This video means this,
The Trail Blazers are “not impressed” with the Heat’s trade offer for Damian Lillard, which could lead to a deal elsewhere now, per @wojespn:
- While Damian Lillard prefers Miami, Portland needs “maximum value” in any trade.
- Miami needs at minimum a third team to take on Tyler Herro’s contract. Blazers have no interest in Herro.
- Portland will now take their time to find better offers elsewhere to receive the best package for Lillard.
to this Twitter guy.
I took the time to transcribe Adrian Wojnarowski's words (you're welcome). This is every word he said:
"This is likely to be a long process. I think what Portland's doing right now is intaking a lot of calls from a lot of teams around the league, some serious to begin with, showing real interest, and a lot just checking in, a lot just seeing what a potential asking price for Damian Lillard could be. But one thing so far, Portland, I am told, is not impressed with what Miami has to offer them. And while it is Damian Lillard's preference to go to the "Heat", Portland has to get back maximum value for Damian Lillard if they're going to trade him. And so certainly Miami at a minimum needs a third team probably to take on Tyler Herro and then to have those assets from that team sent on to Portland. Portland doesn't have interest in bringing in Tyler Herro. Their group already is built around young guards, and so I think for Portland, they're going to take their time with this process and start to build out what the best offers would be elsewhere. But when it comes to Miami, I think for the "Blazers" their focus is elsewhere in getting maximum value for Lillard."
1) The only new news here is Woj's "if" Portland is going to trade him. To me, that is a straw man. Portland cannot pay $50M/year for a disgruntled player a disgruntled player $50M/year.
2) "Their group already is built around young guards..." is the Portland position as articulated in my fictional Portlandic Dialogues. So, two sub-things about that:
a) If "if" was real, meaning Portland seriously may not trade Dame, then why did they build their team around young guards? Dame is a guard, but he is not young. Dame wanted them to trade the Scoot Henderson pick for a win-now veteran. They didn't. Dame gave them the first day of trading to see if they would build a group around him. They didn't. On the second day he put in his trade request.
b) Since Portland "doesn't have interest" in a guard who was Sixth Man of the Year that would seems to rule out just about any young guard, including Tyrese Maxey--but we know that that is not true since they asked the "76ers" about Maxey and they said no. Do they want an old guard? Of course not. So no: Portland drafted the way that it did and signed who it did because they wanted to trade Lillard. They've built their team around young guards. The "if" is not real when it comes to Portland but is real when it comes to other teams who might trade for Lillard. Why would BKLN or Philly want to pay $60M to a disgruntled player? Are you serious that you think you could trade straight up a 33 year-old guard for a 22 year-old guard (Maxey) or a 23 year-old guard (Herro)? Joe Cronin, "Blazers" GM has already depressed the market for Lillard for putting Lillard in a position of asking for a trade and turning "Blazers" fans against Lillard; by rejecting Herro and being rejected by Philly for Maxey. The "Blazers" have to trade Dame now and they have depressed the market for a trade. Not good; not smart.
3) I credit Joe Cronin with rational, reasonable negotiation skills (despite some evidence to the contrary cited above). I believe beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt that Cronin has rejected Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and two first round draft picks for Lillard. Sports GM's always want the unknown rather than the known. Counter-intuitive, I know, but it's the less intellectually rigorous instinct in them. As the Chinese artist said, "It's easy to paint a dragon, no one has ever seen one." Likewise it's easier to paint a God and GMs can project onto the unknown every virtue of their dreams. It's harder to paint (or trade for) real people. "Eh, she's not pretty enough"; "Eh, Tyler isn't a great defender". In other words, Portland wants to be OKC Northwest; they want a slew of draft picks, a wall of doors behind which may await them their ever-after. Therefore I believe that the Twitter guy misquotes Wojnaroski and I think misunderstands him when he summarizes that all of this "could lead to a deal elsewhere now" and Portland "will now take their time to find better offers elsewhere". There is going to be a deal with another team! But Lillard is going to Miami. "Assets", the newish sports word for draft picks, will be "sent on to Portland."
