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

[Dzon Dilindzer]

Would a Sharpe + Nurkic + 1st in 2023 (if it falls outside of top -3) for Mikal Bridges and Claxton make sense?

that does nothing for the trail blazers, it would make us pretenders, not contenders

if anyone believes that starting five of: lillard-simons-bridges-grant-claxton, can with the chip, then i have to question their bball knowledge... i wouldnt trade sharpe for an all-star (caliber) player, but for a franchise player

og anunoby, siakam, brown, bridges, sabonis, davis, mitchell, butler, adebayo, trae, beal etc, you dont trade talented player like sharpe for these guys unless youre one piece away, which we are not, so you trade sharpe for guys like giannis, embiid, jokic, tatum, luka, zion (if he was serious), booker, ja morant, if they ask for a trade

[Sinobas]

The only way the Blazers have a chance of winning a title with Dame is if someone like Lebron James demands a trade to PDX, which will never happen.

May as well start the rebuild now. Get something for Dame rather than nothing.

[GEE]

I was just thinking... During Dame's visit with Stephen A, Dame got asked about how it felt watching the playoffs and not being a part of it (something like that). Can't help but remember how pissed Dame looked. Forgot what his response was, but it made me think how Dame will be sitting at home, just like all of us, watching the playoffs. Point being, I imagine Dame may have lots of oportunity to envision what it might be like to play for, whatever team he may be watching, on any given night. I also think that many of the teams in this year's playoffs may come inquiring about Dame's possible availability, when they don't win rings.

Another long off season I would imagine for Dame. I think the door is open whether Dame decides to stay or go, and Cronin will continue to build regardless, without bringing in old vets. In the end, I think the long off-season will wear too much on Dame, and he will eventually make a list.

[Jsun947]

Wtf are people acting like Bridges is an all nba player? The dude isn’t even top 5 at his position.

Unless you have two top 10 players on your team he should be the 4th best player in your own roster if you’re a clear cut title contender.

Let’s just say for **** and giggles we were able to put together a starting 5 of Dame, Sharpe, Bridges, Grant, and Turner. Is that obviously a title contender? Probably not?

[Joshumitsu]

The moment the Blazers acquire Bridges, his PPG goes back to 'normal'. In which case, he'll help win games but he didn't seem like a legitimate secondary option in Phoenix. I don't expect any difference should he come to Portland.

Would be a bad idea to trade Sharpe for Bridges.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Mikal Bridges and Jerami Grant as the forwards with Dame and Sharpe is a nucleus of a contending team. With Myles Turner? Assuming a bench upgrade? Yes, a contending team. There are no super teams or dominant teams right now.

[DusterBuster]

I just don't see the Blazers having a realistic chance at Bridges. Don't think there's any appetite by the Nets to move him, even for a "godfather" type of trade offer. On top of that, I think the Nets have eyes on Lillard. They aren't interested in a long youth-rebuild, they would love to stay playoff quality and possibly contend. So knowing that Lillard wants to play with Bridges and they have a lot of rebuilding assets to trade, I think there's a much higher likelihood that Lillard ends up in Brooklyn than Bridges ends up in Portland.

Unfortunately any Lillard to Nets trade would have to require Simmons coming back. If that were the case though, I'd also ship Nurkic with Lillard and ask for Claxton back. So basically a deal of Simmons, Dinwiddie, Claxton, O'Neale and all the picks they got in the KD trade for Lillard, Little and Nurkic. Probably let Grant walk at that point.

Simons/Dinwiddie
Sharpe/Knox
Thybulle/Watford
Simmons/O'Neale
Claxton/Hendricks*/Eubanks

*Assuming the Blazers stay around where they are slotted in.

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm sorry I chortled at the idea of the Nets having a better chance at Lillard than the other way around. The Nets sending PHoenix picks to Portland is not going to get it done. Let's not entertain that nonsense.

[DusterBuster]

I'm sorry I chortled at the idea of the Nets having a better chance at Lillard than the other way around. The Nets sending PHoenix picks to Portland is not going to get it done. Let's not entertain that nonsense.

Chort away, but I do believe it’s true. Ignoring any dumb trade ideas, the reality is that the Nets will be interested in getting Lillard, especially knowing that Lillard wants to play with Bridges. So far there is zero indication the Nets would consider moving Bridges. the Nets have interest in seeing the Blazers not make moves so Lillard becomes available and asks out since their team will very likely be on his shortlist of places he wants to go.

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm sorry I chortled at the idea of the Nets having a better chance at Lillard than the other way around. The Nets sending PHoenix picks to Portland is not going to get it done. Let's not entertain that nonsense.

Chort away, but I do believe it’s true. Ignoring any dumb trade ideas, the reality is that the Nets will be interested in getting Lillard, especially knowing that Lillard wants to play with Bridges. So far there is zero indication the Nets would consider moving Bridges. the Nets have interest in seeing the Blazers not make moves so Lillard becomes available and asks out since their team will very likely be on his shortlist of places he wants to go.

I'm interested in winning a million dollars. I don't think the two dollar scratch offs are going to let me have that one though. And they might be on his shortlist, but they have no assets. Phoenix picks won't get it done. And I'd bet good money Portland isn't going to casually send him there at his request if they try to reject overpay deals on Bridges for one of the express purposes of forcing the Blazers to trade Dame.

Philadelphia right away has a much better trade package, and Dame is on record of saying Embiid is one of his favorite players.

[Norm2953]

I think its more likely Brooklyn/Knicks for I can't see Portland wanting to take on Tobias
Harris + picks from Philly

Knicks are a poor fit with Brunson on the scene. Let's say the Blazers ask for the picks in the
2025, 2027 and 2029 drafts + Dinwiddie and whichever SF (not named Bridges) wants from the
Nets. Trade could very well be tweaked to remove Nurk and include Claxton.

Portland would then begin the rebuild around Simons, Sharpe and a vet Dinwiddie in the
back court with Little, Brooklyn SF and pick 5 in their front court with Claxton and Eubanks
at center. It's possible Portland still pays Grant for Portland would have a lot of cap flexibility
with a Dame trade

[DusterBuster]

I'm sorry I chortled at the idea of the Nets having a better chance at Lillard than the other way around. The Nets sending PHoenix picks to Portland is not going to get it done. Let's not entertain that nonsense.

Chort away, but I do believe it’s true. Ignoring any dumb trade ideas, the reality is that the Nets will be interested in getting Lillard, especially knowing that Lillard wants to play with Bridges. So far there is zero indication the Nets would consider moving Bridges. the Nets have interest in seeing the Blazers not make moves so Lillard becomes available and asks out since their team will very likely be on his shortlist of places he wants to go.

I'm interested in winning a million dollars. I don't think the two dollar scratch offs are going to let me have that one though. And they might be on his shortlist, but they have no assets. Phoenix picks won't get it done. And I'd bet good money Portland isn't going to casually send him there at his request if they try to reject overpay deals on Bridges for one of the express purposes of forcing the Blazers to trade Dame.

Philadelphia right away has a much better trade package, and Dame is on record of saying Embiid is one of his favorite players.

I get your point, but if Dame asks out (which is the only way a deal even gets considered / entertained), its going to be a mix of trying to get the best deal but also working with Dame to get him to his preferred destination. So yeah... it's great to do the "this won't get it done" line of thinking for always wanting the best deal, but that's thinking about it in a bit of a vacuum and not really factoring in all the other things at play here. Maybe Dame goes to the team and says the only place he wants to play is Brooklyn, then at that point, all you can do is try to get the most out of that team. That's not to say Portland would "casually send him there at his request", but it's not inconceivable too.

The Blazers simply don't have a ton of leverage here, especially if a lot of teams with players they want to acquire are stonewalling the team in order to get Dame to shake loose. Which when so much about the situation is as public and clear as it is, it's very easy to assume that a lot of teams will be stonewalling to force the Blazers into that very situation.

Still a lot of summer to see what happens, after the lottery particularly.

[DusterBuster]

I think its more likely Brooklyn/Knicks for I can't see Portland wanting to take on Tobias
Harris + picks from Philly

Knicks are a poor fit with Brunson on the scene. Let's say the Blazers ask for the picks in the
2025, 2027 and 2029 drafts + Dinwiddie and whichever SF (not named Bridges) wants from the
Nets. Trade could very well be tweaked to remove Nurk and include Claxton.

Portland would then begin the rebuild around Simons, Sharpe and a vet Dinwiddie in the
back court with Little, Brooklyn SF and pick 5 in their front court with Claxton and Eubanks
at center. It's possible Portland still pays Grant for Portland would have a lot of cap flexibility
with a Dame trade

For as much as I hear about the Knicks, I'm shocked that Brunson going out of NY isn't talked about more by the national media people. Brunson and Dame would be a terrible combo and might end up putting Thibs in an asylum. I would think if Lillard is going to NY, Brunson would be coming back to Portland or going to a 3rd team.

Portland has to hope that if things do get to the point of Dame asking out, there's enough teams on his list he's OK going to that they can drum up a bit of a bidding war for him. Right now, what teams Dame might put on his list is just a lot of educated guesses.

[Norm2953]

A Dame trade would have to be to a contender or to what Dame perceives to be a
contender and one would think it be centered on future picks over win now pieces which
are needed by the other team to be a contender.

In the east, its the Knicks, Nets, Celtics, Cleveland and Philly for the Bucks have few future
picks and I'm doubtful Portland would want Middleton's contract. The Nets are the only team
with extra future picks

In the west, the Pelicans, Thunder, Rockets Jazz have the necessary future picks but none are
the point of pushing in all their chips for Dame.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I have no idea what a Dame trade will look like, but I don't think it will be real pretty for us.

However I also don't think it is as imminent as other people seem to think. Outside of the top 3 I don't see any "must haves" in this draft so its probably fine to trade the pick. Turner or Anunoby would be my guess, which means one of Nurkic or Simons will be gone (probably the former but we might get a little something back with the latter). Then we roll into next season largely the same as this year, talking about how Lillard is going to groom Sharpe as the heir apparent like we did with Simons but besides that going win-now because hey we traded our pick. Use MLE to shore up weakness and its enough to be a play-in team, rinse + repeat Vulcan continues to print money.

[Jsun947]

A Dame trade would have to be to a contender or to what Dame perceives to be a
contender and one would think it be centered on future picks over win now pieces which
are needed by the other team to be a contender.

In the east, its the Knicks, Nets, Celtics, Cleveland and Philly for the Bucks have few future
picks and I'm doubtful Portland would want Middleton's contract. The Nets are the only team
with extra future picks

In the west, the Pelicans, Thunder, Rockets Jazz have the necessary future picks but none are
the point of pushing in all their chips for Dame.

I really don’t think the Nets with Dame is a top 3 team in the East assuming the Bucks, Celtics, and Philly run it back.

If Portland traded their 1st & Simons for a useful player our roster with Dame is likely better than the Nets roster with Dame

[Norm2953]

I wonder what we could get for Simons + 5 if the rest of the league also thinks its a 1 player draft?

[HopelessKnick]

I wonder what we could get for Simons + 5 if the rest of the league also thinks its a 1 player draft?

I think you could get a pretty nice player---maybe not quite an all-star but close to it.

[GEE]

Backwards Thinking - (There's a synonym for that)

[Norm2953]

It would be interesting if Miami offered up Bam in the trade for Dame. Whether Dame wants to go to
Miami or whether he perceived the Heat to be contender is another matter.

Bam would be a really good fit if Portland built around Sharpe/Simons and whoever they pick at 5

Imagine Bam, Grant and whoever they pick at 5 on a team with Simons and Sharpe.