Blazers

[pezsez1]

Nobody cares about actually winning here.

Most of us (maybe even all of us) care about winning.

But I've been telling you since the Dame trade that Cronin is an inexperienced GM with big ideas and no real ability to make them happen. And he's probably been interfered with by Berte Kolde looking over his shoulder. But you can look through Cronin's entire tenure as GM at all the things he's said he wanted to happen, and I'm pretty sure literally none of those things ever came to fruition. His legacy is one of pivots and fall-backs, resulting in a promising young core that's limited by some extremely bad contracts and not a ton of assets in the cupboard.

I'd turned the page on Dame leaving and was 100% in on the rebuild. Problem is, I was more in on the rebuild than Cronin or half of the fanbase. And we choked that away.

So why not bring back Dame? There likely isn't another big move on the horizon and we're too good to tank. The squad we have now is the squad we'll be going to war with until the team is sold and the next owners tear things down again.

So sit back and enjoy Hansen. Enjoy Deni. Enjoy Dame's comeback in 2026. Maybe Shaedon will join the party and be the SG we all know he can be. We may not win a title but we should make the playoffs and the games should be exciting. Vibes will be good. And that's not Dame's fault, it's Cronin's.

If we're already doomed to mediocrity then I'd rather be mediocre with Dame than without him.

[Phalanx]

If we're already doomed to mediocrity then I'd rather be mediocre with Dame than without him.

The long post wasn't necessary. ^^^ This was all you needed to say. You have zero objectivity and you are fine with mediocrity as long as you have the player that, more than any other player, caused the mediocrity. You are content to give up all remaining ability to improve the team so that you can see Lillard sitting in a suit on the bench this year, watch him stumble around trying to return to form next year, and then if he has anything left at the end of his 2-year Blazer-subsidized rehabilitation, he will decline the option and join a team he likes better. If he doesn't have a market in the NBA, he will collect millions for a third year from the Blazers, and you will love him whatever he decides to do because he made two shots in the early rounds of the playoffs years ago.

[squintsdd]

Jebus fucking christ

[Boom]

Is $14 mill a year very much in the NBA? Seems like a bargain to try and sell tickets. Kind of like the Mariners bringing back Jr at the end of his career. Maybe he can help Scoot learn how to actually be a decent NBA player?

Agreed. It’s not starter money.

[pezsez1]

You have zero objectivity and you are fine with mediocrity

I'm not really a "black or white" kind of guy.

Before we traded Dame, I wanted to keep him. He was fun to cheer for and he always gave us a puncher's chance at winning. During my life as a Blazer fan, that's been about as good as we could hope for, especially during the "Super Team" era in which we had very little chance of ever truly competing.

But then we traded him, and it should have been time for the youth movement. At that point I was 100% about winning, and nothing else. But you and others wanted to "thread the needle" and not take winning seriously. What's the point of rebuilding if you're not actually going to do it? Threading the needle isn't rebuilding, it's just rearranging the deck chairs so that mediocrity doesn't look exactly the same.

So now here we are. At least Dame is back, so I get something I want. And there will be good vibes and no more tanking, so you'll also get what you want.

Upward and onward.

[Phalanx]

I just figured out what this is: Cronin just added a poison pill for anyone trying to move the team. It's a complete waste of $42 million for anyone but Lillard-worshipping Portland fans. Other cities will not care about some broken-down has-been who never won anything, but adoring Portland fans will fill the seats just to watch Lillard come off the bench and re-live all those glory years of first-round exits in the playoffs.

This actually gives me some peace of mind; I couldn't figure out why the heck they would do something this stupid.

[Phalanx]

Is $14 mill a year very much in the NBA? Seems like a bargain to try and sell tickets. Kind of like the Mariners bringing back Jr at the end of his career. Maybe he can help Scoot learn how to actually be a decent NBA player?

Agreed. It’s not starter money.

It's probably the full non-taxpayer MLE. Could have had a real player in free agency, like that 3-point shooting wing they need so badly. That's only if they are trying to win though, so doesn't apply to this situation.

[bellsduck]

Unfrickinbelievable

[Phalanx]

It's starting to dawn on Bucks fans exactly how screwed they got trading for Lillard:

https://behindthebuckpass.com/milwaukee ... w-contract

Just think how they will feel about it after five years of a $22.5 million cap hit.

[pezsez1]

That's such a great read! And really shows how Portland came out of this with such massive advantages. Ultimately, by trading Dame we were able to flip a completely broken and unbalanced roster into a far younger & more balanced roster with MAYBE a future all-star... AND we got Dame back on a far more favorable contract, thus solving the problem of his salary being a burden that would drag down the franchise.

A++++++++++ trade!

[alxtw]

Blazers could have saved the money they are paying two over the hill pgs and gotten a very good player with their combined salaries. Facepalm.

[Boom]

Is $14 mill a year very much in the NBA? Seems like a bargain to try and sell tickets. Kind of like the Mariners bringing back Jr at the end of his career. Maybe he can help Scoot learn how to actually be a decent NBA player?

Agreed. It’s not starter money.

It's probably the full non-taxpayer MLE. Could have had a real player in free agency, like that 3-point shooting wing they need so badly. That's only if they are trying to win though, so doesn't apply to this situation.

Have you looked at the remaining free agents? That player doesn’t exist. Even if it did they wouldn’t be signing with the Blazers.

[Phalanx]

Have you looked at the remaining free agents? That player doesn’t exist. Even if it did they wouldn’t be signing with the Blazers.

Has Amir Coffey signed anywhere yet? There are several wings still in free agency that could contribute, but maybe you are right that they wouldn't come to Portland. Several seem to be going back and forth with their old teams. Anyway, we will certainly never know now that the Blazers are paying Lillard $28 million to play for one year before he bolts again for another team. Or maybe he won't be good enough to get on with another team, which would be even worse.

I get tired of these arguments with fans who assume the Blazers will always suck, therefore they need to keep doing moves that make them suck.

[Duck07]

I dont like this move because it's purely emotional and ruins everything good about moving Simons.

Logic says that Lillard recovering for 14M this year is a bad waste of money. Don't care that its not my money, it's a dumb move and he could have signed for a min contract number this year so the team could have kept more flexibility by signing someone who can rebound and defend mobile bigs.

Paying him 13.1M the following year when he's expected to actually play is whatever for the cost, but now its about his play-style being in stark contrast to the one this current team has started to employ. While that 13M won't hamstring the team from signing Deni and Toumani to their extensions it does make it harder because you've either needed to move Jrue/Jerami for an expiring and you now have an even bigger ball-hog on offense than the one you just got rid of.

It's fine if you think that this will all turn up roses but I don't see it happening in any way shape or form and I actually think that it means its more likely the current team fails to grow as a result of the move.

[pezsez1]

Woke up this morning and checked my clock.

It's still DAME TIME!