He said don't leave like fifteen times. He said the team has to step up for Dame. One of the guys on the show said we'd need to trade CJ and possibly Nurk but Eisen didn't like that either but kind of conceded that something significant has to be done and that Dame shouldn't be the poster child for moral victories. That he deserves real victories. Bottom line was he wants Dame to stay and the team to make it worth staying.
Basically told Lillard not to give up and that the ball is in the Blazers court to put a team around him.
You can tell Rich thinks the world of Lillard as a player and a person. And has followed him and his career in-depth for years.
Its tough to think a free agent wouldn't want to play with Dame? As they said, what free would want to go to Portland? How much of it is, Players don't want to go to Portland? If that's the case Dame's in a tuff situation besides the money. You would hope, trade's & draft would be the easy fix. Id trade Nurk & CJ in a second if you could acquire another consistent player with size and defense. It would have to be a second legit all star in a position of need and Im just not sure we have the assets to acquire one?
This is why we need to pay for the absolute best GM and coaching. We have to pay more to compete with places which don't have income tax. But I think the level of support here makes up for some of that. My frustration is that we haven't done that. While it appears the Blazers do pay their coaches and GM well, they don't swing for the fence and just pay what it takes for greatness. And we really need greatness at these positions to compete for championships.
To me there has to be a great coach out there who knows he or she could win a chip with Dame as their pt guard...and that coach would want to do anything to get the Portland job....it's an attractive opportunity for any coach. Very tough for a rookie coach to follow 8 straight years of playoffs with their first season and Dame having 3 years tops to get a chip here. Rookie coaches would be under intense pressure to win now...
agree To me some the candidates that have been mentioned like Billups, Howard, Etc. are they better than Stotts or is it now anyone is better than him?
Agree So should they have a proven championship pedigree or just think they could be the best? Guys like Billups hasnt proven to be in that fraternity as yet.
I wonder if that's a realistic take on the situation though. Could Dame and a rebooted roster compete for a title next year? That seems like an outlier scenario given the strength of so many other teams around the league. Utah, Denver, the Clippers, the Warriors with Klay back, and the Lakers if they can get healthy are all well ahead of where the Blazers are right now. The Mavs, Pelicans and Grizzlies are all being constructed around really good stars and aren't going to be slouches next year. And that's just the West. The Lillard situation makes a backdrop of a ticking timebomb on the viability of this team as a contender. Dame can opt out in 2024 and, if he lets it be known that's what he's going to do, can probably force the team to make a trade after next season. It's really make or break this summer for Olshey to make the moves needed for the Blazers to become serious contenders. I think it's going to be tough to get a top-tier coach to take a the head coaching position here before there's a demonstration by management that there is a path to becoming contenders and keeping Dame a Blazer for life. Maybe that means that the coaching slot goes vacant until some moves are made, but right now, I'm thinking that Jason Kidd isn't the only guy who is going to say, "thanks, but no thanks".
I'm a huge fan of Stotts....don't think we should have fired him at all but I don't think the grass is greener in the coaching ranks much....that being said they made that decision and I'll be curious to see how they think they'll end up closer to a chip with a new guy.....I think Mark Cuban is right about not firing your long term coach. Water under the bridge but I'd probably look to Chauncey or Howard for rookie coaches and Spoelstra for the dream coach if he were gettable. If a new coach wanted to appease Dame he could try to bring Kidd onto his staff as an assistant but Kidd is not going to be like in Portland in my view for several reasons....In an ideal world I'd like to have seen what Stotts would have done with a team that had a solid starting core that didn't change for 2 years in a row....he hasn't really had that since Lamarcus was here. Firing Stotts may have lost us Dame's loyalty...hope not but that's a possibility. If he wants Kidd, I don't see us doing that at all...I'm going to stay optimistic for now that this ends up working out well and doesn't end up blowing up the roster completely...if they really decide to blow it up.....Dame is our biggest trade chip ...nobody else on the roster will bring that kind of value in a rebuild....CJs value is in the toilet after the playoff series.
the video shows he understands Dame, but doesn't understand the Blazer problems. Another reboot with Dame-CJ-Nurkic as the 'Big-3', and a new cast of role players isn't going to change anything for Portland
Me neither! I really like the guy and I love his game. I think he's on the auction block if the right pieces (aka, KAT) are available. CJ absolutely has to go. There's no scenario I can see where I'm happy that he stays.
I'm a big CJ fan but I have to admit that if they can package him in a trade that would bring in an all star wing player then they need to do that. If they do trade him they need to re-sign Powell and let him play in his natural guard spot and not as an undersized small forward.
Why does people thinks that CJ and Nurk can bring a all star back through a trade. Realistic I don't and tell me what all star player got traded for another all star it never happeneds. But you know to quality guys like our two probably won't back and all star and the only that happens is a all star what's out where there at like Harden but Houston didn't get all star back for him. Do I think CJ needs to be traded yes but to situation where we don't take back equal salary where it actually save on our cap. Now Nurk I still think he will be traded due to like to speak his mind to much about the team the Blazers will guarantee his contract and then traded him and probably will agree with Jones if he opt in that they will trade him too because Jones is not going to get another 9 million contract anywheres. But our biggest problem now is olshey he put this franchise where it is by over paying players or attempt to over pay players these got us we don't have and manuaver capabilities with the cap.
