Dame is coming back to Portland!!!

[m0ng0]

dark day for mongo and Gee

You continue to be an ass, how much are we paying him this year to NOT PLAY? Does anyone else have a problem with this?

[DusterBuster]

Would've preferred vets min, but still happy and yes, did cry a little.

Someone please explain why we care about billionaires money? This is SPAM again...

I get flexibility, but someone explain why this team needs "flexibility" within the next 2-3 years...

Flexibility only matters when their is a player (or two) thats a clear AS to build around. The Blazers DO NOT have that right now... hopefully its there, but until that's clearly there, cap space only matter in that you don't hit the floor...

[Wizenheimer]

dark day for mongo and Gee

You continue to be an ass, how much are we paying him this year to NOT PLAY? Does anyone else have a problem with this?

lol...and you continue to have the thinnest skin around. It was a joke francis

[The Sebastian Express]

Would've preferred vets min, but still happy and yes, did cry a little.

Someone please explain why we care about billionaires money? This is SPAM again...

I get flexibility, but someone explain why this team needs "flexibility" within the next 2-3 years...

Flexibility only matters when their is a player (or two) thats a clear AS to build around. The Blazers DO NOT have that right now... hopefully its there, but until that's clearly there, cap space only matter in that you don't hit the floor...

I don't care about billionaire's money. I care about the tax, the first and second aprons. Which we have seen through the last handful of years are incredibly important and impactful.

[m0ng0]

dark day for mongo and Gee

You continue to be an ass, how much are we paying him this year to NOT PLAY? Does anyone else have a problem with this?

lol...and you continue to have the thinnest skin around. It was a joke francis

Sorry I'm in Bucharest and have a bad hangover

[DusterBuster]

Would've preferred vets min, but still happy and yes, did cry a little.

Someone please explain why we care about billionaires money? This is SPAM again...

I get flexibility, but someone explain why this team needs "flexibility" within the next 2-3 years...

Flexibility only matters when their is a player (or two) thats a clear AS to build around. The Blazers DO NOT have that right now... hopefully its there, but until that's clearly there, cap space only matter in that you don't hit the floor...

I don't care about billionaire's money. I care about the tax, the first and second aprons. Which we have seen through the last handful of years are incredibly important and impactful.

Sure... and someone - as I've asked all offseason - tell me when this is a concern over the next 2-3 years given the current roster construction or the teams evolution?

No "star" is signing here.

Bringing a "star" into cap space is fools gold...

So what good is the cap for?

...

The only reason the past few years it's been important (as you rightly mentioned) is because the Blazer HAD a star to build around and pissed it away.

When the Blazers HAVE a star again to need space space to build around... then I'll worry about it like you all are, until then...

What are we spazzing about with cap space / flexibility?!?!?

[The Sebastian Express]

Someone please explain why we care about billionaires money? This is SPAM again...

I get flexibility, but someone explain why this team needs "flexibility" within the next 2-3 years...

Flexibility only matters when their is a player (or two) thats a clear AS to build around. The Blazers DO NOT have that right now... hopefully its there, but until that's clearly there, cap space only matter in that you don't hit the floor...

I don't care about billionaire's money. I care about the tax, the first and second aprons. Which we have seen through the last handful of years are incredibly important and impactful.

Sure... and someone - as I've asked all offseason - tell me when this is a concern over the next 2-3 years given the current roster construction or the teams evolution. No "star" is signing here. Bringing a "star" into cap space is fools gold... so what good is the cap for?

The only reason the past few years it's been important is because the Blazer HAD a star to build around and pissed it away.

When the Blazers HAVE a star again to need space space to build around... then I'll worry about it like you all are, until then...

What are we spazzing about???

I didn't say cap space. You did, I didn't.

I said I care about the (luxury) tax, the first and second aprons. Under the new CBA, there are a lot of provisions and limitations that can muck up trades and signing exceptions. Wizenheimer would explain it better than me. So this isn't about cap space, it's about everything else and that's why I would've preferred the vet's minimum (which I also believe would've allowed us to keep the NTMLE into the season to use as a trade exception, but WIz can correct me if I'm wrong).

[DaVoiceMaster]

dark day for mongo and Gee

You continue to be an ass, how much are we paying him this year to NOT PLAY? Does anyone else have a problem with this?

lol...and you continue to have the thinnest skin around. It was a joke francis

"I wish I was a loofah."

[DusterBuster]

I don't care about billionaire's money. I care about the tax, the first and second aprons. Which we have seen through the last handful of years are incredibly important and impactful.

Sure... and someone - as I've asked all offseason - tell me when this is a concern over the next 2-3 years given the current roster construction or the teams evolution. No "star" is signing here. Bringing a "star" into cap space is fools gold... so what good is the cap for?

The only reason the past few years it's been important is because the Blazer HAD a star to build around and pissed it away.

When the Blazers HAVE a star again to need space space to build around... then I'll worry about it like you all are, until then...

What are we spazzing about???

I didn't say cap space. You did, I didn't.

I said I care about the (luxury) tax, the first and second aprons. Under the new CBA, there are a lot of provisions and limitations that can muck up trades and signing exceptions. Wizenheimer would explain it better than me. So this isn't about cap space, it's about everything else and that's why I would've preferred the vet's minimum (which I also believe would've allowed us to keep the NTMLE into the season to use as a trade exception, but WIz can correct me if I'm wrong).

You're right, I said cap, you said tax.

Again... you OR Wiz (who I both ULTIMATELY RESPECT) please explain why it matters over the next 2-3 years.

Im at best a new CBA novice, but I can see where the Blazers are at. 2nd apron is only something a team with multiple All NBAers hit. 1st apron... it hurts but GIVEN THE BLAZERS SITUATION...

What does it matter?!

Someone tell me WHY hitting the 1st apron matters when you don't have a star to build around?! I get the hesitation after the Dame era. When you had a prime Dame, you shouldn't have been as willy-nilly with cap space (2016 - had a fun post about the on the GB for how much money the Blazers spent between Crabbe, Turner, Leonard, and Harkless) and First Round Picks... (Powell, Covington, and ****... Nance Jr!!!).

So I get everyones gun-shyness, I truly do and don't mean to be aggressive about it, BUT WHY!?!?! What in this weird middle ground of the team being for sale and no real star to build around matters with cap space OR tax money?! Give me onnnnneee **** reason!

When Dame was 24 and coming off his rookie deal and it was 2016 where the team had flexibility and not pushing the tax... OK I get it.

When Roy and Aldridge and Oden were coming off their rookie deals and the Blazers had max cap under KP and they were trying to spend it all on Turkiglou... was that how to spend the cap best?! They got Miller, who was AWESOME! but a terrible fit, was that money worth the flexibility / tax?

Someone **** tell me I'm wrong here... when has the tax or having cap flexibility **** MATTERED!!!????

[PDXKnight]

I think its nuts we got a rebuild package which turned into deni, indirectly toumani, and 3 firsts from Milwaukee and we still got the biggest component of the trade back 2 years from the day basically while getting out of his supermax price tag. Talk about selling just in time!

[DusterBuster]

Read on Twitter

[Walton1one]

At this point, all you can do is laugh, until Cronin & Billups are gone, and new ownership is in and hopefully restores order, this will never be a serious franchise

Not sure why so many fans seem to latch on to the fantasy of a 36-year-old coming off an Achilles injury suddenly regaining his form from years ago, when he wasn’t even playing that way before the injury, but yeah sure championship here they come, lol

Nor do I see how Jrue/Dame/Scoot even remotely work a year from now, but clearly Cronin & Billups don't care. I don’t think I could detest a GM more than I do Cronin, that idiot has doomed this team to 3? 4+? years of irrelevance, what a waste of time

I’ll end with this, Dame was a good player in his prime, real exciting to watch, but enough of the best POR player ever nonsense, that is reserved for the best player on a team who led his squad to a championship (Walton), who is closely followed by another player who led his team to multiple finals, and won multiple WC finals (Drexler). A guy who in his entire career made one WC finals and got swept 0-4 does not deserve to be spoken in the same breath as those two players. There really is no debate to be had on this.

If you want to compare Dame to another Blazer player then compare him to Roy, who had equal to/better accomplishments in his short career as Dame has to date

All that fans getting excited about nonsensical moves of mediocrity justifies is why this franchise will never be taken seriously

[Case2012]

Read on Twitter

Not sure about the timing but it seems like they cut Ayton for Dame to come back on that new deal. Interesting. If true, then they basically traded Ayton back for Dame haha.

[DusterBuster]

All that fans getting excited about nonsensical moves of mediocrity justifies is why this franchise will never be taken seriously

If you think prime Dame is coming back, it's not that.

Also, just because you think something is nonsensical doesn't mean it won't work.

People LOVE to give the Rockets their flowers... and I'm one of them!... but their moves that brought a young team with some random good talent into being a team people don't want to play against... what we're they? it was Fred Van Fleet and **** Dillon Brooks.

So we can all **** on the moves this offseason and call them nonsensical... and guess what I AGREE!!!... but lets not pretend we know the outcome of these nonsensical moves, because neither you OR i know... and nonsensical moves that in one summer make franchise a "joke" (you didn't say that, I'm extrapolating) can the next summer look genius.

Just **** be patient and lets see where the **** this nonsense leads. It makes no sense, I agree, but there are some real-world importance to these moves outside of advanced stats and on-court metrics that matter...

(To make it clear, I mean keeping butts in seats and proving Portland is still a viable sports city!!!)

[DusterBuster]

Read on Twitter

Not sure about the timing but it seems like they cut Ayton for Dame to come back on that new deal. Interesting. If true, then they basically traded Ayton back for Dame haha.

I don't believe this was timed, but I give credit for both sides seeing an opportunity and taking ahold of that.

Dame could have signed with Boston, rehabbed with Tatum, been a nice 7th man comeback story and maybe got a ring... oddly enough, almost followed the Walton path... but when it came down to it, he took the path of being a real legend over a footnote in a title team that already had one.

[Walton1one]

DB don’t agree but respect your viewpoint\enthusiasm

[DeBlazerRiddem]

It's an MLE contract so hard to get too worked up over any potential downside, of which I don't really see. He will be recovering the next year anyways so the same opportunities are still available to our young guys this next year and decisions next year can be made with what we learn.

This is as big of a swing as the team could have made with the MLE, similar to the Yang pick. Big swings are something fans have been asking for after a long time of the team and management playing it safe. Big swings lead to big misses but you know what, if this current house of cards crumbles I don't think it is any huge loss, its not like we have an all time great who is going to walk on us. If nothing about this works out then there just isn't much to worry about losing.

I do agree that I see some complications coming up for us in the near future salary wise but at this point I have decided its not my problem to solve. I'll take it one year at a time. If the team has to break up a good thing then I will get upset then and there but we aren't close to that yet and there are so still a lot of options available before anything drastic has to happen and the team is a long ways from being "a good thing" anyways. In the meantime, Jrue Holiday is still a really good player and if Lillard and Grant can get back any of their previous mojo are fine players too.

I dunno, I'm low key pretty excited about this. I love a good story, I love the optics of bringing back a star player, with team and player having such a good relationship and talking about retiring here. No hard feelings and no burnt bridges is a really good way to operate in this world. I don't know if there will be any real tangible benefit from that but I think there are certain soft benefits.

Anyways, I really like the combo of Holiday/Deni/Camara. I love the way those type players play the game and think they could feed off each other as starters. Same with Clingan/Timelord/Thybulle. Lots of good defensive players who play the game the right way. Grant is obviously a huge question mark, but there is the chance he feels like there is something worth playing for this year.

[DusterBuster]

DB don’t agree but respect your viewpoint\enthusiasm

Genuinely appreciate you're views too!!! I just want pushback on my thoughts. Where's the vision that saving the cap/tax/flexibility is so important for at this specific moment of the teams history? Tell me why worrying about the cap space, 1st, 2nd aropn, tell my why any of it matters in the next 2-3 years with no clear superstar to build around?

@DB, @WALT, @WIZ... someone give me a vision why keeping cap and flexibility matters at this specific moment and time for the Blazers.

I'm not saying ignore and it doesn't matter...but with no real core star to build around yes (I'm pulling like hell Deni is that dude) ... what are we stressing about MLE or dead cap for as a franchise?

Until a rook shows he's "that guy", none of this matters.

[Village Idiot]

I love this. A bit expensive but whatever.

This totally reinforces my suspicion that we make a move for Giannis next off-season with Scoot, Deni, Clingan and the Bucks own picks as the core pieces. Use this year building up the value of those three guys and rehabbing Dame. Bring back Thybulle and RobWill and hopefully Hansen is ready to contribute in a year. To me:

PG: Holiday, Lillard
SG: Sharpe, Thybulle
SF: Camara, Grant
PF: Giannis
C: RobWill, Hansen

is a contender

[DusterBuster]

Watch on YouTube

I. do. not. care.

Having this dude back* is **** awesome.

*at a quarter of the price