Report: Damian Lillard is only prepared to play for Miami and his stance is ‘Heat-or-Bust’
Lillard finally made the decision, now everything is in the hands of the Blazers.
The Damian Lillard - Miami Heat saga has just begun officially following Lillard’s request to be traded out of Portland.
There are some teams in the mix for his services, including the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and even San Antonio Spurs.
However, the Miami Heat have clearly been at the front of the sweepstakes for quite some time now.
Lillard’s preferred destination is the Heat. For months now he has been HEAVILY linked to Miami rumors. He spoke on a podcast and mentioned the Heat would “obviously” be his number 1 choice if he were to play elsewhere.
At the time though, everything was hypothetically speaking.
Now, the time has finally arrived.
Lillard reportedly has his sights only on Miami, and is prepared to be playing for them this upcoming season. It is ‘Heat-or-bust’ in the eyes of the superstar point guard.
He has also reportedly been in contact with Heat players over the last few days.
Two of them most likely having to be both Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, who are close with Lillard and would love to see him rep a Miami jersey on route to another deep playoff run.
Woj reported just today that Portland doesn’t have to listen to Lillard and send him to his preferred destination.
That report contradicts prior ones, that actually mentioned Portland would take care of their beloved star player.
The Portland Trail Blazers are NOT obligated to listen to Dame, but with the loyalty and work he has put in both on and off the court to Portland, it just seems wrong of the franchise to not want to accommodate one of the best players in their entire team history.
It seems like the Woj reports are just a smoke screen. Obviously lots of media personalities would like to drag this out and have more headlines to publish.
At the end of the day though, Portland has to do what is best for their franchise.
A 3rd team being involved in these trade talks is a likely scenario in any potential Heat trade for Lillard.
Portland was rumored to not be so high on Tyler Herro, but if a 3rd team like say the Brooklyn Nets or San Antonio Spurs get involved, they can take on Herro and send other draft picks and/or players to the Blazers.
It seems inevitable that Lillard somehow finds his way to the 305, but it will absolutely be easier said than done to unload a player of his caliber.
This wide spread belief that Herro is a liabillity at 30 mil a year for 4 years is ridiculous.
Herro is a 23 year old 6'5 sg that has averaged over 20 pts per game the past 2 seasons and is a legit 3 level scorer.
He was the 22-23 season's 17th ranked sg on DUNKS AND THREES' EPM, which has the most respected advanced stats among nba coaches.
He is the second youngest ranked player among the top 17 on this list. The only player that is younger and averages more points per game on this list than Herro is Anthony Edwards at 21 years old.
Herro was also the number one ranked Heat player in plus-minus during the 22-23 regular season, ahead of both Jimmy and Bam. The prior 2 seasons the Heat were led by either Jimmy or Bam.
And Herro at only 23 already has more playoff experience under his belt than any other guard under 26 in the entire nba.
There's also this notion that the Heat played better during this season's playoff run to the finals without Herro, which is also absurd.
Not only is there no doubt in my mind that the Heat would've made it to the finals with a healthy Herro but there's also no doubt in my mind that they would've been much better equipped to beat the Nuggets in a 7 game series with him.
The Heat lost that series in 5 games because Denver was essentially able to shut down the Heat's starting backcourt of Strus and Vincent and especially Vincent the Heat's primary backcourt ball handler.
Starting from game 3, the Nuggets double teamed Gabe in Pick n' Rolls with Bam.
When that started happening Gabe's game disappeared soon after.
He went from averaging 24 pts, 4 asts and a team best +11 plus-minus in the first 2 games to 5 pts, 1 ast and a team worst minus 17 in the final 3 games.
Gabe simply could not handle the Denver double teams.
That scenario would've played out differently had that been Herro instead of Gabe.
Herro's a better scorer and decision maker under pressure than Gabe and is already used to seeing multiple double teams in Pick n' Roll situations.
Denver would not have been able to shut him down to the tune of 5 pts and 1 ast for 3 whole games.
For what it's worth, Herro averaged 26 pts, 10 rebs, 5 asts and 1 turmover on 66% TS in his only game against the Nuggets during the 22-23 regular season.
The playoffs are a different animal but imo that series goes 7 games if Herro is healthy
I'm also convinced that the Heat would've won last season's ECF against the Celtics had Herro not gotten injured.
The reason why I'm so sure about this is because in the first 3 games Herro played prior to his injury the Heat averaged almost 110 pts per game.
In the 4 games after his injury they averaged 92 pts per game.
Save for the 20-21 playoffs where everyone was tired from the quick turnaround from the season prior, the Heat has never lost an eastern conf playoff series in which Herro has been healthy in the Jimmy Butler era.
One could seriously make the case that the Heat would've played in 3 of the last 4 nba finals had Tyler Herro simply remained healthy for all of those playoff runs.
In essence Herro's biggest flaw so far has been his inability to stay healthy.
So if teams like the Trailblazers are undervaluing Herro then you can see why those teams have never won anything and will likely never win anything in the near future.
For as of right now at only 23 years old, Herro remains one of the most accomplished sgs in the entire nba.
It's crazy how Miami gets different treatment. If we were Los Angeles, the media would literally blow this story out of the water and cite how it's their duty to trade Lillard to them. Insane. Nah, we apparently have to pay through the nose for a player who is nearing the twilight of his career and tell Lillard "hey, sorry not sorry".