It's Dame Time!

[All The Bucks]

If Horst can spend nearly 3 months working on a deal which keeps the 3rd team in the dark until the day of the trade announcement, how can anyone doubt the man is not plotting with the franchise player, someone who he literally taught how to drive. Giannis is right there in the facility everyday, and Horst can bring him into the office at any time over the years and say, "hey Giannis, it may go against your nature, but if you put it out there that you might leave, it really improves the value of our future assets in addition to holding our competitors at bay on the hope of landing you." Giannis telling the world he's never leaving and is that he's most loyal person on Earth doesn't exactly sell those future picks. Ask New Orleans about that right now.

[skones]

Horst has his issues with roster construction (when it comes to filling out the end of the bench and maximizing roster spots) and negotiating team friendly deals, but his posturing in this situation based on the article is top notch.

[All The Bucks]

The best part of all this is that no matter how many times this plays out, media, fans, and most importantly other teams, will fall for it. With the other GMs we're no doubt at the point that they've probably all figured it out, but they have to keep their powder dry on even the slim chance Giannis doesn't extend. But in reality, he's going nowhere.

[GoldenAntlers]

When Cronin and Horst went to sleep on Tuesday night, they were confident that they had a trade to complete on Wednesday. The Blazers and Bucks just needed to close out terms with the Suns, and they had a deal.

Here's what made that delicate, though: If the deal fell apart, Horst didn't want another team to know how far along these Blazers-Bucks talks had gotten. The Suns knew they were getting Portland's Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson in a three-team trade, but the Suns had to get one more asset to make this deal workable. In almost all cases, Cronin would've told Bartelstein that he was getting Milwaukee guard Grayson Allen, but Horst's insistences on secrecy made this different.

Cronin did tell Bartelstein the general salary and position of the mystery player, so the Suns were able to deduce down to two players who that might be -- Allen and Oklahoma City's Victor Oladipo, who is recovering from a serious leg injury. The Thunder are sometimes on the periphery of these big deals, so the Suns thought that was a possibility. Of course, the Thunder were nowhere near this trade.

That is incredible, both that Horst was able to get everybody to agree to stfu and that the Suns agreed to a mystery box trade.

This is crazy. Is it unprecedented?

[paulpressey25]

Ask New Orleans about that right now.

Underrated discussion point. The picks and swaps going to the Pelicans for Jrue are still a big sum, but assume Giannis here another four years, and the value never blows out to lottery level selections.

[fansinceforever]

A decent bit of information on how this deal was made from the Bucks perspective here


https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/38527348/inside-damian-lillard-trade-how-bucks-blazers-suns-got-finish-line

Cant read the whole article wont let me until i pay.

One of us needs to pay for everyone here. Should we do a PayPal?

Boomark this: https://archive.ph/

[skones]

Ask New Orleans about that right now.

Underrated discussion point. The picks and swaps going to the Pelicans for Jrue are still a big sum, but assume Giannis here another four years, and the value never blows out to lottery level selections.

The Swaps don't look like they'll come into play at all at this point, but these swaps in particular plus the picks are far murkier when it comes to the age Giannis is when they convey. With that being said, I don't care if we flounder for a bunch of years whether we get another one or not. Hard to argue an acquisition like this doesnt maximize our chances.

We may never see an ACTUAL super team in Milwaukee again, and we have a legitimate one right now. That's an insane thing to think about.

[drew881]

When Cronin and Horst went to sleep on Tuesday night, they were confident that they had a trade to complete on Wednesday. The Blazers and Bucks just needed to close out terms with the Suns, and they had a deal.

Here's what made that delicate, though: If the deal fell apart, Horst didn't want another team to know how far along these Blazers-Bucks talks had gotten. The Suns knew they were getting Portland's Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson in a three-team trade, but the Suns had to get one more asset to make this deal workable. In almost all cases, Cronin would've told Bartelstein that he was getting Milwaukee guard Grayson Allen, but Horst's insistences on secrecy made this different.

Cronin did tell Bartelstein the general salary and position of the mystery player, so the Suns were able to deduce down to two players who that might be -- Allen and Oklahoma City's Victor Oladipo, who is recovering from a serious leg injury. The Thunder are sometimes on the periphery of these big deals, so the Suns thought that was a possibility. Of course, the Thunder were nowhere near this trade.

That is incredible, both that Horst was able to get everybody to agree to stfu and that the Suns agreed to a mystery box trade.

[Ron Swanson]

Horst has his issues with roster construction (when it comes to filling out the end of the bench and maximizing roster spots) and negotiating team friendly deals, but his posturing in this situation based on the article is top notch.

This is a weird one. We haven't had a "bad contract" we've needed to get off since the Snell extension. I'd argue outside of that, there's been few if any GM's in the league better at retaining their talent on easily trade-able contracts.

[paulpressey25]

Ask New Orleans about that right now.

Underrated discussion point. The picks and swaps going to the Pelicans for Jrue are still a big sum, but assume Giannis here another four years, and the value never blows out to lottery level selections.

The Swaps don't look like they'll come into play at all at this point, but these swaps in particular plus the picks are far murkier when it comes to the age Giannis is when they convey. With that being said, I don't care if we flounder for a bunch of years whether we get another one or not. Hard to argue an acquisition like this doesnt maximize our chances.

We may never see an ACTUAL super team in Milwaukee again, and we have a legitimate one right now. That's an insane thing to think about.

Sure, the 2029 pick and 2028 and 2030 swaps may end up paying off for Portland. That’s ok though.

Before Thursday, did anyone think Jrue, Grayson and those three assets would get Dame? We all said it’s not enough, and we’d need to wait until July 2024, when we could add more picks to the pot.

[paulpressey25]

This is a weird one. We haven't had a "bad contract" we've needed to get off since the Snell extension. I'd argue outside of that, there's been few if any GM's in the league better at retaining their talent on easily trade-able contracts.

Zero complaints on Horst. His legacy though will come down to whether one or two of MarJon, AJJ, etc. can become true 25-30mpg core players. That’s what we need to get two more titles. And if that happens, then he starts to move into the Pantheon with Riley, West, etc.

[emunney]

That is incredible, both that Horst was able to get everybody to agree to stfu and that the Suns agreed to a mystery box trade.

All time underrated comedy.

[skones]

Underrated discussion point. The picks and swaps going to the Pelicans for Jrue are still a big sum, but assume Giannis here another four years, and the value never blows out to lottery level selections.

The Swaps don't look like they'll come into play at all at this point, but these swaps in particular plus the picks are far murkier when it comes to the age Giannis is when they convey. With that being said, I don't care if we flounder for a bunch of years whether we get another one or not. Hard to argue an acquisition like this doesnt maximize our chances.

We may never see an ACTUAL super team in Milwaukee again, and we have a legitimate one right now. That's an insane thing to think about.

Sure, the 2029 pick and 2028 and 2030 swaps may end up paying off for Portland. That’s ok though.

Before Thursday, did anyone think Jrue, Grayson and those three assets would get Dame? We all said it’s not enough, and we’d need to wait until July 2024, when we could add more picks to the pot.

To be honest, I wasn't aware that those swaps were on the table. With that knowledge, I would have said yes we did. In general, I had mentioned earlier this offseason to hold off on any major move to monitor the Dame situation in early July. While I wouldn't have said the odds were super high in our acquiring him, I certainly would have increased those odds the longer the situation dragged out and a deal wasn't made with Miami and had told my friends as such.

I had broken it down to my friend a few weeks back as, 25% us, 60% some random mystery team, and Miami at 15%. We knew we'd be in on conversations, but it's Ayton as an accompaniment to this deal that really pushed it through IMO. I would not have had Ayton for Jurkic and spare parts on my bingo card.

But I think Portland just slayed this deal. Given our pick and swaps, Ayton, and then MORE picks and maybe a B or C level young talent for Jrue, and they'll have come out with a treasure trove for themselves. They just dealt the hottest name on the market for a contender, and turned it into another guy who will be the hottest name on the market for a contender.

[emunney]

Underrated discussion point. The picks and swaps going to the Pelicans for Jrue are still a big sum, but assume Giannis here another four years, and the value never blows out to lottery level selections.

The Swaps don't look like they'll come into play at all at this point, but these swaps in particular plus the picks are far murkier when it comes to the age Giannis is when they convey. With that being said, I don't care if we flounder for a bunch of years whether we get another one or not. Hard to argue an acquisition like this doesnt maximize our chances.

We may never see an ACTUAL super team in Milwaukee again, and we have a legitimate one right now. That's an insane thing to think about.

Sure, the 2029 pick and 2028 and 2030 swaps may end up paying off for Portland. That’s ok though.

Before Thursday, did anyone think Jrue, Grayson and those three assets would get Dame? We all said it’s not enough, and we’d need to wait until July 2024, when we could add more picks to the pot.

Definitely thought it was a lot stronger than any reported Miami offer. Wasn't sure what the Blazers were trying to get, other than "the most".

[CharityStripe34]

This is a weird one. We haven't had a "bad contract" we've needed to get off since the Snell extension. I'd argue outside of that, there's been few if any GM's in the league better at retaining their talent on easily trade-able contracts.

Zero complaints on Horst. His legacy though will come down to whether one or two of MarJon, AJJ, etc. can become true 25-30mpg core players. That’s what we need to get two more titles. And if that happens, then he starts to move into the Pantheon with Riley, West, etc.

One or both of these guys even becoming a very good role-player a la Bruce Brown or a PJ would be a godsend for this roster.

[MVP2110]

Horst's first few seasons as GM were great, he found several under the radar acquisitions that turned into legitimate role players(Pat, Bobby, Hill, Wes, PJ, etc.) or even better in Brook's case. He made a big swing for Bled and then an even bigger swing for Jrue. He hired the top coach on the market in Bud and rarely made missteps. These last 2 years had been fairly underwhelming to me with the Donte for Serge trade, the Crowder trade(I think he might be better this year but it was a bust for last season), and his minimum signings didn't really effect the playoffs at all in any meaningful way. I had been very skeptical of his offseason with the Bud firing/Griff hiring, I like the Malik signing but not exactly super confident he'll be a playoff guy for us, etc. All that said this move felt like the old Horst. It was savvy, aggressive, came out of nowhere, etc. While there are reasons to be skeptical in general I'm incredibly excited for the next 2-3 years with this squad. Hopefully one of MarJon or AJJ develops into a really good 3&D wing player.

[All The Bucks]

Ask yourself how Horst was working on this in early July and why he worked it so hard for 3 months if Lillard was only going to Miami. Many if not most will dismiss this as simply due diligence in the event something changed. But if it takes another question, then ask yourself what Giannis and Horst discussed? What did Giannis and Lillard discuss? Was Jimmy Butler joking about collusion? There's more to this story. At minimum, Horst had enough reason to pursue this for 3 months and insist on secrecy to the extent that one of the 3 teams involved didn't know his team's identity. The stuff about Jrue is another ruse. Of course they were honest to Jrue and of course Giannis knew. You have to pretend like Giannis is in the background to keep alive the myth that he might leave.

Jrue's declaration the day before the trade wasn't coincidence. Portland needed his value cemented.

[MVP2110]

Ask yourself how Horst was working on this in early July and why he worked it so hard for 3 months if Lillard was only going to Miami. Many if not most will dismiss this as simply due diligence in the event something changed. But if it takes another question, then ask yourself what Giannis and Horst discussed? What did Giannis and Lillard discuss? Was Jimmy Butler joking about collusion? There's more to this story. At minimum, Horst had enough reason to pursue this for 3 months and insist on secrecy to the extent that one of the 3 teams involved didn't know his team's identity. The stuff about Jrue is another ruse. Of course they were honest to Jrue and of course Giannis knew.

Jrue's declaration the day before the trade wasn't coincidence. Portland needed his value cemented.

It's always weird to me when people take reporting from a reporter and decide which parts he's telling the truth on and which parts he's lying on. It would seem either you should trust Woj's reporting or not

[paulpressey25]

Definitely thought it was a lot stronger than any reported Miami offer. Wasn't sure what the Blazers were trying to get, other than "the most".

The Miami offer sucked. Always assumed someone would trump it. But didn’t figure we had enough. Assumed Philly would put Maxey and picks on the table or three way it with the Clippers.

[All The Bucks]

Ask yourself how Horst was working on this in early July and why he worked it so hard for 3 months if Lillard was only going to Miami. Many if not most will dismiss this as simply due diligence in the event something changed. But if it takes another question, then ask yourself what Giannis and Horst discussed? What did Giannis and Lillard discuss? Was Jimmy Butler joking about collusion? There's more to this story. At minimum, Horst had enough reason to pursue this for 3 months and insist on secrecy to the extent that one of the 3 teams involved didn't know his team's identity. The stuff about Jrue is another ruse. Of course they were honest to Jrue and of course Giannis knew.

Jrue's declaration the day before the trade wasn't coincidence. Portland needed his value cemented.

It's always weird to me when people take reporting from a reporter and decide which parts he's telling the truth on and which parts he's lying on. It would seem either you should trust Woj's reporting or not

They report what they're fed. They're never fed everything.

The parts that would kill the notion of Giannis leaving aren't finding their way into any published article. That story will be told by Giannis when his career ends.