JKiddy wrote:Can I ask an honest question in a hypothetical scenario to the die hard POR fans?
Would you rather trade the #3 pick and Ant + Nas + another 1st for Ayton and make it to the playoffs to be eliminated in the 1st round next season and the 2nd round the following?
OR
Trade Lillard to a team and grab several 1st round picks, expiring deals, and a promising young player which will result in you not making the playoffs for the next 2-3 seasons but will be a Western Conference Title Contender in 2027 or 2028?
That's not an honest question because the idea of trading 3#, a future first, and Ant for Ayton is just not realistic or going to happen. That's not presenting this argument in good faith. Unless you're suggesting trading Ant and three for someone else and then Nassir and a future first, separately, for Ayton. Rather than those four pieces for Ayton, which again - is just not realistic or being entertained.
You want to look at this very narrowly. This is a broad discussion.
First of all, the next two drafts are not great. Some are considering them historically weak because of the lack of overall five star prospects and also their caliber. There is some hope with Cooper Flagg if he reclassifies to be ready for the 2025 draft instead of the 2026, but who knows if this happens.
So if the idea is to tank and acquire top shelf talents, the next two years are not ideal. It would add good talent to say a Scoot/Shaedon team, but not a chance at high-end franchise guys currently projected at this time.
Second, right now is the time where there are not a lot of contenders with assets. Look at you - you don't even want to give up the later Phoenix firsts for Dame, which is quite frankly silly in my opinion. While I think there are pretenders who would also try to trade for Dame, Portland would do Dame the courtesy of trading him to a contender. So this leaves teams like Milwaukee, Heat, Boston, maybe Toronto in a reversal of rumors now. And Toronto is not currently like any of those other teams. I don't think Golden State is realistic because of how their roster is constructed. The Lakers have absolutely zero to offer. Denver if they don't make the finals is a darkhorse, maybe. But the contracts of their young players plus injury history make it a bit difficult and Jokic plus Dame could go together for another 4-5 years at a high, high level.
Boston trading Brown I don't think would happen and they don't have any other young assets of merit. No, Pritchard is not an asset of merit.
The Heat could trade Herro, JOvic and several first round picks, rerouting Herro to another team for a mid-to-late lottery pick potentially too. That isn't the worst. And a lot of us love Jimmy here and this is probably what we could stomach most as a fan base.
This or Milwaukee. But Milwaukee has no assets. None. They would have t trade Jrue for something and he isn't going to get a lot of assets at this stage. There's just nothing there. Outside of Giannis, of course, POrtland has far, far, far more assets than Milwaukee at this point just due to Shaedon and the three.
The Nets could conceivably send the two later Phoenix picks for future stockpiling and the 2025 Phoenix pick or the 2027 Philly pick, plus maybe Claxton, but you are sort of unreasonable in how you've addressed us and quite frankly I don't want to invest the time in that conversation again.
So those options aren't overly appealing to Portland. Why should Portland take unappealing trade proposals this summer? This is not just about this summer, this can also extend into this year.
Asking Portland to accept terrible offers this summer doesn't benefit us. It benefits other teams. Portland could just choose Scoot if he's there. Hold onto Scoot, Shaedon, future picks, Ant and then if things say get worse in Philly during the year, offer that package to Philly and see what happens. Or see if teams who think they are contenders but are faltering, maybe they increase their packages for Dame.
Portland loves Dame. From fans to front office, and contrary to one of the posts above me - most Portland fans, the majority by a good margin, do -not- want to trade Dame. And while Portland would respect him and accommodate him if he requested a trade and send him to a good situation for himself, they are not obligated to accept a bad or middling offer for Damian just because other fans deem it so.
