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Yeah, but would you want a player basically telling you he doesn't want to play for your team or be in your city?
Oh, who won the bet? The one about changing Username?
Cuban also has his bird rights and access to more money than anyone else as far as a Luka Contract goes.
I really don't want to keep repeating myself, but...
If Luka wants to go no matter what, he's walking away from a lot of money because Cuban is not going to make him happy in that regard.
Yeah, but would you want a player basically telling you he doesn't want to play for your team or be in your city?
Oh, who won the bet? The one about changing Username?
All Cuban can do is be so awful that Luka walks away from a supermax. He is young enough that he will get another shot with his second team.
If Luka only cares about money, he will just get fat and stay in Dallas.
yeah lebron lost out on so much when he left cleveland and miami, durant lost so much, kawhi lost so much. These all time players know that winning a championship is vital for their long term career. They do what they need to do.nothing is going to better for current stars careers than teaming with giannis, jokic, and wemby.
https://theathletic.com/4659031/2023...shared-article
So interesting Athletic article. Basically it talks about how badly the blazers current front office mismanaged their assets to get to this point. They lost trade after trade after trade and depleted their roster. It suggests they should try very hard to take mostly draft capital in the Lillard trade since drafting is literally the only thing they are good at.
So right up our alley!
Not throwing shade but do people realize that Dame is almost 3 years younger than Steph Curry and arguably has less miles on the odometer?
He's not the same caliber of player obviously (though you can talk about comparability), but he's closer to giving you four years of Max type production than dropping off after two...
I love Vassell but if it's him and two to three future firsts and a seconds package, and you believe in the overall potential of the team and its rise to prominence quickly; Spurs definitely need to look at this.
nope, the perfect star will come by. Just need to keep praying for it.
Unpopular opinion: maybe Dame actually isn’t a winning player? I thought he got exposed in the Olympics and don’t see Pop prioritizing him, imo, rightfully so.
Also: Heat Culture. How can it can it simultaneously mean showy superstars and no name undrafted grinders? Seems like bull .
(Steps off soapbox…)
If you want to treat the game as a business and demand max after max, nobody’s stopping you. But then the team has the moral right to treat it like a business too.
I don't expect there to ever be a trade for Lillard. Even if he was open to it, Portland management has proven themselves morons and will take back a worse deal than they could with the Spurs because they're buffoons who think Jerami Grant is worth a billion dollars.
However, this is a discussion forum so ...
The more I think about a lillard trade the more I warm up to it if it's dead salary plus picks. That doesn't fit the alleged desire for 'young players plus picks" in return but it is what it is.
I guess I see the first year as a 'free year", meaning the cap room they have now (25mil); Graham and Birch is perfectly fitted to Lillard's salary, so I don't think there's some outrageous cost there, Spurs weren't going to be doing much with that money anyway
I think I would like a deal of Graham & Birch plus 1sts and 2nds. Spurs 24 lottery protected for 2 years that converts to seconds, the Toronto pick, the Charlotte pick, the Bulls pick and I say give them the 25 Atlanta pick work. Plus 5 seconds. 5 potential firsts and 5 seconds seems fair to me.
I'm sure everyone will see it as an overpay but I don't think so. Spurs have too many picks for the roster. They just bailed on a #33 pick and the rationale was you can't have too many young players and the weren't enough roster spots. It's not going to be much different when it's the #16 from Charlotte or the #17 from Atlanta. Spurs will be heading into roster crunches whether people like it or not.
And if Nurkic is the sticking point you can still make the deal work money wise by adding McDermott. Yes he sucks on a bad contract but he'll be salary ballast after 2 seasons and you can add picks and get someone better.
I do think the Spurs are in line for the playoffs right now. And I do think Lillard could make them a contender, in so far as reaching the conference finals. I think Denver is one of the most overrated champions of the century.
Win now, with Pop. Duncan was a coin flip or airplane accommodation away from leaving the Spurs and that's with having won a le. Win now, win when young, get things going now.
And Lillard will be off the books in time for the Spurs to have used their 26 Atlanta swap and their 27 Atlanta and their 28 Boston swap and maybe with some caproom they get the next guy to pair with Wemby.
These extra first rounders with protections I think get overrated by fans. New York just had one of their acquired firsts disappear in the ether when Washington for the first time ever chose a long hard tanking rebuild. One bad injury or front office shakeup and any or all of the Toronto, Charlotte or Chicago picks could evaporate also.
This team has no point guard and no concrete way of getting one. Maintaining cap room will get harder and harder. They didn't even have the room to outbid the rockets for FVV if they wanted to this year and this was the big target year they had space. OKC burned 17 million plus pick 12 to select a back up point guard. Jones ain't it, and I don't see it in Wesley either.
Use these potential picks while you have them. I'm sure the argument will be to package them to move up in a future draft but that's easier said than done. It might cost you 5 picks then for an unknown, for the next Jalen Suggs. And then you have to develop them.
Just make the move now as long as it doesn't involve Wemby, Keldon, Vassell, or Sochan. They're the core that matter.
It is just weird that a miracle happened -
(lottery/wemby)
then another miracle (sort of) is happening - (lillard open to coming to s.a)
and
spurs are in need of a second star
spurs are a point guard away from having a nice team
and
everyone here is so USED TO -
planning for the future/tanking/hoarding picks/riding with G league players
that suddenly the clouds part and it is there for the taking....
and everyone is:
"nah- lillards too old"
"nah- lillard will cost 60- mil in year 4"
"nah- wemby needs 2-3 years ..."
"nah- we need to keep our frp, srp,"
"nah - no vassell...."
"nah - not keldon"
**edit - oh yeah - another piece of good fortune - the Spurs are the team in the BEST position to nab a superstar - if they have the balls to go after it - **
jeezus...
Sure hope the spurs front office has the balls to grab a gift when it is in their lap...
Lillard is basically an undersized SG and is getting up there in age. He is 33. I'm definitely passing up on that. Now if it was some young star like Doncic I would be down. By getting Lillard you are basically betting the Spurs will be able to win the championship in the next 2 years. I don't see Lillard being useful after 35.
sure buddy,
join the club -
too this
too that
not enough this
not enough that
I think it would be weird for Herro to come to his former teammate Keldon’s team making more money than him. I like Herro but not at his contract number.
Some Spurs fans : "Lillard is too old! He'll be 33!"
Meanwhile David Robinson was 33 and 37 when he won his les. How easy fans forget their history.
If Wemby is who people think him to be, a truly generational player, the best in 20 years, maybe the best ever, then he's ready to try and win the le with this year, next year, every year.
If he's not that guy, then keep losing. If he's the next Banchero or Bargnani, you might as well trade Keldon and Vassell now to tank and to aim for the next number one pick, maybe he'll be good enough to carry Wembenyama
If you see he's the next Duncan, he can win during his rookie deal. If you see he's the next Olowokandi, then you have to hold on to these picks end these young guys, maybe they'll be the next Jokic, the second round draft pick might be the way to go.
That ensures he walks out the door in 2027 for nothing. He will be 28, and Wemby 23.
Stars should be clamoring to come to a team like the Spurs. Truly a place where they could just focus on basketball. Media throws nothing but softballs here at the coaches/players.
Comparing 33 Lillard to 33 David Robinson is a stupid comparison. Robinson could impact the game on both ends while Lilllard doesn't have that ability. Lillard is not going to be a defensive anchor like Robinson was.
These right here.
We won the draft lottery, making the terms of the bet moot.
By 37 Dave was a solid role player. His back had him a s of himself. By 37 dame may just be spot up 3 shooter like kerr
Hope to see it.
David Robinson won with a team led by Duncan that had a veteran supporting cast. In this case the core is a bunch of 19 (Wemby), 20 (Sochan, Branham), 22 (Vassell) and 23 (Keldon) year olds, that are NOWHERE NEAR contention. The fact of the matter is, WE DON'T KNOW HOW FAR ALONG WEMBY IS. The guy isn't a 4 year senior like Duncan was, he might be really good (hopefully) but it's ridiculous to expect him to be as good as Tim was right out of the gate. Even if he's really good, it'll take him a few years to develop, meanwhile Lillard is getting up in age and it'll give you a very slim window to contend, it's a threading the needle kind of scenario. Meanwhile, you likely have to trade some of the youth and picks, overpay for a supporting cast, and miss out on free agency given the financial commitment Lillard would take.
It's like people have learned nothing from the past 10 such trades (KD, Harden -twice-, Kyrie, Gobert, Mitc , Paul George, KG and Pierce to Brooklyn, etc). These trades rarely work and when they do it's because there's a veteran team in place to contend immediately (AD to Lakers, KG & Ray Allen to Boston) and that's usually one championship of glory and a decade plus of misery. It's a clear pass from me.
I like Dame but right now all he’ll do is make us a play in team and teach the young guys around him. These are good things but is it worth the money? This team probably won’t be ready to compete for another three years and I’m just assuming by then he’ll be 36 and a s of himself.
Not saying don’t it but it’s a huge gamble depending on who you give up.
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