Then we tell Damian; Sorry Damian, we (The Blazers) tried to build a contender but there's just no realistic possibility to do it at this time. We wish you nothing but the absolute very best, its just unfortunate the Blazers previously made bad decisions and now are in the position of being many seasons away from contending. We wish we could've supported your greatness with the chance of having a real contender. You will go down as one of the best if not absolute best Blazer of all time. Please confidentially let us know some of your preferred teams, and we will try to work on a trade that is beneficial to both yourself and the Blazers. Or if you change your mind and prefer to stay here while we develop young players, please let us know as we would happily consider how to move forward with that alternative instead. Thank you, signed Not Joe Cronin
Maybe if we get all the bad energy out here then the actual real lottery will be nothing but positive Blazer vibes?
If I were a team with a “needle mover” I’d probably not trade that player for a pick after 3 in this draft. If someone knows this draft to be different, please let me know
Ooooh Noah. C'mon man. Really. But his frisbee freethrow action was amusing. NOT! I did see an article on last years Draft, as far as if a re-draft was done today. Sharpe came in at 5, and Jabari came in at 30. So the addition of Schmitz is paying off. But i trade that sucker and Ant for a real nice addition.
The Blazers need to look at under utilized talent, that might flourish in a new place. Markkanen was that guy last year. John Collins might be that guy this year.
This is what I was alluding to in another thread where I mentioned we might have to overpay for a good player, (Unrealistically to get a great player) When I say overpay I meant multiple 1 st round picks (and matching salary) for someone like OG. We need to find a team who has multiple forwards that had a disappointing season and wants to change things up. Toronto seems to be a good trade partner. Maybe Atlanta like others have mentioned. But I think we need OG more than Collins.
Yeah I don't think Collins being better on offense than defense makes sense at forward for a Dame team. Maybe if we had a defender like Hart at SG; instead of Ant. Or if we had Gobert defense at Center instead of Nurk. Or if we had a better defender than Grant. As this roster is, Collins would make our offense great but it'd be the same story at defense as the Melo/Kanter teams. The problem with the matching salary too is we don't have dead salary to pair with picks. Having to give up Ant/Nurk subtracts a player or two from our 8 man rotation, so it would only be a marginal upgrade, instead of a complete starter addition. OG injuries concern me, and he's just not at the allstar level the Blazers need to contend. Seems more like an ideal 4th/5th starter or 6th man. Great point on the first round picks; maybe if OG was the final piece to contend we sort of overpay as the Bucks did for Jrue and then can contend. But when OG doesn't make us a contender, it seems very shortsighted to overpay and give up more 1st round picks than a player is worth.
So what do you do if Dame demands we trade the lottery pick for veterans and theres no trades that make sense. Do you overpay for a trade such as #7 and two future first round picks protected 1-4 for OG?
what is it about Dame's time in Portland that makes you think he's irrational and unreasonable? Serious question. If there are no good options for trading this year's pick ( and perhaps other picks); if the trade makes no sense, do you think Dame is so blind he couldn't see that when told of the available offers? and LOL...c'mon man. A top 7 pick plus two more first's for OG? Episode 73 in trying frame the questions in such an absurd manner you get answer answers you want
I didn't frame anything, I responded to the post "Not trading a 7-8 pick is like asking Dame to ask for a trade." Blazers have to be willing to keep the pick if they are going to hold out for equal value.
This is true. Joe has to be willing to tell teams he will keep the pick and he has to have conversations with teams that want Dame so he can know what that direction looks like. I want him to do that so he can leverage that option and boost the value of our pick and all of our other draft assets we can access. It seems you want him to trade Dame... not at all what I want but he does have to be willing to.
I want the assets of a potential Dame trade as the Thunder got for PG13 or Utah with Gobert. I want Dame to finish his career as a Blazer. I want the franchise to be viewed for decades as treated Dame well. Obviously these are conflicting factors. Which factor trumps the other? Different people will have different opinions. Probably much more than choosing either option I'm hoping for good GM execution of a direction. This was often lacking under Olshey and in my opinion has been even worse with Cronin, but I guess we'll see.
No it's not. Missing the playoffs (especially intentionally) is like asking Dame to ask for a trade. Dame can't (or didn't want to ) use the word "tanking" so what I think he really meant is that he's done with tanking (for a 19-year-old). He wants to make the playoffs. I don't think he'll have a problem if the Blazers draft a forward who fills an area of need, such as defense at the forward position, and put together a much better bench, and make the playoffs for the rest of his time in Portland.
I expect OG to end up in Memphis. He would be a nice secondary piece but if he's the main piece we get back this summer, it would be a disappointment.
