Interesting little blurb that Highkin tweeted out today from a previous article of his. Do you guys think we traded Dame at the perfect time?
September 28, 2024
Interesting little blurb that Highkin tweeted out today from a previous article of his. Do you guys think we traded Dame at the perfect time?
7 comments
Yeah but only because of his contract. Can’t fault him for it
I agree. It happened at the right time. The Blazers needed to start the rebuild, Dame wanted to try and get a ring in the twilight of his prime and the Bucks were in the spot they needed to take a home run swing. The trade has and was always going to be a win for the Blazers for what we got. It just looks like right now it might not have been a win for the Bucks when I think we expected it to be a win-win scenario.
In hindsight we should’ve traded far before last year unfortunately. The return was good, but he would’ve gotten even more 2, 3, or 4 years ago.
Some say sooner was more value – but it was maybe the first time you could without getting tarred and feathered.
I think the timing was as good as possible IF you trade him at all.
No, when Cronin first took over, that was the right time to extract the most value. Lillard was younger, we hadn’t offered him the two-year max extension yet, and there were probably more teams interested in trading for him. Plus, we could have focused on getting the most value out of CJ, Powell, and RoCo, instead of trying to shed cap space and secure a trade exception to fully absorb Jerami’s contract in the offseason. This ending to the Lillard era would also have been much more honest than forcing him to ask out.
I hate to admit it, because he’s my second favorite blazer ever and I love the dude, but as an organization, it was absolutely the best move. I wish there was a world where he could have stayed here his whole career and had a competent FO to build an actual contender around him, but that just didn’t happen. Which is sad because that’s all he really wanted was a chance. Aging vets, aging stars, mid level guys who were drafted by them, might be interested in being in portland, but ultimately, the franchise doesn’t have a history of really doing anything significant in terms of success in the nba, so an opportunity like lillard really hurts a small market team considering how rare having a superstar is. Portland doesnt seem to be a cutthroat culture that puts winning above anything else. Sometimes, it just feels like a business in Portland that simply relies on the hearts of it’s fans to be monetarily viable (myself included). Maybe if Paul Allen were still around, Dame’s career would have ended differently here.
If they could build around him, and at least be competitive, then sure, Lillard doesn’t need to go. But there were so many other factors that either didn’t allow that to happen or pointed to the franchise moving in a different direction. They were in the lottery (high lottery!) for two years while Dame was in his prime for fucks sake. That’s unacceptable, and the organization did right by moving him and pivoting to rebuilding. Without a doubt.
His contract would have made it only more difficult to thread the needle and build the perfect team and we clearly didn’t have the right FO to do that. IMO, it’s actually kind of amazing they were able to move him and get something sizeable in return. All the puzzle pieces had to fall in the right place for that trade to MIL to go down. I’m grateful for what Dame did for our franchise and also grateful he landed in a place where he could compete. But that latter sentiment is something no franchise or fan ever wants to utter when regarding one it’s best players of all time (see: drexler, Clyde)
No, it was a mistake that was precipitated by a lot of factors. Most of them are outside of the team and our business. It wasn’t handled perfectly by the parties, but what can you do. To me, it looked like Dame was desperately trying to keep his family intact. It didn’t work. Big ups on him for trying. My man.
7 comments
Yeah but only because of his contract. Can’t fault him for it
I agree. It happened at the right time. The Blazers needed to start the rebuild, Dame wanted to try and get a ring in the twilight of his prime and the Bucks were in the spot they needed to take a home run swing. The trade has and was always going to be a win for the Blazers for what we got. It just looks like right now it might not have been a win for the Bucks when I think we expected it to be a win-win scenario.
In hindsight we should’ve traded far before last year unfortunately. The return was good, but he would’ve gotten even more 2, 3, or 4 years ago.
Some say sooner was more value – but it was maybe the first time you could without getting tarred and feathered.
I think the timing was as good as possible IF you trade him at all.
No, when Cronin first took over, that was the right time to extract the most value. Lillard was younger, we hadn’t offered him the two-year max extension yet, and there were probably more teams interested in trading for him. Plus, we could have focused on getting the most value out of CJ, Powell, and RoCo, instead of trying to shed cap space and secure a trade exception to fully absorb Jerami’s contract in the offseason.
This ending to the Lillard era would also have been much more honest than forcing him to ask out.
I hate to admit it, because he’s my second favorite blazer ever and I love the dude, but as an organization, it was absolutely the best move. I wish there was a world where he could have stayed here his whole career and had a competent FO to build an actual contender around him, but that just didn’t happen. Which is sad because that’s all he really wanted was a chance. Aging vets, aging stars, mid level guys who were drafted by them, might be interested in being in portland, but ultimately, the franchise doesn’t have a history of really doing anything significant in terms of success in the nba, so an opportunity like lillard really hurts a small market team considering how rare having a superstar is. Portland doesnt seem to be a cutthroat culture that puts winning above anything else. Sometimes, it just feels like a business in Portland that simply relies on the hearts of it’s fans to be monetarily viable (myself included). Maybe if Paul Allen were still around, Dame’s career would have ended differently here.
If they could build around him, and at least be competitive, then sure, Lillard doesn’t need to go. But there were so many other factors that either didn’t allow that to happen or pointed to the franchise moving in a different direction. They were in the lottery (high lottery!) for two years while Dame was in his prime for fucks sake. That’s unacceptable, and the organization did right by moving him and pivoting to rebuilding. Without a doubt.
His contract would have made it only more difficult to thread the needle and build the perfect team and we clearly didn’t have the right FO to do that. IMO, it’s actually kind of amazing they were able to move him and get something sizeable in return. All the puzzle pieces had to fall in the right place for that trade to MIL to go down. I’m grateful for what Dame did for our franchise and also grateful he landed in a place where he could compete. But that latter sentiment is something no franchise or fan ever wants to utter when regarding one it’s best players of all time (see: drexler, Clyde)
No, it was a mistake that was precipitated by a lot of factors. Most of them are outside of the team and our business. It wasn’t handled perfectly by the parties, but what can you do. To me, it looked like Dame was desperately trying to keep his family intact. It didn’t work. Big ups on him for trying. My man.