Cowherd Interview with Dame! Amazing Interview

[Bigpoppapomp82]

Ok so just listened to Dame interview with Cowherd’s podcast and I gotta say that’s 30 minute summary of why he’s special.

One other thing I’m not sure if anyone else picked up on when they were talking about CJ leaving is he said it’s harder to win a title with 2 guards vs a guard and a wing. Wondering if they have plans to try and move Ant and get him the wing he’s wanted.

[Norm2953]

Ive been pounding the table for a S/T with Orlando for Simons that gives Portland that big, talented wing

Dame would gave had that wing if we had traded CJ before he signed that extension

[BlazersBroncos]

Ive been pounding the table for a S/T with Orlando for Simons that gives Portland that big, talented wing

Dame would gave had that wing if we had traded CJ before he signed that extension

I presume Simons + 6 for 1/2?

Not sure ORL would do that, do you really punt a chance at a true needle mover, on a team lacking true needle movers, for a scoring guard and a AJ Griffin? I just dont see it - not to mention the S&T aspect of it makes it tremendously difficult logistically.

[Goldbum]

Hart's the wing Dame has always needed. Hopefully Nas and the pick are to. We need a guard on the court at all times. I see Ant logging ALL of Dame's backup minutes which should give Dame over half his minutes with Hart at SG.

[Wizenheimer]

I didn't listen to the interview, but....

Blazers have desperately needed a wing since Dame was drafted. And by that I mean, at minimum, an all-star level 2-way wing. I don't count Aldridge as a wing, because what he was in Portland was an all-star level traditional PF. A prime Aldridge in the 'modern' NBA might not be a all-star

Matthews-Batum-Aminu-Harkless-Ariza-Melo-RoCo-Hart....Portland has cycled thru a bunch of budget wings. And of course we can't forget Olshey forcing Powell as SF on the coaching staffs. Matthews was the best of the bunch and he was barely a wing, mostly a SG. None of those guys were/are adequate enough to alter Portland's trajectory and change the team dynamic for Dame

neither was Olshey-darling CJ. But in 30 games in New Orleans, CJ has played with two wings, Brandon Ingram & Herbert Jones, who are much better than any Dame has ever played with. Portland had opportunities to at least try, but Olshey reportedly held CJ untouchable in trade discussions for Paul George and Jimmy Butler (and presumably for Kawhi as well)

Portland invested nearly 10 years with a GM who refused to see the NBA reality about wings. That being that elite 2-way wings is where contenders are made. There really doesn't seem to be another template that gets there, although that doesn't mean there aren't any.

[HoopsFanAZ]

EDITED: Just listened to the podcast. It was excellent. Good job by Cowherd and Lillard was a great guest. Thanks for the heads-up!
Regarding ideas in this thread ... reasonable IMHO.

[JasonStern]

Blazers have desperately needed a wing since Dame was drafted. And by that I mean, at minimum, an all-star level 2-way wing. I don't count Aldridge as a wing, because what he was in Portland was an all-star level traditional PF. A prime Aldridge in the 'modern' NBA might not be a all-star

Matthews-Batum-Aminu-Harkless-Ariza-Melo-RoCo-Hart....Portland has cycled thru a bunch of budget wings. And of course we can't forget Olshey forcing Powell as SF on the coaching staffs. Matthews was the best of the bunch and he was barely a wing, mostly a SG. None of those guys were/are adequate enough to alter Portland's trajectory and change the team dynamic for Dame

neither was Olshey-darling CJ. But in 30 games in New Orleans, CJ has played with two wings, Brandon Ingram & Herbert Jones, who are much better than any Dame has ever played with. Portland had opportunities to at least try, but Olshey reportedly held CJ untouchable in trade discussions for Paul George and Jimmy Butler (and presumably for Kawhi as well)

Portland invested nearly 10 years with a GM who refused to see the NBA reality about wings. That being that elite 2-way wings is where contenders are made. There really doesn't seem to be another template that gets there, although that doesn't mean there aren't any.

It's the off-season in both football and basketball, so I have nothing better to do than reply to this...

Yes. The biggest failure in Olshey's tenure was not making the CJ+picks for Butler to Chicago trade. That is easily a top ten, if not top five, bad move by Portland.

Beyond that, there aren't exactly a lot of all-star caliber wings in the league right now. Olshey tried to max out Chandler Parsons FFS, which shows you a couple of things - Olshey's talent evaluation, the premium the league has on wings in this era, etc.

Batum is so underrated. Everyone bashes him and says he wanted out of Portland but he has been pretty clear that he loves Portland. He's just a mercenary. If Charlotte is willing to pay him $120M and Portland isn't, he's fine securing the bag elsewhere. Olshey's big eff up there was thinking a 27 year old Batum was too old for this Dame-based core and using the cap space to sign... Evan Turner and Festus Ezili?

It's why I hate this cap space idea the Blazers are trying now. In theory, it is great. But in practice, the ability to pay or absorb some massive contract for an elite player depends entirely on a player or a competing team willing to gift you an elite player.

[Norm2953]

Nic's had a 14 year NBA career but he is what he is which is a good but not great player much like CJ
who is paid to be an elite player.

I do think Portland will operate above the cap but will retain some cap flexibility below the tax line
so as to be able to add players better than the vet minimum guys they've had to sign to fill out the
roster.

I'm hopeful this draft will yield them a better wing they haven't had since Nic/LA left in 2015. Stay at
six leaves them with good choice if the the draft ends up with six players in a tier above the rest of
the field.

[Case2012]

I think our best chances at an elite wing is the draft. Also, I think we're all sleeping on how good Nas could be given a consistent role and playing time. He's still really young and improved every year so who knows what his ceiling is.

The main thing I took away from that interview was Dame would be willing to take less money if the blazers came to him with a plan to sign another player, which is obviously easier said than done because... Portland. But crazier things have happened in fa and we all know olshey wasn't gonna be the guy to sell Portland as a desirable place to live. The man didn't even bother masking his contempt for the city. Dame on the other hand could be big in recruiting this summer, which I think the fo is really banking on.

[BlazersBroncos]

Recruiting who though?

This FA class stinks. Is Ayton on a max, with the other constraints that contract would mean, really better than Nurkic at 15-18M?

I think we made some smart moves to create flexibility, but that flexibility won’t be in FA but rather via Bledsoe’s salary ballast and the large CJ TPE.

Worth noting that we can use that TPE in a S&T, so anyone on the market around that 19M AV range could be had using the TPE while also signing Simons and Nurk.

Again tho, this class blows mostly.

[Case2012]

As we’ve seen in previous off seasons, recruiting isn’t limited to FA. Players discuss teaming up and will sometimes request trades to teams of their choosing. PG and Kawhi for example, or RW to LA. Lebron tried to pull that **** with Dame last offseason and it didn’t work. Dame could use his reputation as a leader and all star to bring someone here potentially through trades and I think the Grant rumors are an indication that it could work. We’ll see I guess.