Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard plans to keep any further discussion about his future in Portland private, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN. There has been speculation that Lillard might request a trade from the organization where he has spent his entire nine-year career in the wake of a disappointing first-round playoff exit and a coaching change.
Asked to comment on the rumors this week at Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas, Lillard said he will handle the situation behind closed doors.
“Anything that I have to say, I’m going to say directly to (Blazers general manager) Neil (Olshey) and I’m going to address it directly with my team,” Lillard said. “There’s really nothing else I have to say about it.”
Lillard, who will turn 31 this week, is a six-time All-Star and one of the most prolific scorers in the league. However, Portland has been bounced from the playoffs in the first round in four of the past five seasons and may be entering a transition phase. Even so, Lillard pointed out that he hasn’t made any negative public comments about the franchise.
“There’s a lot of things being said and sometimes words being put in my mouth, and I haven’t said anything,” he said. “If there is something to be said or if I think something or have something to say that I’m going to say it and I’m going to stand on it.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder have collected draft assets by taking on large contracts from other teams, and Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman wonders if the Sixers‘ Ben Simmons could become a target. Mussatto suggests offering Philadelphia Kemba Walker, who was recently acquired from the Celtics, along with Ty Jerome and the 16th and 18th picks in this year’s draft. Simmons, whose future with the Sixers is uncertain after a shaky shooting performance in the playoffs, is owed more than $146MM over the next four seasons.
- In a mailbag column, Mike Singer of the Denver Post speculates on the future of Nuggets big man Bol Bol, who barely played after signing a two-year contract last offseason. Singer notes that Bol only saw a combined 26 minutes in April and seemed to fall behind Zeke Nnaji and Vlatko Cancar on the depth chart.
- Singer also cites “chatter” about a possible extension for Nuggets guard Will Barton, who has a July 17 deadline to decide on a $14.6MM player option for next season. Singer states that there’s a lot of “goodwill” between the organization and Barton, who is projected to be a starter if he returns.
Does Billups take the head coaching job knowing the Blazers may trade Dame?
I think he had to know there was a chance.
My question is: Is the comment Dame going to give directly to Olshey just the words “Trade me”?
Sometimes I wonder how these writers have a job. Simmons for Kemba, Jerome and 16 & 18? I mean cmon Simmons obv had a bad playoffs but the guy is still a really good, young player.
His trade value is astronomically higher than that regardless of your feelings on him as a player.
On the other side, I don’t see why the Thunder would trade for Simmons. They’re still in the rebuilding process. They aren’t looking to take a big step forward just yet. Trading the 2 first round picks for Simmons doesn’t make sense at this point. Maybe in a year or two it would, but not now.
Ha, you said Process…
The Thunder could trade for him, with them knowing they aren’t going to be competing for a championship.
They could then tell Simmons that they aren’t focused on winning a championship just yet but that they just want to help him develop some more.
Maybe without that extra pressure of being on a championship contender, it would relax him more and then he could feel more comfortable shooting midrange or 3s, and working on his free throws because now if he’s missing, he’s not going to get that extra scrutiny while playing for a rebuilding team.
Astronomically higher? No. His value has plummeted about as fast as any player in history.
The guy is still a really good, young player who can’t shoot. It has nothing to do with anyone’s feelings about him as a player. It’s just the way the game has evolved in recent years, you have to be a good shooter these days. Especially if you’re going to play PG when you’re a PF.
That’s just a short sited view of the situation, plummeted the fastest in history?
The guy was runner up this year in DPOY, he’s 24 and still has some elite traits. Yeah youre right league is obv trending towards shooting. And clearly Simmons needs to work on his shooting, will he do it? No idea I hope so.
My main point was he still has a lot of value and that trade proposal in my opinion was not even close, no doubt they would get more if they move him.
@RyanO: ‘And clearly Simmons needs to work on his shooting, will he do it? No idea I hope so.’
You have no idea? The answer is no. He will not work on his shooting. It’s the same question every offseason and he’s actually gotten worse to the point where well over 90% of his shots are within 10′ of the basket. Compare to his rookie season when he was at least trying to develop a mid-range game (17.5% of his shots were 10-16′ and 21.4% from 10′ and beyond).
This is just the kind of player he is. Extremely gifted defensively and athletically, can drive, finish, and pass. Cannot shoot to the point of being a liability.
The bigger question with Simmons is whether or not teams have really figured out how to play him or if he was just slumping in the playoffs. If it’s the latter, he’ll be fine. If it’s the former, that contract is going to be brutal for Philly.
Won’t shoot is his problem he has no confidence.
Ben Simmons first playoff series (2018) (21 yrs old)
5G – 18.2/10.6/9.0 – .557/.000.714
Ben Simmons last playoff series (2021) (24 yrs old)
7G – 9.9/6.3/8.6 – .600/.000/.333
This guy went from Magic Johnson numbers in his debut as a 21 yr old to ….. basically a total collapse.
Feel like you can’t emphasize rct’s point above enough. The guy is refusing to shoot *anything* unless it’s layup. And sometimes – famously – not even that.
To put his net offensive impact in perspective look at his Offensive BPM this season. +0.8, good for 77th in the league, right above Delon Wright and Ivica Zubac. And that was before his free throw shooting collapsed!
Sure there’s a world where this is Simmons’ come to Jesus moment and he actually works on his shot and reaches his potential.
But there’s also a world where he’s a now a net negative on offensive, despite all of his gifts, and you’re now paying max money for a pure defensive specialist on the perimeter. That contract would make John Wall’s look good.
Yea, I literally laughed out loud when I saw that offer. The Sixers would laugh, hang up the phone, call back and laugh again.
I think that deal is actually pretty good. What does Simmons NOT bring to the table? Willingness to shoot from the floor, ability to shoot from more than 5 ft away from the basket and ability to hit free throws st a high rate. What does a hopefully healthy Kemba give you? A play maker that can create his own shot, distribute the ball and shoot at a high level from the 3pt and FT line. Jerome is a young talent that does the same from the SG position.
76erd don’t have a lot of time to wait on Simmons. Embid has 2 years left on his contract. The team is in win now mode. this deal fills a lot of holes. They could also use those two mid round picks to get a good rotation player.
For me, Kemba, Jerome, 16 & 18 would be borderline insulting to Philadelphia. (Considering the level that Simmons and Walker have shown as of late.)
Nice to see a student of the game who understands the league value of Big Ben
I think Dame let’s them make an attempt to improve the roster first before he asks out. This could take up to the trade deadline.
Lamarcus left 5-6 years ago. The current roster is the best they’ve had since.
Covington, Powell are perfect 3 and D wings to complement.
The real issue is CJ and Dame still don’t play defense. It won’t help having billups the meathead coach.
Exactly. To succeed, Dame needs a Klay Thompson (in his prime) type of backcourt partner, someone who can score AND defend at a high level. Paired with CJ he will never get anywhere. Being one of the best offenses and a mediocre defense is never going to be enough (ask Dallas).
Jimmy Butler if it were a trade would be your best bet. Not many guards that rate highly on defense. Mike Conley would be another but that’s a smaller backcourt.
Would the Heat deal Jimmy for CJ? Don’t think so but he is 2 years younger.
And Nurkic. Who’s nice next to the basket but gets routinely roasted in P&R.
So they more or less have 3/5 spots on the roster that are liabilities defensively.
Basically this roster is built to win 50 games in the reg season. Then max out at a 2nd round exit.
Trade CJ to Boston – Marcus Smart plays defense, I bet him and Powell would look fierce next to each other. And I’m sure CJ is worth more than just Smart in a trade..
It is a great trade for Portland, but I don’t like it for Boston (in particular, I don’t agree that CJ is more valuable than Smart).
Does Mussatto understand that Walker is toxic waste that OKC was paid to take on his contract (part of that payment was #16, and another part was getting off Horford’s contract, which is worth more than #18). Essentially he’s saying Simmons has zero value. Walker, plus #16 and #18, is at best a wash.
why the hate on Kemba if healthy?
Regular waste then.
Simmons will only get traded for a better star. May need to be a multiple team deal, but they will require a star.
Good thing the 6ers fan has that back pocket theat of just keeping him…
Greater than the Kemba package or greater than Simmons overall?
I hate how teams draft someone and just stash him on the end of the bench for years. Either play him, trade him or release him.
LeGone is probably conspiring with Rich Gotti to sign Dame!! Silver will need to stop that trade if teams agree on it. I’ll lose my respect for Dame if he goes to Lakers. I don’t mind him signing with Knicks though.
Bol Bol needs more playing time, he’s athletic and can shoot it from downtown. Keeping Gordon will be a bad sign for him and Nnaji. Aaron is only good at dunking the ball, other than that he’s average overpaid player
The Nuggets are in win now mode developing rookies is not what they need to do next year. The need to keep the team together and with a healthy Murray the should get to the WCF.
Why would the thunder need a dude who can’t shoot and only plays defense? They have a good defender already with Dort.
They’re gonna use the 16/18 picks to move up the draft board.
Bye Dame! Nobody cares anymore- you aren’t good enough to win on your own so bye bye! We can’t win with ya- watch us do it without ya! Peace
You’re mental. A) He’s never showed anything disloyalty towards Portland and has only expressed a desire to win in that city. B) Writers speculated he might want out because of the coaching hire and playoff disappointment C) Lillard averaged 34/10/4 on 46%/45%/92% shooting. The losses aren’t on him. Why turn on him based on other ppls speculation?
link to sportscasting.com
I liked this Lillard tweet 7-6-21
“Who should I love? And how often? Everybody Always”
Not sure if it was about how he could accept LA fans too.
In 2017 he said he would prefer Lakers and Jazz if Blazers did not want him.
I doubt he wants out if the fans don’t boo him for his role in the HC search. Could happen as tanner8292 indicates.
I think Kemba’s knees are the ones that are shakey and uncertain.
Okay… the Thunder should do something the Celtics neglected to do every year. Trade up.
Use the picks to leap frog into #2 or #3. Take Mobley or Green.
Similar to what I proposed for K Love they could swap Wall for Kemba. Rockets are cheap mother fathers.
Mobley would be a great pick for them.
I’m doing that Simmons to OKC trade all day
Simmons should work on his shot. But why hasn’t he done this already. Fact is he only needs to improve his FT shooting. Get that over 75% and you can play either 3 or 4. He shoots 75% or better from FT line. He can still be an all star player. It’s a 2way sport and he’s one of best D players in gm. He can still pass n get ast at the wing and post everyone. But you have to shoot FTs. Have to. Sixers can wait and someone will offer a good deal. Love to have him on Knicks. But his FT has to improve.