Dame Time

[Handlogten's Heros]

This doesn't have to be--shouldn't be--some kind of dramatic move by the Portland front office to "shut him down". They should absolutely take their time to find the best deal, and not be bullied into a crappy Miami deal by Dame's agents. Over time Miami will find a way to legitimately sweeten its offer. Or maybe training camp rolls around and Dame will have to play the "I'm not showing up" card, which will be self-inflicted damage to his long-cultivated image. My guess is that the closer that point comes, if Miami doesn't find a way to a legit offer before that, the more we'll see cracks in Dame's insistence that only Miami will do, and then another team or two will have a shot.

I'm all for taking their time... just thought the whole long game of shutting a guy down is hilarious... how much of this guy's career should we let Portland shut him down for?

Miami may not even be offering up their best deal right now. The best course is find a taker for Herro and get Miami to offer up the absolute best deal they can. This will end with Dame in Miami... I don't think a team is going to blow away their best offer to get a discontent Dame. He will show up and play but guys can half *** it and cause issues without being a complete *******. its a terrible look but after 10 years or so I'm good with a player getting to his preferred spot.

 

[Hearsky]

Many fans obsess about winning a championship.It means everything to them. It is often a highlight of their lives. Yet, when a player chases a championship, fans slam him as a disloyal championship chaser. We want players to be loyal as long as they meet our needs, but want to ship them out when they struggle. We would trade almost any player to whatever crappy organization if it improved our team. Hypocrisy is alive and well.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

For the record….I don’t think burning bridges with Dame actually does anything. POR is going to do it and it won’t hurt them in the long run. The Clippers got Blake Griffin to sign by hanging his jersey in the rafters and then traded him as soon as they could. No one cared. Players have flocked to go there ever since.

Everyone plays hardball and is cutthroat. Teams, players….everyone is just out for their best interest and that’s fine with me.

Yes and no. We've not seen a small market burn a bridge with a franchise icon. Don't even know who Dame is repped by but there are certainly agencies and organizations that don't do a lot of business together. There is value to the relationship side of the business. Burning one bridge may not "hurt" them... but Dame can also help be an ambassador later... he is a much bigger name than Blake and LA has LA to recruit FAs. Portland will need help.

I still think a lot of this stuff is posturing... its the right thing to do... but I think Portland knows its best offer will come out of Miami in due time.

 

[sip]

Plenty of Blazers fans are frustrated that the Blazers have been so reluctant to make win now moves in the context of all of this.

On a mostly unrelated note, I would rather have Jerami Grant and his new deal than Collins on this deal.

Blazers have constantly made win now moves in the Lillard era. Lillard just wasn't good enough as evidenced by his less than stellar postseason play.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Many fans obsess about winning a championship.It means everything to them. It is often a highlight of their lives. Yet, when a player chases a championship, fans slam him as a disloyal championship chaser. We want players to be loyal as long as they meet our needs, but want to ship them out when they struggle. We would trade almost any player to whatever crappy organization if it improved our team. Hypocrisy is alive and well.

People expect them to sacrifice literally hundreds of millions of dollars to get freedom as well. The "that's what the money is for" argument seems to only apply to the players and not the owners.

Like if Portland had sacrificed one young player, gone into the tax, taken on a risky contract on a high reward player, or hell even resolved their ownership issue then maybe this is a different convo... but people acting like Dame is Harden or even KD is just wild. He is a small markets dream... gave his all (not just on the court... dude was a leader, mentor, etc.) and when he saw no hope he asked out and would like to go to a preferred destination... Portland has been having their cake and eating it too... why can't Dame?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Blazers have constantly made win now moves in the Lillard era. Lillard just wasn't good enough as evidenced by his less than stellar postseason play.

They have not... they played a very scared game. They made more moves to duck the tax in the last few years than to win now. They have a terrible ownership situation that appears no closer to resolving than a few years ago. Maybe he should have asked out last year and not gotten the extra money... but people would still be bad mouthing him now... get yo money Dame.

 

[sip]

If they have given 10 years and ample opportunity for their team to do something I'm cool with it. Those teams end up getting something back... if Gordo had done us that courtesy we would have been a whole lot better off. Dame sincerely gave it a try and was willing to stay committed. Portland has been unwilling to sacrifice any picks or prospects to make things a little better now. So part of the price of going that route is Dame ain't going to want to be there and he is in a spot in his career where he is going to want to pick his spot. They may be doing what is best for the franchise... then Dame gets to do what is in his best interest. I guess I just see both sides here... Dame want to win a title... this ain't a job for him... its what he's worked for his whole life. Portland gives him zero shot at that at this point. Has shown no willingness to get there. The Heat gives him a shot if he is great... I don't even think they'd be considered the favorite with Dame... maybe top 3-4. I'm cool with a guy who has given his all getting a chance to win a title (his lifelong dream)... even if a fanbase gets one less 2028 1st round pick because he picked his spot lol.

The blazers were constantly sacrificing picks and making moves to try to get better. Just last year they traded a future pick to bring in a very good player in Grant. Trading Sharpe or Scoot is just flatout stupid and wouldn't help them compete for a title. I'm sure Dame was shortsighted enough to want Paul George but trading a bunch of pieces for George doesn't make them a championship team and the window to just be a decent team is tiny.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

And I get that it sucks that these guys always want to go to Miami... but why? The weather for sure but more than that its the organization they have built. Pat is win at all costs... eff them picks... he want to squeeze out every opportunity he can. Players see that and buy in. Try to build that and players will come... the beach is certainly part of the allure but its also the org.

 

[Jingled]

View: https://twitter.com/andyblarsen/status/1676642842612236289

 

[KqWIN]

Yes and no. We've not seen a small market burn a bridge with a franchise icon. Don't even know who Dame is repped by but there are certainly agencies and organizations that don't do a lot of business together. There is value to the relationship side of the business. Burning one bridge may not "hurt" them... but Dame can also help be an ambassador later... he is a much bigger name than Blake and LA has LA to recruit FAs. Portland will need help.

I still think a lot of this stuff is posturing... its the right thing to do... but I think Portland knows its best offer will come out of Miami in due time.

Just like Dame would have stayed if there were better players in POR, players will come to POR if there's a good situation to win. I used to think this mattered more than I do now, but for example, Ainge has a bad reputation for doing wrong by players. And there are valid reasons for him to have that reputation, but I'm not really shaking in my boots about players not wanting to play for Ainge. At the end of the day players just want to win and while this tuff is not nothing I don't think it's very significant.

 

[sip]

They have not... they played a very scared game. They made more moves to duck the tax in the last few years than to win now. They have a terrible ownership situation that appears no closer to resolving than a few years ago. Maybe he should have asked out last year and not gotten the extra money... but people would still be bad mouthing him now... get yo money Dame.

Name me some moves that could have been made that they missed on? They didn't play a scared game but rather an extremely smart game. Give me one example of the blazers making a stupid decision to duck the tax.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

The blazers were constantly sacrificing picks and making moves to try to get better. Just last year they traded a future pick to bring in a very good player in Grant. Trading Sharpe or Scoot is just flatout stupid and wouldn't help them compete for a title. I'm sure Dame was shortsighted enough to want Paul George but trading a bunch of pieces for George doesn't make them a championship team and the window to just be a decent team is tiny.

I think they moved two picks in his time there. I think they also traded win now guys for picks or younger players as well. They made moves more with the tax in mind than winning. They have half assed or hedged their bets pretty significantly. Don't see them as an all in team at all really.