A few years ago was the perfect time to rebuild around CJ and Dame. Imagine that we had Simmons, Tatum, or Jackson on this team. All this feel good BS about "playoff experience" or 'riding till the end' is just pride and hubris. The truth is that it's still not too late to rebuild around CJ, Dame, and Nurk. You'll only risk Lillard being what D-Rob was to the Spurs when Duncan came in. If the Blazers can't acquire a decent free agent, the team needs to trade away Aminu and Harkless for picks and sign D-League players. The Blazers were bad enough without Ed Davis that it can tank for 2-3 years to get a new star as the face of the franchise. Then, once all the shitty contracts go up, the Blazers can use it on roleplayers to surround the team's "Big 4".
My idea of "tanking" is to move the contracts we don't want, not the ones we do want. The contracts "I" want, are Dame/CJ/Nurk/Collins. Maybe Moe depending on which Moe we get this season. Also the cheap ones: Simons, Trent, WBIV. The contracts we don't want are Turner, and Meyers if we're not going to play him. Maybe Aminu. If it's me, I do whatever it takes to dump Turner (and Meyers), even if it sets us back this season. There has to be some team that will take Turner and Meyers off our hands. It's just a matter of making it worth their while.
Edit: Out of that group I'm perfectly fine trading CJ, if it's for a needle mover at a different position. I'd even trade him for Kawhi, even though it sounds like he wants to play for the Evil Empire.
I think if it were that easy, it would have happened by now. Let's face it, those four "untouchable" players you mentioned are the only pieces of value the Blazers have right now. Other teams are going to want them to make the moves you seek. Catch-22.
I was right there with you on trading Aldridge when the inside info indicated he was unhappy here two years before he left. The difference is that Dame is not going to Aldridge us. If the day comes that Dame wants traded, I will support Dame's decision and wish him well, and I will support the Blazers trading him.
OKC wouldn't have been able to trade for George if they hadn't moved one of their core pieces to acquire Oladipo and Sabonis. It's not like they just lucked into Paul George. Their GM made a significant move and then parlayed that move into George.
If they hit on one of those picks in Noel, MCW, Okafor, or had some injury luck, they would not be where they are now.
This a no win situation. If the decision is made to blow up the roster, it will be when Mr. Allen believes it is the best option. Mr. Allen let the team get blown up once. The summer they traded Batum, and let LaMarsha, Rolo, and Wes walk away with nothing in return. 4 of our 5 starters gone. When Mr. Allen believes it is time, my guess is he will blow up the front office before he blows up the roster. NO had his swing at rebuilding a blown up team, and got the roster into this mess. Mr. Allen always wants his team in the playoffs. I do not believe he will go into full tank mode.
At the time I thought Indy was being robbed blind.... but I think the trade ended up working out fine for them. Probably better than our crappy picks would have.
While Lillard is a shooter and can play off the ball at times. Therefore it's not even close to the same as Simmons and LBJ would be... CJ & Lillard work because CJ is a 40% three point shooter. Guy is a dead eye if he gets his feet set. Also... After watching Simmons allow straight line drive after straight line drive in the playoffs... I seriously doubt his ability to be a great defender. I'd say he's no better than Beasley in this department. Bigger picture. Yeah lets talk about that again. How long will Portland fans sit through a 'trust the process' rebuild? Philly fans get tired of it after 3 years and started showing up(if they made the trip to the arena) with bags on their faces. Bigger picture is not only winning a championship. Bigger picture is also how much income the arena can generate for the team, for the food vendors, and frankly for the city. I wouldn't pay spend 1 penny on a team I know that has no chance of winning games. I'd also lay you 5-1 there are more people like me, than people who want to watch china-league level basketball at the NBA level. In fact. history has shown that to be true. Given attendance levels for winning teams vs losing teams. People think because of 2k it's just a couple years of losing when you do a full rebuild. That nothing else matters. What they don't understand is that the NBA is a business as well. Tanking your business is not a good model. Personally I want the Blazers in Portland for my entire life. Therefore intentionally tanking year after year is not an option.
I wouldn't.....don't even care to project failure going into a new season...not how I roll with the Blazers...I stuck around through some bad Blazer eras and I don't think this one is so bad...we're a couple pieces away from being in the mix....I understand that many here are not supportive of Olshey or Stotts or Paul...in my view we're in year 3 of a rebuild now....couple seasons we could get to the west conf finals....to do it the Philly way doesn't appeal to me at all...Philly could still go years without an eastern finals berth as well...you do this....you lose a lot of fans...I didn't worry about OKC last season and we swept them with role players and an allstar….that was fun..like eating Chinese food it makes you want to do it all over again....I fear the fanbase here will start giving the whole team the Meyers treatment....hopefully not....booing him entering a game was not cool at all...
This is simply an exaggeration....I've been a fan since 77 and even with some bad seasons...the ship has yet to go down....I think you underestimate the reason someone like me is a Blazer fan....those that don't want to accept not winning a championship and stay fans are to me, wasting their time trying to enjoy the franchise...I've enjoyed it since and before the lockout Felton season...that one tested me...this one gives me hope. I don't recall that anybody called anybody crazy for wanting to trade LA...I do recall people wanting him to stay...the fanbase is not as polarized as you paint it...if fans were all following championships every season everyone would be a Warriors fan....fickle....you don't have to go down with the ship as you say....3rd seed in the west is not mired in muck....for as bad as the first round sweep was...the second half of the regular season was damned fun
Honestly, the notion of teams blowing up isn't bad for some teams that are in the playoffs. This means that teams like the Sixers, Celtics, and Lakers likely get more talent. And Wolves, Raptors, Blazers, Thunder, Pelicans would in the mix as well to acquire one more All-star. And actually, as I write this, Wilson Chandler has just been traded to the Sixers. I'd expect more of that to occur.
