Seems to me that avoiding needlessly being a taxpayer in a year that the Blazers aren’t likely to compete for a title is a pretty wise thing to do. This season, IMO, is a shakedown cruise to see what young players are keepers and to try to establish trade value for those who could be moved. It would be dumb to step into the first season towards repeater taxpayer status prematurely given those circumstances.
I feel like Dame could go on an epic parody rant. "I'm supposed to be the franchise player and we're in here talkin about luxury tax! Listen, we talkin bout luxury tax. Not a game! Not a game! Not a game! We talkin about luxury tax. Not a game, not the game I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last. It's not the game, we're talkin about luxury tax man! I mean how silly is that. We're talkin about luxury tax..." It would be hilarious but it would also be really serious because even though cutting Didi is a smart move, it can't be encouraging for Dame to see that the team is worried about the luxury tax. "Luxury Tax?!? We're talkin about luxury tax man. We're talkin about luxury tax. We talkin about luxury tax. We ain't talkin about the game. When you come into the arena and you see me play, you see me play don't you? You see me give everything I got right? But we're talkin about luxury tax right now..." Anyway, I think it's a hard sell if we don't come out absolutely killing it, to get Dame to believe that our first priority is winning a championship with him when we're worried about staying under the luxury tax for the third season in a row. I realize and I'm sure Dame realizes that it resets the repeater provision but Luxury Tax!?!
That's the feeling i get also? It's like this guy thinks he knows more than everyone else? What difference is there now other than they are no longer over the cap and they have one more roster spot they can fill if the opportunity arises? That isn't being cheap? That is being smart? Unless he thinks Didi was going to make a difference this season or next?
If the Blazers have sold Dame on this being a one year path to contention, I'd agree with you, but I seriously doubt that's the case. Getting to true contention status is going to require a trade or two plus a couple of the young guys blowing up to near All-Star status. I'm sure that the sell is that, if things go well this season, we make the playoffs and maybe even win a round. Next summer is where the heavy lifting towards completing a contender roster will occur. Going into the LT for absolutely no reason this year would be massively stupid. Dame isn't stupid.
