The Death of the Take
Damian Lillard is successfully killing an industry of lazy takes on his own
Damian Lillard is ushering in the Death of the Take. While the lasting effects may take a while, Damian Lillard has discovered a new power during his time away from the court, perhaps unintentionally so. But he has successfully suffocated the fires of raging hot takers when it comes to his situation, those who are seemingly running out of oxygen every day from every angle of the What Should Dame/Portland Do? Industrial Complex.
It’s partially why I haven’t felt much urgency to write, in part, because there is no rush.
Nothing has changed since Neil Olshey was let go by the team as a result of “an internal investigation,” which effectively signaled the end of a Cold War against Olshey which had gone on since at least the summer of 2021, if not earlier.
Take it however you like, but anybody in the national NBA media suggesting that Lillard did not come out as the winner of a power struggle against Neil Olshey either A) used to get scoops from him B) had him as a guest on a podcast, or C) is closely tied to someone who is either A or B. Then we have the local factories producing garbage takes, which are all varying degrees of “What if by far the best Blazer in the last 25 years and maybe the best Blazer ever is actually bad for the team?” Lillard’s position and influence with the Blazers franchise have never been stronger.
Never mind Lillard just told Draymond Green he didn’t realize how bad his abdominal injury was until he got surgery, saying it had been a nagging injury for the past 3-4 years. So you mean to tell me the guy who was putting up multiple 60-point games and won multiple playoff series since 2019 was doing so while injured but is going to be healthier than ever? Sounds like a guy you should definitely not extend! Nonsense! But I am empathetic to these varying factions because Damian Lillard has killed all of their takes.
When the summer comes and he is eligible, Lillard will almost certainly sign a supermax contract extension. And with Joe Cronin making the moves that he did, the Blazers are signaling a transition to a more flexible approach both on and off the court. Players who are younger and can switch on defense. Players who have contracts that do not hamstring the team’s ability to play on the margins, but who also bring the type of plus-athleticism the Blazers have lacked on the roster for the entirety of Lillard's career. His willingness to get the surgery and trust the team also makes it an easier business decision to offer him an extension this summer, knowing he will be healthier than he’s ever been to start next season. None of this matters to Take Merchants, but it helps suffocate the power of their message.
Names like Phoenix’s Cam Johnson are hot in the restricted free agent in the rumor mill, while the Blazers passed on a very high price of trading two first-round picks for Jerami Grant. Athletic wings are the game in the NBA, but they’re a renewed focus of the Blazers now.
While their ability to create max cap space has been overstated because they would have to renounce the rights to everyone they currently have, they do have the ability to create a younger, more athletic roster around Lillard, with more cap-friendly deals than the ones Olshey seemingly always signed. Save for his response to LaMarcus Aldridge’s departure in 2015, perhaps his best series of moves as a GM next to trading for Robin Lopez in 2013, Olshey’s nearly decade-long track record of offseason acquisitions is littered with long-term deals at numbers far above market value.
What Lillard’s appearance on the Draymond Green podcast shed more light on has been quite evident to those with their eyes open: Lillard is willing to give this new Blazers brass, currently led by Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups, but which could be led by a yet-to-be-hired President of Basketball Operations, a shot. One consistent name brought up for that spot has been Chicago Bulls General Manager Marc Eversley, who was reportedly a key factor in helping sign Lillard’s good friend and fellow Goodwin Sports client DeMar DeRozan.
Portland will need some lottery luck to be sure and they also need old pal CJ McCollum to take his new Pelicans to the precipice of the playoffs but no further in order to keep the first-round draft pick they received from New Orleans in the McCollum deal. But Portland is no longer drawing dead when it comes to trying to do something with their future and Lillard’s ability to be down with the plan has given them this chance.
None of that will matter to those who are feeding themselves at the Take Trough. But Dame is killing them softly right now, only because he can’t do it loudly with his game. But man, oh man, am I excited for Opening Night 2022 when he finally does.
Don’t feel bad if you want to check out on the Blazers for the rest of the regular season. But while the next five weeks are going to be pretty ugly, I’m personally very excited for lottery night. Because it’s been far too long since this franchise took a good, old-fashioned roll of the dice.
The competitive basketball column!
Like Dame, I am taking a break on the Blazers. Not from watching them but from seriously analyzing anything that is happening on the court. I do love some of what we have seen from new acquisitions Josh Hart and Justise Winslow, as well as the strong play from Nurkic before he got hurt (let’s remember he’s also in a contract year), but it’s always a fool’s errand to overvalue a couple of good regular-season games (remember what I said about the contract year in the summer, Blazers). What really matters is getting some good lottery luck, getting Dame healthy, and finally getting some decent veteran role players to come to Portland before they’re too old. And since we’re nowhere near a resolution on any of that, I’m watching the teams actually winning.
James Harden and Joel Embiid are looking so good together that nobody even cares two of their first three wins have come against the hapless New York Knicks. Tyrese Maxey looks liberated to finally be relieved of point guard duties, but Tobias Harris looks no closer to realizing his dribble is his death.
Kevin Durant is back and Ben Simmons’ back is seemingly so messed up we might not see him at all in the month of March, according to Brian Windhorst. Kyrie Irving is still a part-time player despite New York lifting their vaccine mandate, but the pieces they acquired for Harden help them. Seth Curry is still underrated somehow and Andre Drummond showed how the best of himself can help with a great performance in Saturday night’s win against Milwaukee, doing a great job against Giannis. Even with just Durant back and Kyrie still part-time, as well as pieces they got for a checked-out Harden, they still have a great chance to get out of the East. But they have to make hay in the standings now that Durant is back to avoid a play-in scenario in which Kyrie Irving wouldn’t be able to play in either Brooklyn or Toronto. Still, I believe in the Nets more now than I did at the beginning of the season, despite where they sit in the standings.
I have purposefully ignored the defending champs after a great comeback on Wednesday against Miami. It doesn’t mean I don’t respect them. But I am worried about them being able to make it out of the East without Brook Lopez. Perhaps Serge Ibaka just needs more time to gel with them, but I think his days as a true difference-maker in the playoffs have hit their expiration date.
This brings me back to the only team I put a preseason bet on to win the East: the Boston Celtics. Since Jan. 1, only the Phoenix Suns have had a better net-rating, according to Cleaning The Glass and nobody comes close to matching them on the defensive end, allowing nearly 3 points per 100 possessions fewer than the No. 2 ranked defense in that span. Robert Williams has been freed to be a help defender and Miami’s Bam Adebayo might be the only guy who guards Giannis 1-on-1 better than Al Horford. Adding Derrick White and bringing back Daniel Theis, their starting center during their Bubble Eastern Conference Finals run to be their 6th Man has the Celtics belief fully torqued.
And who is the No. 2 defense behind the Celtics since the new year, you may ask? The Dallas Mavericks?!?!?! You absolutely do not have to give Jason Kidd credit under any circumstances, but the Mavs are starting to remind me a little bit of the 2007 Cavaliers. An All-Time great player leading a team of role players, with every one of them well-aware their job is to help their Prodigious star in a weak conference under a new coach. I already placed a futures wager on the Mavs winning the West and meeting the Celtics in an NBA Finals where everybody on Twitter comes out upset no matter who wins. War propaganda running rampant makes me believe in this even more. What’s more 2000s than everyone hating who is in the NBA Finals baby!?
While the Suns have been the best team in the league by a wide margin, adding to their great record of beating Portland by 30 without Chris Paul or Devin Booker, the young teams in the West might be their biggest threats. With all due respect to the Warriors, Draymond Green’s back injury and the vagaries of his health is the biggest thing hanging over any of the West contenders. Even Chris Paul’s thumb injury should be better by playoff time, but having a 36-year old point guard jump right back into playoff basketball with little warm-up makes me nervous. And while nobody knows what will come of Paul George or Kawhi Leonard, the Suns must be secretly hoping to draw the Timberwolves rather than run back last year’s Western Conference Finals against the Clippers.
It’s really a shame, what they say, that people don’t care about the NBA. Because it’s never been as wide open for a new champion to emerge. And with so much left to play for in terms of playoff seeding, or draft positioning in the case of the Blazers, over the next five weeks, it should be fun to watch.
Well, at least the playoff positioning part.