Yeah ideally the Blazers would get a deal done before media day and training camp. Yes its harder to do a deal with hard roster limits. It will be awkward for the young players on the roster, and just awkward for everyone associated with the team from front office to owners to business to ticket sales. That said the Blazers don't HAVE to do a Dame deal prior. Many more players will be eligible to be traded after Dec 15th; which will make both the salary matching easier as well as open up new possibilities of players being sent to Portland in return. Some teams situation might change and they prefer to increase an offer for Lillard. However its possible a team, even Miami, will find themselves with a changed situation such as a Bam/Butler injury and not want to do a trade during the season they would do now. If Dame plays its possible he gets injured, if he doesn't play it might raise more concerns about his buy in to a new situation as well as long term value. I'd probably pull the trigger on a deal if we are getting decent value back such as all the picks/swaps/Herro/Martin/Jaquez/Jovic that Miami can offer. I put more value into those unprotected picks and swaps than most fans here though. But I wouldn't give Dame away for a significantly lesser return - in that case just wait to see whats available later. Yes theres some risk a later trade won't be better; but with a poor return now that risk is pretty low and worth taking a chance on for a possible better return in the season.
Dame wants Miami, Miami doesn't want him enough. Latest IG post from the Miami HEAT VP of Player Development:
Of course they never were "all in" on Dame as was rumored. Are they familiar with the term "all in"?? They want a bargain.
It seems they don't really want Dame. If they did it would be done. At this point I think they are stringing this along so other Eastern Conference contending teams do not get him. Heck, I'm sure they don't even want him in Orlando as Dame makes them a contender, or at least at the same level as the Heat. Need to be looking to Utah.
I try to remember the context: Kyle Lowry was a 6x all-star, dealt with injuries the following season, and then the Heat were able to acquire him in a sign-and-trade for Dragic and Achiuwa (#20 pick) as his contract expired. Now, Dame is a better player than Lowry has ever been, is coming off his best season, and is a year younger than Lowry was when the Heat acquired him. Most importantly he has 4 years left on his deal and isn't a free agent. Dame should require some real bonafide assets—nothing less than their 'max' offer outside of Bam/Jimmy. But I believe that the Heat front office view Dame similarly to Lowry—that he's going to give them two years and then they're going to have a sunsetting player on their books. While I think this framing is stupid, the Lowry trade was only a couple of years ago so it sort of makes sense that it's how they're looking at it. They want Dame taste at a Lowry price.
It's kinda funny hearing how people are saying that the Blazers are doing themselves a disservice by not trading Damian immediately to the heat, who will probably only keep him until his contract is done if that. They'll use him and discard him because they have nothing invested in him long term. but somehow that's only going to make Portland look bad.
This is their way of undoing the damage. They were trying hard to get something for him to send to us. They failed. Even Herro removed Miami Heat from his IG Bio.
They want him at an extreme discount. This is 100% Lillard and his agent’s fault. Don’t bitch when you’re traded to Toronto/anywhere other than Miami
I struggle to see any team giving up much of anything for Dame before the season starts. All 30 of them think they're contenders, especially this season. Everyone's equal. Nobody is 10 games out of the playoffs or 5 games out of 4th place. You will see Motivation go Way Up once there are teams that are horrible that don't benefit from tanking (and/or their GM's job is on the line) , or teams that want to "win now" that aren't in the top 4 in their conference.
Again, it’s a small market of teams that he would want to go to and could actually use him. It’s like if Dame wanted to sell his $20 million house. How many people are in the market for a $20 million house in Portland?
The amount of teams is still limited, however, once you factor in the ability to match salary, while keeping us below the roster limits, teams that already have very good PGs they like, and also teams with assets worthwhile. Like, the Lakers have interest at the deadline, but no picks or youth to really deal. Same with a slew of other teams.
Only takes 1. To use your analogy - even if the house sold for $15M, its a whole lot better than the $10M currently being offered
The idea of keeping Jimmy, Bam and Herro while getting Dame is the lamest fucking bullshit that I've seen floated this entire process. I don't honestly think that Herro, all of their firsts they can free up (2024, 28 and 30) along with Jaquez and Jovic is fair but then you take Herro out of that mix?!? It's either fucking stupid bloggers or it's Miami floating this like, "you think what we've been offering is bad, well take a look at this!" It's bullshit. It's transparently regardless of where it's coming from, super lowballing to make the less lowball offer seem better. Fuck all of that. If the Heat can get some real value for Herro, if they take Nurk along with Dame, if they get us four unprotected firsts, expirings, Jaquez and Jovic then we still lose the deal but it becomes a bit more palatable. Fuck anything less than that and I don't blame Joe if he's saying fuck that too.
First they want to keep one of Jaquez or Jovic. Now they want to keep Herro. In the should we maybe add Scoot to make it work for them? Sometimes these bullshit bloggers should just take 2 seconds to think about what they write.
In December tons of more players will be eligible to be traded. Maybe some teams success leads them to believe Lillard is the final piece. Most the off-season trades are done prior to the draft. Lillard didn't ask out until weeks later when many teams were done trading. It's very possible the Blazers are best served waiting until the season to get a deal done.
Lol. Yeah saying they don't want to lose any of Bam Butler Herro is laughable for a team with few prospects or picks.
Another possibility to do a trade during the season; lets say a team has a starter with a big injury on a one or two year deal. Blazers could eat that in a Dame trade and get extra value in return. Those teams wouldn't consider giving up value for those players now when they're healthy. If the Bulls had more of their picks I'd consider a Dame for Lonzo +picks / etc trade. Possible there's some more scenarios like that during the season. Ben Simmons with the Nets is another, lets say he is injured the first 2 months of the season with no expectation to come back soon. Also Claxton Cam Bridges and their rookies are all having great years. Nets might increase their offers to bring in Dame.
