Sources also believe that the Miami Heat could be a suitor for Wood, particularly if they’re able to pull off a Damian Lillard trade. The Heat were rumored to be in the market for Dario Saric before he picked Golden State and the Lakers had interest in Saric as well. -via Los Angeles Times
I know people keep saying that about Wood, but for the vet minimum, I think you take a chance on a 27 year old, 6’ 9” player, who was 17/7 and can shoot the 3. If any team can help him focus, it’s Spo and the Heat.
A watched him quite a lot in Dallas. He trained over the summer defence, so he was great at the beginning of the season. Then games appeared, where it seems that he was always out of the right position, and after a while he played less and less.
If you want a comparison, he reminds me on Whiteside. Remember all that drama seting blocks for their guards, then protecting the rim, perimeter defence.... Spo sometimes lost his mind and put him on the bench.
The same story with both... both are convinced, that they are (were) good defensive players, but they are not. And if somebbody is convinced, then even Spo cant change his mind.
Agree on Spo and Co, but it sounds like Bulls interested too and they have some money due to the Lonzo Ball injury, something like $10 million. So if it's about money he is not coming here. If it's about taking a shot on a 1 year vet deal and contribute on a playoff team to land a bag of cash next offseason, it's Heat or Lakers. from teams mentioned that have interest.
So I had this thought at the trade deadline, and it's starting to creep into the back of my mind again with this Dame trade. What if Pat Riley doesn't think this is a Championship team?
They've been the best team in the East over the past four years. But they were an 8-seed last season, and they shuffled up some of their role players. They're a fun playoff team for sure, and they've proven they can go further than you think.
But this team ain't Shaq & Wade, and this team ain't The Heatles.
What if Riley is looking at Butler and Dame in their thirties, plus Bam, and thinking "that's a fun playoff team, but that still isn't a Championship team. " The Heat already have a fun playoff team. What is he trading a bunch of picks and players for?
I'm not sure that is the case, but the thought is starting to bubble up. Right now it's deep in the offseason and I imagine Riley is on a beach in Malibu somewhere. But I think he'll come back from vacation in September and Ellisburg is going to present him with his options, and he's going to make an offer for Dame, and if the Blazers say no, I think he'll be ready to move on
Heat is starting to look like the "villain" in these negotiations. Well second villain. Cronin still top antagonist lol. Is Heat org to blame if Dame only wants to be with the best team?! Haha. Again maybe the Riley effect. Whatever happens id still pick us to represent the east next yr. Sorry not one to buy in to the notion we don't win w/out Dame.
Why do Heat fans think we should give away Dame for your pile of hot garbage we don't want? You have no picks, and the players don't fit our needs. That is on Miami not Portland. If I don't have enough money for something that is my problem not a stores.
1.) Dame is done with your crappy franchise. Despite all the perception from the media, Cronin and Portland hold zero leverage. Especially since Lillard and his agent have made it clear to the rest of the NBA that he only wants Miami. Dame hasn't made things ugly yet hence why there's no pressure to get it done. That will change by September.
2.) Herro would be the only proven player on your roster until further notice. Also, I wouldn't talk about hot garbage since our team has been in the NBA Finals twice in the last four years. Where has your squad been?
Right. I believe that whether we get Dame or not, we can't be done with our team building moves.
Its not enough to have a great player and a close to great player, and great culture and coaching, and some decent complimentary pieces. It is not disparaging of the quality of our team and it is not showing any disrespect for how much they achieved last year when I opine that we still need more. We particularly have a need at guard which Dame hopefully will fill. But, we will have other tradeable assets if Dame doesn't come here that can be used to make this team even more formidable.
You can't stay on top by will alone. Thruout NBA history teams have had good runs only to get eventually knocked off by better ones. A good story came out today about the Nets team that Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin got in a fistfight on. That team vied for and lost a championship for two years and then finally got knocked out by the Pistons the next year. You have to keep reloading, or someone will give you your comeuppance.
Miami was short one big center and a scorer. Strus and Vincent fell short. Now, with Bryant and ORob plus Herro and maybe Rozier, I think Heat would be very, very tough to beat.
i think the deal is just waiting for football season to take over the headlines so Cronin can make the trade outside of the limelight. I would love to see the Heat keep Jamie J, but I will also not be said if it's Jamie, Jovic, Herro, Duncan, Lowry, and a couple picks. My best guess is that the Heat try to throw in an extra pick so they can keep Jamie
You can think that. We don't want any of that. Give us Bam for Ant, and we can move on. See I can come up with terrible trades that aren't going to happen.
Pat doesn't need to do anything. We're not desperate. Cronin and Portland will be once Lillard starts causing a commotion. My offer would be Herro + Duncan + two 1st round picks + two second round picks. You're not getting Bam lol
No matter how we spin this, Damian's objective is the HEAT., not some other team. Another team will just further stifle his aspirations. As for the HEAT, they can not win a championship without Damian, the missing piece. HEAT can not, for example, beat Denver without Damian. to add, Celtics have added Porzingis. Go figure.
The team is better than last year's. All it needs now is a good-very good PG. Miami can win it all with or without Dame, as long as it has a legit PG and back-ups at each position. Right now, the depth looks pretty good.
Yes, there are those that ae trying to leave those two very important facts out of the equation, age and salary. And, age wouldn't be such big issue except the length of salary makes it so. A team taking on Dame's contract wil likely have a Kyle Lowry situation, but worse, for at lest a year, maybe two. The team may be hamstrung from making moves and also will have no draft picks coming in. Its a big risk that only a win right now team can take.
Anyway, the market has spoken. If Dame's contract was so desirable that four first rounders and two decent players was a viable price, suitors would have lined up already, despite Lillard's preferences.
We are defense based. So yes, puzzled about woods. Btw, if we keep Herro, we don't get Dame (unless Pat pulls the greatest stunt outside of getting Butler technically for free). Gabe is a defensive shooter. I'd fill him with Dragic. Max is the shooter. DAME. I don't know any other guards out there.
If there is no trade, those agents are going to move on. Pat is smart enough to realize this. It's one thing to come up empty on Lillard. It's completely another to do so without getting reasonable replacements for both Gabe and Max (and don't you dare say Bouyea and Cain). Like I know we are stuck cap wise, but there has to be effort. Getting Goran will be the easy part (he WANTS to come back, like Richardson). As for Woods, the longer we wait, the greater odds LeBron steals him.
Duncan and Strus were always 1 and 1a. Duncan has and can still play sg. They’d definitely need to get an adequate pg, perhaps Nunn. But also bear in mind that both Butler and Bam both often bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. It’s why you can play Herro at pg also. It’s not his natural position, but he’s done okay there in the past.
How about Herro and Jamie J as a replacement for Gabe and Max? Plus whatever the Heat can get for trading Lowry's $30 million expiring and maybe throw in a pick.
As for Woods, he's not a Heat type player. It's not happening
Here's what's bugging me. What if teams like San Antonio and Toronto and Brooklyn (which IMHO are all great teams I'd respectively would have no problem seeing a heater like Herro on) already made offers with us plus the picks,......and Pat and Mickey are simply saying nah. Like they're legitimately wanting to work with us such that Joe can croak over Dame. What's the possibility Pat insists on getting Dame without a multi-team trade? I know that sounds stupid, but I don't know how to interpret what Lebetard said the other day.
I thought we were offering a whole lot more than just Herro. I thought draft choices, and other players were going their way too. Is there misinformation going on here from one side or the other? When Portland or Miami just talk about Herro are you are supposd to just assume their are other picks and players?
Portland probably expected a Gobert like return for Lillard. Of course, Lillard is an elite player, but he is 33 and has a 4 year contract extension in the value of a small country's GDP. This is something no one mentions. Of course other teams would pursue him, but not at a cost Portland is expecting. Sooner or later they will get it.
for better and for worse, all the leaks are coming from the Portland side. We don't know what Miami is offering and we don't know what they're willing to take back. The only things we know are that Portland wants 4 draft picks and they don't want Herro, and Miami has a couple different teams willing to trade a first round pick for Herro. Also, we know that nobody other than Miami is currently trying to trade for Damian Lillard
Summer league is over and the NBA is heading out for summer vacation. I think that if a deal hasn't come together by now, it's not happening until September
If Damian wants to bail out of SS Portland, he should be allowed to. Portland has nothing to gain by keeping him on the ship. They need to make it happen/
Portland should let Lillard go, but, they can just sit and wait. They are not the ones under pressure here. Miami is. Portland is going to suck next year with or without Lillard. They are rebuilding and sitting their star only helps their draft position. I don't think that Portland doesn't think Herro is a good player, they just have too many guards and no front court. If Miami keeps this up somebody else is going to grab Lillard first. He is under contract for three more years so it isn't like he is a one year rental for the Knicks, Boston or the Nets.
If Portland decided to rebuild (which no one could blame them for) fair approach would be to inform Lillard, try to get a good package in return for him and fully commit to rebuilding. Instead their management pretended they were gonna try build a contending team around Dame, but got zero new players in trades and free agent signings. (in order not to be held responsible for trading their franchise player, knowing Dame himself would ask for a trade in such case). This is a cowardly approach. And it is not even a proper rebuild - they still have Nurkic and gave 29 years old Jerami Grant a 160 million contract.
Miami is in a better position here: they are the ones that can sit and wait. It is not in Portland's interest to have Lillard around and on their payroll come training camp.
Their owner can afford it. The Grant thing is the odd thing. Nurkic has likely out in Portland as soon as they trade Lillard. What is it going to hurt Portland other than Paul Allen's sister's pocket book to sit and wait on Miami? Meanwhile Miami is sitting on hold and the Blazers and rolling into a full rebuild. Grant and Simons will keep them above the floor if they send Lillard somewhere for a huge salary filler that expires in a year or two and a ton of draft picks - Brooklyn(Simmons)/Toronto(Siakam)/Milwaukie(Holiday)/Charlotte(Hayward)/Denver(Murray)/Philly(Harris)/Boston(Brown or Porzingis).
Again - Portland is full on into rebuild. They don't care if Lillard doesn't show up. It just makes a good draft pick better.
I think they could get Goran. We need one more PG anyway. But they probably prefer to wait for the Lillard trade to complete. Not sure how many other options Goran has apart from Miami, but probably not too many.
Mostly disagree. The Heat will be a very good team with or without Lillard. They were just picked as third best in the East WITHOUT Lillard. You’re right about Herro. But from a business standpoint, paying a player $125,000 every day (nearly $4 million a month!) to sit, not even taking into account the PR disaster, is very bad for business. It also bodes ill for how good players will perceive the mistreatment of a valued, loyal player.
I agree. This is all mounting up to a terrible for portland if they don't move Lillard. After all, he had stated his position that he's not down for a rebuild long before the draft. Picking scoot was already the flashpoint for the coming breakup.
They successfully got him to ask out, saving them from the ignominy of trading the most devoted hostage in the league. Yet they are fumbling the bag in front of them. This dude's money is guaranteed, but his trade value is not. Dragging heels is not gna summon more picks from the ether.
As for Lillard's specific trade target, I have to assume that post-draft conversation was contentious as they get. Why else would he put them in such a tough spot so readily?
If Shams is right and negotiations aren't making any traction, it's obvious its Portland dragging it out. Portland could have gotten the deal done way earlier instead of goofing around, leaking that they wanna get Bam and what not.
Just saying. Portland is now flush with youth and they picked up a solid guard they could build around for a good long while. They are telling their young guys what to expect from this org down the line. Its not just us on the outside watching this debacle.
Is his money really guaranteed? Didn't Brooklyn refuse to pay Simmons when he sat out? I thought that was still unresolved. If Lillard doesn't get paid, Portland has the upper hand to get Lillard to open up which teams he wants to go to.
“ Brooklyn Nets All-Star guard Ben Simmons and his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, reached a settlement agreement on the grievance Simmons filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20 million withheld from him as a result of his failure to play games in the 2021-2022 season, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Both sides agreed to confidentiality on the exact financial settlement reached, sources said.”
Simmons, of course, is not even in the same universe as Lillard. Lillard is the picture of integrity and all that’s good in the NBA. Can you really imagine Portland or whoever withholding his money? The extremely negative press that team would endure if Lillard filed a grievance?? PORTLAND DOES NOT HAVE THE UPPER HAND!
Great comment. Portland and the media are trying to make it sound like we are offering Dion Waiters and 2 second rounders. Whether we or they move Herro, he will get at least 1 solid first round pick. Plus 2 first round picks from us, plus at least 2 of Martin, Jovic, and Jaquez. It’s not Gobert/Mitchell level, but it’s a solid return for someone you no longer want, who is getting up in age, and who has a massive contract.
It's not that Blazers fans don't like Herro, it is that we DON'T NEED Herro!
Sources also believe that the Miami Heat could be a suitor for Wood, particularly if they’re able to pull off a Damian Lillard trade. The Heat were rumored to be in the market for Dario Saric before he picked Golden State and the Lakers had interest in Saric as well. -via Los Angeles Times
I cant believe that. Wood is not material for Heat culture.
Saric is a different story, and I believe there could be some thruth in that rumor.
I know people keep saying that about Wood, but for the vet minimum, I think you take a chance on a 27 year old, 6’ 9” player, who was 17/7 and can shoot the 3. If any team can help him focus, it’s Spo and the Heat.
A watched him quite a lot in Dallas. He trained over the summer defence, so he was great at the beginning of the season. Then games appeared, where it seems that he was always out of the right position, and after a while he played less and less.
If you want a comparison, he reminds me on Whiteside. Remember all that drama seting blocks for their guards, then protecting the rim, perimeter defence.... Spo sometimes lost his mind and put him on the bench.
The same story with both... both are convinced, that they are (were) good defensive players, but they are not. And if somebbody is convinced, then even Spo cant change his mind.
Agree on Spo and Co, but it sounds like Bulls interested too and they have some money due to the Lonzo Ball injury, something like $10 million. So if it's about money he is not coming here. If it's about taking a shot on a 1 year vet deal and contribute on a playoff team to land a bag of cash next offseason, it's Heat or Lakers. from teams mentioned that have interest.
I'm still bummed Saric didn't wait. #HeatLifer
So I had this thought at the trade deadline, and it's starting to creep into the back of my mind again with this Dame trade. What if Pat Riley doesn't think this is a Championship team?
They've been the best team in the East over the past four years. But they were an 8-seed last season, and they shuffled up some of their role players. They're a fun playoff team for sure, and they've proven they can go further than you think.
But this team ain't Shaq & Wade, and this team ain't The Heatles.
What if Riley is looking at Butler and Dame in their thirties, plus Bam, and thinking "that's a fun playoff team, but that still isn't a Championship team. " The Heat already have a fun playoff team. What is he trading a bunch of picks and players for?
I'm not sure that is the case, but the thought is starting to bubble up. Right now it's deep in the offseason and I imagine Riley is on a beach in Malibu somewhere. But I think he'll come back from vacation in September and Ellisburg is going to present him with his options, and he's going to make an offer for Dame, and if the Blazers say no, I think he'll be ready to move on
Heat is starting to look like the "villain" in these negotiations. Well second villain. Cronin still top antagonist lol. Is Heat org to blame if Dame only wants to be with the best team?! Haha. Again maybe the Riley effect. Whatever happens id still pick us to represent the east next yr. Sorry not one to buy in to the notion we don't win w/out Dame.
Why do Heat fans think we should give away Dame for your pile of hot garbage we don't want? You have no picks, and the players don't fit our needs. That is on Miami not Portland. If I don't have enough money for something that is my problem not a stores.
Because:
1.) Dame is done with your crappy franchise. Despite all the perception from the media, Cronin and Portland hold zero leverage. Especially since Lillard and his agent have made it clear to the rest of the NBA that he only wants Miami. Dame hasn't made things ugly yet hence why there's no pressure to get it done. That will change by September.
2.) Herro would be the only proven player on your roster until further notice. Also, I wouldn't talk about hot garbage since our team has been in the NBA Finals twice in the last four years. Where has your squad been?
Denver is too good. Heat needs Damian.
To beat Denver, HEAT needs that missing piece; otherwise, deja vue.
Right. I believe that whether we get Dame or not, we can't be done with our team building moves.
Its not enough to have a great player and a close to great player, and great culture and coaching, and some decent complimentary pieces. It is not disparaging of the quality of our team and it is not showing any disrespect for how much they achieved last year when I opine that we still need more. We particularly have a need at guard which Dame hopefully will fill. But, we will have other tradeable assets if Dame doesn't come here that can be used to make this team even more formidable.
You can't stay on top by will alone. Thruout NBA history teams have had good runs only to get eventually knocked off by better ones. A good story came out today about the Nets team that Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin got in a fistfight on. That team vied for and lost a championship for two years and then finally got knocked out by the Pistons the next year. You have to keep reloading, or someone will give you your comeuppance.
Miami was short one big center and a scorer. Strus and Vincent fell short. Now, with Bryant and ORob plus Herro and maybe Rozier, I think Heat would be very, very tough to beat.
plus Jamie J!
The deal is waiting for Jaime Js 30 days to be up.
Portland would be silly to not ask for one of JJJ or Niko.
Many Herro suitors so the deal has to be just waiting for JJJ.
i think the deal is just waiting for football season to take over the headlines so Cronin can make the trade outside of the limelight. I would love to see the Heat keep Jamie J, but I will also not be said if it's Jamie, Jovic, Herro, Duncan, Lowry, and a couple picks. My best guess is that the Heat try to throw in an extra pick so they can keep Jamie
How about we give you Simons and two seconds for Bam? That's about as equal as what you are offering.
deal!
I think Heat want to keep two of Jamie jovic or Caleb preferably Jamie and Caleb.
I think The Blazers want Jamie and Caleb.
You can think that. We don't want any of that. Give us Bam for Ant, and we can move on. See I can come up with terrible trades that aren't going to happen.
Portland knows by now that Miami, Brooklyn, Philly and Boston aren't going overpay. The Gobert deal was an anomaly. Cronin is going to have to adjust.
How about Bam for 5 second rounders? Pat is just going to need to adjust.
Pat doesn't need to do anything. We're not desperate. Cronin and Portland will be once Lillard starts causing a commotion. My offer would be Herro + Duncan + two 1st round picks + two second round picks. You're not getting Bam lol
No matter how we spin this, Damian's objective is the HEAT., not some other team. Another team will just further stifle his aspirations. As for the HEAT, they can not win a championship without Damian, the missing piece. HEAT can not, for example, beat Denver without Damian. to add, Celtics have added Porzingis. Go figure.
The team is better than last year's. All it needs now is a good-very good PG. Miami can win it all with or without Dame, as long as it has a legit PG and back-ups at each position. Right now, the depth looks pretty good.
That’s exactly how I feel. This roster is better than it’s been in the last 4 years, and we all know what they’ve done in that period.
The Heat can't win with Lillard if our roster is gutted either. Dame isn't worth four 1st round picks and 1-2 starters at 33.
Facts
Yes, there are those that ae trying to leave those two very important facts out of the equation, age and salary. And, age wouldn't be such big issue except the length of salary makes it so. A team taking on Dame's contract wil likely have a Kyle Lowry situation, but worse, for at lest a year, maybe two. The team may be hamstrung from making moves and also will have no draft picks coming in. Its a big risk that only a win right now team can take.
Anyway, the market has spoken. If Dame's contract was so desirable that four first rounders and two decent players was a viable price, suitors would have lined up already, despite Lillard's preferences.
Yes. I said almost the exact thing on the last thread. It’d be nice to have a present and a future.
I do not agree that the Heat cannot win without Lillard.
We are defense based. So yes, puzzled about woods. Btw, if we keep Herro, we don't get Dame (unless Pat pulls the greatest stunt outside of getting Butler technically for free). Gabe is a defensive shooter. I'd fill him with Dragic. Max is the shooter. DAME. I don't know any other guards out there.
If there is no trade, those agents are going to move on. Pat is smart enough to realize this. It's one thing to come up empty on Lillard. It's completely another to do so without getting reasonable replacements for both Gabe and Max (and don't you dare say Bouyea and Cain). Like I know we are stuck cap wise, but there has to be effort. Getting Goran will be the easy part (he WANTS to come back, like Richardson). As for Woods, the longer we wait, the greater odds LeBron steals him.
Duncan and Strus were always 1 and 1a. Duncan has and can still play sg. They’d definitely need to get an adequate pg, perhaps Nunn. But also bear in mind that both Butler and Bam both often bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. It’s why you can play Herro at pg also. It’s not his natural position, but he’s done okay there in the past.
How about Herro and Jamie J as a replacement for Gabe and Max? Plus whatever the Heat can get for trading Lowry's $30 million expiring and maybe throw in a pick.
As for Woods, he's not a Heat type player. It's not happening
Here's what's bugging me. What if teams like San Antonio and Toronto and Brooklyn (which IMHO are all great teams I'd respectively would have no problem seeing a heater like Herro on) already made offers with us plus the picks,......and Pat and Mickey are simply saying nah. Like they're legitimately wanting to work with us such that Joe can croak over Dame. What's the possibility Pat insists on getting Dame without a multi-team trade? I know that sounds stupid, but I don't know how to interpret what Lebetard said the other day.
Pat trying to get Dame for peanuts. Cronin wants some of our young players. The picks are already set.
It's a waiting game now to see who blinks first.
We have more to lose by waiting because we have to construct a championship caliber roster. Portland is playing for ping pong balls.
I thought we were offering a whole lot more than just Herro. I thought draft choices, and other players were going their way too. Is there misinformation going on here from one side or the other? When Portland or Miami just talk about Herro are you are supposd to just assume their are other picks and players?
Portland probably expected a Gobert like return for Lillard. Of course, Lillard is an elite player, but he is 33 and has a 4 year contract extension in the value of a small country's GDP. This is something no one mentions. Of course other teams would pursue him, but not at a cost Portland is expecting. Sooner or later they will get it.
for better and for worse, all the leaks are coming from the Portland side. We don't know what Miami is offering and we don't know what they're willing to take back. The only things we know are that Portland wants 4 draft picks and they don't want Herro, and Miami has a couple different teams willing to trade a first round pick for Herro. Also, we know that nobody other than Miami is currently trying to trade for Damian Lillard
Summer league is over and the NBA is heading out for summer vacation. I think that if a deal hasn't come together by now, it's not happening until September
If Damian wants to bail out of SS Portland, he should be allowed to. Portland has nothing to gain by keeping him on the ship. They need to make it happen/
Portland should let Lillard go, but, they can just sit and wait. They are not the ones under pressure here. Miami is. Portland is going to suck next year with or without Lillard. They are rebuilding and sitting their star only helps their draft position. I don't think that Portland doesn't think Herro is a good player, they just have too many guards and no front court. If Miami keeps this up somebody else is going to grab Lillard first. He is under contract for three more years so it isn't like he is a one year rental for the Knicks, Boston or the Nets.
If Portland decided to rebuild (which no one could blame them for) fair approach would be to inform Lillard, try to get a good package in return for him and fully commit to rebuilding. Instead their management pretended they were gonna try build a contending team around Dame, but got zero new players in trades and free agent signings. (in order not to be held responsible for trading their franchise player, knowing Dame himself would ask for a trade in such case). This is a cowardly approach. And it is not even a proper rebuild - they still have Nurkic and gave 29 years old Jerami Grant a 160 million contract.
Miami is in a better position here: they are the ones that can sit and wait. It is not in Portland's interest to have Lillard around and on their payroll come training camp.
Their owner can afford it. The Grant thing is the odd thing. Nurkic has likely out in Portland as soon as they trade Lillard. What is it going to hurt Portland other than Paul Allen's sister's pocket book to sit and wait on Miami? Meanwhile Miami is sitting on hold and the Blazers and rolling into a full rebuild. Grant and Simons will keep them above the floor if they send Lillard somewhere for a huge salary filler that expires in a year or two and a ton of draft picks - Brooklyn(Simmons)/Toronto(Siakam)/Milwaukie(Holiday)/Charlotte(Hayward)/Denver(Murray)/Philly(Harris)/Boston(Brown or Porzingis).
Again - Portland is full on into rebuild. They don't care if Lillard doesn't show up. It just makes a good draft pick better.
Many team owners can afford to take such hits. But few business owners like to see their money wasted on idle inventory.
Question. Can we pursue agents like Dragic and/or Woods before getting Dame? At least Goran.
I think they could get Goran. We need one more PG anyway. But they probably prefer to wait for the Lillard trade to complete. Not sure how many other options Goran has apart from Miami, but probably not too many.
Mostly disagree. The Heat will be a very good team with or without Lillard. They were just picked as third best in the East WITHOUT Lillard. You’re right about Herro. But from a business standpoint, paying a player $125,000 every day (nearly $4 million a month!) to sit, not even taking into account the PR disaster, is very bad for business. It also bodes ill for how good players will perceive the mistreatment of a valued, loyal player.
I agree. This is all mounting up to a terrible for portland if they don't move Lillard. After all, he had stated his position that he's not down for a rebuild long before the draft. Picking scoot was already the flashpoint for the coming breakup.
They successfully got him to ask out, saving them from the ignominy of trading the most devoted hostage in the league. Yet they are fumbling the bag in front of them. This dude's money is guaranteed, but his trade value is not. Dragging heels is not gna summon more picks from the ether.
As for Lillard's specific trade target, I have to assume that post-draft conversation was contentious as they get. Why else would he put them in such a tough spot so readily?
If Shams is right and negotiations aren't making any traction, it's obvious its Portland dragging it out. Portland could have gotten the deal done way earlier instead of goofing around, leaking that they wanna get Bam and what not.
Just saying. Portland is now flush with youth and they picked up a solid guard they could build around for a good long while. They are telling their young guys what to expect from this org down the line. Its not just us on the outside watching this debacle.
Is his money really guaranteed? Didn't Brooklyn refuse to pay Simmons when he sat out? I thought that was still unresolved. If Lillard doesn't get paid, Portland has the upper hand to get Lillard to open up which teams he wants to go to.
From nbc sports:
“ Brooklyn Nets All-Star guard Ben Simmons and his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, reached a settlement agreement on the grievance Simmons filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20 million withheld from him as a result of his failure to play games in the 2021-2022 season, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Both sides agreed to confidentiality on the exact financial settlement reached, sources said.”
Simmons, of course, is not even in the same universe as Lillard. Lillard is the picture of integrity and all that’s good in the NBA. Can you really imagine Portland or whoever withholding his money? The extremely negative press that team would endure if Lillard filed a grievance?? PORTLAND DOES NOT HAVE THE UPPER HAND!
And I doubt he'd settle for 'partial' recoup or even that he'll accept confidential terms
Great comment. Portland and the media are trying to make it sound like we are offering Dion Waiters and 2 second rounders. Whether we or they move Herro, he will get at least 1 solid first round pick. Plus 2 first round picks from us, plus at least 2 of Martin, Jovic, and Jaquez. It’s not Gobert/Mitchell level, but it’s a solid return for someone you no longer want, who is getting up in age, and who has a massive contract.
Miami isn't a good team. They are a great team. They just can't get past Denver without that last star piece.