, a veteran 2nd option solidly in the heart of his prime, a young center entering his prime and a young player who should be a major contributor, but still with room to improve. That will be the beginning of our window as GSW starts to decline. Five years from now, Dame will be 32, C.J. 30, Nurk 28 and Collins 25. If we keep this core together and Nurk and Collins develop as hoped, I think our window is 3 - 6 years from now. Any decline we start to see from Dame and C.J. will be gradual, and it will be offset by any improvement from Nurk and Collins. BNM
You're a smart guy BNM. Our window is 4 years. I'm not giving a 31 yr old lillard a 300M dollar contract.
And, at that point in his career, if we are actually contending for a championship, I doubt if he'd demand it. The reason GSW has been able to assemble and keep a super team is because so many of their players accept less money to play together and win titles. What makes you think Dame would value money over winning? He doesn't seem like that type of person. And, it really wouldn't make sense for him to toil away in Portland and them leave right as we are contending for a championship. If we aren't contending, he may take the money and run, but even that seems out of character for Damian Lillard. BNM
Like who? Curry accepted less because he had been constantly injured and he hadn't really peaked yet. I don't think he took less because of the team. Aren't Klay and Draymond currently on max deals?
Does anyone else find it funny how Paul George is some peoples boner pill, and that he went to a small college too? Fresno State in 09-10 didn't exactly play a lot of top notch talent (or go far in the tournament). There's nothing to say that Collins could make an impact sooner than people think, thus him being 19 might be in the "window" for Dame (theoretically the next 6-8 years). While I hate waiting for stuff (read: Im done waiting for Meyers to not suck), I like the idea of what Collins can become. And while he is skinny, it's not like he's Jermaine O'neal, or Shawn Bradley skinny.
