Our worst mistakes have come from trying to build around Dame

Honestly

Ant > Trent Jr

All of your examples disappear the moment we have a solid group around dame and are a legitimate contender in the west.

Flip-side is we trade Dame, and then make a post about what a mistake it was trading him.

 

Hahaha

 

I was furious at the time and I’m still furious about that draft.

 

that might be true....although last summer would have been a challenge. For example, if the Blazers would have had to re-sign John Collins, OG Anunoby, & Dillon Brooks in one off-season, something would have had to give....and we know that CJ and his contract wouldn't have been what was subtracted. But man, those 3 players + Simons + Nurkic makes for a solid fantasy

while 2017 may have been the biggest mistake, and the 2016 spending spree may have been the dumbest summer, the biggest missed opportunity was the 2013 draft. How many championships would Dame and Giannis have by now?

 

Yup. That was the one that fucked us up bad. It was still early in Dames career too. We had 3 picks in the first round. Plus if you wanted a big so bad why not get Bam who played in a real conference

 

Well, I'd say the 2013 draft was a far bigger mistake for us and 14 other teams. We could have drafted Giannis over CJ. I actually wanted to at the time, but of course I had no idea he would be this good.

 

I didn't see this reply as I hadn't refreshed in awhile. You're right on all counts.

 

Clearly the Blazers would have been better off trading Dame for more draft picks. Maybe they can trade him this summer for a few so we can tank again next year?
I wonder what team dame would like to play for? We can make a deal that he is really happy with.

 

Uh, duh. "All of my problems disappear the moment I win the powerball lottery and am elected president!"

 

Look, I'm going to assume this is your attempt at sarcasm, so will respond accordingly.
Dame is great. (Is he the greatest Blazer ever? I'm willing to say he's the greatest Blazer point guard so far, that's for sure.) He's great in ways beyond his very considerable basketball talent. He's the kind of player small markets DREAM of having - loyal and just fiercely loved by the fans.

Is Dame ever going to win a title as a Blazer? Anything's possible, I guess - if the next Covid variant wipes out 70% of the league but leaves the Blazers unscathed, then sure, it's a definite possibility. Otherwise, no. I think the most we can hope for if Dame stays with the Blazers is a first round victory. If that's enough for everyone, great!

 

I admire your optimism, but don't you have to have tradeable assets to acquire championship-level players?

 

Giannis was a 15th pick
Khris Middleton was a 39th pick
Paul George was a 10th pick
Kawhi was a 15th pick
Devin Booker was a 13th pick
Klay Thompson was an 11th pick
Curry was a 7th pick
Draymond was a 35th pick
Jokic was a 41st pick
Dame was a 6th pick

Portland could have something like a 3rd pick, an 11th pick, and a 36th pick in this draft. That's their 1st avenue to build a contender.

 

So you're agreeing with my initial post in this thread. I KNEW I had a convincing argument!

 

Yes. It was.

 

And Rasta's whole point in the OP is that the Blazers pissed away the chance to draft guys like that in favor of vets of questionable value!

 

LOL...no, I'm not buying that was his point...that was just the fake cover for his point. His point was that it's a mistake to try and build around Dame...this coming after a year in which he has made about 20 threads advocating trading Dame away.

just because Olshey was a dumb fucking idiot of a GM when it came to roster construction does not mean adding vets is a bad idea

besides that, these are the potential players Portland missed out on:

16 Isaiah Stewart
17 Aleksej Pokusevski
18 Josh Green
19 Saddiq Bey
20 Precious Achiuwa
21 Tyrese Maxey
22 Zeke Nnaji
23 Leandro Bolmaro
24 R.J. Hampton
25 Immanuel Quickley
26 Payton Pritchard
27 Udoka Azubuike
28 Jaden McDaniels
29 Malachi Flynn
30 Desmond Bane
31 Tyrell Terry
32 Vernon Carey Jr.
33 Daniel Oturu
34 Théo Maledon

26 Bones Hyland
27 Cam Thomas
28 Jaden Springer
29 Day'Ron Sharpe
30 Santi Aldama
31 Isaiah Todd
32 Jeremiah Robinson-Earl
33 Jason Preston
34 Rokas Jokubaitis
35 Herbert Jones
36 Miles McBride
37 JT Thor
38 Ayo Dosunmu

how many all-stars in that list? If you guessed 0 you win. How many future all-stars on that list and when will they get there? 1 or 2 or maybe 3 in the next 7 years?

 

Really quite simple and statistically proven...You don't build a championship team around a 6 ft point guard. Now, if said PG is willing to take a role similar to Chris Paul, then there's potential.

 

Totally because the Pistons didn't get two championships in '89 and '90 doing that and the Warriors didn't do it three out of the last seven seasons.