Dame is coming back to Portland!!!

[DusterBuster]

Watch on YouTube

He keeps saying it makes sense... it doesn't but w/e!

I just go back to the roster and this summer be completely **** confusing, like 100000% this makes NO sense.

But lets get weird. This roster is weird. I dont care anymore who starts or whos off the bench... this team has some legit leadership, Dame is almost an assistant coach for a year... so **** it, lets have fun!

I'm done with title or bust, lets just have a team thats giving a ****!

[zzaj]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

[DusterBuster]

Read on Twitter

[DusterBuster]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

I get it, you're right... but if A) all three are still on the roster and B) all three are starter quality...

then there are either major problems or this has worked out more amazing than possible because Deni is a superstar and both Clingkong and Yang hit like we all hope... AND maybe Tou (as I believe) is gonna keep getting better to a PG type level (which is awesome but not as impressive these days).

For all the doom, this roster - because of being so confusing - could just as easily be awesome (or at least fun!)...

[DusterBuster]

The same **** I've been saying all summer, the sports radio said guys said today too... who cares about 41/42 mil over the next 3 years??

Please Wiz or any other CBA expert tell me why 14mil per year is SOOOO crippling we should clutch our pearls? Kinda my Krispert theory too.. who cares about 14ish mil over the next 3 years? I'm happy to spend that more in Dame being back vs rando 35% white dude doing an awesome Joe Ingles impression, but legit, what was this team gonna spend that on anyway?! And don't sell me on some amorphous flexibility plan that's been sold and never happened...

All this handwringing over cap/tax/flexibility is so pointless right now with the current state of the team, and no one has a real plan for it other than the team "should" have it... even tho they have no star to actually use that flexibility around...

I just don't get it.

[DusterBuster]

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?

I mean, he's right, you do continue to be an ass, but isn't that why we're all here?

#AssGroup4Life

Wait no... that can't be it.

[Norm2953]

Is there any way Portland could send Jrue back to Milwaukie if he asks out?

[Shem]

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?

I get it... in a way. Even though your signup year date is the same year as mine, I really don't recall seeing you much over the last 16 years. Judging by your post count, it makes sense.

Wiz and I bumped heads probably the first couple of years... a lot... of my time here. And it's probably my fault since I really just didn't understand where he was coming from and his overall personality. But look at his username. It screams sarcasm. It's easy to lose focus with that because he writes so many indepth serious posts and adds a lot of stats, etc. Things that really take time to compile and we as a community value the time and energy he puts into that. It can easily give you the impression that this guy has no sense of humor when you see all these indepth lengthy posts. But he does.

All I can say it too take a post like that too seriously.

[dckingsfan]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

Yeah, I might disagree with this. I think there is zero chance that Clingan, Deni and Camara aren't starters in 2026-2027. So, unless you trade one of them that leaves one of Lillard, Holiday or Grant to come off the bench. My guess is that it will be Grant unless he ups his defense significantly.

Like with Atlanta, you surround a player like Trae with really good defensive players if you want to get it done.

One more point. You will have two old guys at the point. Lillard/Holiday. If you want to build the team from there - fine. But then you will need to have a few roster changes (you are going to need to move Scoot for example). And you need more wings that defend. Bringing back Thybulle is fine. And assuming that you get a pick in this upcoming draft - you could get lucky. But this is what you have for next season (opinion).

Lillard/Holiday
Camara/Thybulle
Deni/Grant
PF/PF
Clingan/Yang

My 1/2 cent.

[zzaj]

And now apparently (per Box Score PH) CJ is requesting to be traded to Portland.

Why on earth would Portland recapitulate back to an older, worse version of something that wasn't actually all that good to begin with?

[Sinobas]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

Grant will not start over Deni or Camara. I don't particularly care who starts, what matters to me is minute allocation, and the best players getting it, not just because of their contract.

[Walton1one]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

Grant will not start over Deni or Camara. I don't particularly care who starts, what matters to me is minute allocation, and the best players getting it, not just because of their contract.

Correct, knowing Billups he starts over Sharpe, which will be stupid since Sharpe will be coming off the bench in his 4th year and after he played well down the stretch LY, but a typical bad decision from a bad coach

[Case2012]

Can we get something clear?

In 2026-2027, barring catastrophic health, there is ZERO chance Lillard, Holiday and Grant are not starting if they are on the roster.

That means all of Scoot, Sharpe, and one of Camara/Deni are coming off the bench.

Yeah, I might disagree with this. I think there is zero chance that Clingan, Deni and Camara aren't starters in 2026-2027. So, unless you trade one of them that leaves one of Lillard, Holiday or Grant to come off the bench. My guess is that it will be Grant unless he ups his defense significantly.

Like with Atlanta, you surround a player like Trae with really good defensive players if you want to get it done.

One more point. You will have two old guys at the point. Lillard/Holiday. If you want to build the team from there - fine. But then you will need to have a few roster changes (you are going to need to move Scoot for example). And you need more wings that defend. Bringing back Thybulle is fine. And assuming that you get a pick in this upcoming draft - you could get lucky. But this is what you have for next season (opinion).

Lillard/Holiday
Camara/Thybulle
Deni/Grant
PF/PF
Clingan/Yang

My 1/2 cent.

I kinda.. LOVE that roster (Sans Grant).

My take.. you explore moving Scoot, Shaedon, and Grant plus picks for a legit star at the 2, 3, or 4. I see Deni as the 4 and Camara holding it down at the 3, so to me the biggest hole is at the 2. That said, those guys are all versatile enough to slide between positions, so Joe needs to do what this franchise hasn’t done in decades, go all-in and bring in a second star.

Start the season with Scoot and Shaedon, see what they’ve got. But if Shaedon doesn’t take a big step, I’d strongly consider moving him at the deadline before paying him $40M+ for a guy who’s great once every six games. The inconsistency, the low motor, the questionable feel for the game it’s all frustrating. Imagine if he had Yang’s IQ or Camara’s motor. Instead, he disappears, can’t shoot reliably, and the effort just isn’t there. I worry he’ll blow up just in time for the payday and then revert to the 1-in-6 guy.

Package him with Grant and the Magic pick and go get someone who plays winning basketball. Maybe not a superstar, but a high-motor, two-way difference-maker at the 2/3/4.

The team says it wants to win. Dame wants to win. Jrue damn sure wants to win. Let’s back that up with actions. Bring in a player who actually moves the needle.

[Pattycakes]

And now apparently (per Box Score PH) CJ is requesting to be traded to Portland.

Why on earth would Portland recapitulate back to an older, worse version of something that wasn't actually all that good to begin with?

I would acquire CJ dirt cheap to be our 3rd string guard in the long run/we try to go all in.

Jrue/Scoot/CJ
Shae/CJ/Love
Toumani/Thybulle
Deni/Grant/Reath
DC/Yang/RWill

When Dame comes back, push CJ down the pines.

[Wizenheimer]

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..

you're in a dark dark place if you're turning to me for 'vision'

the only reason for Portland to have any cap-space was to get Avdija signed to an extension. And that was always an extremely remote possibility that has been eliminated by Dame's deal

the tax line as a demilitarized zone has been an artifact of the Jody/Bert/Vulcan era. The tax-line--->1st apron is still probably a dead zone until, at least, there is a new owner who can approve or veto that transgression

the only effective flexibility the Blazer have is the margin under the tax line, We've just seen the Dame contract as a symbol of that flexibility. Without the 12.8M in extra margin engineered by Ayton's buyout and subsequent signing by the Lakers, it's almost certain Portland would not have signed Dame

[zzaj]

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..

you're in a dark dark place if you're turning to me for 'vision'

the only reason for Portland to have any cap-space was to get Avdija signed to an extension. And that was always an extremely remote possibility that has been eliminated by Dame's deal

the tax line as a demilitarized zone has been an artifact of the Jody/Bert/Vulcan era. The tax-line--->1st apron is still probably a dead zone until, at least, there is a new owner who can approve or veto that transgression

the only effective flexibility the Blazer have is the margin under the tax line, We've just seen the Dame contract as a symbol of that flexibility. Without the 12.8M in extra margin engineered by Ayton's buyout and subsequent signing by the Lakers, it's almost certain Portland would not have signed Dame

This was my main concern with the Lillard signing--that it impacts Deni's ability to resign, and I'm still a little unclear on exactly what that impact is.

I know you, me and a couple of others have been vocal about how the Blazers are in between a rock and a hard place in terms of resigning Deni...if you don't mind, would you clarify a bit more what you mean by "...has been eliminated by Dame's deal"?

[DusterBuster]

Read on Twitter

You got public transport doing this in town right now.

[tblazrdude]

if the dame and yang additions kick off a chain of events where the blazers stay in portland long term, I'm in. it was pretty clear based on silver's language where things are headed.

[Wizenheimer]

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..

you're in a dark dark place if you're turning to me for 'vision'

the only reason for Portland to have any cap-space was to get Avdija signed to an extension. And that was always an extremely remote possibility that has been eliminated by Dame's deal

the tax line as a demilitarized zone has been an artifact of the Jody/Bert/Vulcan era. The tax-line--->1st apron is still probably a dead zone until, at least, there is a new owner who can approve or veto that transgression

the only effective flexibility the Blazer have is the margin under the tax line, We've just seen the Dame contract as a symbol of that flexibility. Without the 12.8M in extra margin engineered by Ayton's buyout and subsequent signing by the Lakers, it's almost certain Portland would not have signed Dame

This was my main concern with the Lillard signing--that it impacts Deni's ability to resign, and I'm still a little unclear on exactly what that impact is.

I know you, me and a couple of others have been vocal about how the Blazers are in between a rock and a hard place in terms of resigning Deni...if you don't mind, would you clarify a bit more what you mean by "...has been eliminated by Dame's deal"?

ok...looking at Portland's cap/payroll situation, the only semi-legitimate shot at cap-space was going to be 2026-27

keep in mind that the projected salary cap that season is around 165M. And here is a 1st glance at portland's payroll:

Jrue Holiday $34,800,000
Jerami Grant $34,206,898
Deni Avdija $13,125,000
Scoot Henderson $13,585,523
Donovan Clingan $7,519,920
Yang Hansen $4,643,520
Kris Murray $5,315,004
Toumani Camara $2,406,205

Team Totals $115,870,102

so call it 116M for simple math. BUT, what's missing there is Sharpe. Now, Sharpe's cap-hold is 25.2M. Let's say Portland keeps him at that cap-hold level because they intend to re-sign him for more salary than that. As a maneuver, that would be effective unless Sharpe gets a 35M/year offer sheet. But let's ignore that possibility for a moment

so, with Sharpe the Blazers are now at 141M. lets say they don't make the playoffs next season and then use their draft pick to add a 5M contract. Blazers are now at 146M. But that's only for 10 players so Portland would have at least 2 roster charges adding 3M more. So, Portland has 149M in cap-charges giving them 16M in cap-space. If they don't pick up the option for Murray (October deadline), they could delete 5.3M in salary but they accrue another 1.5M roster charge and then have about 20M in space.

but now, with Dame's 14M, Portland is left with 6M in space which is essentially nothing. And it's possible they plan on re-signing Thybulle anyway

but look at that list and notice Camara at 2.4M. We've already been talking Camara signing an extension that would put him at 21M that season, effectively wiping out any Portland cap-space. And, if Camara plays for that option, then he's UFA in 2026...and uh oh. Blazers can decline that team option and then offer Camara a QO that would be around 2M. But if Camara signed an offer sheet for 25M ist year, that would immediately count against Portland's cap and any space would be kaput. And it's really risky letting Camara become either UFA or RFA

anyway, going back to the way the world was before Dame signed, say the Blazers trade that draft pick next season for a future pick. And they ended up with, for example, 23M in cap-space. I've been told they could then take that 23M and add it to Avdija's 12M salary in 2027-28, bringing him up to 35M that season. And that would be the base salary for an extension. I think it would be limited to three years. Maybe, 36M/year would have been enough to get him to sign. I'm skeptical because the max that season for a player with 7 years of experience is 60M

anyway, that all water under the bridge after the Dame signing

[zzaj]

if the dame and yang additions kick off a chain of events where the blazers stay in portland long term, I'm in. it was pretty clear based on silver's language where things are headed.

Mike Richmond, who happens to be a real estate guy, devoted a whole episode to this. His thought was this is simply the NBA commissioner doing what every commissioner does in all of the leagues—protecting the interests of his bosses, which are the team owners.

Basically, Silver is leveraging the city and it’s citizens to upgrade the Rose Garden (rather than team ownership) by making it seem like the team will up and leave if they aren’t all in. He pointed out multiple instances where this has happened across all sports.

I just have a hard time, given what we know about how successful the Blazers have been in this area, Silver saying the NBA preference is for the team to stay in Portland, and how opposed to expansion the current NBA owners are, believing that there is a high chance the Blazers are moving any time soon.