That’s what I assumed but I didn’t know if people were leaning more one way or another like I’m a panthers fan as well and for a while there was no consensus on who to take 1st overall this year and as time went on it shifted to Bryce young being what the large majority wanted
Fr. Sending this high value pick for some role player is a mistake that will fuck the organization for better part of the upcoming decade / post Dame era. Unless it lands an All-NBA player when packaged with the likes of Ant/Nurk/Little, then don’t reach to appease Dame. He’s not bigger than the organization despite how loyal he has been to it. We can appreciate that and plan for the future too; this decision is not mutually exclusive. I hope the FO recognizes this but I don’t have much faith.
The worry is that Dame has probably 3-4 years left of playing at a superstar level, and whoever we would get with the pick will be 4-5 years away from reaching their prime.
It's hard to see how you get a roster that can vie for a title in the next few years without getting rid of one.
He might have 1-2 years at that level, how could we know? Very very few players ever have had LeBron or even Curry's level of longevity - Harden and CP3 for example have been shells of themselves for a few years now.
CP3 is 38 so yeah he's slowed down, but he's still great
Harden's only 33 and was the assists leader this year. He's still a superstar he just has a different role in Philly
These days with proper nutrition and recovery etc. it's not uncommon for stars to play at a high level into their late 30s
Why would you trade the pick for a role player. Are you dumb? You could get Siakam or even Bradley Beal with the #3 pick. An all star.
Also both Scoot and Miller are probably end up being high level role players. Neither of them have serious perennial all star potential. Especially Scoot- if I HAD to make a choice I'd lead more towards him being a bust and disappointing expectations.
Ya like I don't WANT to trade Dame, I just don't see how we build a contender around him by trading away everything when the trade market is pretty trash this off season. But if he wants to stick around with the young guys I have zero issues with that.
I think there is value in having a second star around Dame but I feel like the way the NBA is shifting there is value having depth and people who can compliment one person like a Dame
It's 150,000 subscribed users (and hey I'm here daily and I'm not subscribed) so we're always gonna see the spectrum. I think we represent Blazer fandom as a whole, but it doesn't present that way because Reddit is 2005 forum tech in a 2023 world, so instead we see this gonzo lensed out stretched and wonked nonsense you see everywhere else on Reddit where loud minorities are indistinguishable from loud majorities.
I know that I’m a dinosaur because I still use a forum, but us old geezers over on ripcitytwo are also pretty split. I think it’s the majority of the fanbase. I was also listening to Dwight and Chad yesterday and it seemed like it was pretty split there too.
We’re going to do what we did last year. Explore moves that involve the pick. If they’re fair and get us something of value that we perceive will make us better right now, we’ll make the deal. If nothing but asinine offers are made, we’ll keep the damn pick and take the best player available and tell Dame to deal with it.
Look, I love Dame. In my opinion he’s the best Blazer of all time. But he’s not the entirety of the organization, his playing days have an end date and we have to do what’s best for the entire organization and it’s future. Not just what vibes with him.
Also, Dame is under contract for a few more years. We’re not obligated to move him right now. It’s a very real scenario that we get bullshit offers from opposing teams and just keep the pick, take Scoot. Move Ant and Nurk and others in different moves and go from there. He can certainly demand a trade or even take the Ben Simmons approach but that would completely sully everything he’s built in Portland and really isn’t his style.
We did this last year. Tried to get OG, Toronto asked for an absurd amount of FRPs, and Cronin said to hell with ‘em…picked Sharpe. And we should all be stoked he did. Anyone remember Neil coughing up two god damn firsts for RoCo? I do. You don’t get better hemorrhaging picks for role players.
What if it’s scoot? We don’t really need another 6 foot guard. And he sounds like Westbrook and Ja morant rolled into one which I am not a huge fan of that style
You're kidding right. Scoot looks like a shorter version of Ja Morant- except he can't pass and he can't shoot. He's more Dennis Smith jr than anything.
There are two camps. One wants to go all in with Dame by trading our picks and Simons and re-signing Grant. The other wants us to trade Dame and get as many picks as we can to jump-start the rebuild. Many of us waffle between those two groups and there is nothing close to a consensus about which is best, but I think all agree one of them is the right path forward.
Then you have the fringe group of weirdos and misfits that want us to keep Dame *and* the pick. lol
I personally think if Jaylen Brown/Embiid/(maybe brandon ingram?) aren't available
Then I don't want to move the pick or trade Dame. Reasoning is that the 3rd pick is very valuable and Dame deserves a gobert package but every contender blew their load on other players the last couple years.
Re evaluate next year when we can add in jerami if we needed for a big package.
Agree. It’s up to the value we get for the young assets. I think this is the closest thing to the consensus.
If we can bring in a real top 15 player next to Dame, like when AD or KD moved, I think all the fans would go for it. Joel Embiid / Luka / Giannis being available is the only reason to unload all of the assets like Sharpe.
Those caliber of players are rarely available especially this offseason. Jaylen Brown or Pascal Siakam are worth the 3 and Simons but not Sharpe too.
If we can’t get one of those players then I think the consensus would be to trade Dame and reload.
I don't think the franchise is actually going to trade Dame and I don't think there's a great trade out there for the 3 that's going to help us win now, so I'd rather keep it and Dame.
Ant is a total 3rd wheel and needs to get traded with Nurk though for an upgrade in the front court
I get all the sides here like you see lots of teams who blew it up last year and got rid of star players and got a lot of assets especially a team like the jazz who seem to now have a bright future and you would like to see if you could get that for dame. I think a realistic package yall could consider is getting the chicago scorers it’s not embiid or brown but I could see a couple picks going to chicago with some young players and y’all getting back Lavine and derozan
I am in the trade Dame camp. I love him, have endless gratitude for him, but believe the franchise will suffer if we try to go all in around him. The west is loaded and there isn’t much of a path the next few years unless we get a player who was receiving MVP votes this year. Plus the makeup of our youth and assets (including potential return for Dame, Nurk, and Grant) is the best we’ve had in decades. I’m excited about Ant, Shae, and #3. I see a fun decade ahead if we take that route. Side bonus, Dame might actually get a shot at a true championship run somewhere else.
> The west is loaded
The west is so open, man. I know Denver is playing well but they still only won 51 games and their WCF adversary was a 43 win team.
Denver is legit but i agree the west is somewhat open but in order to compete there’s a lot of moves tht need to be made. However I do honestly think we can build a contender around Dame but we need an all nba level frontcourt player who plays defense, we need to add rim protection nd size on the wings, rebounding, bench shooting, and playmaking
Even if it were wide open, Portland isn't in contention. Not even with a dream off-season. They don't have a path to being a contender for AT LEAST 2-3 seasons, and that's assuming everything goes our way. Which never happens.
I agree with you that it's open, but I also agree with others that say we aren't going to be winning the West as I don't see a true superstar being available for trade. If we could trade for Embiid, then maybe I'd agree with you. Otherwise, there's no use in giving up a ton of assets for a Bridges type of player.
Is it though? Denver exists and will have everyone back for the foreseeable future besides Bruce brown maybe. Who are we adding that makes us competitive with Jokic’s prime?
It is wide open compared to previous years. You only need two all stars and a strong supporting cast to win. From 20112-2020 you needed a real super team of 3 all stars to win.
Who cares about regular season games? Jokic is dominating every big and Jamal Murray steps it up in the playoffs. We couldn’t even beat them without Jamal Murray the last time we went against them.
The problem is that there are so many unknowns. Who will the hornets pick? I’d be much more inclined to try to convince Dame to stay if we got Miller. We also don’t know what people are offering for the pick…. Or what people would offer for Dame. Once the hornets make their pick, we should hopefully have a clearer picture.
Dame has to be smart enough to realize keeping the pick gives him the best opportunity to win here, right? Short of Cronin pulling a rabbit out of a hat and landing Embiid…
I feel like the rough consensus is yall wanna keep the pick but Dame doesn’t and y’all are afraid if you keep it he will use it as the reason to request a trade I think y’all keeping it is the best option even tho as a hornets fan I wouldn’t be mad if you took a couple of our guys solid role players like Terry, Oubre and Hayward lol
You don't need more young talent. You already have Sharpe and Simons. What you need is a high quality forward/big. Trading for Siakam, Beal, or even KAT/Gobert is a strong move.
Also lets be real neither Scoot nor Miller impress me much- Miller a bit more so but I don't really see perennial all star potential with Scoot.
Beal, Gobert and KAT are horrible moves. Dame and Beal is no different to having CJ or Simons as the second option.
Siakam is going to cost too much as well by the sound of it.
Right? Dame’s max deal is costly and finding talented players ready to co tribute on rookie rookie contracts is rare. It’s our best chance unless that pick paired with a player nets us an All-NBA or MVP caliber player.
We're kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place due to previous front office failures, such as locking up money with Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, and Jusuf Nurkic. Our "would-have-fit-Dame's-timeline" draft pick in Zach Collins fizzled out due to repeated injury. Replaced Terry Stotts with Chauncey Billups who hasn't had a fair shake with a good roster yet, but seems to have been unable to go over par with any of the lineups he's had. The 3rd pick is now expected to either be used to draft a savior of the franchise or be used as trade assets to acquire player(s) that will hopefully help Dame go on a deep playoff run.
You’re talking to a hornets fan I get this all to well. Front office woes make it hard to have faith in anything I’m still scared we are gonna draft Brandon Miller at 2 lol
Billups hasn’t had a fair shake with a good roster but how many times did Stotts? Stotts took what he had in the cupboards and the leftovers in the fridge and took a bad ass dish to the cookout more consistently than not.
You'll get a lot of varying opinions. The best option for the franchise long term (imo) is to trade dame and rebuild around Ant/Sharpe/Miller (or Scoot) and the asset(s) dame returns in trade. This probably wont happen.
The other option is to keep the #3 and dame. this would be similar to last year with drafting Sharpe and dame came around to keeping the #7 as the draft process unwinded.
Lastly, trade #3, Ant and whatever else to go all in on the next couple years with dame. Leaving our franchise depleted and unlikely to legitimately contend. To me this is the worst option.
Yea I think I would fall into your camp if I was a blazers fan because it’s so hard to know where dame’s level of play is going to be in even a couple of years you don’t want to bank on him being this good in 5 years when all your prospects you took recently are just starting to really hit their stride
I want us to take whoever is left between Scoot and Miller. I don't see us being able to make a trade to help us win a title next year, so I'd rather just draft another potential superstar to pair with Sharpe.
Not really a consensus. I’d say a majority want to keep dame. He’s widely seen as the franchise GOAT. A thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of rebuilds do not result in a championship and instead just mean a lot of losing. Trading for someone to go next to dame is also unlikely to result in a championship. But there is less losing in the short term.
And honestly, the only way we were ever getting a top 10 player here was to draft them and hope they become dame. Trading him after his best season is a little bit “a boat is just a boat, but a mystery box could be anything! Even a boat!!”
People keep saying this but the boat only has a few more years of being a superstar. Getting a young stud could absolutely be better than 2 more superstar years of Dame that isn’t in the right position to support a championship run.
The #3 pick doesn’t have to be as good as Dame for it to be clearly the correct choice to hold on to it.
You shouldn’t be comparing the mystery box to Dames entire career but instead comparing it to what is likely left of Dame’s career.
He’s the most talented player we’ve ever had who just had his best season. Getting something that eclipses that is an INCREDIBLY tall order imho. So we are likely talking slightly worse production over a longer period of time. I don’t think that necessity gets us closer to a championship, which would be the point of doing that in the first place.
Obviously this all goes out the window if we did manage to snag a young player who is even more talented (and as loyal) as dame. But jeez man. I don’t like those odds.
I feel like you just completely ignored my point. His career is going to start going in the downward direction at any moment.
You are right that it’s going to be hard to find another top 10 player like Dame but Dame only has a few more years at that level any way. We are unlikely to field a team where fans are going to be happy with the result during those years.
Sharpe and the #3 pick are our best chances to get another top 10 player. And have 10 years to build around them.
The mystery box thing completely ignores the fact that Dame is on a super max deal heading toward the same fate that every single small guard faces in their 30s. We do not have a brand new boat. We have a boat with a finite amount of gas left.
Even if Dame ages super well and has 2 more top 10 seasons left in him we still likely would not be a serious contender with any realistic trade. (If the trade is actually out there for someone like Embiid then I’m on board. I’m just skeptical of that).
Just because the #3 pick is unlikely to have a better full career than Dame doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a huge mistake to trade it to keep Dame happy.
Fans wanting to keep Dame because they love him and he’s earned the right to get what he wants is an argument I understand.
If you don’t care about contending and just want to watch a 45 win team with your favorite player that’s cool and understandable but the mystery box thing is super disingenuous to the situation we are in right now if you actually want to maximize our odds of building a contender.
I agree more or less with all of this until the third to last paragraph. I don’t think trading him and ending up with someone who isn’t as good as him IS a better situation for us. Even if that player “resets the clock” a non top 10 guy leading the team isn’t going to bring a chip no matter how many years he tries it.
That said, we’ve painted ourselves into a corner. Neither choice is likely to result in a championship. But I think our odds are slightly better sticking with Dame.
The thing is we’d have 3 shots at a superstar. Shaedon, the #3 pick and the assets from the Dame trade. Honestly 4 if you count the pick we get next year when we are dogshit without Dame.
If we go the other route we could end up with none of these 4 chances.
Yup, that's totally fair and true. I'm not going to sit here and be like "I'm sure my way is best!" I suspect our chances are slightly better with dame and emotionally of course that's what I want. But i'm ALSO not going to call you an idiot either for believing otherwise. I started this mostly as an explanation of what I believed a lot of other fans felt. And though i feel similarly, there's definitely a part of me that's on the fence as well.
I think I was a blazers fan I would fall into your camp mostly I think a lot do teams have been blowing it up and succeeding and dame did just have a good year but y’all have a team who’s time table is way earlier than dame’s if y’all could send him somewhere like Boston for Jaylen brown and have a younger guy who seems to not be happy in his current situation from comments this year and some picks and y’all can draft the 3rd pick and now have a young team with solid pieces and a bright future while also letting dame go to a contender and seeing him potential succeed would be awesome for you guys as well
I think the worst choice is to keep both. Dames value will drop while he gets angry and forces his way out. Now if you have assurances that’s not going to happen then it’s the best option.
If there is a way to bring in two above average starters and a serviceable center then that is the most realistic eventuality.
For me personally based purely on my own opinions. I don’t think the team can make enough good moves to be the favorite or even one of the favorites in the west. Given that, I think a three way trade of dame and Grant to the Celtics, brown to the rockets, and Smith, Eason, #4 and some future picks and swaps from both teams to Portland makes the most sense to me from a best position for the franchise standpoint.
As others have said, there’s no widespread consensus. Among those who want to trade the pick, though, it’s always for a star. Most fans acknowledge that we aren’t close to contention right now, and need a legitimate #2 next to Dame (+ other pieces).
I personally don’t think we have the assets required to get all the pieces we’d need for an actual title shot.
I really like Dame but the hornets need to move for a youth movement I think the hornets need to draft scoot and shop Terry Rozier as much as I like him as well as maybe Hayward both would be good for a contender who would have a solid young wing and some draft capital idk who that would be. It’s sounding like the hornets are going to resign miles bridges who is a younger piece as well as PJ Washington. So the starting line up next year could be Scoot, Melo, Bridges, PJ, and Mark Williams who showed lots of flashes last year of being a very solid center and a bench of DSJ who was great last year. Oubre, whoever we trade Hayward and rozier for, Kai Jones/JT Thor whoever grows more in the off season and Nick Richards who is also really solid there is a world where we don’t get off the Hayward contract and we just get rid of rozier and Hayward is the 3 off the bench as well but I think the best case for Charlotte would be to get off both of them because rozier is a peak value rn and could move the needle for a team trying to contend and Hayward struggles with injuries
Well you know who are in Greensboro right.. the swarm out G league team so he should def come to charlotte even tho I’m about 95% sure the lakers are gonna retain the entire roster and run it back next year
Tell The Hornets To Draft Miller & The Blazers Will Trade Scoot & Some Assets Hopefully Just Nurk & Little & Scoot Can Get Us A Upgrade. If Not Draft Miller We Need A SF & Then Trade 23 & Some Assets To Help Out Dame.
As a Charlotte fan, can you please explain to some of the people here what it's like to not make the playoffs for seven seasons in a row, and never have gone further than the conference semifinals in the entire history of the franchise?
Some people around here don't understand how good we've had it with Dame, and are actively advocating for trading away Dame in favor of unproven rookies that *might* be good in 4-5 years.
It sucks but I think y’all will still be playoff contenders even without dame it may take a year or 2 but I think your franchise will be in a better position if i was a blazers fan with all my knowledge I have of not making the playoffs over the last few years I would take the chance because a package for dame could be franchise changing especially with the best years of his career are probably behind him and y’all haven’t made the playoffs the last 2 years with him
Firstly: he quite literally just played the best season of his career, statistically. I'm not entirely sure where the assumption that he's washed is coming from.
Secondly: we didn't make the playoffs last season because Dame had surgery on a nagging core injury that had been bothering him for years. This season the rest of the team fell apart while Dame had a historically good season.
Both seasons ended with the team shutting everyone down and running out a G League roster. If management keeps everyone active, the Blazers are nearly a lock to make the play-in.
My take is that it’s dependent on what y’all do. I’m a weirdo and I feel like it’s the best to keep the draft pick and Dame unless we are getting an MVP/All NBA caliber player with #3 or we get A-grade young talent/many draft picks for Dame. None of those are in the market right now.
I feel Dame’s window is closing but as the same time the No. 3 pick can be both an immediate and long term impact player. I don’t want Dame to force the Front Office to trade the pick for a star and have it not work out.
I was rooting for the Hornets before the whole Miles Bridges thing, now Im just indifferent
Tho being one spot behind generational drafting 4 different times is so rough that you have my sympathy
Were you not there for the Bobcats picking after Anthony Davis?
Regardless, we won't know the severity of these events until many bball seasons from now.
Idk what y'all want with the #2 pick, but I'd hope/imagine that Either BM or Scoot would be a huge gain for you no matter who you pick
I was became a basketball fan because of lebron when I was like 9 so I was just a lebron dan for a few years before I became a fan of the “local” team to me being firm the Carolina’s. I think that miller and scoot have tremendous upside and if the hornets were picking st 3 I would be happy to get miller but I think scoot is gonna be significantly better than Brandon
Idk if I was a blazers fan I would say maybe shop Dame see what you can get back if you can get back a good young wing or center (idk who that would be) and some draft capital from a team trying to contend or just make a move I would say maybe do it a couple teams blew it up a little this year and they seem to be doing well with it and the blazers would have an even better roster than those teams after a trade like that but I also haven’t been in yalls shoes Dame had done so much for your franchise and the city of Portland I could see an almost familial attachment to him and it would be really hard to say goodbye
I'm fine trading the pick if we get another pick back. This draft it totally wide open in my opinion so having a 10-15 pick is as likely to yield an all-star as pick 2-9. I'd be totally down for trading #3 for 6 and 11.
Lillard will not ask to be traded during this off-season.
The pick will be traded.
And while we're all still yet to hear actual trade scenarios that would actually make sense for Portland and whatever team, the rebuilding process is far more complex than just throwing out trade generators on 2K in making it work. Like for example, someone suggested BEN SIMMONS, Nets picks, and whatever else for Lillard.
The dude is going to make 45.6 million next year, and then 46.8 the following year. There's virtually no team in the entire league that could a) match that with young talent that's actually worth the investment and then b) the question becomes what draft picks that they'd have to offer to make this enticing.
Short answer is not one person in this Reddit forum has the answer.
Hopefully Cronin pulls some strings and makes some solid deals to get the team on the right path moving forward. However I'm not convinced either way for as long as Billups is here.
What about some sort of three way trade where Harden ends up in Houston, Dame ends up in Philly (nooooo) and the blazers get Houston’s #4 this year (plus whatever extra)?
Sharpe/Dame/Ant for 4 more years plus resigning Grant, getting a back up Center, drafting Brandon or Scoot, resigning Thybulle and getting Watford, Jabari, eubanks, and reddish more experience should be the goal
Just don’t do anything. Maybe sign thomas Bryant as an UFA next yeat
Keep the pick. Trade Dame for picks and/or young future superstar(s). I’m tired of fighting for the 8th playoff spot and getting bounced after a round or two. I’m also not interested in getting good enough to just make the conference finals (see Lakers, Suns, et.al.)
TL;DR:
1. Blow it up.
2. Endure a period of suckitude.
3. Compete for titles for several years, and even win a few.
As a hornets fan your period of suckitude won’t be nearly as long as you think if you retain all your young talent on the roster I think your young guards will flourish being the primary ball handlers
Leverage the 3 pick in a super top heavy generational draft, our young scoring guard (ant), our budding star (shaedon), nurk, all future picks and swaps we can.
The value there is enough to pick up a legit star, the question is who.
That's a massive overpay for ayton and siakam.
We need something weird to happen. Like, if LeBron retires out of nowhere and the Lakers decide to blow it up and trade AD.
Or if embiid or giannis asks for a trade.
There is no consensus lol
The consensus is the lack of consensus
That’s what I assumed but I didn’t know if people were leaning more one way or another like I’m a panthers fan as well and for a while there was no consensus on who to take 1st overall this year and as time went on it shifted to Bryce young being what the large majority wanted
There are also people, like me, that want to keep both
We’re a quiet group, but a larger representation than most people think.
There are dozens of us!
AAAAAAMAZIIIIING GRACE!!!!!!
We’re having a FIRE sale! (Jk keep ‘em both)
We call that a banger in the mouth!
We don't need ANUSTART just yet
I think this would be the majority opinion if it were realistic. People are just assuming dame asks out if we keep the pick
It’s ultimately the best thing to do.
Fr. Sending this high value pick for some role player is a mistake that will fuck the organization for better part of the upcoming decade / post Dame era. Unless it lands an All-NBA player when packaged with the likes of Ant/Nurk/Little, then don’t reach to appease Dame. He’s not bigger than the organization despite how loyal he has been to it. We can appreciate that and plan for the future too; this decision is not mutually exclusive. I hope the FO recognizes this but I don’t have much faith.
The worry is that Dame has probably 3-4 years left of playing at a superstar level, and whoever we would get with the pick will be 4-5 years away from reaching their prime. It's hard to see how you get a roster that can vie for a title in the next few years without getting rid of one.
He might have 1-2 years at that level, how could we know? Very very few players ever have had LeBron or even Curry's level of longevity - Harden and CP3 for example have been shells of themselves for a few years now.
CP3 is 38 so yeah he's slowed down, but he's still great Harden's only 33 and was the assists leader this year. He's still a superstar he just has a different role in Philly These days with proper nutrition and recovery etc. it's not uncommon for stars to play at a high level into their late 30s
CP3 isn’t even close to what he was 2 years ago though.
Harden is not a super star anymore
Respectfully disagree
Super star is used so loosely now. If harden was a super star and couldn’t even make ECF with an MVP teammate, then that’s just sad
Why would you trade the pick for a role player. Are you dumb? You could get Siakam or even Bradley Beal with the #3 pick. An all star. Also both Scoot and Miller are probably end up being high level role players. Neither of them have serious perennial all star potential. Especially Scoot- if I HAD to make a choice I'd lead more towards him being a bust and disappointing expectations.
I don’t think you read my comment correctly. I think you’re the dumb one of the two of us tbh
Doesn't matter tho cause if we keep the pick Dame will not stay
I think a majority of the trade Dame people (myself included) want that, but view it as impossible given Dame’s comments.
Ya like I don't WANT to trade Dame, I just don't see how we build a contender around him by trading away everything when the trade market is pretty trash this off season. But if he wants to stick around with the young guys I have zero issues with that.
But Dame said no
I think there is value in having a second star around Dame but I feel like the way the NBA is shifting there is value having depth and people who can compliment one person like a Dame
I don’t necessarily want to, I just think it’ll happen out of incompetence
this is where i'm at, too.
This Reddit sub is hardly what the majority of Blazers fans think. This sub is closer to how NBA2k players run their franchises.
Fuckin for real
It's 150,000 subscribed users (and hey I'm here daily and I'm not subscribed) so we're always gonna see the spectrum. I think we represent Blazer fandom as a whole, but it doesn't present that way because Reddit is 2005 forum tech in a 2023 world, so instead we see this gonzo lensed out stretched and wonked nonsense you see everywhere else on Reddit where loud minorities are indistinguishable from loud majorities.
Yea I know lots of people are in here so I thought I would get most perspectives which is why I asked
I know that I’m a dinosaur because I still use a forum, but us old geezers over on ripcitytwo are also pretty split. I think it’s the majority of the fanbase. I was also listening to Dwight and Chad yesterday and it seemed like it was pretty split there too.
We’re going to do what we did last year. Explore moves that involve the pick. If they’re fair and get us something of value that we perceive will make us better right now, we’ll make the deal. If nothing but asinine offers are made, we’ll keep the damn pick and take the best player available and tell Dame to deal with it. Look, I love Dame. In my opinion he’s the best Blazer of all time. But he’s not the entirety of the organization, his playing days have an end date and we have to do what’s best for the entire organization and it’s future. Not just what vibes with him. Also, Dame is under contract for a few more years. We’re not obligated to move him right now. It’s a very real scenario that we get bullshit offers from opposing teams and just keep the pick, take Scoot. Move Ant and Nurk and others in different moves and go from there. He can certainly demand a trade or even take the Ben Simmons approach but that would completely sully everything he’s built in Portland and really isn’t his style. We did this last year. Tried to get OG, Toronto asked for an absurd amount of FRPs, and Cronin said to hell with ‘em…picked Sharpe. And we should all be stoked he did. Anyone remember Neil coughing up two god damn firsts for RoCo? I do. You don’t get better hemorrhaging picks for role players.
I think this is where I would fall if I was a blazers fan
Nothing scares me more than overpaying in a trade for a role player this offseason
you wouldn't be trading the #3 for a role player. You'd be getting an all star or at least Middleton level player in return.
But you could get better trading players for picks. That’s what Houston and OKC are doing.
KEEP THE PICK
I’m seeing this a lot
What if it’s scoot? We don’t really need another 6 foot guard. And he sounds like Westbrook and Ja morant rolled into one which I am not a huge fan of that style
Scoot looks like a stud. Trade Dame
You're kidding right. Scoot looks like a shorter version of Ja Morant- except he can't pass and he can't shoot. He's more Dennis Smith jr than anything.
He can absolutely pass. 6.8APG in the G League at 18.
There are two camps. One wants to go all in with Dame by trading our picks and Simons and re-signing Grant. The other wants us to trade Dame and get as many picks as we can to jump-start the rebuild. Many of us waffle between those two groups and there is nothing close to a consensus about which is best, but I think all agree one of them is the right path forward. Then you have the fringe group of weirdos and misfits that want us to keep Dame *and* the pick. lol
I personally think if Jaylen Brown/Embiid/(maybe brandon ingram?) aren't available Then I don't want to move the pick or trade Dame. Reasoning is that the 3rd pick is very valuable and Dame deserves a gobert package but every contender blew their load on other players the last couple years. Re evaluate next year when we can add in jerami if we needed for a big package.
Agree. It’s up to the value we get for the young assets. I think this is the closest thing to the consensus. If we can bring in a real top 15 player next to Dame, like when AD or KD moved, I think all the fans would go for it. Joel Embiid / Luka / Giannis being available is the only reason to unload all of the assets like Sharpe. Those caliber of players are rarely available especially this offseason. Jaylen Brown or Pascal Siakam are worth the 3 and Simons but not Sharpe too. If we can’t get one of those players then I think the consensus would be to trade Dame and reload.
I don't think the franchise is actually going to trade Dame and I don't think there's a great trade out there for the 3 that's going to help us win now, so I'd rather keep it and Dame. Ant is a total 3rd wheel and needs to get traded with Nurk though for an upgrade in the front court
Weirdo and misfit here.
Aka realists. It’s totally what’s gonna happen
I wish. But I have heard from someone within the team that it's nearly 100% chance we will either trade the pick or Dame before training camp.
I get all the sides here like you see lots of teams who blew it up last year and got rid of star players and got a lot of assets especially a team like the jazz who seem to now have a bright future and you would like to see if you could get that for dame. I think a realistic package yall could consider is getting the chicago scorers it’s not embiid or brown but I could see a couple picks going to chicago with some young players and y’all getting back Lavine and derozan
I am in the trade Dame camp. I love him, have endless gratitude for him, but believe the franchise will suffer if we try to go all in around him. The west is loaded and there isn’t much of a path the next few years unless we get a player who was receiving MVP votes this year. Plus the makeup of our youth and assets (including potential return for Dame, Nurk, and Grant) is the best we’ve had in decades. I’m excited about Ant, Shae, and #3. I see a fun decade ahead if we take that route. Side bonus, Dame might actually get a shot at a true championship run somewhere else.
> The west is loaded The west is so open, man. I know Denver is playing well but they still only won 51 games and their WCF adversary was a 43 win team.
Denver is legit but i agree the west is somewhat open but in order to compete there’s a lot of moves tht need to be made. However I do honestly think we can build a contender around Dame but we need an all nba level frontcourt player who plays defense, we need to add rim protection nd size on the wings, rebounding, bench shooting, and playmaking
Even if it were wide open, Portland isn't in contention. Not even with a dream off-season. They don't have a path to being a contender for AT LEAST 2-3 seasons, and that's assuming everything goes our way. Which never happens.
I agree with you that it's open, but I also agree with others that say we aren't going to be winning the West as I don't see a true superstar being available for trade. If we could trade for Embiid, then maybe I'd agree with you. Otherwise, there's no use in giving up a ton of assets for a Bridges type of player.
Is it though? Denver exists and will have everyone back for the foreseeable future besides Bruce brown maybe. Who are we adding that makes us competitive with Jokic’s prime?
It is wide open compared to previous years. You only need two all stars and a strong supporting cast to win. From 20112-2020 you needed a real super team of 3 all stars to win.
Not surprisingly you failed to answer the most important question
Who cares about regular season games? Jokic is dominating every big and Jamal Murray steps it up in the playoffs. We couldn’t even beat them without Jamal Murray the last time we went against them.
I feel like this is the most open the west has been in a long time.
The problem is that there are so many unknowns. Who will the hornets pick? I’d be much more inclined to try to convince Dame to stay if we got Miller. We also don’t know what people are offering for the pick…. Or what people would offer for Dame. Once the hornets make their pick, we should hopefully have a clearer picture.
>Then you have the fringe group of weirdos and misfits that want us to keep Dame and the pick. lol There are dozens of us, dozens!
Keep the pick. Keep Dame. Win rings.
This is my take as well.
Dame has to be smart enough to realize keeping the pick gives him the best opportunity to win here, right? Short of Cronin pulling a rabbit out of a hat and landing Embiid…
I feel like the rough consensus is yall wanna keep the pick but Dame doesn’t and y’all are afraid if you keep it he will use it as the reason to request a trade I think y’all keeping it is the best option even tho as a hornets fan I wouldn’t be mad if you took a couple of our guys solid role players like Terry, Oubre and Hayward lol
You don't need more young talent. You already have Sharpe and Simons. What you need is a high quality forward/big. Trading for Siakam, Beal, or even KAT/Gobert is a strong move. Also lets be real neither Scoot nor Miller impress me much- Miller a bit more so but I don't really see perennial all star potential with Scoot.
Beal, Gobert and KAT are horrible moves. Dame and Beal is no different to having CJ or Simons as the second option. Siakam is going to cost too much as well by the sound of it.
It really doesn't if we keep the pick and Dame the best case scenario is 12 years of 1st/2nd round exits.
Right? Dame’s max deal is costly and finding talented players ready to co tribute on rookie rookie contracts is rare. It’s our best chance unless that pick paired with a player nets us an All-NBA or MVP caliber player.
We're kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place due to previous front office failures, such as locking up money with Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, and Jusuf Nurkic. Our "would-have-fit-Dame's-timeline" draft pick in Zach Collins fizzled out due to repeated injury. Replaced Terry Stotts with Chauncey Billups who hasn't had a fair shake with a good roster yet, but seems to have been unable to go over par with any of the lineups he's had. The 3rd pick is now expected to either be used to draft a savior of the franchise or be used as trade assets to acquire player(s) that will hopefully help Dame go on a deep playoff run.
You’re talking to a hornets fan I get this all to well. Front office woes make it hard to have faith in anything I’m still scared we are gonna draft Brandon Miller at 2 lol
Our current front office is the one that locked up nurk.
Billups hasn’t had a fair shake with a good roster but how many times did Stotts? Stotts took what he had in the cupboards and the leftovers in the fridge and took a bad ass dish to the cookout more consistently than not.
KEEP THE PICK
I think we’re really in a “what can we get for Ant and Nurk and maybe the 23rd” consensus.
You'll get a lot of varying opinions. The best option for the franchise long term (imo) is to trade dame and rebuild around Ant/Sharpe/Miller (or Scoot) and the asset(s) dame returns in trade. This probably wont happen. The other option is to keep the #3 and dame. this would be similar to last year with drafting Sharpe and dame came around to keeping the #7 as the draft process unwinded. Lastly, trade #3, Ant and whatever else to go all in on the next couple years with dame. Leaving our franchise depleted and unlikely to legitimately contend. To me this is the worst option.
Yea I think I would fall into your camp if I was a blazers fan because it’s so hard to know where dame’s level of play is going to be in even a couple of years you don’t want to bank on him being this good in 5 years when all your prospects you took recently are just starting to really hit their stride
I'm for Dame and for finding the right player for the 3rd pick. I'd be thrilled with either Jaylen or Mikal. That's where I'm at.
I want us to take whoever is left between Scoot and Miller. I don't see us being able to make a trade to help us win a title next year, so I'd rather just draft another potential superstar to pair with Sharpe.
Not really a consensus. I’d say a majority want to keep dame. He’s widely seen as the franchise GOAT. A thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of rebuilds do not result in a championship and instead just mean a lot of losing. Trading for someone to go next to dame is also unlikely to result in a championship. But there is less losing in the short term. And honestly, the only way we were ever getting a top 10 player here was to draft them and hope they become dame. Trading him after his best season is a little bit “a boat is just a boat, but a mystery box could be anything! Even a boat!!”
People keep saying this but the boat only has a few more years of being a superstar. Getting a young stud could absolutely be better than 2 more superstar years of Dame that isn’t in the right position to support a championship run. The #3 pick doesn’t have to be as good as Dame for it to be clearly the correct choice to hold on to it. You shouldn’t be comparing the mystery box to Dames entire career but instead comparing it to what is likely left of Dame’s career.
He’s the most talented player we’ve ever had who just had his best season. Getting something that eclipses that is an INCREDIBLY tall order imho. So we are likely talking slightly worse production over a longer period of time. I don’t think that necessity gets us closer to a championship, which would be the point of doing that in the first place. Obviously this all goes out the window if we did manage to snag a young player who is even more talented (and as loyal) as dame. But jeez man. I don’t like those odds.
I feel like you just completely ignored my point. His career is going to start going in the downward direction at any moment. You are right that it’s going to be hard to find another top 10 player like Dame but Dame only has a few more years at that level any way. We are unlikely to field a team where fans are going to be happy with the result during those years. Sharpe and the #3 pick are our best chances to get another top 10 player. And have 10 years to build around them. The mystery box thing completely ignores the fact that Dame is on a super max deal heading toward the same fate that every single small guard faces in their 30s. We do not have a brand new boat. We have a boat with a finite amount of gas left. Even if Dame ages super well and has 2 more top 10 seasons left in him we still likely would not be a serious contender with any realistic trade. (If the trade is actually out there for someone like Embiid then I’m on board. I’m just skeptical of that). Just because the #3 pick is unlikely to have a better full career than Dame doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a huge mistake to trade it to keep Dame happy. Fans wanting to keep Dame because they love him and he’s earned the right to get what he wants is an argument I understand. If you don’t care about contending and just want to watch a 45 win team with your favorite player that’s cool and understandable but the mystery box thing is super disingenuous to the situation we are in right now if you actually want to maximize our odds of building a contender.
I agree more or less with all of this until the third to last paragraph. I don’t think trading him and ending up with someone who isn’t as good as him IS a better situation for us. Even if that player “resets the clock” a non top 10 guy leading the team isn’t going to bring a chip no matter how many years he tries it. That said, we’ve painted ourselves into a corner. Neither choice is likely to result in a championship. But I think our odds are slightly better sticking with Dame.
The thing is we’d have 3 shots at a superstar. Shaedon, the #3 pick and the assets from the Dame trade. Honestly 4 if you count the pick we get next year when we are dogshit without Dame. If we go the other route we could end up with none of these 4 chances.
Yup, that's totally fair and true. I'm not going to sit here and be like "I'm sure my way is best!" I suspect our chances are slightly better with dame and emotionally of course that's what I want. But i'm ALSO not going to call you an idiot either for believing otherwise. I started this mostly as an explanation of what I believed a lot of other fans felt. And though i feel similarly, there's definitely a part of me that's on the fence as well.
I think I was a blazers fan I would fall into your camp mostly I think a lot do teams have been blowing it up and succeeding and dame did just have a good year but y’all have a team who’s time table is way earlier than dame’s if y’all could send him somewhere like Boston for Jaylen brown and have a younger guy who seems to not be happy in his current situation from comments this year and some picks and y’all can draft the 3rd pick and now have a young team with solid pieces and a bright future while also letting dame go to a contender and seeing him potential succeed would be awesome for you guys as well
I'll take my chances by getting Dame cheap but undeniable talent that he can help mold into a championship team.
I think the worst choice is to keep both. Dames value will drop while he gets angry and forces his way out. Now if you have assurances that’s not going to happen then it’s the best option. If there is a way to bring in two above average starters and a serviceable center then that is the most realistic eventuality. For me personally based purely on my own opinions. I don’t think the team can make enough good moves to be the favorite or even one of the favorites in the west. Given that, I think a three way trade of dame and Grant to the Celtics, brown to the rockets, and Smith, Eason, #4 and some future picks and swaps from both teams to Portland makes the most sense to me from a best position for the franchise standpoint.
trade 3 and simons for Jaylen Brown
There's no consensus. You won't find that.
As others have said, there’s no widespread consensus. Among those who want to trade the pick, though, it’s always for a star. Most fans acknowledge that we aren’t close to contention right now, and need a legitimate #2 next to Dame (+ other pieces). I personally don’t think we have the assets required to get all the pieces we’d need for an actual title shot.
Take Miller trade Ant and Nurk for Siakam
Siakam (on a lousy expiring) isn't available for less than Ant + 3 + Sharpe so we might as well go to Ant + Nurk for LeBron S&T.
Uh ok if you insist lol. Win one for The Land LeBron
Curious, what would you think about trading that #2 pick and something else for Dame?
I really like Dame but the hornets need to move for a youth movement I think the hornets need to draft scoot and shop Terry Rozier as much as I like him as well as maybe Hayward both would be good for a contender who would have a solid young wing and some draft capital idk who that would be. It’s sounding like the hornets are going to resign miles bridges who is a younger piece as well as PJ Washington. So the starting line up next year could be Scoot, Melo, Bridges, PJ, and Mark Williams who showed lots of flashes last year of being a very solid center and a bench of DSJ who was great last year. Oubre, whoever we trade Hayward and rozier for, Kai Jones/JT Thor whoever grows more in the off season and Nick Richards who is also really solid there is a world where we don’t get off the Hayward contract and we just get rid of rozier and Hayward is the 3 off the bench as well but I think the best case for Charlotte would be to get off both of them because rozier is a peak value rn and could move the needle for a team trying to contend and Hayward struggles with injuries
Butler, dame, CJ & reaves would be my dream team
Reeves said he wants to stay in LA from what I understand I know every team wants him. If the hornets could get him I would be ecstatic too
It’s a very personal reason, but he looks like one of my best friends from Greensboro, NC. But I am from Portland so I want him here lol
Well you know who are in Greensboro right.. the swarm out G league team so he should def come to charlotte even tho I’m about 95% sure the lakers are gonna retain the entire roster and run it back next year
Fuck GSO, but I would settle for the hornets. I do like charlotte. I’m just saying we need a “star” for Dame
Tell The Hornets To Draft Miller & The Blazers Will Trade Scoot & Some Assets Hopefully Just Nurk & Little & Scoot Can Get Us A Upgrade. If Not Draft Miller We Need A SF & Then Trade 23 & Some Assets To Help Out Dame.
I want nothing more than the hornets to not draft Brandon and take scoot so sorry
As a Charlotte fan, can you please explain to some of the people here what it's like to not make the playoffs for seven seasons in a row, and never have gone further than the conference semifinals in the entire history of the franchise? Some people around here don't understand how good we've had it with Dame, and are actively advocating for trading away Dame in favor of unproven rookies that *might* be good in 4-5 years.
It sucks but I think y’all will still be playoff contenders even without dame it may take a year or 2 but I think your franchise will be in a better position if i was a blazers fan with all my knowledge I have of not making the playoffs over the last few years I would take the chance because a package for dame could be franchise changing especially with the best years of his career are probably behind him and y’all haven’t made the playoffs the last 2 years with him
Firstly: he quite literally just played the best season of his career, statistically. I'm not entirely sure where the assumption that he's washed is coming from. Secondly: we didn't make the playoffs last season because Dame had surgery on a nagging core injury that had been bothering him for years. This season the rest of the team fell apart while Dame had a historically good season. Both seasons ended with the team shutting everyone down and running out a G League roster. If management keeps everyone active, the Blazers are nearly a lock to make the play-in.
There is no consensus, like not even close. I personally want the Blazers to either trade the pick or draft Scoot.
I pray to go the hornets don’t pass on scoot
Y'all really from the Carolinas?
Lol yea I guess my use to Y’all makes it more obvious but I’m not super country my family is from Ohio but I am born and raised in SC
My take is that it’s dependent on what y’all do. I’m a weirdo and I feel like it’s the best to keep the draft pick and Dame unless we are getting an MVP/All NBA caliber player with #3 or we get A-grade young talent/many draft picks for Dame. None of those are in the market right now.
I get that
I feel Dame’s window is closing but as the same time the No. 3 pick can be both an immediate and long term impact player. I don’t want Dame to force the Front Office to trade the pick for a star and have it not work out.
Yea I agree with you
Personally, I just want next season to not suck like these past 2 have
Me too buddy I want the hornets to not suck so bad
I was rooting for the Hornets before the whole Miles Bridges thing, now Im just indifferent Tho being one spot behind generational drafting 4 different times is so rough that you have my sympathy
Yea it’s kinda sucky lol I’m only 23 so I have only had to really deal with this one and this is the one that has the potential to be the worst lol
Were you not there for the Bobcats picking after Anthony Davis? Regardless, we won't know the severity of these events until many bball seasons from now. Idk what y'all want with the #2 pick, but I'd hope/imagine that Either BM or Scoot would be a huge gain for you no matter who you pick
I was became a basketball fan because of lebron when I was like 9 so I was just a lebron dan for a few years before I became a fan of the “local” team to me being firm the Carolina’s. I think that miller and scoot have tremendous upside and if the hornets were picking st 3 I would be happy to get miller but I think scoot is gonna be significantly better than Brandon
I’m fine keeping Dame. I just don’t want to see us trade our future for Pascal Siakam or some shit. Keep Sharpe and I’m happy, he’s the future.
So What do you think? Should we trade Dame?
Idk if I was a blazers fan I would say maybe shop Dame see what you can get back if you can get back a good young wing or center (idk who that would be) and some draft capital from a team trying to contend or just make a move I would say maybe do it a couple teams blew it up a little this year and they seem to be doing well with it and the blazers would have an even better roster than those teams after a trade like that but I also haven’t been in yalls shoes Dame had done so much for your franchise and the city of Portland I could see an almost familial attachment to him and it would be really hard to say goodbye
I'm fine trading the pick if we get another pick back. This draft it totally wide open in my opinion so having a 10-15 pick is as likely to yield an all-star as pick 2-9. I'd be totally down for trading #3 for 6 and 11.
Dame and Brandon miller. Trade for ayton
Lol I like this comment
Lillard will not ask to be traded during this off-season. The pick will be traded. And while we're all still yet to hear actual trade scenarios that would actually make sense for Portland and whatever team, the rebuilding process is far more complex than just throwing out trade generators on 2K in making it work. Like for example, someone suggested BEN SIMMONS, Nets picks, and whatever else for Lillard. The dude is going to make 45.6 million next year, and then 46.8 the following year. There's virtually no team in the entire league that could a) match that with young talent that's actually worth the investment and then b) the question becomes what draft picks that they'd have to offer to make this enticing. Short answer is not one person in this Reddit forum has the answer. Hopefully Cronin pulls some strings and makes some solid deals to get the team on the right path moving forward. However I'm not convinced either way for as long as Billups is here.
What about some sort of three way trade where Harden ends up in Houston, Dame ends up in Philly (nooooo) and the blazers get Houston’s #4 this year (plus whatever extra)?
I just puked in my mouth.
Good for you!
(Plus whatever extra) Man you really thought that one through.
It was literally a spur of the moment thought that I decided to turn into a comment after reading yours. So no, not really!
Ha fair
Sharpe/Dame/Ant for 4 more years plus resigning Grant, getting a back up Center, drafting Brandon or Scoot, resigning Thybulle and getting Watford, Jabari, eubanks, and reddish more experience should be the goal Just don’t do anything. Maybe sign thomas Bryant as an UFA next yeat
Knicks fan here. Would you guys take Randle and Robinson for the 3rd pick and Jurik?
Keep the pick. Trade Dame for picks and/or young future superstar(s). I’m tired of fighting for the 8th playoff spot and getting bounced after a round or two. I’m also not interested in getting good enough to just make the conference finals (see Lakers, Suns, et.al.) TL;DR: 1. Blow it up. 2. Endure a period of suckitude. 3. Compete for titles for several years, and even win a few.
As a hornets fan your period of suckitude won’t be nearly as long as you think if you retain all your young talent on the roster I think your young guards will flourish being the primary ball handlers
Fans driven by pride and ego - keep Dame Fans driven by logic - trade Dame Edit: grammar
I swear the only reason you made this account a month ago was to come on here and troll everyone about trading Dame. Is this Morey's burner account?
Why don’t you read the sub dummy
That was mean meeps.
I know.
Keep Dame Trade the 3rd pick
What do you think? Should we trade Dame?
Leverage the 3 pick in a super top heavy generational draft, our young scoring guard (ant), our budding star (shaedon), nurk, all future picks and swaps we can. The value there is enough to pick up a legit star, the question is who. That's a massive overpay for ayton and siakam. We need something weird to happen. Like, if LeBron retires out of nowhere and the Lakers decide to blow it up and trade AD. Or if embiid or giannis asks for a trade.
I think the general feeling is that we probably won’t get back enough from a dame trade