I don't think we'll have any trouble getting 2 first round picks for Dame at any time in the next year. Especially when he's just had the most productive season of his career. We'll be able to trade Grant for a first round pick. More than likely Siakam as well, even if we overpay a bit to re-sign him. We'll be fine.
How many teams have ACTUALLY been that? Celtics, Lakers, bulls, spurs, warriors. Am I missing any? 5 out of 30 teams have had any type of run like that. You can't be mad at a team when you set nearly impossible standards to begin with. That's a you thing, not a team thing. Be realistic.
STOMP, the Blazers don't have to do that. Instead, trade Simons to the Jazz for Lauri Markkanen who is the ideal PF and only makes $16.5M/yr.
It's an impossible standard that I want my team to go for it building internally instead of going back to the year to year patchwork insanity that this board has been cheering for years under Soapy? Of course with 32 teams, any path chosen faces long odds at winning a single title let alone contending for many. Portland was all set up for an era of contending with Roy LA and Oden, but then injuries happened. But that they went for it had me (and others) more excited/optimistic about the Blazers then I've been the entire time during Dame's career. The course being advocated I'm arguing against from the outset has no chance of producing a title and will leave them with a bunch of broken down overpaid has beens in just a couple years and little in the cupboards. So sorry, but thats being realistic. STOMP
I am somewhat encouraged by the fact that Cronin was under the same pressure last offseason but not only kept our pick but also drafted one of the youngest (and certainly most inexperienced) players in the draft. So I am hopeful he's just adopting the Mel Brooks strategy of agreeing with everything people tell him to do and then just doing what he wants to do anyway. The downside of this is that he traded away Josh Hart for Cam Reddish. Now maybe Hart had told him there was no way he was re-signing, but if not, I kinda wish he'd've been prioritized over Jerami.
It's not hard to suck in the NBA. We can do that whenever we choose, and we can trade guys like Grant and whoever else doesn't work out for picks to jumpstart that at any time. What's hard to do is getting All Stars to want to be here. We have one. That's the most realistic start on a championship, IMO. I'd like to show other All Stars that Portland can be a good destination as well.
The Blazers have 1 player over thirty, guess who. Most of the teams in contention have numerous players over 30, doesn't mean they are washed up it means that you need older vets and a few stars to be in a position to contend. We are in decent shape to bring in another solid vet or two to compliment Dame and his desire to compete, contend & hopefully win it all within 2-3 years. Winning a NBA cship isn't at all easy and it takes luck and veterans to get it done, ask 15 teams in the assoc. that have never won one how easy it is. And all of them have been young, middle aged and old. Fucking age has nothing to do with it. Jimmy B is 34 years old and is a beast because he's seasoned and well taken care of. Zion is a YOUNG Super Star, ?, and he's the fountain of youth. Get off the age thing, besides Im days away from 73 and in better shape than most 40 year olds. Still performing at a high high level in all regards!
I don't know what that means. If you play winning basketball who gives a fuck what somebody categorizes you as? And the team did better with Hart on the floor than literally every other player.
I don't think so, at least not without compensation from Chicago. A present and certain asset in a good draft class is more valuable than a future uncertain asset.
If Hart was OK coming off the bench and living in Portland then yeah we should have kept him. If not it was best we got something out of it. When they traded for him we did not have Sharpe. Now we do and Hart was not going to start.....just like he is not now.
I think they just had to play him out of position and he prefers being back east. There was no reason for him to want to be here. I think if he were playing big minutes at the 2 and we were winning it might have changed things. Maybe. Just not a good set of circumstances for him at that time.
Hart is coming off the bench and playing 30 minutes per game. Seems like he is happy with that role. And he's doing it well.
