Discussing Other Teams' Moves - Part 8

[PaulinVA]

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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Luka is the future. LeBron will soon be the past. Jeannie Buss must not have cared for his input either way.

[closg00]

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[payitforward]

Dame back in Portland -- I like it!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

So, he gets paid one year to be injured. Then, at about 36, he gets to play the last two seasons at $14 Mil.

I rhink it's a ludicrous amount for an old, injured player.

[dorianwrite]

So, he gets paid one year to be injured. Then, at about 36, he gets to play the last two seasons at $14 Mil.

I rhink it's a ludicrous amount for an old, injured player.

You are correct. Other than that it gives their fanbase warm fuzzies, I do not see the purpose of this from Portland's perspective at all.

[payitforward]

That's the purpose....

[Northwest Roddy]

Portland’s timeline is totally different than Jrue and Dame’s. A mistake on top of a mistake. And Dame was on decline before that horrible injury. It doesn’t make any sense. Do they not realize how strong the West is now.

At least the Big Tariff looks good.

[Northwest Roddy]

Isn’t this a huge break for Milwaukee?

[I_Like_Dirt]

Portland’s timeline is totally different than Jrue and Dame’s. A mistake on top of a mistake. And Dame was on decline before that horrible injury. It doesn’t make any sense. Do they not realize how strong the West is now.

At least the Big Tariff looks good.

I don't think they care how good the West is. Fans continuously overrate the benefits of tanking. There are definitely benefits and you don't want to dump your youth for vets but Portland isn't really doing that anyway. Tanking really just buoys you up into the .500 range at best and at that point you need to start outscouting the rest of the league for draft picks, trades, and hidden signings to push yourself over the top.

Idon't love the Blazers situation but I'm not sure they'd be better off having tanked for Demin than having Hansen. Jrue and Dame aren't winning them any serious number of games this season either - they really need Scoot to come through for that. They'll still get an okay pick this year and maybe even luck out in the lottery. And they still have a bunch of kids 25 and under on their roster. The window dressing is more to sell tickets and that's understandable - Dame is a great way to build some fan goodwill without risking a brief overachieving season.

[Northwest Roddy]

Fair point. Dame buys good will. Expensive good will. But it won’t help them win many games.

[nate33]

Portland’s timeline is totally different than Jrue and Dame’s. A mistake on top of a mistake. And Dame was on decline before that horrible injury. It doesn’t make any sense. Do they not realize how strong the West is now.

At least the Big Tariff looks good.

Yeah, this is a downright terrible move by Portland. It borders on malpractice.

Lillard was already declining rapidly as a player. His statistical production may not look that bad, but he has become a turnstile on defense. And that was before the Achilles injury and another full year of aging. So now, they are going to pay $15M to a ghost this season. And then they pay $14M and $13M respectively to a diminutive guard coming off Achilles surgery, aged 36 and 37 respectively.

Teams still continue to overrate former stars. Yes, Lillard was awesome in his peak. But that's over. He is not going to be good in 2 years.

[nate33]

Portland’s timeline is totally different than Jrue and Dame’s. A mistake on top of a mistake. And Dame was on decline before that horrible injury. It doesn’t make any sense. Do they not realize how strong the West is now.

At least the Big Tariff looks good.

Yeah, this is a downright terrible move by Portland. It borders on malpractice.

Lillard was already declining rapidly as a player. His statistical production may not look that bad, but he has become a turnstile on defense. And that was before the Achilles injury and another full year of aging. So now, they are going to pay $15M to a ghost this season. And then they pay $14M and $13M respectively to a diminutive guard coming off Achilles surgery, aged 36 and 37 respectively.

Teams still continue to overrate former stars. Yes, Lillard was awesome in his peak. But that's over. He is not going to be good in 2 years.

Maybe we will be in position to relieve them of their salary disaster next summer when we absorb Grant's awful contract in exchange for taking Deni back!

[I_Like_Dirt]

Yeah, this is a downright terrible move by Portland. It borders on malpractice.

Lillard was already declining rapidly as a player. His statistical production may not look that bad, but he has become a turnstile on defense. And that was before the Achilles injury and another full year of aging. So now, they are going to pay $15M to a ghost this season. And then they pay $14M and $13M respectively to a diminutive guard coming off Achilles surgery, aged 36 and 37 respectively.

Teams still continue to overrate former stars. Yes, Lillard was awesome in his peak. But that's over. He is not going to be good in 2 years.

It depends what they were going to do with their MLE - the salary space below the tax. They had a limited window so they used it. The available guys wouldn't have been better contracts - sure, guys might have been marginally better but we're dealing with the kind of free agency that doesn't help team and the MLE isn't usually the best tool for getting good rotation players. Maybe they could have leveraged some 2nds getting teams under the tax line with the same space. That certainly would be a cost to their actions here but I don't see any major ones.

The bigger issue is the Blazers just aren't that good so they don't actually have salary issues at all here. They're going to have to draft their way out of this with or withoht Lillard.

[nate33]

Yeah, this is a downright terrible move by Portland. It borders on malpractice.

Lillard was already declining rapidly as a player. His statistical production may not look that bad, but he has become a turnstile on defense. And that was before the Achilles injury and another full year of aging. So now, they are going to pay $15M to a ghost this season. And then they pay $14M and $13M respectively to a diminutive guard coming off Achilles surgery, aged 36 and 37 respectively.

Teams still continue to overrate former stars. Yes, Lillard was awesome in his peak. But that's over. He is not going to be good in 2 years.

It depends what they were going to do with their MLE - the salary space below the tax. They had a limited window so they used it. The available guys wouldn't have been better contracts - sure, guys might have been marginally better but we're dealing with the kind of free agency that doesn't help team and the MLE isn't usually the best tool for getting good rotation players. Maybe they could have leveraged some 2nds getting teams under the tax line with the same space. That certainly would be a cost to their actions here but I don't see any major ones.

The bigger issue is the Blazers just aren't that good so they don't actually have salary issues at all here. They're going to have to draft their way out of this with or withoht Lillard.

They were in position to have $40M in cap room next summer (though it would be down to $15M if they kept the cap hold on Shaedon Sharpe).

[DCZards]

Dame was brought back to Portland because of who he is and what he has done for the franchise in the past.

I don’t think Portland believes Dame is going to return to his all star form when he returns to the court in 2026.

[I_Like_Dirt]

They were in position to have $40M in cap room next summer (though it would be down to $15M if they kept the cap hold on Shaedon Sharpe).

Right, so they could have given up Sharpe for the right to overpay in free agency. I get that Lillard doesn't help them besides the feels but the catch is that there aren't great ways to help themselves. Free agency isn't a tool teams can generally exploit barring very parricular targets. I don't see passing on free agency for feels as a serious problem. It's getting their drafting on track that's the key.

[nate33]

They were in position to have $40M in cap room next summer (though it would be down to $15M if they kept the cap hold on Shaedon Sharpe).

Right, so they could have given up Sharpe for the right to overpay in free agency. I get that Lillard doesn't help them besides the feels but the catch is that there aren't great ways to help themselves. Free agency isn't a tool teams can generally exploit barring very parricular targets. I don't see passing on free agency for feels as a serious problem. It's getting their drafting on track that's the key.

I think they could have made some moves to unload one of Jerami Grant or Jrue Holiday and put themselves in position to add one good young free agent to their young core. Instead, they invested a whole lot of money in really old guys (Jrue and Lillard). I think it's a mistake.

[I_Like_Dirt]

I think they could have made some moves to unload one of Jerami Grant or Jrue Holiday and put themselves in position to add one good young free agent to their young core. Instead, they invested a whole lot of money in really old guys (Jrue and Lillard). I think it's a mistake.

What good young free agent could they actually get? It happens occasionally but it's tough. These aren't good moves in the long-term team-building sense but they aren't actually a problem either. The idea is that their picks will eventually eat the cap space with extensions. If they don't, that's where problems start to come up. They're going to have some tough calls with Scoot and Sharpe, both of whom have some issues they need to iron out that the team seems to be hoping to correct with an environment change. I'm not a huge believer in that kind of value but the risk isn't there this time either.

[AFM]

Their biggest problem is that Scoot is ass.