Lillard is working his way out of Portland

[JN61]

He is just a victim of the rules. It seem to affect smaller less strong players more.

[Wolfgang630]

Mr. ESPN works here I see

[Lunartic]

He's gonna play hard this season in order to say he "gave it his all" and then "respectfully" request a trade this off-season. It will be handled similarly to the Celtics big 3 wanted to leave. PDX fans will insist the management failed him and Lillard will pretend like he cares sooooo deeply about Portland while he's playing in another city alongside stars.

We all know this will happen and some curmudgeon will bump this or another thread when it happens.

He'd be an insanely good fit on the Knicks with Randle/Thibs, the Heat would be good too.

[axeman23]

Look at his empathic play at the start of the season, while I am not the fan of his by any means, its obvious that he's not trying his best this season, he will seek for the trade before the trade deadline, I can bet anyone on these boards.

[John Murdoch]

Tatum for Lillard…helps both teams

Im suprised u would do that as a Celtic fan..

[Pennebaker]

Look at his empathic play at the start of the season, while I am not the fan of his by any means, its obvious that he's not trying his best this season, he will seek for the trade before the trade deadline, I can bet anyone on these boards.

He was supposed to be a Laker right now so he's grumpy about that.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Ah hahaha anyone know who Dame is knows that this is an early season figuring things out slump. He aint doing this on purpose looking for a trade, yall is crazy.

We know who Damian be, when the time to step up comes he gonna step up but honestly the team has a ton of things we need to figure out with a new coach and he isn't pushing like we deep in the season because to do so now would delay that figuring out process. Dame is just too good, his clutch ability can cover up those flaws a team needs to identify and fix, so its no big that he is starting slow, I would love to see the rest of the team carry us and keep him fresh for when it matters.

Anyways some of these comments gonna look straight silly come midseason because its friggin Damian Lillard man, we know what he does post All-Star break, have you not all learned who this man be already? Lol

[monopoman]

Portland should just trade for Simmons. They got scorers but no defense, it been the same story for years. He's 31 not getting any better.

We sure as **** aren't trading Lillard for Simmons.

The team is .500 playing so far against mostly teams either in the playoffs or were very good last year, while Lillard is playing pretty bad.

[DroseReturnChi]

Ah hahaha anyone know who Dame is knows that this is an early season figuring things out slump. He aint doing this on purpose looking for a trade, yall is crazy.

We know who Damian be, when the time to step up comes he gonna step up but honestly the team has a ton of things we need to figure out with a new coach and he isn't pushing like we deep in the season because to do so now would delay that figuring out process. Dame is just too good, his clutch ability can cover up those flaws a team needs to identify and fix, so its no big that he is starting slow, I would love to see the rest of the team carry us and keep him fresh for when it matters.

Anyways some of these comments gonna look straight silly come midseason because its friggin Damian Lillard man, we know what he does post All-Star break, have you not all learned who this man be already? Lol

i dont think its intentional more like he wants to be with simmons but its not happening in portland so he lost every motivation.
he was like this all season in olympics that close to a regression not a slump. this illness is mental will be cured if he is in a superteam as a 3rd option. not blazers fault because he has too many flaws as a player too.

[DroseReturnChi]

Portland should just trade for Simmons. They got scorers but no defense, it been the same story for years. He's 31 not getting any better.

We sure as **** aren't trading Lillard for Simmons.

The team is .500 playing so far against mostly teams either in the playoffs or were very good last year, while Lillard is playing pretty bad.

yall regret not trading for simmons. dames value is much higher but if blazers are stuck even 2 seasons, simmons value will eclipse a 33 yr old washed up dame. their value was already close when ben got all nba.

[Bird4Three]

Tatum for Lillard…helps both teams

Im suprised u would do that as a Celtic fan..

I’m kinda over Tatum,I feel like he worries about individual stuff too much. Dame is one of my favorite players, and he’s proven how clutch and how much of a warrior he is. He’s not gonna win in Portland.

Boston has been stagnating too long with the Tatum/Brown duo. I like Jaylen’s game more. He has better flow than Tatum, who just kills everything sometimes. I think there’s too much worrying about who’s the alpha dog, and I see more of that coming from Tatum than I do Brown. It seems like a good change of scenery for both players.

[monopoman]

I have a feeling if Lillard was balling to start the season some would speculate he is doing that to make sure teams notice him and that will help him get traded.

[tribulations]

Portland should just trade for Simmons. They got scorers but no defense, it been the same story for years. He's 31 not getting any better.

We sure as **** aren't trading Lillard for Simmons.

The team is .500 playing so far against mostly teams either in the playoffs or were very good last year, while Lillard is playing pretty bad.

yall regret not trading for simmons. dames value is much higher but if blazers are stuck even 2 seasons, simmons value will eclipse a 33 yr old washed up dame. their value was already close when ben got all nba.

I have to say I'm not a fan of Simmons the person but objectively Simmons (+ pieces) for Dame looks better for Portland over time.

[monopoman]

We sure as **** aren't trading Lillard for Simmons.

The team is .500 playing so far against mostly teams either in the playoffs or were very good last year, while Lillard is playing pretty bad.

yall regret not trading for simmons. dames value is much higher but if blazers are stuck even 2 seasons, simmons value will eclipse a 33 yr old washed up dame. their value was already close when ben got all nba.

I have to say I'm not a fan of Simmons the person but objectively Simmons (+ pieces) for Dame looks better for Portland over time.

Well the biggest problem with this supposed trade that everyone forgets to remember, is Simmons made his list of teams/cities he would want to play for. Portland never appeared on the list, and Simmons later came out and said straight up "I DON'T WANT TO PLAY FOR PORTLAND!!!"

We are not trading our best player for a guy that acts like going to Portland is purgatory for him or some ****, he might put up with being here for a year or so but I have a strong feeling he would request a trade unless Portland wins a championship with him shortly after we get him.

I still think the value is lopsided heavily in the Sixers favor even with a few late picks coming to Portland, but the biggest barrier to the trade is Simmons himself.

Only a Lillard hater would claim Ben for Lillard is a fair trade.

[God Squad]

IMO it's nothing more than a cold shooting start. He's just missing most of the shots he usually makes.

[trickshot]

We sure as **** aren't trading Lillard for Simmons.

The team is .500 playing so far against mostly teams either in the playoffs or were very good last year, while Lillard is playing pretty bad.

yall regret not trading for simmons. dames value is much higher but if blazers are stuck even 2 seasons, simmons value will eclipse a 33 yr old washed up dame. their value was already close when ben got all nba.

I have to say I'm not a fan of Simmons the person but objectively Simmons (+ pieces) for Dame looks better for Portland over time.

It doesn't make that much sense. I assume if they trade Lillard they'll be ready to rebuild. If the plan is to trade for and flip Simmons somewhere else for rebuild assets what's stopping them from just accepting a package of rebuild assets for Lillard in the first place. They'd get way more future assets with Lillard than they would with Simmons. It's just adding extra unnecessary steps. It only works if Lillard specifies Philly as a trade destination.

Another thing is if the Blazers rated Simmons they would be trying to trade for him with anything else not named Lillard.

[JN61]

IMO it's nothing more than a cold shooting start. He's just missing most of the shots he usually makes.

I would tend to agree but he is scoring 10 ppg less than last year. His percentages have cratered. He has 4/6 games where is has shot 33.3% or worse. Players with cold starts usually start like Curry last year. Few choke jobs and then get better fast. Lillard has had 1 out of 6 games where he has been close to himself this year.

This has to be the new rules affecting him hard and throwing him out of rhythm without superstar treatment.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

IMO it's nothing more than a cold shooting start. He's just missing most of the shots he usually makes.

I would tend to agree but he is scoring 10 ppg less than last year. His percentages have cratered. He has 4/6 games where is has shot 33.3% or worse. Players with cold starts usually start like Curry last year. Few choke jobs and then get better fast. Lillard has had 1 out of 6 games where he has been close to himself this year.

This has to be the new rules affecting him hard and throwing him out of rhythm without superstar treatment.

Except if you watch the games that isn't what is happening, I don't know why this narrative keeps popping up but it isn't actually based on watching why Dame is struggling. He isn't hunting calls that aren't coming. He's a tad slow getting to the rim and missing shots that he usually makes. He isn't moving like a healthy Damian Lillard, he has bursts but is often saving his energy, it clearly looks like he is dealing with his abdominal injury from the summer. He probably should have dealt with that and hopefully plays himself into a rhythm, but its early going and he seems content to let the team struggle a bit these early games and find some solutions that don't require him to do a carry job every night.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Ah hahaha anyone know who Dame is knows that this is an early season figuring things out slump. He aint doing this on purpose looking for a trade, yall is crazy.

We know who Damian be, when the time to step up comes he gonna step up but honestly the team has a ton of things we need to figure out with a new coach and he isn't pushing like we deep in the season because to do so now would delay that figuring out process. Dame is just too good, his clutch ability can cover up those flaws a team needs to identify and fix, so its no big that he is starting slow, I would love to see the rest of the team carry us and keep him fresh for when it matters.

Anyways some of these comments gonna look straight silly come midseason because its friggin Damian Lillard man, we know what he does post All-Star break, have you not all learned who this man be already? Lol

i dont think its intentional more like he wants to be with simmons but its not happening in portland so he lost every motivation.
he was like this all season in olympics that close to a regression not a slump. this illness is mental will be cured if he is in a superteam as a 3rd option. not blazers fault because he has too many flaws as a player too.

You are all over the place here, but if you really think this is mental illness because Damian LILLARD is sad he isn't on a superteam then

He is off to a slow start not being 100% healthy. That is a pretty common scenario, we don't need to overthink his motivations. He has almost a decade in the league now showcasing his motivations.

[Soulyss]

Eh. He sucked in the Olympics as well

He was injured and severely hampered during the Olympics.. he was out there gutting it out.