Given our thought process and general consensus this offseason, if Ant is still on the roster come October, there will be a lot of disappointment in this forum.
Rewatch the Utah game when Shaedon started next to Dame. I'm cautious of making too much from one game but those two had a ton of synergy. You underestimate Dame's ability to be a lead guard.
Agreed... though I will say, I haven't found that what this forum wants (in general) is realistic or best for the franchise. It feels to me that a lot of forum wants wholesale changes the majority of the time and greatly over-values potential vs present value.
There is no reason Cronin shouldn't be able to get good value out of Ant. If he can't do it by the start if next season he might be in over his head.
If the Blazers win the Wemby sweepstakes they can bring back the roster as is, sign a tax MLE player and possibly be close to loading up as a contender. That tells me the problem isn't Ant, it's the lack of other talent on the roster. So the answer to the poll is No. Ant can certainly do a Jordan Poole type role just fine. The issue isn't two offensive guards on the Blazers. It's having Nurk slow footing paired with them, Sharpe rookie defensive mistakes, Grant over hyped defense, and lack of other two way role player defenders. I wouldn't trade Ant unless the Blazers can contend now or they get a better return than his value. Hes young and has a bright future. Trading Dame makes sense with this team likely not contending soon but I'm fine if we don't so that either. Sharpe isn't a better defender yet and still might be a few years away. I'd want more clarify if the Blazers can or can't win with Dame, more certainty of Sharpe long term, and after that reevaluate moving away from Ant.
I voted no, and that they can coexist. I think a big issue as has been stated, is matching salary, and/or having to give talent to get talent. I think Ant is one of our better assets, and if it is a deal that improves talent and fit, then I think he gets moved. I think moving him strictly on positional fit, like for Cam Johnson, where talent might not be equal, is a bad idea.
His statement stands on its own. The poster having some tongue in cheek hidden meaning is irrelevant since he didn't write that in his response. Any troll or banned poster could claim their post was meant as tongue in cheek, that doesn't excuse the post.
Dame doesn't get enough credit as a distributor. His biggest flaw is that once he loses faith in his teammates, he tends to start jacking more shots. But I can't really blame him because he has had some really bad teammates over the years.
Ant's salary is the only issue for me. It is a positive when we are talking about matching salaries. and a negative for coming off the bench. But if you take his salary out of the equation, then no he doe not need to be traded. We absolutely need his scoring off the bench. He can flat-out score in a variety of ways. And at the end of games when scoring is needed, a Dame, SS, and Ant lineup with two excellent long defenders, would be tough to stop. I don't think Ant or SS has peaked. But again I would want Ant coming off the bench unless Dame is out that game......and Dame will probably be out 20+ games a year. Having said all that I assume he will be traded, but I would not be upset if we drafted Victor, kept Ant, and traded Nurk's contract, #23, and another 1st for a SF.
