LOL...yet another thread where people say Dame is fading so Portland should hurry up and trade him for a great package of assets....as if they would be the only team clued into the reality of a fading Dame on one hand people are saying that "well, yeah, Dame is a dollar, but all Portland can surround him with are dimes, nickels, and pennies....so then let's trade him for some dimes, nickels, and pennies"
We'll have to agree to disagree on that. With LeBron past his peak, there isn't a single player in the league I would invest 33% of the payroll on. It is still a team sport and even the best players can't win without a strong supporting cast. Even Jordan couldn't win a title until they put a good team around him.
Dame isn't going anywhere and we will have players that play Defense going forward. A new Era has started.
To stick with your analogy. For the rest of his career, Dame will be getting paid a dollar (or more) while his value drops to .50 cents, then a quarter, then a dime.....
Chris Paul is more than 5 years older than Dame. Has his value dropped 50%? Curry is 3 years older. Kyle Lowry is almost 5 years older. Lebron is 6 years older. Not a single one of those guys have dropped to a quarter yet, let alone a dime my analogy was pretty smart...you dumbed it down
To be fair, Dame has never quite been at CP3, Curry, or LeBron's level. Lowry might be a better comparison, although Lowry was never at Dame's level. And Lowry has declined a decent amount. At his peak, he was ~22/7/5 on 41% shooting from '3'. Now, he has dropped to 13.4/7.5/4.5 on .377 shooting from '3'. Still very solid, but not worth near what Dame will be getting paid at that age if he is still here.
Here's how I can see the next five years going. Two. Two paths. Path One: Give back the keys to a finally healthy and motivated All Time NBA player and work around/with him with the option of vets and young guys. Path Two: Trade said player for younger assets, and build through the draft giving "those keys" to a series of 20 year olds for the next five years. I know what path I would choose.
It wasn't about whatever talent level these guys were at in their prime. It was about how rapidly and significantly they have declined...which isn't much I'm seeing a bunch of people here say Dame has only a couple of seasons left at the level he's at. I'm saying they don't have any fucking reason for saying that other than their bias for wanting dame traded.
Dame and Chris Paul aren't even remotely the same kind of player. Paul has always been an exceptional defender, and he's the ultimate floor general. He's the modern John Stockton. His game was never built around being able to score. Curry is also not the same player as Dame. Sure, to someone who doesn't pay attention, they both shoot deep threes and they're the stars of their teams, but Curry is a guy who runs off screens. He's really more of a Ray Allen in a point guards body. Dame has never run off screens. That's not his game at all. I could see Dame fading pretty hard when his body starts to age. He relies on sheer athleticism to get open or shoot over people. Curry is more of a cardio guy. He could play for a long time simply because he can still run off screens and he can still shoot lightning fast. LeBron is a freak of nature. Nobody will ever be like LeBron again. I highly highly doubt it.
That’s funny, because my crystal ball says that Damian Lillard will win a championship with the Portland Trailblazers.
And you see no evidence that any of those players are on the downside of their careers? You believe they are all still at their peak? Whatever.
Right? Total straw man argument. A couple people hint at that and suddenly the main gist of the discussion is ignored.
please point out where I said they were at their "peaks". You won't be able to because I never said it YOU said in a post above: "Dame will be getting paid a dollar (or more) while his value drops to .50 cents, then a quarter, then a dime....." so I pointed out that those players are all older than Dame and none of them are quarters or dimes yet; maybe haven't even hit as low as 50 cents. Is Chris Paul a dime? Is Curry a quarter?
yeah, right. Nothing remotely resembling a screen is ever used in the pick-and-roll (picks and screens are completely different...wut?), and Dame does PnR while Stockton didn't
It's strange. Like, should the Pelicans trade CJ now that he's got All Star value and he'll be 31 years old next season and be making $33 million?
Both strategies for winning have merit. KEEP DAME, Nurkic, Simons, Hart, #6, the player to be named later involving the Pelican Pick ... and go for it. Use of TPE ... picks ... OR ... TRADE DAME, sign and trade Nurkic, sign Simons, go young ... play the long game with youth. Prepare to suffer. I can see the logic of both but having a superstar NOW with a young, possible star ... I go with Dame, et.al. However, I wouldn't quickly dismiss either strategy as legit. As feasible. The bench players outside of Ingles? [Not counting Hart.] There's several who can play, but I wouldn't count on ANY of them to ever become a quality starter for a team that's contending. Stay or go becomes it all depends. Anybody on the team who isn't committed to improving their game and working to keep their bodies as injury free as possible need to hit the road. Professionals only need apply.
I’m not sure why you’re making that argument. Paul is the best assist man of this generation. He’s known as a crafty defender. Those are both traits of Stockton. Are you really comparing Dame to Stockton?
