Thankfully we do not have to choose one or the other. They are 9 years apart in age. When Dame is ready to retire Ant will be in his prime. For now, we get to enjoy both.
then, Billups would be a bad fit with Curry and Morant and Trae Young and Lamelo Ball and Donovan Mitchell and James Harden and Zach LaVine, among others, because they are also ball-dominant and poor at defense if a coach doesn't have the coaching ability to adapt his coaching strategies to an elite player like Dame, he is a shitty coach...and he's the problem "lol"
I guess if you think CJ and Ant are identical players. I personally don't. The key is getting a 3rd player who would complete a 3 guard rotation, and a PF that compliments everyone. (Including Nurk and Little) Blazer fans are too hung up on this 6'3" bullshit. Simons has length and excellent athletic ability. He gets better defensively every year. And he is a better PG than CJ. Why trade him or Dame for a bigger guard who can't score as well? Just add a 3rd guard who can defend.
The biggest problem is if the GM doesn't even want to trade CJ. Or won't trade him until we get a "decent return" which could be never.
Interesting thing is the Rockets announcers said the smoothness of Ant's game reminded them of McGrady. They were constantly gushing about Ant, more than anyone else on either team.
My heart says Dame. But honestly if you have similarly talented players and one is 9 years younger than the other and you really aren't set up to contend, your brain tells you to go with the young guy. With Dame we've got (best case scenario) 3 or so swings left at a championship where he's our best player. We get 12 or so swings at the plate with Ant. And even just forgetting about contending....remember the post Rasheed futility, the lineups with Telfair and Darius Miles? It really sucks not having a one talented player on your team to hold on to that gives you any real hope. If you trade Ant away, there's a good chance you are signing up for that within 4 years. Maybe less time as Dame ages and injuries start to pile up. He's been rugged so far, but there are no guarantees he'll continue to be as father time catches up. I think what we need to do is trade CJ for whatever we can get ASAP, and sit Dame the rest of the season and see how Ant continues to develop as the star of the team. Trading Dame right now probably doesn't maximize his value anyway, as he's coming off injury. We don't have to trade one or the other, just like we didn't have to trade CJ for all those years. But if Ant proves to be the real deal for the rest of the year with the team on his shoulders, the smart thing to do is to trade one of them. They are just too similar and valuable to hold onto when there are so many holes in other positions.
Not trading Ant. Not trading Dame until we make a run at next season. Then we'll see where we stand, and how Dame feels.
The more I think about it, the more I think that by the end of the season, I’ll be happy with either direction we go. Dame will still net a big return this summer if for some reason we didn’t want to give him those two years. With the emergence of Simons, we can probably see a quick turnaround like when Aldridge left. If Dame netted us Ben and Thybulle, try to get unprotected 1sts down the line. With a lineup of: Simons/Thybulle/Little/Simmons/_____ + the lotto pick this year We have a young enough core that could just grow into playoff contention. They’re all young enough that we will have a bunch of cap space to sign FAs. If Anfernee gets a deal close to Brown’s, he and Simmons will be the only two making that kind of money on the team. I would seriously consider trading all of the vets for unprotected 1sts. A CJ deal where we get young players and unprotected 1sts down the line from NOP would be something I seriously consider given their Zion situation. I think unprotected very-future 1sts from teams like NOP, WAS, NYK, and MIN will be very valuable for the future. PHI would be an Embiid injury or Dame decline from being mediocre by 2025. Between CJ, Nurk, Powell, Nance, and Covington, we have plenty of assets to get a bunch of unprotected 1sts with whatever young guys and salaries we get back. We would have a real shot at being one of those teams that is in contention every season but will land on lottery picks every so often. This would set us up for success for the entire decade.
This is difficult. You have the star that has been here for a decade, that we are comfortable with, that is great in the community, and is a solid leader. Then you have the 'potential' of a young possible star, who may actually be ahead of where Dame was at the same age. We all wish the Blazers had made a serious run at any time during the last 10 years, but because that hasn't been the case, maybe it is time to go with the potential of the youth? There is of course no guarantee, but because it's not like we would be falling from some contender level of team, that lessens the difficulty of at least considering it. Dame is not old, but he's not likely improving anymore either. In a year or two, Father time will continue it's undefeated record and the physical ability will start to gradually decline. Can we win a Championship in those 2 years? Possibly, depending on what Joeshey (until he makes a move) has in mind. But I have zero confidence in ownership, so perhaps the best course would be to open the window for the next decade and see what you can build around the 'youth'. The assets coming back for Dame (likely this summer) will never be higher. Combine that with what you can get for CJ, RoCo, Nurk, Nance, etc, and there would be a lot of talent and assets coming back to build for the next era. This one was fun, Dame has been an awesome individual and player, but the team results have been nothing close to contender status. Sadly, it might be the opportunity to make the most of what he could bring to Portland....and look to the future.
I choose Dame because I hate rebuilding every time a question like this comes up. Who’s to say we won’t be asking a similar question in 6-8 years or so? I just think and as long as he really wants to be here, You stay the course a try to win around Dame. Nobody on the team should be untouchable but Dame.
I would submit we CAN NOT stay the course even with Dame. That is what has put us in the no-contender zone for years. If we are to keep Dame, there has to be a significant departure around how the team is built around him, or we just continue the 1st-round-and-out scenario in most year. We have 11 playoff wins in the last 5 years. 8 of those wins came against the dysfunctional Thunder who haven't won a series since Durant left, and the EXTREMELY young Nuggets. Nice wins, but certainly the much weaker side of the Playoff bracket that year. Take out that one season, and you have 3 total Playoff wins in the other 4 years....2 of which were against a decimated Nuggets squad. That doesn't seem like much to rebuild from to be honest.
