Notice Damian Lillard Unwilling to Sacrifice Teammates for a Big Trade

https://www.slamonline.com/nba/damian-lillard-unwilling-sacrifice-teammates-big-trade/



“If we go away from (team chemistry and continuity), it has to be for certain that we are able to match them talent wise,” Lillard said. “I’m not saying ‘Do it’ if we can get that, I’m just saying if we are ever going to sacrifice (chemistry), it would have to come with us being able to match a team with talent, and that’s unlikely. It’s hard to get that much talent to come to Portland.”

The catch, of course, is that to get big-name talent in a trade, you have to give something in return, and the biggest lure the Blazers have right now is [CJ] McCollum, one of Lillard’s closest friends. Lillard never brought up McCollum, but he was adamant that he would never sacrifice a teammate for his desire to win a championship.

“I’m going to go out there and get to the playoffs and put my best foot forward before I go out there and say (clicks his tongue) ‘Man, you need to go out there and get him instead of him.’ Because that’s not who I am,” Lillard said. “And I don’t care what nobody has to say about it. I’m not going to be the person to say I want to win a ring so bad and all I care about is winning.

“Because at the end of the day, I know in my heart I want to win. I want to win a championship for this city, but I’m not willing to put somebody under the bus to do it. That means more to me than saying ‘I won a championship!’ but now this guy has been traded to a bad situation, and now his team don’t like him as much and he might be out of the league in a year. I’m not going to have that. I’m not going to have that on me.”

 

Coordinated/scripted by Neil Olshey.

 

kiss of death.

bye CJ

 

He wants to win a championship for THIS CITY! He doesn’t want to force trade to Lakers or go ring hunting. Love it.

 

Who cares? This is Jake Layman's team now.

 

I agree with Dame.

 

Your post is an idiot.

 

Dame's always been loyal to the people around him...even to Aldridge when he was here and it sure seemed Aldridge was a strange one

that doesn't mean he would be soured by a trade that upgraded the roster. He was upset when Plumlee was traded, but quickly turned around and bonded with Nurkic. I'm sure Dame is still friends with Plumlee, but at the same time recognizes that Nurkic is a significant upgrade

Dame may be good friends with CJ, but 18 months ago if CJ was traded for Paul George, Dame would be more than fine with it by now. He also said in that interview he knows he needs to stay in his own lane and leave management to management

 

Im not mad at this, it doesn’t sound like settling. He says all the right things here to get the best out of what he has (keeping them happy too) while not completely discarding the idea of getting better.

If I heard this as our GM I wouldn’t be put off the idea of giving CJ for something that would really make the difference tbh.

 

Well thats one way to circumvent the insult rule heh.

 

The classic way, I would say

 

So we have continuity and chemistry - but no on court consistency? Yeah.....no.

 

Dame seems like a good guy who actually cares about the people around him. The Blazers have a rare breed of superstar in him. Hopefully they get the pieces to win a championship in portland.

 

I don't think Dame and Neil are all that close.

 

The team needs to keep building strong through the draft and additions as they make themselves available. Solid building of a team takes time and consistency. If you want to buy a team is will not last. If you build it right it will last a very long time.

 

Yeah I got trolled/triggered.

 

You???
Fuck. When i get there, i usually think, what would hail do... he would just ignore and move on.
Now i know you are human too!!!