Aaron Fentress | Portland Trail Blazers Insider; The Oregonian

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But isn't that what you'd expect from the ultimate electric driving machine? Take advantage of exceptional lease and finance offers today. From Portland, Oregon, we're pleased to welcome Trailblazers insider Aaron Fentress who works for the Oregonian. I am going to start with the zillion dollar question. How would you describe the state of the Blazers, Aaron, even as we're on the cusp of free agency that starts on Friday?

Armageddon. It is just, it is wild out here right now. There's all these different pockets of fans with different opinions about what should happen. Of course everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting to see if Damian Lillard is going to demand a trade or stay and there's a group of fans who are like, hey, maybe it's time to move him along because they're in love with the idea of what Scoot Henderson can bring to this team along with Shaden Sharpe. And then there are some who believe that those kids are too young and that the Blazers should have traded them for veteran talent who helped game who has remained so loyal to this team for so long. And instead of them making such moves, they basically drafted guys who are going to be really good in a few years.

So there's a lot of angst out here. There's no doubt about that. There was a, some full report the other day, or actually today that Draymond Green was in town having dinner with Damian. But it was, it was ridiculous. It was like, there was a text and there's a tweet and someone claimed they saw him at a restaurant, but there's no verification. I reached out to some NBA sources who said it was stupid, ridiculous, nonsensical.

So I, you know, I tweeted that out just to say, Hey, this is what I'm hearing on the subject. But it's, it's to the point where that's the type of thing that just gets, you know, gets lagged and gets running because, you know, Draymond Green, everyone would be excited about that. It changes the defense, goes to a BFF and wow, could this be happening?

But apparently not. So then everyone goes right back to, okay, well, what's going to happen then? So it's, it's just been chaos. And quite frankly, I came into the off season thinking it has to be fascinating, interesting, got the draft and you know, the lottery coming up and at least the top five pig and all that. And then right now I'm just done. Like, dude, y'all figure it out so I can start worrying about this and go on vacation.

Oh, nice. When is vacation supposed to start, Aaron? Well, it could be, you know, pretty soon if they can do something or not do something. But my thing is I don't want this to drag out into the summer. Because two summers ago, when they first, the first time he ever hinted that, Hey, you know, if we don't get things done, I could maybe want to leave that just ruined my summer. Following that, you know, to the point where he finally said he was going to be back and they had figured things out.

But yeah, I'm just hoping this just comes to a head sooner rather than later. As best you can tell Aaron, what does the fan base want? They've not won a title yet. They've come close to challenging. A lot of pieces around him have changed. What does the fan base want for Lillard specifically?

Well, I think that that let's say the most in touch and heartfelt intelligence fans sort of look at it like, look, they've been trying hard to bring, you know, another star here to pair with them. They haven't been able to get it done. The Blazers have never, I mean, the biggest free agent signing ever was Kenny Anderson 20 something years ago. It's never been a free agent destination. It's tough to pull off trades too if guys only have one or two years left on their contract because they might not resign and you give up a bunch of assets for them. So it's just been a really hard time for this franchise since especially since LaMarcus Alders left in 2016 because there was the other all-star big man, right?

He just left. So I think given the fact that they tanked the last two seasons and given the fact that part of the reason they tanked, you know, injuries kind of led to it, but the bottom line is they were going to get top 10 picks and then trade those picks for stars to rebuilding teams who want to move contracts. And instead they drafted, you know, a 19 year old last year and 19 year old this year.

So 19 year olds are not going to help Damian Willard get to where he wants to go. Now, I don't blame Joe Cronin because I do believe that the offers they had for those picks these years were not necessarily good offers. And so he didn't want to err on the side of, you know, making a bad deal and mortgaging the future when maybe you're going to get two young players who right now will be comparable to the veterans you could receive, but the veterans are just, you know, obviously going to be smarter and more experienced, right?

Wasn't very valuable. So I get why he did that, but that doesn't help Damian. So if that's the case where you can't flip those picks into something that Damian would want to work with, then it's just time to trade Damian. I just set him free, send him to a contender, let him go when it's just like they did with Drexler in 1994, right? Just send Damian on to a contender, take back what you can get. Don't do a Bradley Beal deal that, you know, that Washington has got completely fleeced. Don't do that. Get a good young player, get, you know, get some picks, let Damian go off in the sunset and then start to rebuild with Anthony Simons, Scoot Henderson, Shade and Sharp.

And then you're probably going to be pretty bad. And so next year you get another lottery pick and then you have all the picks you've got in the Dame trade to move forward with. So I think that's where we are, but if you can't get it done this summer, just trade games, we all can be done with this and Dame can go somewhere and maybe win. Aaron Fentress covers the Blazers for the Oregonian and is with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio, even as we get closer to the start of free agency on Friday afternoon.

Aaron, just for a second, can you imagine the Blazers without Damian Lillard and what that looks like and feels like? He's been the heart and soul of that franchise for years. Yeah, it's bizarre to think about and not only is he is, you know, heart and soul and a great player, but I've covered a lot of things in my career. I've covered major college football, I've covered MLB, I've covered NFL, NBA, and he is easily the best interview subject I've ever experienced. He's great with the media. He knows what you're looking for and he doesn't withhold information that's there. I mean, sometimes, anyone sometimes has moments where they won't, but he's very open and honest about what's going on within a game, within the team, what he wants, what he sees. He's fabulous and he's such a great ambassador for the city.

He's never gotten in any trouble. He gives back to the city. He's beloved here. Yeah, it would be weird. My sort of, you know, from an objective standpoint, I'm not necessarily a fan, although I spent most of my life here, so I would rather see the win than lose. Plus, I'd rather cover the finals I'm taking, right? Yeah.

Right? But I just, it would just be bizarre not having him here because he's such a part of the fabric of, you know, especially the sports community in this town. That said, I just feel like it's gotten to the point where, even though people would be sad to see him go, I think there's a lot of people that would be even sadder to see him stay and never have a chance to win. You know, off the top of my head, I thought this to be true, but I did a bunch of research on it. And in the last like 50 years, I only came up with two elite-level stars who spent their entire career with one team and never won a title. And that's Stockton and Utah, and then Reggie Miller with Indiana. Now, Patrick Ewing left New York after his prime. He was pretty much, he was no longer the Patrick Ewing that had been in the elite center. So you can kind of count that if you want, but the bottom line is he did not finish his career in New York. And then, of course, Dominique Wilkins was in the same situation. Karl Malone left late, but he did go to Lakers and try and make a run.

So to me, that counts. But anyway, the point is, is that it's very rare for someone to stay somewhere for your entire career and not win the title. Stockton and Malone and Ewing, for that matter, at least got to the finals, right, for games to stay here and never even get to the finals and never even have even even a crack at it. And they're trying to raise these young kids, and maybe they're already in three years at age 36.

It just doesn't make any sense to me. So I just think most people would rather see him go somewhere and get a chance to win. As best you can tell, what about general manager Joe Cronin? Is he leaving this up to Damian Lillard? Will they abide by Dame's wishes? Any insight into how the management will handle this if Dame, in fact, does want out? Right. So a lot of us who cover this team, we've been talking about this.

And like a lot of us sort of sense that some of what's going on is no one wants to be the bad guy. Dame doesn't want to force his way out, right? And Cronin doesn't want to be the guy who trades like, you know, Damian Lillard. I think at some point, though, like trade deadline is Friday. Let's say they strike out. Like to me, the best you can probably do is maybe you can get OG still from Toronto. Like that would be a great get because you get you get more length, which this team needs.

You get a defensive guy, an A-plus defensive guy and a guy who can shoot it. I think that alone and another veteran with the mid-level exception would probably appease Dame. Let's say they strike out on that. I just think they just have a meeting and just say, we've mutually decided to part way. Like I don't think it has to be contentious. Right. I think you can just be it's time. But see, here's where Cronin has to be careful because he has to send Damian to a contender and you can't gut the contender when you're sending him there. Like there are some fans like I floated this like six weeks ago. I wrote, I wrote something. I put some options out there. I was like, this is before the playoffs.

It was a long time ago. Like how about Miami for Tyler here? Oh, you get a young player, take Duncan and contract it for matching salaries. And then three first unprotected and blade some blazers fans are like, you're crazy. If we trade him the mind, we have to get bam.

And I'm like, Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why is Dame going to go to Miami? Bam's coming to Portland.

Like, what's the point? He's going to Miami. You play with Bam and Butler.

You can't take Bam because then now they're not as good. So that's where Cronin has to be careful because you have to try and get what he can, but also send Damian into a place where he can win. And so that's going to be delicate, but how he executes that is going to go a long way in terms of him showing respect to Lillard. For one, the fact that he was always loyal to this team, which Cronin has been around for 11 years. He may be a new GM.

He was worked under O'Shea for, I think, eight or nine years. And two, that you repay that loyalty by hooking them up, you know, hook them up with a place. Because if you don't, if you try and pull off something where you send them somewhere that he has no chance to win, well, I mean, why would he, why would he want to even go there?

He'd rather stay here and not have a chance to go somewhere else and not have a chance to win. Then it makes you look bad because this guy gave you two years of fixin' around him and didn't. You went young.

You chose as your after teenagers. And my joke has always been, they need players on this team who can buy their own alcohol. Until you get guys like that, yeah, I mean, if you can't buy your own alcohol, you're probably not going to help Damian win. It took Kobe, Kobe, we all know how great Kobe was. Kobe's first year he averaged seven points. His second year he averaged 15. His third year he was better, averaged 19. But still, if you look at shooting percentages, they were kind of, you know, not fantastic. It wasn't until his fourth year that he really blew up and that was the year they won the title. Well, Scoot's not Kobe and Dame's not Shaq.

So the idea that Scoot is gonna come in here and fix this is ridiculous. Some fans kind of think that in a way. But anyway, at the end of the day, if they come together and say it's time and Cronin hooks a brother up, then I think everything will be cool.

Damian Lillard himself turns 33 mid-July and he's coming off an incredible season. So I don't want to put words in your mouth, Aaron, but would you say it's because the team around him was too young that they didn't make the playoffs for a second straight year? In part.

And that's what's fascinating about how everything has played out. So when they were healthy, and you guys all obviously fell in love with Josh Hart, right? Of course.

Yeah. I mean, Hart was, you know, Dame said many times, Hart was like a winning player, a glue guy. He did so many things for the team. But when Winslow got hurt, who was a really good defensive player and someone who could play point forward to help Dame and on offense, and then Nurkis got hurt, the defense fell to pieces. They literally went like, I think they rose in their defensive rating by eight or nine points.

I wrote about it several times. It was somewhere around there. So they had a trade deadline, you lose Hart as well. So the stress there where you lost three of your best defensive players, Nurkis and Venson came back with an Anthony and got hurt.

And it just became a mess, but they were hanging in there. They were never more than a couple games out of 10, even within like four of six. But especially when they got rid of Hart, that's when really things fell apart because he was one of the few veterans other than Winslow coming, well, Hart started, but he was one of the few glue veterans that could really get the job done. So when those guys were gone, Coach Bilbs had to turn to trending Watford, 22, or 21, not too little, 23, Keyon Johnson, 21, Shaden Sharpe, 19, and then 20.

You get the point, right? Cam Reddish, who played in New York, obviously they had to turn to him, and he was up and down and inconsistent. He's still pretty young. So they said, they said at the end of the season, that one of the problems with the team was a lack of size, a lack of length and a lot of lack of veterans who understood how to play high-end NBA basketball and high leverage situations. So one of their goals was to fix that and you end up drafting a six foot two, 19 year old who plays the same position as your superstar. It's interesting.

It doesn't fit that way unless, unless Aaron, they're planning on trading him, if he asks, meaning that that would be the replacement, quote unquote, he obviously can't replace Tame, but if that's the thinking, then maybe it's some insight. It's complicated. It is wild.

It's wild. That's why I say it's a soap, you know, and the other like, so draft night goes down and this is what's funny about the NBA. And you know, I mean, when you cover teams and you, you deal with situations where, you know, you ask a question and you know, they're not, they're not going to be honest because they really can't in that moment. But Cronin was asked, how are you, what are you going to do with Dame and Sharp and now Scoot at the garbage issues? And Cronin started out by trying to explain how the minutes will work. And it was just preposterous. I was like, dude, what are you talking about? And then he started talking about Dame and Scoot playing together. And I'm just like, come on. He may be great someday, but he wasn't even great in the G league. You're going to start him maybe next to Dame. Like that's a joke.

That's not going to work. He's not Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson came to the league at 19 and played with Kareem.

They won the title. Scoot is not Magic Johnson. So even, you know, say that that could be a thing and then try and justify it. It's just ridiculous. So they have to, you know, they have to at least trade Ant and hope they can flip him. Is it still incomparable, but at a different position?

They do that. We'll see what happens. And now it's tough.

And it's pretty good. He's still developing. Like if Ant were running his own show, I think he put up some pretty incredible numbers. Would they be necessarily efficient enough winning numbers?

I don't know, but he would put up numbers. But anyway, it's just, it's just wild out here. And I just, I just want it done. Yes.

So vacation, vacation can be a thing. Aaron Fendress is with us from Portland. And just before I let you go, any thoughts, and this is personal, obviously from knowing Dame where he might fit in fact, the Blazers trade him.

Yes. You know, strictly from a place where he can win and you can get something back. Miami by far is the best destination. Phoenix looked interesting, you know, if you want to do for Aiden, but Phoenix doesn't have any picks. Like they gave up all their picks to get Durant. So you can't get picks from them. Philly, I'm sure is pretty short on picks because of the hardened trade, but you know, someone like Massey is interesting as a talent.

I mean, you become redundant because now you have three small guards, right? So you gotta do something there, but you want to get the best talent and then figure it out later. But I don't think they have any picks. I don't see New York as a fit. I know Stephen A. Smith is on a Dame to New York thing all the time, but I just don't, I don't know what that would look like. And like I said, he's got to go to a winning situation and just, when I look around the league, like people talk about the Lakers, the Lakers don't have anything to offer worth a damn.

Like that just, that's just not going to happen. So I just think as far as teams that can win and have something to give Portland, I just feel like Miami is by far the top spot and he's good friends with, with BAM. He's good friends with Butler. And according to latest reports, Miami is hanging around like vultures just waiting. As a matter of fact, I see a vulture circling around right now with a Miami heat logo on his wings.

Yep. He's waiting. You better be careful.

You start some rumors and people blow up over social media. When there's a plane from Miami getting into Portland, what are you talking about? Well, this will be fun. We'll see because free agency starts on Friday and yes, it would be jarring to see Dame anywhere else, but it's not as though he hasn't given Portland everything he's had heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears for the last 10 years.

He's, he's tried to win there. Yeah. Interesting stuff. All right. So I already followed Aaron on Twitter because I need to know what's going on here.

You can find him at Aaron J. Fentress F E N T R E S S covers the blazers for the Oregonian vacation. We hope is in your future, but not yet, Aaron, not yet. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. No problem.

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