I think this is where the big gap between factions in fandom comes from. You just described Lillard as 7th best (at very best) as a brag about how we actually can win a title with him. When other people read that same statement they see that he is obviously a tier below the caliber of players that win championships and get discouraged. 7th best players in the league don't win titles in the NBA.
Not when getting paid like a top three anyhow. Not in Portland. We are not getting ex allstar bet mins to sign here who can still provide a significant impact. People complaining about the lack of assets and how marginal the team still looks, may have validity, but then some still feel we can put a winning team around Dame with this salary? How, when we have to overpay for FA’s as it is???? I am literally scratching my head over here.
So you would have been a proponent of trading him for picks and breaking this up? I wish people with mindsets similar to yours would consider the alternative. Are you mentally ready to bottom out and test our lottery luck?
Happy for Dame & his Family. Happy for me because i Love Dame, and he is my favorite Blazer ever. Happy for the organization because i still believe he's an elite player, who is finally healthy, and will have a chip on his shoulder (more than usual) due to the fact there are still doubters out there. Keep doubting MFers. Throws fuel on the fire. Go Blazers!!
fuck that nonsense if I were to prove Dame is a top-5 player, somebody would make the new goalposts a top-3 player or somebody over 6'5 or 'not-a-PG' if the Blazers can't build a contender around Dame, they sure as shit aren't going to build a contender around what they traded Dame for....
I think the sentiment is we would love to see Dame take less. If he wants to win, take less to allow for more flexibility to put better players around him.
I think quite a few of people here are. I'm not. We haven't put a single all star around Dame in all these iterations of the team build. Want to try that at least once before calling it quits with him.
how many championships has Portland won over the last 40 years when they weren't paying somebody a 3rd of the cap?
Please tell me one definitive addition the team can make with a Dame discount. Why should Dame give up $ with no guarantees of a potential signee?
Impossible. The options available in a year are completely unknown. But to know the flexibility will be there if an opportunity arises would be better than no options at all.
he already did that on his 2nd contract. He took less than the max so Portland could have the flexibility to add players. Olshey used the opportunity to pay Evan Turner 70M and Meyers Leonard 41M. Dame learned his lesson
By that logic, Jokic should be winning rings. So why ain't he? What about Harden, Durant, Luka, LeBron. Clearly a top 5 player isn't sufficient, and probably not required, to win a championship. I think the debacle with Brooklyn and Philly taught everyone about having "stars" and zero team chemistry. Plenty of star studded rosters implode. I am not convinced, just because Dame isn't viewed as top 5, the team can't go all the way. This roster though? Probably not. Had a roster been constructed to support him (i. e. trade CJ years ago) maybe he would now be viewed as top tier. Let's see what they can do.
