[Haynes]: Lillard Met With LeBron, AD This Off-season; Neil Oshley Refuses to Trade Dame To LAL

[levon]

I like Lillard but I'm the other poster: he's talking way too much for his heart to actually be in Portland. He's almost trying to publicly rationalize staying even though he sees no basketball reasons to, to convince himself. Like either ask out or don't talk about it so much.

It reminds me when AD used to talk about this all the time. His own teammates would tell him to request a trade when they'd see he's unhappy.

And the difference between him and Giannis should be pretty obvious to him. The Bucks and Blazers are not comparable, and Giannis and he are not comparable players.

[Quattro]

Lebron is the undisputed GOAT of tampering.

[thebigbird]

In the last 3 years Lillard has been 28.2/4.5/7.1 on a TS% of .598 in the playoffs. Not sure that's really all that underwhelming.

He’s lost in the first round four of the past five years. The year he didn’t lose in the first round, he got swept by a Durant-less Warriors team while averaging 22 ppg on 54.6% TS. In 2018 he got swept as a #3 seed. Most players would get hated on for postseason results like that.

We can all choose whatever cutoff we'd like. Lillard has been fine in the playoffs after the 2017-18 season. It's just objectively true. He's had some bad series, some good series, and some mediocre series like most stars/superstars. No one's arguing that Dame is a top 20 player all-time... Every player has ups and downs in the playoffs and plenty of players in Lillard's range as a player have a lot of ups and downs in the POs.

Lillard has been fine over the past 3 years.
There's no shame in losing to the #1 Lakers who won the Championship as the #8 seed.
There's no shame in being beaten by the Nuggets while posting 34.3/4.3/10.2 with 2.2 TO's a game on a TS% of .660.

Blazers were outclassed by the Warriors even without Durant (Blazers had to start Kanter), and Lillard didn't have a good series. It's a bit of a misnomer to truly call them the #3 seed. There clear 2nd best player that year (Nurk) went down with a long-term injury. They aren't a #3 seed starting Kanter all year. It's not like he was Kyrie against the Bucks though in that series.

Even if you don’t want to call them a #3 seed in 2019 when they lost to golden state, they had Nurkic in the playoffs in 2018 when they got swept by New Orleans as the #3 seed. Lillard gets a lot of praise that other players wouldn’t get for similar results.

And the amount of time he spends talking about how ‘loyal’ he is gets extremely annoying. Like, we get it dude. It’s like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s making the right decision so he never shuts up about it.

[sip]

I love Lillards game but this bitching about doing what it takes to win a title is just annoying. The blazers are constantly making moves to try and take that next step but they have had injury issues or players just under perform. Last year they made moves for Covington and Powell. Both guys were key additions. Unfortunately Covington didn't live up to expectations but everyone loved the move at the time. Then of course you have his insane salary that is going to put them in a tough position going forward. All these guys bitch about wanting to win but in the end the only guy that ever put his money where his mouth is has been Tom Brady who has always taken less money to allow his team to add or re-sign key players.

In the NFL taking less money is far more effective for building a team, the only time it really matters is in the NBA is when trying to sign like 2 or 3 superstars onto the same team.

LBJ+Wade+Bosh all took slightly less money to make the salaries work when they joined the Heat. Lillard actually did take slightly less money in his first contract, but with the soft cap teams willing to spend can spend as much as they want re-signing players with bird rights, they just can't sign new players to the roster.

So long story short in the NFL an extra $5 or so million can be a solid player meanwhile in the NBA that is true but if your team is over the cap either way the extra salary means less.

This is simply not true. Being deep in the luxury tax and dealing with the repeater tax is debilitating to teams. Him taking 10 mil less per year means that ownership is far more likely to either extend a guy like Simons or use the tax payer exception moving forward.

[Roy The Natural]

He’s lost in the first round four of the past five years. The year he didn’t lose in the first round, he got swept by a Durant-less Warriors team while averaging 22 ppg on 54.6% TS. In 2018 he got swept as a #3 seed. Most players would get hated on for postseason results like that.

We can all choose whatever cutoff we'd like. Lillard has been fine in the playoffs after the 2017-18 season. It's just objectively true. He's had some bad series, some good series, and some mediocre series like most stars/superstars. No one's arguing that Dame is a top 20 player all-time... Every player has ups and downs in the playoffs and plenty of players in Lillard's range as a player have a lot of ups and downs in the POs.

Lillard has been fine over the past 3 years.
There's no shame in losing to the #1 Lakers who won the Championship as the #8 seed.
There's no shame in being beaten by the Nuggets while posting 34.3/4.3/10.2 with 2.2 TO's a game on a TS% of .660.

Blazers were outclassed by the Warriors even without Durant (Blazers had to start Kanter), and Lillard didn't have a good series. It's a bit of a misnomer to truly call them the #3 seed. There clear 2nd best player that year (Nurk) went down with a long-term injury. They aren't a #3 seed starting Kanter all year. It's not like he was Kyrie against the Bucks though in that series.

Even if you don’t want to call them a #3 seed in 2019 when they lost to golden state, they had Nurkic in the playoffs in 2018 when they got swept by New Orleans as the #3 seed. Lillard gets a lot of praise that other players wouldn’t get for similar results.

And the amount of time he spends talking about how ‘loyal’ he is gets extremely annoying. Like, we get it dude. It’s like he’s trying to convince himself that he’s making the right decision so he never shuts up about it.

I disagree with you completely on the first paragraph. Most players get MASSIVE passes for their piss-poor playoff series, as long as they balance them with good ones. I think most people are of the mindset, "what have you done for me lately"... It's not overly relevant what Lillard looked like in playoff series 5 years ago. We're not talking about his placement in the all-time list. He's objectively been solid over the past 3 years in the playoffs.... not amazing... not bad... but solid, with some flashy series in there.

I'm fine with you being annoyed by him. It's whatever. I'm just trying to clear the misnomer's here. Lillard has been fine the past 3 years and has 1 bad series in that timeframe out of 5.

[DroseReturnChi]

so lillard wanted badly to be laker. westbrook straight up or washed AD if serious.

[FreeThrowLine]

“After security opened the gate for the vehicle to enter the property, Lillard was met at the door by a house staffer who escorted him through the living room and into the elevator”

We needed this level of detail why?

Upon exiting the elevator, Lillard took a step with his left foot, followed by his right and repeated this until he reached his seat, then he sat, his left buttock touched the cushion first

[Ballerhogger]

i mean of course he wasn't going trade him to us... non issue.

[Ballerhogger]

“After security opened the gate for the vehicle to enter the property, Lillard was met at the door by a house staffer who escorted him through the living room and into the elevator”

We needed this level of detail why?

Upon exiting the elevator, Lillard took a step with his left foot, followed by his right and repeated this until he reached his seat, then he sat, his left buttock touched the cushion first

to make it sound like it was secret meeting

[Ballerhogger]

:nonono:

Westbrook and tht for dame and salary filler

That’s about 5 FRP short

well throw nin DeAndre JORDAN!

[OdomFan]

I'd rather see Dame sign with the Knicks or Heat if he leaves at all. The Lakers and Nets getting everyone is lame.

[Shock Defeat]

LeBron trying to recruit Lillard by taking him to his rooftop is like Palpatine telling Anakin about the tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise.

Why does LeBron always try to recruit star players and create super teams? I bet you there is not one elite player where Bron hasn't tried to join forces with.

[levon]

LeBron trying to recruit Lillard by taking him to his rooftop is like Palpatine telling Anakin about the tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise.

Why does LeBron always try to recruit star players and create super teams? I bet you there is not one elite player where Bron hasn't tried to join forces with.

you realize every player does this right? Kawhi, Durant, Giannis, DAME has been trying to recruit to Portland. Lebron tried to recruit to Cleveland forever.

[Cavsfansince84]

LeBron trying to recruit Lillard by taking him to his rooftop is like Palpatine telling Anakin about the tragedy of Darth Plageuis the Wise.

Why does LeBron always try to recruit star players and create super teams? I bet you there is not one elite player where Bron hasn't tried to join forces with.

I think part of is that he feels like he got screwed over his first 7 years in Cleveland and then by KD going to GS. So now he's in his late 30's and gonna recruit whoever he needs to to win more titles in LA. Plus he gets to sell guys on being a Laker and living in LA. So all he really needs to do is invite them to lunch at his mansion.

[JRoy]

:nonono:

Westbrook and tht for dame and salary filler

That’s about 5 FRP short

well throw nin DeAndre JORDAN!

Tired of the Superfriends
I want a competitive league

[Swish1906]

Lillard desperately trying to put him next to Dirk but yet takes this "meetings" lmao

Fake supermax loyalty

[zimpy27]

Why did I need to read what salad they had? The detail in this article creeped me out I gotta say. Feels like the re-enactment of a crime

[formula 400]

The problem is how do the Blazers surround him with adequate talent.

Giannis a legit MVP caliber player with a freakish body and he's arguably the best defensive player in the league. Dame in my opinion is a top 10 player but he isn't necessarily MVP caliber.

I just don't see the Blazers with a chance of making it past the 2nd round unless they somehow trade for another legit top 10 NBA player.

It's tough, I respect his loyalty.

too late

[jokeboy86]

I'll say this, the second Lebron retires the Lakers are probably going to get another big star to come play with Davis Not only did you have Magic,(and before Kobe) the mystique and history of the Lakers franchise, and the city of L.A. to lure players but now Lebron(and by association Paul) will probably try recruiting guys there too. Dame is different but I could easily see some younger player being easily swayed by that type of meeting with Lebron and AD. Reading that blurb almost made me want to live in LA lol.

And again I believe somehow someway Ben Simmons winds up on the Lakers sometime in his career.

[levon]

I'll say this, the second Lebron retires the Lakers are probably going to get another big star to come play with Davis Not only did you have Magic,(and before Kobe) the mystique and history of the Lakers franchise, and the city of L.A. to lure players but now Lebron(and by association Paul) will probably try recruiting guys there too. Dame is different but I could easily see some younger player being easily swayed by that type of meeting with Lebron and AD. Reading that blurb almost made me want to live in LA lol.

And again I believe somehow someway Ben Simmons winds up on the Lakers sometime in his career.

I don't find LA the best place to live personally, but it's clear that young millionaire athletes do, and that it's the real mecca of basketball now. I think you're right--the Lakers and to some extent the Clippers are going to be destinations for the forseeable future.