Hello all! I went from being a rabid fan for years. When the style of play changed I became casual for a couple of years then stopped watching altogether. The idea of trading Dame has sparked an interest. I realized that I did not even know a lot of the current players in the league, so in learning who is playing where, I have a couple of thoughts. If Dame is traded, I think it would make The Heat a contender. I think he would fit well and provide what they currently lack. With the guys that I am reading about potentially joining the Blazers, I think I would enjoy watching them develop. As an aside, the front office appears to be a shit show. How they treat Dame will IMO determine how current and future players regard playing long term with this team. Thoughts?
I think this is a Barkley to Phoenix sort of thing. He will get further with Miami than he ever did here, but his success will depend a lot on who is coming out of the West that year.
I'm going to go on record predicting Dame will never win a ring outside Portland in the Jokic era..I think he's made a big mistake ring chasing given the depth in the league now.
The Heat, with Dame, have to worry about getting past the Celtics and Bucks before they need to be concerned about who comes out of the West.
You're probably right, but I don't blame him for trying. He should have asked out a couple years ago. With that said, I don't think he's going to be hurting while he's sitting on a Miami beach getting paid a ton of money.
Good post, happy to have you back. If I'm predicting the odds Dame wins vs the field of 29 other teams yeah I'm strongly taking the field. However his odds will be much higher in Miami or whatever team than they would've been here, 0.1% or whatever. Possibly similar to you I'm actually much more positive now than I have been in many years. I felt the Dame era ended with the Clippers trade by Cronin - that was the time to either go full rebuild or do retool moves to try and contend with Dame. None of those moves done at that time or since setup any way this roster could've been constructed to win with Dame. That fans didn't see it was astonishing to me. There was so much Olshey pitchfork waving and delusional justification of bad moves. But I felt the Dame era had closed at that time. Glad we've finally all moved on, and can now enjoy the youth develop. I believe trading Dame now actually makes it more likely he'll win a ring in Portland than if we continue to build around him. As the team now can build up some talent, maybe get a few lucky breaks, and he could possibly return in a Jason Kidd Dallas role closer to age 40. Thats one reason I'd like to see this situation resolved amicably for all sides, even if its a long shot of him ever returning. Jody selling the team would be the biggest increase in the chance this franchise can have to contend. That dwarfs any moves by Cronin/Bert/Billups/free agents/rookies/etc. But its also the least in our control or visible to us. For all we know she will hold firm for 20+ years.
Thanks! Yeah, trying to catch up on the past decades debacle with Olshey, and especially post Paul Allen has been a head scratcher. No leadership that I can detect. Just a "hold tight" mentality to retain maximum value until the team is sold.
