NBA/Blazers 2025-26 Thread

[buckmarkduck]

I think Dundon made a very shrewd move, whether he meant to or not. After Splitter split for the Bulls, there were no head coaching jobs open for the upcoming season, so every other candidate who wanted to be a head coach would have to wait until next year or until someone got fired. So Dundon did what Cronin has never been able to do: he leveraged the situation into a performance-based contract with team options for years two and three. 'Team option' is a phrase that wasn't even in Cronin's dictionary. All he ever does is player options, giving the player all the power. So Dundon is not only shrewd, he is actually using his reputation as a cheapskate to get better deals for the team. We'll see if he can improve the roster in this fashion, but he has already scored a victory here over the ignorant talking heads and writers.

I also like that he didn't go all out for Giannis (or maybe it wasn't even an option given his preference to play for Miami/Boston). The Milwaukee picks are likely going to be worth less with the new draft set-up, but they still have value as a second chance to rebuild after the Grant/Jrue/Lillard generation rides into the sunset and everyone else wants new contracts. Hopefully Milwaukee doesn't tank during those years. We want them to be about as bad as the Blazers have been the last several years, but not worse.

I feel compelled to say I agree 100% with every word of this. Doesn't happen often, but today it did.

I don't understand the "cheapskate" reactions to Dundon. He just strikes me as a very shrewd businessman who loves winning, whether that means winning on the court or in the board room. Sounds like the right mentality for a small-market team that's always fighting uphill battles.

It’s going to be interesting to your reaction in a couple years, as he takes the blazers to a new city. Right now he is literally doing everything that Clay Bennett did to Seattle.

[Boom]

The Blazers desperately needs shooting and AD doesn't offer that.

As far as free agency goes the best possible outcome is resigning Robert Williams and landing Rui Hachimura with the full MLE.

[squintsdd]

I think Dundon made a very shrewd move, whether he meant to or not. After Splitter split for the Bulls, there were no head coaching jobs open for the upcoming season, so every other candidate who wanted to be a head coach would have to wait until next year or until someone got fired. So Dundon did what Cronin has never been able to do: he leveraged the situation into a performance-based contract with team options for years two and three. 'Team option' is a phrase that wasn't even in Cronin's dictionary. All he ever does is player options, giving the player all the power. So Dundon is not only shrewd, he is actually using his reputation as a cheapskate to get better deals for the team. We'll see if he can improve the roster in this fashion, but he has already scored a victory here over the ignorant talking heads and writers.

I also like that he didn't go all out for Giannis (or maybe it wasn't even an option given his preference to play for Miami/Boston). The Milwaukee picks are likely going to be worth less with the new draft set-up, but they still have value as a second chance to rebuild after the Grant/Jrue/Lillard generation rides into the sunset and everyone else wants new contracts. Hopefully Milwaukee doesn't tank during those years. We want them to be about as bad as the Blazers have been the last several years, but not worse.

I feel compelled to say I agree 100% with every word of this. Doesn't happen often, but today it did.

I don't understand the "cheapskate" reactions to Dundon. He just strikes me as a very shrewd businessman who loves winning, whether that means winning on the court or in the board room. Sounds like the right mentality for a small-market team that's always fighting uphill battles.

It’s going to be interesting to your reaction in a couple years, as he takes the blazers to a new city. Right now he is literally doing everything that Clay Bennett did to Seattle.

I 100% expect the Blazers to be out of Portland after 3 years, possibly sooner. Part of me would be upset, but I just have to remind myself that I pretty much stopped caring about the nba back when LeBron went to Miami. I'm only a casual fan at this point, and I'm using "casual" pretty loosely

[pezsez1]

It’s going to be interesting to your reaction in a couple years, as he takes the blazers to a new city. Right now he is literally doing everything that Clay Bennett did to Seattle.

Hard disagree. I lived in Seattle at the time and Bennett wanted no part in anything having to do with the city. I even remember him bitching about the Seattle Storm and how "those people" wouldn't be welcome in OKC (paraphrasing). Also, Clay Bennet was demanding a brand new arena not a renovation. Today a new arena would cost about double the price of renovating, and I'm assuming the cost ratio was pretty similar back then.

The only real issue right now is the Portland City Council. The state wants this, the county wants this, Dundon wants this... but the City Council is split. We are one or two City Council members away from this being a complete non-issue (or from being a major social and economic catastrophe).

Everyone loves hating billionaires, but the City Council right now isn't getting nearly enough heat.

[Phalanx]

It’s going to be interesting to your reaction in a couple years, as he takes the blazers to a new city. Right now he is literally doing everything that Clay Bennett did to Seattle.

Maybe you can provide details on the similarities in negotiations. My faint recollection is that Bennett was asking for a brand new stadium and the voters turned it down, but I may have that wrong. In this case, the City of Portland owns the Moda Center and its main tenant is pointing out that they pay a lot of taxes and rent to the City/State so they should kick in for the renovation. Frankly, I would make the same argument if I was the owner, and I would probably use the implied threat of moving as leverage, even if I had no plans to move. Even the fact that the Sonics actually did move can be used as leverage in this situation.

City and State governments in this area have been getting fat on property tax revenue for a number of years now as they jack up assessed values based on the climbing market. Now that property values are dropping and businesses are leaving, we find that these local governments did not use their increased revenue wisely. Too bad they didn't read the story of Joseph in Genesis. Saving up in the fat years is an ancient concept.