Well Crap.....7th Pick....

[jebdrbhjb]

https://nypost.com/2022/05/18/2022-nba-mock-draft-1-0-where-top-14-picks-will-go/

YES! I get it's a mock draft, but Murray dropping to us would be a huge win!

[m0ng0]

I have a hard time believing that Lavine is a better player than what Anfernee can become. Are we really trading Anfernee for what ends up a worse player just because he might play better with Lillard for the next few years?

We will look like the dumbest team in the league if Anfernee continues his trajectory and becomes a perennial all-star talent next year. Lavine is also a pretty damn bad defender so he doesn't really solve any problem the Blazers have.

I know this will not be popular but you could also think about in 2 years who is a better player Dame at 34 or Ant? What if we could jump into the top 3 by trading Dame getting some filler of some sort and possibly getting another 1st for next year? Which is better long term?

I love Dame as much as anybody else and he will go down as the greatest blazer ever but we are on the treadmill as things stand right now. We could still blow the picks but this gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.

[jebdrbhjb]

So much for some luck. Hopefully, Keegan Murray drops to #7. If he doesn't, I'm leaning towards Jeremy Sochan...but what the hell do I know? Select Sochan and sign Deandre Ayton and I think we're in pretty good shape going into the 2022-2023 season.

We can only sign Ayton if we let everyone walk.

I strongly, strongly, strongly dont believe Ayton is better than Nurkic + Ant.

Actually, it's Nurkic and Ingles that we can renounce and save $38MM and still have almost $30MM for Ant and others....

[jebdrbhjb]

I have a hard time believing that Lavine is a better player than what Anfernee can become. Are we really trading Anfernee for what ends up a worse player just because he might play better with Lillard for the next few years?

We will look like the dumbest team in the league if Anfernee continues his trajectory and becomes a perennial all-star talent next year. Lavine is also a pretty damn bad defender so he doesn't really solve any problem the Blazers have.

I know this will not be popular but you could also think about in 2 years who is a better player Dame at 34 or Ant? What if we could jump into the top 3 by trading Dame getting some filler of some sort and possibly getting another 1st for next year? Which is better long term?

I love Dame as much as anybody else and he will go down as the greatest blazer ever but we are on the treadmill as things stand right now. We could still blow the picks but this gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have toyed with this idea as well, but I think the issue is Portland brass would probably consult Dame on where he'd want to go, and I don't think OKC, Houston, Orlando, etc. would be something he'd be willing to do...and I think we all have way too much respect for Dame to simply ship him out somewhere without his blessing.

[Norm2953]

The 7th pick is actually in a great spot for after Holmgren/Smith go 1-2, the draft plays out well
with Portland sitting in a spot where the centers are slated to go.

Personally I'd consider allowing Nurk to walk and just draft his replacement at 7

[Sinobas]

I have a hard time believing that Lavine is a better player than what Anfernee can become. Are we really trading Anfernee for what ends up a worse player just because he might play better with Lillard for the next few years?

We will look like the dumbest team in the league if Anfernee continues his trajectory and becomes a perennial all-star talent next year. Lavine is also a pretty damn bad defender so he doesn't really solve any problem the Blazers have.

I know this will not be popular but you could also think about in 2 years who is a better player Dame at 34 or Ant? What if we could jump into the top 3 by trading Dame getting some filler of some sort and possibly getting another 1st for next year? Which is better long term?

I love Dame as much as anybody else and he will go down as the greatest blazer ever but we are on the treadmill as things stand right now. We could still blow the picks but this gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.

I agree, if whatever the Blazer do this offseason is not working out by the trade deadline next year, why not reset? Get something for Dame rather than having an old dame on a massive contract.

[m0ng0]

I have a hard time believing that Lavine is a better player than what Anfernee can become. Are we really trading Anfernee for what ends up a worse player just because he might play better with Lillard for the next few years?

We will look like the dumbest team in the league if Anfernee continues his trajectory and becomes a perennial all-star talent next year. Lavine is also a pretty damn bad defender so he doesn't really solve any problem the Blazers have.

I know this will not be popular but you could also think about in 2 years who is a better player Dame at 34 or Ant? What if we could jump into the top 3 by trading Dame getting some filler of some sort and possibly getting another 1st for next year? Which is better long term?

I love Dame as much as anybody else and he will go down as the greatest blazer ever but we are on the treadmill as things stand right now. We could still blow the picks but this gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.

I agree, if whatever the Blazer do this offseason is not working out by the trade deadline next year, why not reset? Get something for Dame rather than having an old dame on a massive contract.

I don't know this to be gospel but Dame wants an extension which would probably need to be done this year? I don't know for sure but it sounds like he would be locked up until he is 36+ years old and as usual we maybe sniff the 7 spot and get rolled as usual... That's not what anybody wants imo. Maybe we get lucky with the 7th pick and our second rounders but I'm not feeling it. I would rather try and roll the dice with 2 firsts this year and maybe 2 more next year and not legitimately TANK but play real hard and gel as a team and probably not make the playoffs this year.

[m0ng0]

55 million at age 36, how can we win with that? And that's assuming he is STILL Dame.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/damian-lillard-wants-two-year-107-million-extension-but-blazers-gm-candidates-are-against-it-per-report/

[soobias]

55 million at age 36, how can we win with that? And that's assuming he is STILL Dame.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/damian-lillard-wants-two-year-107-million-extension-but-blazers-gm-candidates-are-against-it-per-report/

exactly.....
i dont see why people cant see that.
to me there seems to be more and more 2 way players that are young and going to be on decent contracts that with cap space that we can obtain. im not talking about any one player in particular just in general.

[Dame Lizard]

55 million at age 36, how can we win with that? And that's assuming he is STILL Dame.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/damian-lillard-wants-two-year-107-million-extension-but-blazers-gm-candidates-are-against-it-per-report/

Not that I believe everything the media says, but if Dame wants that then we simply have to trade him. Either that, or he just stays with the Blazers and we do our best until his contract runs out (which likely isn't ideal for either party).

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

It's unreasonable to expect Portland to keep shipping out draft picks for good contract role players (RoCo, Larry Nance etc) while you milk every cent out of the the that you can.

Dame's made a lot of money in his career, and he's earnt it, but if he wants to keep maximising his income than he clearly has priorities greater than winning the championship.

[Case2012]

That story came out THE DAY AFTER OLSHEY WAS FIRED. Dame has never confirmed that and olshey leaked it because he's a petty sob. Everyone has been operating under that assumption since and it's caused a lot of damage to Dame and the organization. Again, just petty snake behavior by olshey. Dame has 3 years left on his deal, there's no reason to even discuss an extension yet.

[m0ng0]

So you are saying Woj who has a reputation for being pretty accurate just made all this up?

[monopoman]

Dame has said he is not holding management over a barrel for that huge extension, so unless he is straight up lying to the media and us. I really doubt he is doing that, I could see Olshey making a bit of a ruckus by trying to paint Dame in a bad light. Even if he does want an extension it's not set in stone that he demands every dollar owed.

Many pros have taken a slightly discounted contract in their later years, it's rare to see a player entering the twilight of their career demanding a true super max contract. This is even more true when we are talking about a player that has only played for one team his entire career.

I really don't care about the pittance we could get trading Lillard, I think he will still be a productive player until his mid 30's. I also would love to see him retire a Blazer it's hilarious when many fans put 0 value on that when I think it has immense value.

Olshey screwed Lillard over never making a swing for the fences trade like going after Kawhi or even Harden back when he was leaving Houston. **** Olshey, we could have had a championship roster if we would have trade CJ+Picks and maybe a Trent or Little back then. CJ also had more potential value in a scenario where he is like age 26-28, more teams could buy into him growing as a player.

Outside of the LMA years Lillard has never played with an all-star and meanwhile every other **** perennial all-star in the NBA nearly has had most of their career alongside at least 1 more.

[Dame Lizard]

Dame has said he is not holding management over a barrel for that huge extension, so unless he is straight up lying to the media and us. I really doubt he is doing that, I could see Olshey making a bit of a ruckus by trying to paint Dame in a bad light. Even if he does want an extension it's not set in stone that he demands every dollar owed.

Many pros have taken a slightly discounted contract in their later years, it's rare to see a player entering the twilight of their career demanding a true super max contract. This is even more true when we are talking about a player that has only played for one team his entire career.

I really don't care about the pittance we could get trading Lillard, I think he will still be a productive player until his mid 30's. I also would love to see him retire a Blazer it's hilarious when many fans put 0 value on that when I think it has immense value.

Olshey screwed Lillard over never making a swing for the fences trade like going after Kawhi or even Harden back when he was leaving Houston. **** Olshey, we could have had a championship roster if we would have trade CJ+Picks and maybe a Trent or Little back then. CJ also had more potential value in a scenario where he is like age 26-28, more teams could buy into him growing as a player.

Outside of the LMA years Lillard has never played with an all-star and meanwhile every other **** perennial all-star in the NBA nearly has had most of their career alongside at least 1 more.

I do value Dame remaining a Trailblazer and him retiring as one. I just don't want to do that at the complete expense of our future (which imo is what'll need to occur for us to become a genuine contender).

But yes, Olshey really stuffed us up.

[DusterBuster]

I have a hard time believing that Lavine is a better player than what Anfernee can become. Are we really trading Anfernee for what ends up a worse player just because he might play better with Lillard for the next few years?

We will look like the dumbest team in the league if Anfernee continues his trajectory and becomes a perennial all-star talent next year. Lavine is also a pretty damn bad defender so he doesn't really solve any problem the Blazers have.

I know this will not be popular but you could also think about in 2 years who is a better player Dame at 34 or Ant? What if we could jump into the top 3 by trading Dame getting some filler of some sort and possibly getting another 1st for next year? Which is better long term?

I love Dame as much as anybody else and he will go down as the greatest blazer ever but we are on the treadmill as things stand right now. We could still blow the picks but this gives us a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have toyed with this idea as well, but I think the issue is Portland brass would probably consult Dame on where he'd want to go, and I don't think OKC, Houston, Orlando, etc. would be something he'd be willing to do...and I think we all have way too much respect for Dame to simply ship him out somewhere without his blessing.

Yeah, I think you'd need some sort of 3-team deal, no way Dame would accept a trade to any of the Top 4 teams tbh. And I know the "he's under contract, he doesn't get a say" response that's probably coming, but fact of the matter is the team absolutely 100% would work with Dame to get him to the team of his choice out of respect for his time with the team.

[The Sebastian Express]

Olshey was a direct source to Woj, so no Woj is probably not a trustworthy source on this one. Haynes, on the other hand, is widely known to be linked to Dame.

[Wizenheimer]

some people want Dame traded. And they seem to believe (wrongly in my view), that Portland will get some great return from trading Dame (Blazers won't). But because they want Dame traded they will tend to believe anything that might be construed as a negative about Lillard remaining a Blazer in order to support their argument. That Dame will age is certain; that he wants a max-extension is not

Woj spent about 6 years acting as Olshey's national mouthpiece. Just like Dwight Jaynes spent Olshey's tenure acting as Olshey's local mouthpiece. So yeah, it's fishy as hell that the 'Dame-wants-a-max-extension' story came out the day after Olshey had finally had his ever-so-deserving assss fired. Almost no doubt where that story came from and it really confirmed the rumors that Dame and Olshey did not have a good relationship; and of course that Olshey is a slime-coated snake

that said, I'm certain Dame is like everybody with a job in wanting to be paid extremely well for his efforts. But he's also unlike a lot of players in the NBA. People apparently don't know or forgot that when Dame got his rookie extension he took LESS money so Portland would have a little more cap-room to operate. He was eligible for a 30% max contract instead of the standard 25% max contract. But he agreed to split the difference and took 27.5%. So maybe it's true that he won't demand the max deal some are worried about

more than that though is that Dame could get a 2-3 year extension, say for example something like 54M - 59M - 64M. That won't really be a franchise-crippling extension. Not at all. keep in mind a couple of things: the cap went up 10M from this season to the next. And the final year of Dame's current deal is 2024-25. That year, his salary is 48.8M. But the cap could be 140-150M....

AND the 2025-26 season, the first year of Dame's hypothetical extension, will be the first year of the NBA's new media rights deals. It's anticipated that these new contracts will completely dwarf the last round of TV contracts that saw such a giant spike in the salary cap. The NBA is licking their chops about the scope of national and worldwide streaming rights that will be a major component of the new deals

I've seen a couple of projections that say the cap could go from the 140-150M level to over 200M in just one season. And that there will almost certainly be no smoothing of the jump, just like last time. It's entirely possible that even at a 60M salary, Dame's share of the cap will be smaller tha it is now. Obviously, he could demand an extension that's salary levels were tied to the actual cap...even though his current extension is not. Well then, if he does that then you might have a reason to refuse and consider a trade

[m0ng0]

I don't think anybody here has some hatred for Dame and want him gone, imo he is the best player we have EVER had, it's just there seems to be no way out of the treadmill situation the team is in.

I see it as Dame is our most valuable asset who is getting a little long in the tooth, eats up a lot of salary space and is possibly on the downward trajectory of his career. It's unknown how many more DAME years we have left.

We only seem to succeed going the homegrown route, free agency never seems to work out, nobody wants to come here, So you think well we need more draft capitol, how do we get that? Sure maybe some of the deals could have netted better assets but that's over and done and we are where we are.

How do we dig out of this hole?

[monopoman]

I don't think anybody here has some hatred for Dame and want him gone, imo he is the best player we have EVER had, it's just there seems to be no way out of the treadmill situation the team is in.

I see it as Dame is our most valuable asset who is getting a little long in the tooth, eats up a lot of salary space and is possibly on the downward trajectory of his career. It's unknown how many more DAME years we have left.

We only seem to succeed going the homegrown route, free agency never seems to work out, nobody wants to come here, So you think well we need more draft capitol, how do we get that? Sure maybe some of the deals could have netted better assets but that's over and done and we are where we are.

How do we dig out of this hole?

At this point he needs to come back and look like Dame from the 2020-2021 season to make his value anywhere near what it once was.

He looked pretty damn bad in the 2021-2022 season and most teams won't be willing to give up much for him right now. So even if you are the biggest fan of a Dame trade, trading him now is likely trading him at his lowest value ever.

[BlazersBroncos]

I don't think anybody here has some hatred for Dame and want him gone, imo he is the best player we have EVER had, it's just there seems to be no way out of the treadmill situation the team is in.

I see it as Dame is our most valuable asset who is getting a little long in the tooth, eats up a lot of salary space and is possibly on the downward trajectory of his career. It's unknown how many more DAME years we have left.

We only seem to succeed going the homegrown route, free agency never seems to work out, nobody wants to come here, So you think well we need more draft capitol, how do we get that? Sure maybe some of the deals could have netted better assets but that's over and done and we are where we are.

How do we dig out of this hole?

At this point he needs to come back and look like Dame from the 2020-2021 season to make his value anywhere near what it once was.

He looked pretty damn bad in the 2021-2022 season and most teams won't be willing to give up much for him right now. So even if you are the biggest fan of a Dame trade, trading him now is likely trading him at his lowest value ever.

Yep. After this season, with his injury, I wouldnt move too much for him as a GM of an opposing team.

I think he went from being worth RJ, Obi, numerous FRPs to that same package less RJ.

End of the day, regardless of the long term direction, we need him on the floor to prove his is still Dame. Moving him this offseason would be a lesson in selling for pennies on the dollar.