If the team is set on keeping Dame there are ways to go that direction in building for the future. However, trading away Simons for an older guy Jeremi Grant that will be 28 while the team is not contending now, isn't the way to go do that. The Blazers could keep Dame and Simons, then stealth tank rebuild the next few years sort of how the Lakers did with Kobe. If we end up with a young core of even half the players the Lakers had with Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr, Jordan Clarkson, DeAngelo Russell, Ivica Zubac, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, Josh Hart we might be able to contend. Its actually very impressive all the talent the Lakers acquired those years, and equally impressive how they now have none of it. Simons plus 2 other young studs, 3 good role players, and a 36-40 year old Dame maybe could contend one day. Trying to contend soon with the core of this current Blazers roster just isn't realistic.
Yep. Which is why the only hope I have is for a high lotto pick to use or trade for a star to infuse some talent on this team. Otherwise I would trade everyone on the team but Simons and Little for as much as we can get and start over. I don't buy into the pay Dame just because and forego competing if we can't put talent around him. Start over if we can't get him support this offseason.
I posted this earlier last week, think it's worth refreshing... these are reference contracts for guards who were FAs last summer: Paul -- 120 mil, 4 yrs Powell-- 90 mil, 5 yrs Lowry -- 85 mil, 3 yrs Conley -- 68 mil, 4 yrs Lonzo (RFA, S&T) -- 80 mil, 4 yrs Dinwiddie -- 54 mil, 3 yrs Trent (RFA) -- 52 mil, 3 yrs Graham (RFA, S&T) -- 47 mil, 4 yrs Rose -- 44 mil, 3 yrs Hart (RFA) -- 38 mil, 3 yrs Horton-Tucker (RFA) -- 31 mil, 3 yrs Burks -- 30 mil, 3 yrs Caruso (RFA, S&T) -- 37 mil, 4 yrs I was hoping we could get Ant in the ~15/yr range. Think he's vastly outplaying that number right now. A contract like what Gary got would be terrific.
Now that Ant appears to have broken out, and maybe Naz can too, coupled with CJ, that gives us more to consider when trying to engineer trade for all an star and a team around Dame for the next 3-5 years.
I think everyone needs to pause the breaks on Ant's breakout. Lets see how he does on this 6 game road trip before you start building a team around him.
ding ding ding. people here act like it’s rare for a scoring guard to go on a hot streak for a few weeks. do you know how many bench scorers have have the kind of run ant has had? A lot!
Thought of a fun comp for Ant as his ceiling. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mitchdo01.html Fun fact... Ant had actually committed to play at Louisville before the Pitino scandal came out. Also crazy: Simons is 6'3 with a 6'9 wingspan. Mitchell apparently is only 6'1, but with a 6'10 wingspan
well, it would be so like Portland to make a rash decision based upon how a player played during a hot streak against weak defense over 5 straight home games. LOL at "build around Ant".
They don't play the same at all. Mitchell is crazy physical. Unless Ant bulks up significantly I don't see the similarities. I'm thinking more prime Lou Williams maybe without the foul drawing or prime Jamal Crawford.
the next chapter of 'Can we have another 6'3" SG" i think he is doing great recently, but he needs to earn his stripes with some consistency this year. i dont want to see him playing SG at all. He's getting all these stats with the massive freedom he has with Dame not on the court. i dont see really any way he'd continue to perform like that with a better version of him taking all the freedoms at PG. trading CJ is still the goal and if we need to bundle him in to get a decent wing or PF, i think we have to. else we are just moving pieces in the spots where we are the strongest and again, not addressing our weaknesses at sf/pf that crop up year after year.
There are always exceptions for trading or keeping a player depending on who is on the other end of the trade. Very few players are untouchable. I don't care how he does in the next 6 games, I like his versatility, skill, and potential. I want to keep him because Dame is not getting any younger and we need the depth if he starts to break down. (No I would not trade Dame either) Again who are we talking about trading Ant for? These discussions are fun to have but are too arbitrary. I agree that we need to find that big guard who can play alongside Dame or Ant, but I would not want to trade Little to get him. That would just create the need for an SF and I see no reason why Little can't start at SF long-term. How many games have we seen NP start at SG with Dame? I would rather get an upgrade at PF before we focus on getting an upgrade at SG. I would not be upset at making the lottery as there are a few solid PFs at the top of the mock drafts. (although I admit I have not seen them play) But regardless we need a veteran PF now. Ideally, CJ could get that done. Harris is overpaid and makes more than CJ. I would try for that at this point. Simmons would be ideal in my mind but I would take Harris and his contract. But I am not throwing in Ant or Little for Harris.
I guess my mandate to trade Ant is relative to what we can get. If we can't get a couple of first and I think we could get that at this point but maybe I'm wrong or at least a first and a second that would be high but if we can't get a decent return then obviously we don't trade him. We also most definitely don't let trading Ant distract us from trading CJ. We should also be looking to trade Norm if we can get a better defender at the SG position. I think we have some trade value with RoCo and Nurk as well and we should trade them too. This team is not functional the only way you keep Ant is if you trade Dame, CJ, Norm, RoCo, Nurk and Larry... that's it. Obviously just in my opinion.
I think the best option is to rest Dame the rest of the season, play Ant at PG and CJ at SG. Make sure Ant makes it an emphasis to set up CJ for better shots so he can keep developing that part of his game. CJ’s also a professional, I’m sure he will defer to Ant when Chauncey says let Ant get his. CJ’s not as good as Dame, we all get that. But now is our opportunity to see where Ant is vs Dame with basically the same roster as the beginning of the season. I think there’s a solid chance Simons can become the centerpiece of a Simmons deal in FA, which would be even better for us because CJ can be traded for other assets.
I don't get your post. I agree with Cat there is at the least an argument to be made for trading CJ + resigning Ant vs keeping CJ + trading Ant. Especially with this franchise currently outside the lottery and no clear path to become a contender. Giving the 22 year old the rest of the season to produce and not mortgaging the future might be the far and away superior decision a few years from now.
If we dealt CJ we would still have Powell and Ant to share the guard duties with Dame. If we couldn't get anything for CJ we could trade Powell I guess. I just don't really want to deal Ant unless it is for something big. A future 1st isn't worth it.
Simons and CJ for Jaylen Brown would be perfect. Maybe Smart in the deal too? Simons needs his own team and he won’t have it here if Dame stays.
McCollum’s collapsed lung has occurred at the worst possible time. We’re going to get far less for him than we would have two months ago. Despite that, he still needs to go. Simons is our shooting guard now.
