Lillard: I don't want to be a part of a rebuild.

Village Idiot · Post #101 » by **Village Idiot** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:59 am

Jsun947 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Interesting. I’ve seen other people in the basketball world confirming there is mutual interest between those players.

I’d guess a list may consist of

Jaylen Brown
Mikal Bridges
OG
Siakam
Turner
LaVine
Derozan
Draymond
Butler
Middleton
Towns
Ingram
Embiid
Ayton
Beal

Anthony Davis would be on the top of my list. He and Dame have a relationship and there have been plenty of signs that he isn't entirely happy in LA.

Norm2953 · Post #102 » by **Norm2953** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 5:38 am

DusterBuster wrote:
Norm2953 wrote:Indeed, the results of this lottery will impact every lottery bound team for years to come for Victor is supposed to be the next generational player since Lebron.

I'm going to assume Portland will finish 6-7. This is a solid draft which will add another young player who eventually will help Portland. Not going to help Dame much but the return from a Dame trade will finally lead to a course of action instead of the band aid approaches.

No will, should. It SHOULD impact every lottery bound team. Regardless of what national media says for some high end talent in the draft being generational, that’s not a thing until it’s a thing. Wemby could be a bust or have loads of injuries so that whatever team gets him is just another Oden story.

That could be said about every generational talent from Kareem in 1969. In some respects, this draft to me
looks like 1969 for the Suns who picked second, picked Neal Walk after the Bucks picked Kareem.

Walk wasn't a bad player but he wasn't Kareem. All the other guys in this draft look to be decent players but none
of them have the tools to be dominant, which is all a team wishes from the first pick.

EricAnderson · Post #103 » by **EricAnderson** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 2:50 pm

There is no player available who’s gonna put the Blazers from out of the playoffs to contenders.

Trading a high pick going all in for the small window of Dames prime left would be foolish

DusterBuster · Post #104 » by **DusterBuster** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:02 pm

EricAnderson wrote:There is no player available who’s gonna put the Blazers from out of the playoffs to contenders.

Trading a high pick going all in for the small window of Dames prime left would be foolish

The only thing foolish is to make any sort of black and white all-or-nothing style comments like that. And I say that while agreeing with your thought there. I don't think there is either, at least not clearly, but sometimes moves that seem unimpressive end up paying off a lot bigger than expected.

PDXKnight · Post #105 » by **PDXKnight** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:16 pm

Village Idiot wrote:
Jsun947 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Interesting. I’ve seen other people in the basketball world confirming there is mutual interest between those players.

I’d guess a list may consist of

Jaylen Brown
Mikal Bridges
OG
Siakam
Turner
LaVine
Derozan
Draymond
Butler
Middleton
Towns
Ingram
Embiid
Ayton
Beal
Anthony Davis would be on the top of my list. He and Dame have a relationship and there have been plenty of signs that he isn't entirely happy in LA.

AD has an injury history, I might deal anf & a couple firsts for him but not much else

Post #106 » by **DeBlazerRiddem** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:45 pm

Sounds like Dame is saying "Look I've done my part, there are good players who I have talked to behind the scenes about playing in Portland and they are open to it. Now Cronin/Jody/Vulcans have to do their job and go get some of those players I have been working on recruiting"

Honestly kind of feels like an "you've been put on notice" thing.

DusterBuster · Post #107 » by **DusterBuster** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 4:59 pm

DeBlazerRiddem wrote:Sounds like Dame is saying "Look I've done my part, there are good players who I have talked to behind the scenes about playing in Portland and they are open to it. Now Cronin/Jody/Vulcans have to do their job and go get some of those players I have been working on recruiting"

Honestly kind of feels like an "you've been put on notice" thing.

Yep, as it should be. It's time. He gave the team ample time at this point to restructure and rebuild assets. The team has valuable pieces now for an All In move. It may require losing a piece the fans here won't like to think about moving (Sharpe), but the assets are finally in place - especially if they can use the Knicks pick to pay off the Chicago trade debt that's been locking up their FRPs for big deals.

So far nothing I heard out of the exit interviews has made me change my mind about the likelihood of what this offseason will be like. The lottery will - obviously - be the first big domino that needs to fall. Basically everything is on hold until then and all potential plans will hinge on the lottery outcome. Since staying at 5 is literally the least likely outcome, only one of two things can happen that night... the Blazers move up or move down.

Aside from landing #1, if they move up or down, I think Portland goes all out to try and move the pick with players to get that "all in move". The higher the pick, the more likely I think it can be that a deal can get done. If it's a pick 6-9 with the Blazers moving down, I think making a trade he's infinitely harder. If the Blazers get a week into FA and they've done nothing of note... so they just made their picks, kicked the cans on some mid-level FA signings... then I think we're solidly into "time to trade Dame" territory.

DusterBuster · Post #108 » by **DusterBuster** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 9:32 pm

Its nice to see that the players still support Billups and it doesn't look like that will be much of a distraction - as much as I would love to see Billups replaced. The quotes were interesting from the players. All the players, with all their praise, almost all of them admitted he's not really a good coach and his inexperience hurt them,

tester551 · Post #109 » by **tester551** » Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:44 pm

DusterBuster wrote:Its nice to see that the players still support Billups and it doesn't look like that will be much of a distraction - as much as I would love to see Billups replaced. The quotes were interesting from the players. All the players, with all their praise, almost all of them admitted he's not really a good coach and his inexperience hurt them,

Agreed. I noticed that too.

Sometimes its hard to call out that someone you really like as a person is not performing up to the standard needed.

GEE · Post #110 » by **GEE** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:14 am

My general thinking is that if Dame were to get traded, his possible destinations may be quite limitted compared to a couple years ago. Maybe not with the new TV deal coming, IDK but here's something I just punched up cause I was bored:

The Nets trade: Simmons / Claxton / Dinwiddie / Picks
The Blazers trade: Dame / Nurkic

Dame can test has rap skills there in Brooklyn, while taking his buddy to the other coast to play with a fairly good team as currently constructed. Surely Dame can recruit someone to join him there and they'd then be a force in the East. We on the other hand would get three players that would greatly improve the balance of our roster, and in my opinion, make us a very scary bunch to contend with, especially if we used our picks this year and potentially the Nets'.

Simons / Dinwiddie / Mays
Sharpe / Thybulle
Grant / Little / Knox
Simmons / Winslow / Watford
Eubanks / Claxton / Walker

DusterBuster · Post #111 » by **DusterBuster** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:25 am

GEE wrote:My general thinking is that if Dame were to get traded, his possible destinations may be quite limitted compared to a couple years ago. Maybe not with the new TV deal coming, IDK but here's something I just punched up cause I was bored:

The Nets trade: Simmons / Claxton / Dinwiddie / Picks
The Blazers trade: Dame / Nurkic

Dame can test has rap skills there in Brooklyn, while taking his buddy to the other coast to play with a fairly good team as currently constructed. Surely Dame can recruit someone to join him there and they'd then be a force in the East. We on the other hand would get three players that would greatly improve the balance of our roster, and in my opinion, make us a very scary bunch to contend with, especially if we used our picks this year and potentially the Nets'.

Simons / Dinwiddie / Mays
Sharpe / Thybulle
Grant / Little / Knox
Simmons / Winslow / Watford
Eubanks / Claxton / Walker

You lost me at Eubanks starting. At least do Simmons at C.

But seriously, Simmons career is toast. Back issues for guys his size are not things that get better. I think we’re looking at a Dwight Howard situation. Even when it’s 100% healthy, he’s only ever 60% of what he was.

DusterBuster · Post #112 » by **DusterBuster** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:34 am

If you want an oft-injured player who might still be able to pull something out of his career, why not Nurkic for Johnathan Isaac.

That said, that’s a deal I can only see if they are moving off Lillard and going full rebuild.

DusterBuster · Post #113 » by **DusterBuster** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:42 am

If you want the first team to keep an eye on for playoff flameout firesale this summer, the Heat are your leaders in the clubhouse! Butler and Bam should be on the radar for for sure.

BlazersBroncos · Post #114 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:44 am

Ya all Blazer fans really should be rooting for a Miami loss. Not guaranteed but a loss for sure puts them in a spot to contemplate some tough things.

GEE · Post #115 » by **GEE** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:47 am

I question whether Simmons' issues are genuine, or if he's just unhappy there in Brooklyn, like he obviously was in Philly. I believe a change to laid back Portland would be great for the kid. I think Chauncey and Cronin would need to meet with Simmons first obviously, and feel comfortable with Simmons' ability to commit to the Blazers, but I strongly feel... that once Chauncey and Simmons meet, they will hit it off like wildfire. I also think that our team's culture would be just the embrace Simmons needs, to return to his rookie form.

And yes... Eubanks starting. Of course my hope is for someone like M.Williams to start a year or two from now, but Eubanks has been dominating most other teams center all season long and can remain a Blazer as long as he likes. Simply loving the "Shaq of Troutdale"... we just need to get him some help and Claxton is no scrub. I think he could fit in here very nicely. And of course we could always move Simmons to the 5 and run other teams out of the gym.

DusterBuster · Post #116 » by **DusterBuster** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 1:48 am

Nurkic, Simons, the Blazers lottery pick (6-9) and the Knicks pick for Bam and Duncan Robinson.

Heat start loading up on young talent, they can pair Simons and Herro, plus have a serviceable C to stay competitive and unload Robinsons awful contract.

Blazers get an All Star athletic C and see if Robinson can reboot his career with a change of scenery.

Case2012 · Post #117 » by **Case2012** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 2:28 am

EricAnderson wrote:There is no player available who’s gonna put the Blazers from out of the playoffs to contenders.

Trading a high pick going all in for the small window of Dames prime left would be foolish

This is a ridiculous statement, you don't know that at all. Unless you can see the future?

JasonStern · Post #118 » by **JasonStern** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 5:10 am

Read on Twitter

GEE · Post #119 » by **GEE** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 10:46 am

WOW! So I got home yesterday and saw I had the game recorded twice, with one of them listed "Stephen A's world". Major click-bait, so I checked it out and saw that SAS created a knock off of the Manning Monday Night Football format with guests during the game, and who decided to just casually drop... Dame.

What I saw in short, was a planned appearance where Dame clearly had a message to deliver. A demand essentially, that puts heat on Cronin to go all in, or else. This stunt does not help the team's efforts, it kills Cronin's leverage for any deal making with other teams and I can't imagine management is very pleased right now and neither am I. Quite sick of it personally. He needs to either just STFU and keep thing IN-HOUSE, or just leave already. It's just embarrissing.

Maybe Dame's, "The Treadmill".

DusterBuster · Post #120 » by **DusterBuster** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 11:48 am

GEE wrote:WOW! So I got home yesterday and saw I had the game recorded twice, with one of them listed "Stephen A's world". Major click-bait, so I checked it out and saw that SAS created a knock off of the Manning Monday Night Football format with guests during the game, and who decided to just casually drop... Dame.

What I saw in short, was a planned appearance where Dame clearly had a message to deliver. A demand essentially, that puts heat on Cronin to go all in, or else. This stunt does not help the team's efforts, it kills Cronin's leverage for any deal making with other teams and I can't imagine management is very pleased right now and neither am I. Quite sick of it personally. He needs to either just STFU and keep thing IN-HOUSE, or just leave already. It's just embarrissing.

Maybe Dame's, "The Treadmill".

I get your point, but I also don’t think him saying this publicly is any sort of surprise knowledge / new intel to people within the league. Fans have known this to be the case for weeks/months now. Really since the team packed it in on the season. And if fans have known it since then, be sure that other teams FOs have too.