As do I. At the same time, I keep reading about how the Blazers were hesitant to make some big moves because Dame didn't want to see guys leave, and our front office didn't do a really good job of using the assets we did spend to the best use of putting a really good team around Dame.
Add Cronin to that list for me. I trust him more than I ever trusted Olshey, and I wasn't necessarily an Olshey hater either. I think Olshey wouldve went down with the CJ ship.
Westbrook in LA ... Westbrook in Houston ... Harden in Brooklyn ... Grant in Detroit ... It literally happens all the time.
What is "it" exactly? Lakers had other options, but LeBron wanted to play with Russ. Harden was an MVP finalist the year before Brooklyn acquired him.
Yeah those are some pretty bad examples. Even Grant excelled quite a bit in Detroit though maybe a bad fit his numbers went up.
It = what we were talking about = teams making poor choices in their acquisitions with regard to fit/getting good players without regard to what it does to the overall dynamic and success to the team.
Russ- LeBrons decision, cant really blame the puppet front office for that one. Harden- only bad in hindsight. If Portland was in position to acquire an MVP caliber player, I would hope they would do everything in their power, minus trading Dame, to do it. And for as bad as that move ended up being, they still got Ben Simmons and a couple firsts out of it.
Same here. My initial reaction was to hate the Clippers move, but I've come around on that one. I'm happy with his job so far.
So really your only point is Grant to Detroit and that wasn’t like a total disaster. Actually what the conversation is about and what you are trying to squirm out of is saying front offices make decisions all the time without any foresight just to get a player they covet. That simply doesn’t happen much and in terms of it being a couple of prior MVPs I think you could understand why they might get those players.
I would be willing to agree it has happened a number of times but I would not agree “It happens all the time”.
I'm not sure how you think I'm trying to squirm out of a point that I've repeated several times here. One doesn't evade something by sticking to it. Yes, teams make dumb moves out of hoping rather than thinking it out. It doesn't matter if they did it because "LeBron wanted Westbrook" (some people say part of the reason we seem to be pushing for Grant is Dame took a liking to him). It doesn't matter if he was a former MVP who was temperamental but they threw caution to the wind and acquired him anyway hoping it wouldn't be a chemistry issue. The front office made a dumb move. Saying they do it without "any foresight" is hyperbole. No one said they don't use any foresight. What was said was teams routinely make bad gambles that they should know are likely to fail because it's expedient. You're moving goalposts. Also, you're trying to tell me what a branch of the conversation I started is about. I'm not sure how ignorant you have to be to manage that, but you did it. P.S. Your point about Grant's going up is specious. His scoring went up, corresponding with his increased minutes. His field goal percentage plummeted. Meanwhile, the team that acquired him to turn them around won 20 and 23 games. He excelled the Pistons right back into the lottery twice.
You're moving goalposts, too. It doesn't matter the reasons behind teams making questionable moves. The original point was that they made them. You suggested that didn't happen. Now you're trying to qualify that statement.
So... we aren't gonna hear from Nurk, Nas et al? Dame, we've heard ad nauseum on multiple pods. I'm good with where we stand with him.
you’re using hindsight to justify your point. Trading for an MVP caliber player was not a dumb move regardless of whether it worked out or not. The Russ trade was a LeBron decision. Thankfully for Portland Dame isn’t arrogant enough to think he should moonlight as GM.
I totally agree with the theory behind what you're saying and we can only speculate as to what Grant's mindset is but the most shots Grant has ever taken per game was a season ago as the number one option and he took just 17.3 per game. The guy just isn't a volume shooter. So I don't think he'd assume he'd be getting more shots than he even did last season, let alone CJ's shots which would be the most in his career despite going from the first option to at the very most the second option. Again, like I said we can't know what his mindset is and if it is that he's going to get all of CJ's shots then I wouldn't like his fit. If he's buying into Chauncey's philosophy of everyone sharing the ball and also values what Ant and Nurk bring to the table as scorers, then I think he's a great fit at either starting forward spot.
Yeah, I actually think it's pretty simple, does Grant buy into Chauncey's system which seems to be Dame first and then everyone else sharing the ball and making the right pass or taking the right shot or is he a diva. I think the fact that he only took 15 shots per game last season as his team's number one option tells me that he isn't too concerned with just getting shots up. Also, you're right, I think the team would want an extension worked out before the trigger was actually pulled on this deal. I don't think his rumored asking price of 112M/4 years is too far out there but hopefully we could rain that in a little bit. I've said this before, assuming the salary ascends every season, by the time that salary is in the high twenty millions the new TV deal will have kicked in and it really won't be that expensive for a second or third option on a contending team.
This is why we didn't see Dame at the exit interviews. He's had leg-lengthening surgery and is 6'8" now.