You already tried dropping the mic and walking away only to pick it up and drop it again. People want to discuss a topic on a sports message board... so sorry Personally I'm always up for trade talks about any player, but the question is always the same... whats coming back? It's beyond obvious that this current mix isn't championship caliber, so of course something or some things should be done to address the roster. STOMP
Jermaine didn't show a fraction of the ability Ant has shown, but I agree with your main point. Don't trade Ant.
Eh I’d say they were both pretty shit their first few years. Simons didn’t show much until last season. He’s a year older than Jermaine was. Jermaine was behind so much talent and Dunleavy had zero patience for him.
There are plenty of reports of Jermaine tearing it up in practice he just never got much time to show it in the actual games. I know, I know; "We talking about practice?!, not a game, not a game."
Took me 0.01 seconds to answer Dame. Shocked so many people picked Ant. Guess this falls under the category that everyones favorite QB is the backup.
One player or the other, at the same salary, with no additional considerations? Dame all day, every day. He's an amazing player. But that's not a realistic question. Which player, given a certain salary and what we can get by trading the other? Lots of variables. Ant at a third of the cost of Dame plus a good trade package for Dame? I'd probably rather have that than Dame under his current contract and let Ant walk... which I think is probably the most realistic set of variables.
What's wrong with rebuilding every six to eight years? What team doesn't strike lightning in that amount of time? This team has been bogged down for several years, and three of our four best players are all about 6'3" and the two guys who are outperforming their contracts (Nurk and Ant) need the ball more than they're going to get it with Dame and CJ in the lineup. It's time to make BIG changes, and that probably means trading Dame since CJ isn't worth much of anything given his contract.
If you think ownership and the GM will prevent the team from contending with Dame why do you think the same ownership and GM have a better chance of contending without Dame?
Ant being behind Dame, CJ, and Powell might have an argument that he was behind more talent than Jermaine.
Dame and CJ could have chosen less money and search for another star. It was up to them. I choose Ant. More logic here.
It was discussed here many times. It is crazy amount of money. "Normal" people wouldn't make it working 500 years I am not against it, it was their choice. It is a bussines and I am kinda happy they both are lot smarter with money than Iverson was. I respect that. But there is no need to talk about loyality, heart and other romantic things in this case, in my opinion. We can have nice bunch of players for Lillard now and try to build around Ant. For me it looks like good time to do it.
Dame did choose LESS money than the max on his 2nd contract. He was eligible for a max of 30% of the cap and settled for 27.5% of the cap so Olshey could do something with the additional. But Olshey just did his usual ego-infused-role-player shuffle about the only time any NBA players took less, in their primes, than the max allowed was Chris Bosh so he could join Lebron and DWade in Miami
Actually all 3 of them took less so Miami could sign Mike Miller. Players shouldn't take less. It's a cheap way to game the system for extra talent. Durant also shouldn't sign with the 73 win warriors. Win where your a top player. Or we'll end up with 12 all stars on vet minium deals in NY and LA. Later the Heat amnesty cut mike miller with the only benefit being luxury tax savings.
So? I am not saying it's common thing to take less money to build better team. Your statement only proved it is possible. Neither Dame or CJ went this road, but at the same time both expressed desire to acquire good players for help. Again, I'm not saying it is wrong and I don't expect anyone to agree. It is just my point of view on the forum. There was a question and this is how I see it. As a fan I had a lot of great time watching Dame and CJ, but - at the end of a day - do they really play for me or for money? I don't really understand how people can't imagine that you can take 10 millions instead of 20, win a ring and be happy. I mean, if ring would make you happy, in this situation you can actually kind of buy it But all this philosophy aside I would trade Dame for a tones of gold coming back to Blazers and watch something new. I don't really believe in contending with this core anymore. I really hope Cronin can change my heart before deadline.
I don't blame Dame for taking as much as the Blazers offered him... I think he might even be worth every dollar because he's so good. But I think that Ant can return more value per dollar on the upside and when a Dame trade package is added in, I think that it's more likely for the Blazers to win big by going that direction. I'm not slighting Dame when I make that judgment.
In my view, this whole question basically comes down to a matter of objectives. Are we trying to compete for a title starting next season? If so, you keep Dame and surround him with as many top players as possible. OTOH, if we view that as an unlikely objective to achieve within Dame's window, then the objective should be to rebuild as quickly as possible. In that event, the obvious plan has to be to trade Dame while he's at the peak of his demand, reap a haul of top player(s) and picks, and go about trying to compete within a time frame of 3-5 years.
