Damian Lillard says playing with Deni Avdija is the most joy he’s had out of any player he’s ever played with and praises how much Deni’s skillset complements his own
I’m biased as a Blazers fan but Deni and Dame is everything we thought Giannis and Dame was going to be. This has been the most fun I’ve had as a Blazers fan I can recall and I feel like we’ve finally done Dame justice with the team we’ve built around him.
Aside from Deni we’ve got the perfect 3 and D guy with Camara, DC clogging the paint, Sidy is coming along, Jrue to spell him. Not to mention Ja when he comes back.
May be in the minority but I am also excited to see what Sharp looks like on that roster with better coaching
Praying that sharpe takes some notes form jrue who actually has pretty similar measurements(sharpe is prob still even slower laterally than jrue). But sharpe could learn a lot from him on d
I’m excited for Sharpe to come back too. Deni and Dame command so much attention at the top of the paint area and in the lane, that teams are conceding the corners and dunker’s spot. These are the spots where Sharpe excels when he plays within himself. He should have plenty of corner threes available, as well as opportunties to catch in the dunker’s spot and and give us some highlight reels.
It helps a lot that Lillard is no longer commanding a huge max contract so there’s room to build the roster.
It also helps a lot that Lillard’s deal is super team friendly and he’s well overperforming it imo
LOL On top of his 14m from the Blazers, Dame still getting $22.5m this year and the next 3 seasons too from the Bucks…..
And Scoot… Is there
Robert Williams too. This team lowkey stacked
He’s alright!!!…..at defense
I’m still mad they couldn’t trade CJ earlier
we woulda won a ring if olshey traded him for pg when it was on the table
He was trying, Jennifer
Blazers have some thing special. Been very impressed. Got to see them in LA for the cup game. Curious what they do with scoot and sharp as to me they seem like they don’t fit and I’d rather put my money into the guys you’ve mentioned. Plus Rob Williams has been a great complement as a back up.
Scoot doesn’t have trade value, idk about sharp. Might be stuck with em
Sharpe does
I only started following the league just under 10 years ago, picked Portland because the Dame OKC game winner was one of the first games I watched fully and fell in love instantly.
Being a Seahawks fan last year and a Portland this year, sports have been so much the last few years. I’ll also add my football/soccer team (Newcastle) won a cup two years ago so it’s only right my third and final team wins something this year!
“When Ja comes back”
Oh my sweet summer child
Deni and Giannis are so different it’s not worth comparing. Deni can shoot, space the floor, can rack up all the stats and plays D.
Giannis is an athletic freak, but by the time he got with Dame he had his championship and was checked out it seemed. I don’t know, Dame in Milwaukee was weird for so many reasons.
Giannis is kinda overrated tbh
Giannis is a top five player when healthy but I get the sense not the best teammate and people don’t love playing with him
I think in general we don’t talk about portability when evaluating NBA players. Fans are quick to point out the lack of help that superstars have as an excuse to why their teams don’t perform, but I feel like there are a good amount of stars who can’t make it work when they have other stars on their roster
Says who?
Lmao
Giannis was amazing when he just did what he does best. These days he’s trying to develop a whole arsenal of moves and shots and he’s average at all of this extra stuff
Dude wants to play like prime LeBron so bad
He’s averaging 60% from midrange and almost 30 a game.
Heat are currently 5th in East.
The disrespect is fucking crazy
Look at his shot chart for this season
His hot spots outside of the paint are each side (effectively in the post and hook shots) and straight in front. He’s even decent at 3s if he’s straight in front.
Then everything else is terribly inefficient which is what anyone can see and tell when you watch him play. To say “he’s efficient from midrange” would be a statistically misleading statement. He’s terrible.
I saw him at the Lakers game a week ago and he came out early at half time to get some reps in before everyone else. He predominately practiced elbow 3s - like why?! That’s not your bread and butter.
I’m all for a player developing their craft and getting better at different areas but not at the cost of their game and not at the cost of the team’s success. He is an amazing athlete and his athleticism has not yet declined, so why is he forcing up shots in his cold spots when he could easily dominate from inside the paint.
Professional run and jumper
Kind of a bad take tbh
Gotta love reddit
Lmao! He is not. How you overrated with 2 MVPs, a DPOY and a FMVP
Deni is a role player, he can’t be the number one option on a winning team. Obviously he’ll fit better next to a ball dominant number one option like Dame.
Huh have you even been watching the blazers lmao
Deni IS the first option, not dame. Obviously it’d be different had dame still been in his prime but he’s lost a step. Has been fantastic nevertheless, but clearly the second option. And the league doesn’t boil down to superstars and role players lmao there is so much inbetween
I’m tryna sound like every dumbass that hasn’t been watching Giannis over the past couple seasons, outside of a few highlights or lowlights, and still talking like they know his game.
Deni ain’t the first option same way Giannis “can’t shoot.”
he was last season tho. he carried them to the playoffs
And what came of it? Players carry teams to the playoffs all the time but it don’t matter if it don’t translate to wins, right? Or is Giannis the only player that’s held to that standard?
Nobody says he’s as good as Giannis, he’s just a better fit next to dame.
and it did translate into wins, they made the playoffs. he’s an all star/all nba calibar player. idk why you’re hating.
People(including me) really thought Dame/Giannis pick and roll would be deadly.
Giannis’s refusal to set proper screens for Dame was absolutely fucking ridiculous. I got the sense that Giannis thinks he’s above that sort of stuff.
This narrative got repeated so much it became accepted as fact but the actual film evidence was much more complicated than that.The core issue in Milwaukee wasn’t really Giannis refusing to screen — it was a broader offensive system mismatch. Giannis absolutely set screens.
Giannis is a downhill, north-south player who wants to operate in space and attack the paint. Dame is a pick-and-roll ball handler who needs to use screens to get his pull-up game going. Those two styles can coexist but they required a very specific system design and coaching to integrate properly, and the Bucks under Doc Rivers never figured that out.
It seemed like screen depth mattered a lot to both of their games too. Dame+Brook was a deadly pairing because Lopez could set a screen 35 feet out, take a few slow steps up to the 3pt line and space for whatever Dame wanted to create including pulling up from that deep. Giannis operated better setting shallower screens for players like Middleton where he would get the ball closer to the free throw line after the screen rather than the 3pt line, when the defense has no chance to react to whatever dribble+long step+power combination he went to.
Brook just standing as a tower to set screens from 30ft also fits his game as Dame screens/re-screens to get an advantage. Giannis to be a full threat needs to go to the rim after the screen rather than hanging around incase another screen is needed.
Yeah this is true - Giannis and Lopez were different players of screeners. As you said - Giannis played better setting screens with Middleton than he did with Dame.
Yeah Dame always works better with a slow roller because he likes to come off the screen at his own pace and read the defense. He can get downhill in a burst but it’ll mostly come off of a hesi when he sees the big is flat footed. Most of the time if he hits a roller it’ll be a pocket pass where he’s already drawn two and the roller is basically at the same level. Hes not really a charge downhill and throw a lob type of player. That’s why he’s always worked better with big screen setters like Brook or Nurk.
i’m really hoping we can make a move to grab brook as a 3rd center. Would be a really nice emergency option when rob is out and would fit this team like a glove.
He’d set them, but not well. Not all screens are made equal. Look at the clearance a player gets off a Giannis screen vs a Rudy Gobert screen. Giannis just refused to improve his screening, which is where the comment above came from.
Completely agree buts is comical how much space Dame created last night vs kinds screening for Deni. Like he barely screened the guy (most times no contact at all) and yet the pick and pop was unstoppable. Giannis just refuses to participate and the end result we all saw
Or clingan screens
Watch a screen with him and Khris Middleton back in the day. He certainly could do it. For some reason he didn’t want to for Dame.
Giannis just refused to improve his screening, which is where the comment above came from.
Realistically the above comment came from an online narrative that the pairing didn’t work because Giannis did not set screens for Dame, which was never true
brah you’re not going to improve the screen right away at that level unless you’re a screen genius. Someone doing it his whole career Rudy should look a lot different.
Deni is also a downhill north south guy
The difference is Deni is a willing passer and actually sets screens with the intent of getting Dame open
Giannis only passes when he doesn’t have a shot, and all of his screens were slips designed to get him the ball back.
I witnessed this in the Cavs/Heat game last night.
Deni is a downhill player as well but his fit with Dame is a lot stronger
Right - which is why I wrote that the two styles could coexist but they needed coaching and a specific system designed. Doc Rivers was not that guy. He’d rather go ahead and throw every player he’s coached under the bus.
I mean even though Giannis set screens here and there they were usually not great screens from what I remember. Pretty sure he ghosted most of them
This style of analysis is lost on the internet. It’s just binary good vs bad rather than looking at it with nuance. Expecting Avdija and Giannis to play the same way makes no sense since their skillsets and positions are different.
I remember in training camp that year hearing that Dame and Giannis hadn’t worked together at all over the summer, and thinking that did not bode well for their partnership.
Yep stupid narrative driven by known mouth breather irelli
Yep. Jrue and and Brogdon were fine running pick-and-rolls with Giannis. It wasn’t one or the other. It was a matter of getting on the same page.
Thank you!
That em-dash and writing style/structure…
I knew Giannis was a little odd when he thought the 10 sec FT rule didn’t apply to him.
Convinced none of yall paid attention to the bucks that season lol
Him and Dame were both asked about it and both said they were playing the way Doc wanted them to.
Setting a screen wasn’t going to change what happened on the bucks and turn them into contenders
The issue was outside of Giannis he had no help defensively and Doc
Dame doesn’t even try Beasley is ass Brook was washed Portis is ass Khris was washed
Go watch Giannis with Khris or Jrue and you can clearly see he knows how to set a screen.
I mean when you play a very specific (run and dunk) way and get a chip from it, it only strengthens your belief that it’ll work again and again lol
it reminded me of nash/dwight. infuriating that dwight refused to play the part, but very glad it didnt work out because fuck the lakers.
For real! If you watched the game last night you saw Dame setting screens for Deni multiple times!!
Makes you wonder why Terry Stotts abruptly quit before the season.
i don’t think he knows how and at this point he’s afraid to ask
… Delusional take. Dame was injured and came in out of shape after the injury (and personal life issues) that took place in Portland. That was the issue. They won 48 games in 2024-2025. After starting 1-6. Dame tore his Achilles in the 1st rd. With Doc Rivers as the coach. Pacers went on to take OKC to Game 7 of the Finals.
The facts are, when both healthy, they were a Top 3 offensive team all year. The narrative changing is ridiculous.
On paper it should’ve been like you shouldn’t ever be able to stop it
The reverse pick and roll with dame as the screen setter was actually way more effective, like one of the most effective actions in the league on a PPP basis and they just never ran it. Giannis was not a great screen setter but however bad of a coach the average fan thinks doc is, he’s worse.
I’m not going to lie, I thought it was going to be like Kobe and Shaq. Sucks that it didn’t work out.
Imagine comparing Dame’s overrated ass to Kobe. The only trophy Dame has ever won was with Giannis
I thought Miami was gonna be the best team in the East this year, especially defensively
It was. Injuries was the problem and their team wasn’t very deep.
It 100% would’ve been if giannis could play for anyone other than himself
Giannis is WASHED
That’s the same sentiment I had when the Lakers got Nash and Dwight
Tbh, this is the most fun I’ve seen him have in a long time. He doesn’t have to shoulder the entire offensive load, gets to play more of that Steph-like off-ball role, and still gets to do what he does best: take over and get buckets in crunch time.
I’m sad Ja got hurt because they were having so much fun. I was having fun watching them have fun.
I’m having fun reading about how you were having fun watching them have so much fun
I’m
gay
What are you being fair to?
Damn shots at Lamarcus Aldridge and CJ 😞
Nah, I doubt it shades to CJ. Dame and CJ seem to have an excellent relationship.
Also, Dame and CJ were told every day that their skill sets did not mesh. They insisted that it did because they believed in each other and each other’s work ethic. And they mostly did make it work, through sheer talent and willpower. But it was never a natural fit.
Everything has to be a shot at someone else in today’s day and age
Of course it’s not shade - it’s simply a case of Deni’s skillset better compliments Dame’s than CJ’s did. He didn’t say Deni is a better player (though, he is that too).
I still blame CJ for ruining Dame’s magnum opus against Denver in the playoffs by stepping outta bounds in clutch time
I get Cj kinda goofed, but the blazers fo deserve a lot of blame during that stretch for not doing enough to surround them with better players.
Neil Olshey was a terrible GM
Should have traded CJ but Olshey would never
Well Indiana also didn’t wanna give us PG for picks and CJ which at the time was better than OKC’s package
CJ saved Dame in 2019 with his game 7 performance against Denver and nobody ever talks about it.
Dude also had a game saving block in an important game too iirc
In that same game, he got a chase down one on Murray.
I remember that shit. I was pissed lol
People always talk about it actually
Covington had some bad plays as well. Our ceiling that year was winning that Denver series agaisnt Jokic and G-leaguers. That was not the thing to remember CJ against Denver :), he had a good series in 2019
Those blown wide open dunks that he tried to cock back piss me off more than anything cj did
one play never decides a game, my friend. time to let it go.
What? I mean they do have to let it go but single plays have decided thousands of games
a turnover or missed shot in the 4th isn’t actually more or less consequential to winning than in the 2nd quarter, it just feels that way because we’re human and we tend to be very results-focused. but a basketball game has a million imperceptible interactions that all contribute to the result.
Yup. One of the first ones that comes to mind is KD’s infamous foot on the line shot against the Bucks. That single play quite literally could have led to a different NBA champion being crowned that year.
Glad I’m not the only one still annoyed by that lol still one of the craziest performances I’ve seen
And cj blames you for not being there in his time of need!!
That game is covingtons fault, how the hell do you miss two completely wide open dunks?!?
Good times…
Mehh they were down like 4 or so points at that moment and I think the game was over
I don’t think it’s shots it’s Deni style makes what he does easier. And most people who never watched a lot of blazers games don’t realize how much harder Dame had to work to ball like he did. The nightly double sometimes triple teams. That deep 3 came from that. CJ was a bucket. LA was a bucket. But did they have the gravitational pull Deni does but getting downhill? No.
Melo too
Melo was way past his prime. Also Melo was not exactly someone who made his teammates better.
Dame wanted him back - the year he signed to Lakers
Both can be true.
He was a decent role player for Blazers but he was not close to being a star
How did this not work in Milwaukee,
Deni is a better passer and does more off ball action with Dame as the PG where he cuts and Dame can pass to Deni on the move, so Deni is able to do all of this as an off ball player playing off of Dame as the on ball point.
Giannis is an on ball player, you get him the ball on the perimeter and then he goes to work, often in longer actions with lots of dribbles, so the fit is not as good since there is one ball and both Dame and Giannis need it a lot.
That is why Deni is a much better fit for Dame’s skillsets. Dame is not a bad fit alongside Giannis since Dame is a great shooter so gives some spacing for on ball Giannis, but a lot of Dame’s value is his pull up threat warping the defense and he doesn’t really do the same kind of actions Curry does to make that gravity work just as well off ball, so some value was lost in the Giannis and Dame pairing.
Exactly this. Deni is similar to Giannis in putting pressure on the defense especially in transition, except that he’s a Swiss Army knife also capable of playmaking and shooting. Giannis isn’t a bad playmaker at all but he’s not on Deni’s level. If the Warriors would’ve drafted Deni instead of Wiseman, Curry and Deni would’ve been an INSANE duo.
It’s not even necessarily Deni being a better playmaker, it os about him being a better off ball connecting playmaker where he catches with a small advantage and makes an immediate move to keep the advantage going with a ln immediate drive, shot, or pass, and not giving the defense time to catch up and get fully set again. That is something Giannis very much does not do which is why he’s not able to play off of another playmaker very well. He has to be the main play maker to get the most out of him.
Dame is similar in that he has to be the main playmaker to get the most out of him, not for the same reasons as Giannis but the end result is the same that both of them require being the initiator of the offense to get the most of their skills, Deni does not need to do this to store provide most of his playmaking.
If you watch them on the floor together, is the one that initiates the offense with the ball, Deni does some stuff off ball, which includes setting screens sometimes for Dame sometimes for others or he cuts, and then at some point in advantages created somewhere that leads to Deni getting the ball in an advantage situation where he goes into an immediate move that continues the advantage with either his own shot or setting up somebody else else’s shot. deni ends up with more assists than Dame with this, even though Dame has more ball handling, and more time with the ball on the offense with this.
Don’t ever put “Deni” in the same sentence as Giannis. Have yall lost your minds? Idc what Dame is saying in this clip….
People are actually talking good basketball analysis and you come in being a cornball and offering nothing of substance
They have very similar styles. Deni is just a little shorter and a lot smarter
There’s a difference between how good a player is and how good of a fit he is.
Giannis at his peak is better than peak Deni, but the pairing of Dame and Deni works a lot better than the pairing of Dame and Giannis
Reason why this matters a lot is Giannis kicks up a lot more of the salary cap then Deni, so the rest of the team you can build around Dame and Deni is going to be better.
It’s never just a question of how good pairs are an absolute terms there’s also how much of a limited salary cap the pairings take up and how much resources you have available for other stuff. With the new CBA the three max stars way of building a team doesn’t work anymore because there’s not enough of the salary cap to build out the rest of the roster and the current game requires some depth.
The harder the salary cap becomes the more important fit is as it’s about making the best use of limited resources.
Basic PnR fundamentals and injuries
Why pass when you can just go coast to coast
*put your head down and bulldoze everyone
I hear ya but check tone, he’d be your franchise goat by far
As a Rap fan, we watched Lowry beat him twice with Demar and Kawhi. When you watch him choke a 2-0 lead and get swept (bucks in 6?) you get gloating rights.
kawhi is better lol so no
Damn hop off bro
I fucking love watching Deni make a drive, draw in the defense, and then kick it out to Dame for the three. A wide open Dame, which what the fuck he was never wide open before. How do you stop that and yes how did Giannis not figure that out.
Cause Giannis has no BBIQ
I could go for some BBIQ chicken rn 🤤
This. Giannis is built like a Greek god so he’s able to put up 30/12/5 in his sleep but he has mid basketball IQ. He’s someone that should just be surrounded by 3&Ds, not someone you want to costar with. The only way the Heat are winning is if Pat Riley and Spo build around Giannis properly and the players adjust to him because he’s not adapting his game to anyone anytime soon. Also Giannis can’t shoot while Deni can catch and shoot, pick and pop, etc.
Just forgetting Middleton. You don’t just put 3 and Ds you need a shot creator around him to close games.
I mean yeah but he often played 3&D in addition to the cooking in the midrange. And they also had Jrue Holiday (3&D), Brook Lopez (3&D), PJ Tucker (3&D), Pat C (3&D). The team was largely 3&Ds. Of course sprinkle in some secondary ball handling and iso scoring ability. But almost the entire offense is Giannis dominating the ball and going downhill with it, him slipping a screen to get the ball back, or someone else playing iso. Almost zero ball movement.
What’s nice is middleton can do both lol
Have you even watched any heat games?
Giannis is averaging almost 60% from midrange this season, fuck are we talking about he can’t shoot?
People usually mean 3s for floor spacing purposes
He has a title though so?? 🤷🏽♂️
His game got worse and more selfish post title it seemed. Before and during that run he deferred to Kris end of games. After the ring he thought he could control end of games and it went horribly. Dame was so mid-used while there it was criminal
Khris has been fucking injured and regressed heavily since 2022. People that never watched games gotta stfu
Weren’t Dame and Giannis the highest scoring duo for a time? There were other factors obviously like coaching and fit but the biggest one that set them back has to be injuries. No injuries and they might both still be bucks.
Yes and contrary to what people will tell you their P&R was consistently one of the most efficient 2-man actions in the league. It was not historically great like their pedigree would lead you to expect but that was regularly a top-5 two man action in the league in PPP. Doc never choosing to run it, a complete lack of a complimentary roster, and injuries account for like 80% of why the 2023-2025 bucks were a failure and i will die on this hill as someone who suffered through all 175 games of it.
People don’t think lol
The thing that ruined it was Doc and the supporting cast.
Dame and Giannis were a great duo and would still be one of Dame never got hurt imo.
But “Giannis has no bbiq” will get more upvotes and people agreeing t
Yes but Dame got nerfed, went from averaging 32ppg to 24ppg in one season. Giannis on the other hand had the exact same stats. That’s how you know one guy adapted and the other didn’t bother. Giannis is ball dominant, can’t set screens, can’t space the floor, and can’t pick and pop.
No shit, it’s because he went from first option to second option. Dame was on a shit team the season before as well.
24ppg lines up closer to his averages than 32 does, making that season an outlier
Talking about career averages is silly, obviously stats are dragged down by early years for any player. The last time a healthy Dame averaged 24 or lower was in 2014-2015. Dame was in his prime and the 3 (healthy) seasons before the trade, Dame averaged 32.2ppg, 28.8ppg, and 30ppg.
One dude is a Top 20 player all-time, in his prime, the other is a Top 75 — at the back end of his career.
Gotta factor in the defensive side too. Dame and deni do not need to contribute whole lot on the other end with clingan and camara covering in and out the paint. This core blazer roster is best dame had ever had. Hope they make a deep run. Dame dollaa
This is the correct answer. If both were healthy at the playoff we absolutely would’ve made a deep run because they were a positive duo, and especially so for having been together for very little time.
It doesn’t get the clicks though
Yeah, it wasn’t ideal, but the problem had way more to do with injuries than the narrative would suggest.
With doc rivers? That’s optimistic
Doc rivers
Doc
And Giannis lol
It’s literally just Giannis’ fault. I remember an article dropped that detailed Giannis complaining when Dame took over the ball down the stretch of a game.
Giannis said all that BS preseason about how it’ll be Dame’s team and how he’s excited to be his running mate just to do some shit people accuse Bron of doing
Show me the article
Bc not so bright giannis dont like setting picks and rolling to the rim.
Wow people are just saying stuff now
Giannis objectively does not set screens for other players.
Im talking about the not so bright part
Giannis himself talked about the pick and roll and seemingly lamented that it was other players who would benefit from it instead of himself. Eric Nehm wrote an article about it if you care to look it up.
Dame is a pick’n’roll point guard, you have to set picks for him. Period. The end. Giannis didn’t do that
Did you watch?
wdym just saying stuff. i remember watching those games they played together bc i was curious to see their fit as a team. whenever giannis sets a pick majority of the time he slips before the contact to get the ball back to score. they dont even play real PnR in the last 5 mins of the 4th Q. steph is objectively a better pick setter than giannis.
It really falls on Giannis for being unable to adapt whatsoever
It never occurred to me how similar their playstyles were lmao
Deni is Giannis light. Sine he lacks his athleticism he’s better and body control post contact imo. Giannis can run through people where Deni can’t. So Deni creates contact then sort of bounces off to get a shot off. Numbers obviously say Giannis is the better player but Deni infinitely better fit with Dame and shows a glimpse of just how lethal Dame and Giannis could have been if only he’d bought in to the idea
Deni is a much better passer than Giannis
And a way better shooter
It did. It was quite literally the only good thing about the bucks from ‘23-25. Giannis and dame as a duo were great from an efficency standpoint, were consistently top 5 in PPP among two-man actions their entire time together, and were part of some of the best lineups in the league by net rating. It is consistently understated how dogshit the rest of that roster and doc were and how ravaged they were by injury. They were great together, they just needed to be historically dominant to make up for the dumpster fire around them. You can say they should have been historically dominant given their pedigree, but to say they didn’t work together ignores basically everything that was going on around them.
The crazy thing is that it was totally working with their first head coach. Then they got Doc Rivers and started tumbling down the standings.
Terry stotts man. His leaving was an underdiscussed issue. We are talking about the dude who had coached dame into the superstar he became.
When I left I knew it wouldn’t work out
Terry, you’ve outed yourself!
Rare Terry!
Lol what. You think it was Stotts who made Lillard who he was?
Cmon man, coaches help elevate talent but ur was always there.
Haha no, I’m just saying if anyone knew how to “use Lillard effectively” it was stotts. They had a super close relationship. He was the coach during lillards rise. He’s not responsible for that success, but as a blazer fan, I thought he played pretty close to his potential under stotts.
Giannis
Because Deni has never played in MIL
Gainnis is a ball hog
Giannis requires a very specific team to be around him
Terry Stotts knew something
? Giannis and Dame were a horrible fit
You cannot have two ball dominant players on the same team.
Giannis won with a bunch of snipers, fantastic defense and a big man who could play anywhere on the offensive end. The Bucks slowly built the perfect team foe him.
Casually just leaving out Middleton I see. Giannis needs a closer. Their most dominant years they had the same usage.
Mid is a sniper
Sure but he’s more of a bucket getter. He’s not just a shooter. He’s a closer and ran shit in crunch time where Giannis is helpless
I’m more talking about your statement that he can’t play with another ball dominant player when they had the ball almost the exact same amount. He actually NEEDS a ball dominant player,
Gotta be happy for Dame. It seemed like his great career could come to a disappointing end with the Bucks, and now his Blazers return is going way above expectation. I hope they can keep this up.
Dame is such a great vet and person to have in that locker room for Deni and all of the young guys. He’s still such a great player and he lets Deni do his thing while fitting in seamlessly. Blazers are so good hopefully Dundon keeps the team in Portland
They fit like Giannis and Dame should have
Tons of drive and kicks, actual PnR plays….guys being unselfish and actually looking for the ther
Deni is more skilled as a passer, way better as a shooter and somehow a better screener (I don’t get why Giannis is bad at screening) — the actions you can run with Deni are just way more varied
Giannis is honestly just a selfish player and it’s time people stop pretending otherwise
Every action he makes is designed for him to score. If he’s passing it’s only because he doesn’t have a chance to score. If he’s screening, it’s not to get the ball.handler open, but rather to get him the ball back going downhill
It’s predictable, selfish offense thats only even remotely viable because he’s a freak of nature
Yeah I’m not sure if it’s an inability or an unwillingness to screen.
It’s more about his low bbiq.
giannis is deadass afraid of absorbing contact on a screen, he ALWAYS slips and it’s so infuriating to watch
Was Doc wrong?
Who knew that led to Wins lol, Giannis getting exposed lol
He is a great leader. Having him and Jrue as examples in that locker room will be great long term for all the young talents on that squad.
Dundon seems hellbent on finding ways to ruin a good thing they got goin
Fuck Dundon we don’t care what he thinks. If he pulled in checks for 30 years or died tomorrow it would not make much difference, he’s just a bus rider. We have been top ten in attendance in this league over a 30 year period, our region truly loves the trailblazers, and he doesn’t matter one fucking bit.
The Deni and Dame 2 man game looks like they’ve been playing together for years.
Dame watched him from the sidelines for an entire year. Give him the credit of studying his game, building that connection and syncing instantly on court.
It’s just so nice to see Dame play meaningful basketball again. Always been a favorite of mine and the Blazers look good this year. Demi really synergises well
When has Dame not played meaningful basketball?
rub it in why don’t you
This is a CJ slight actually
Na this is 100% Giannis hate (and Deni praise, obviously)
Every PG fucking hates playing with Giannis. No elite guard wants to be told to sit in the corner and have their big slip every screen.
Yeah for sure. A bit of a subtle joke
deni and dame as a duo has been so fun to watch, his passing out of the post makes everyone around him better
Yeah no shit Deni as the primary Ballhandler who Sucks the D in when he Penetrates the Hole and kicks the Ball out to open shooters. Ofc dame loves getting wide open 3s.
I’m sorry, come again?
He sucks the D in when he penetrates in the hole and kicks the ball out to open shooters.
You forgot the best part… it ends with a open 3 a huge splash from Dame
Penetrating in the hole is impossible if the D is being sucked in - shooting to the open man is possible though. Simple ball playing.
Penetrating in the hole is impossible if the D is being sucked in - shooting to on the open man is possible though. Simple ball playing.
what now
Can you repeat that first part
He is going to need some time before he can do it again
I’m sorry, do what?
Sucks the D in
When he penetrates in the hole
Defense swallows
I love everything about this sentence and yet I feel so confused lmao.
I think he’d get along well with Steph Curry
A good bet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them get chippy at one another despite A TON of games against eachother.
Ton of respect between the two. Im sure at some level Dame’s happy Steph’s brough his hometown team success
Steph and Deni agree on A LOT
People always dream about Curry and LeBron pairing up or Curry and Jokic….but how the fuck would you gameplan for Curry and Dame?
By attacking them on defense lmao
Google Steph Curry Palestine
Giannis might have the most important ring in NBA history. Can’t even begin to imagine the discourse if they didn’t come back from 0-2 in the 21 finals
He wouldn’t hear the end of it. Slander would be insane
He’s only been past the 2nd round twice his whole career, best team he’s ever beaten in the PS is the 2021 Suns (who beat on injured teams to make the finals), and hasn’t won a playoff series since 2022. That ring is carrying his whole reputation
And his stats and his MVP trophy (twice!), and his defensive player of the year
Maybe but you know how fans are about rings
Isn’t the same true of Jokic?
Jokic has better playoff legacy overall easily
Yes, he’s also a hack. I’ve been plenty critical of him on my page
Way more so than of Giannis cuz nobody was calling Giannis the next goat
Jokic has also dealt with shot teammates, Murray os the only one who has been pretty good but Murray also has teams that just shut him down and Denver keeps running into the Wolves and Thunder in the playoffs who proceed to shut down Murray. Their title run was avoiding those teams.
Murray just doesn’t have an elite physical attribute that allows him to succeed against the best defenders, he relies on screens but some of those guys are elite at getting around screens like McDaniels and Caruso and Wallace, and then he is SOL.
Lol the way this sub cottles Jokic needs to be studied
And Giannis hasn’t?
I mean tbf he came back like Superman after his knee bent really far in the wrong direction, then dropped one of the best finals statistical performances oat. But yeah, suns weren’t an impressive opponent.
How many players not named Lebron or Steph have led their team to more than one ring?
Imagine the discourse if Draymond isn’t suspended one game or if Klay never injures himself in 2019 or if Khris never gets injured in 2022…
Giannis and Jokic would be given so much shit and people would have guys like Embiid and KD over them
how do u not put KD over giannis? what? lmao
KD team fits around way kore play styles so he can pair up with other elite players much better, but he does a lot less to elevate and make offense easier for the players around him, so KD would be worse as the alpha dog of a team the way Giannis was for their chip, but is a much better player when added to an already good to great team like what KD did for the Warriors.
This is a wild one for sure lmao
Giannis has 2 MVPs and a DPOY, and led his team to the finals. Durant took “the hardest road”
Giannis had a very easy path to the finals, and had a team that fit him perfect.
Legitimately the most fluke ring of the century.
Because Giannis is the better player.
you’re talking about ping pong, right?
Why are you acting like KD is some bum ass mf? Lmfao😭😭
He’s the last guy to win finals mvp back to back
Bc everybody was focused on curry.. it’s why warriors won before kd AND AFTER kd
Obviously Curry took some attention but do you realize how fucking stupid you sound thinking the defense just wasn’t worried about a prime fucking Durant?
KD took attention away from Curry too, even if not as much
lol no one is moved by kds fmvps
They don’t have to be moved but its the truth
KD is over Giannis all time. Jokic is a conversation but I definitely still have him above for longevity
Respectfully. I think KD is best as a Robin where he’s just asked to score and not true top-10 all time. I’m even taking prime Kawhi with what he did with Spurs and Raps over KD because I’ve never seen a better perimeter defender.
Kawhi has one of the most celebrated rings in recent memory and he averages like 3 assists a game. Old man KD now is limited in the ways that he can impact the game but even in 2021 post achilles he showed how he could take over a series in multiple facets.
He really only has himself to blame for this narrative by joining GSW but the whole Robin career retrospective feels like a poorly examined belief that people just accept because it feels right.
Giannis and Jokic have such similar accolades idk why you’re acting like they dont
It should be obvious on this sub…
You can literally feel the chemistry when they play
How could he do this to giannis
As much as I was upset to lose Dame I thought he and Giannis would tear up the league
If Giannis learned how to set a pick and if they had a coach with actual coaching skills I feel like this’d be different. I feel like they blew up the foundation right as Dame got there. Pushed Stotts out of the AC role and swapped out a competent coach for a wash.
Giannis thinks he’s too big for the program and his ego and exploded. He used to be one of my favorites but his falloff is gonna be epic. As soon as the athleticism fades his low iq is gonna get mega exposed.
Deni is a smarter and better shooter Giannis
Feels like Deni is a bit of a mini-Giannis. Both overwhelm you with physicality. It’s just a toss up which you prefer to play with. Best fit isn’t always about the best player.
Deni probably actually plays better from a skill/fundamentals level than Giannis but Giannis is just more physically dominant/overpowering
Or CJ?
I still think it’s hilarious that those two just didn’t like each other.
Nori got Unc the happiest he’s ever been
Love this from Dame. Shows you how a real superstar is able to level up alongside another great player. So glad hes back in the league and fully HEALTHY. 🫰
A lot of you people in here need to get a fucking life. Most honest dude in the league gives an honest answer to a basketball question and all you can do is spout political bullshit. Pretty sad, when your entire life is being a misinformed troll.
Welcome to every single post here Deni is even remotely mentioned in.
Imagine if the other international players thread’s comments were like this?
Imagine Serbia’s history got brought up every time Jokic was mentioned lmao
Are we talking about Kosovo here? Because if we are, Jokic was 4 years old during the height of the crisis. Deni was today years old when Israel blew up a hospital.
History? He’s from and actively endorsing a genocidal state.
Yeah this post isn’t even bad compared to some on Deni. There were Redditors who legit believed Mossad got Deni selected as an All Star lol.
But yeah the gross hatred and bigotry is in just about every post that mentions his name.
It’s almost like the history of Serbia is never mentioned on major news outlets so Redditors don’t care to learn about the world history, only what’s fed to them on their algorithm.
No no it’s clear mossad got to the referees. The all star votes were a natural result of the stat boosts from the refs
Well yeah, that’s what happens when his country is actively committing a genocide.
Why don’t american players get the same treatment? Why doesn’t david robinson get shat on for his service (not a lame 2 week bootcamp like deni)? Why don’t bron and curry get absolutely ripped into shreds for their endorsements of the us military?
Now watch this clown not respond, they never do
What are they misinformed about?
Deni is actually Sri Lankan
That Deni isn’t great at basketball
it was a coaching mismatch in mke not personnel
Welcome to Reddit where they tell you “everything is political” and don’t allow you to have fun
Kinda night and day compared to other sports sub, this place is like r/fauxmoi
Only one worse might be the UFC sub
Fauxmoi is such an echo chamber. Like putting aside how I feel about some views there I don’t get how people find that even enjoyable everyone saying the same shit as you lol.
They banned me when someone said something shitty about Vietnam veterans on a Jane Fonda post (something to the effect of these old men will be gone soon) and I replied saying it was gross to talk about the vets that way (I’m paraphrasing as it was a while back). And was promptly banned and then when I messaged asking why they threatened me to stop messaging or they’d report me higher or some shit lol.
That’s insane. My father is a Vietnam vet who had no choice to fight, he was drafted and couldn’t pursue his education in psychology. Normal, quiet, well mannered guy. Actually a pretty sensitive man despite how little he puts on. I think that time in the military completed hardened him, or shut him in.
He was a transport pilot, noncombat, and he rarely ever speaks about it. All he’s spoken on is that he transported caskets of young men back from the war zone to home.
One of the most hurtful realizations in the last couple of years for me is truly how there is zero level of nuance and forgiveness provided by humans to each other online, and how I realize this is because there is actually zero level of desire for many humans to offer this to each other. No understanding, no level of affective empathy, just righteous ego. It is not humans’ fault we are like this, but it is our responsibility to do better in spite of it.
Yeah man, my dad’s a Vietnam vet as well. He was in combat (infantry) and has ptsd among other medical issues. He’s been heavily involved in veterans advocacy my whole life (we used to travel to national conferences) and I grew up surrounded by vets, many you can tell carry trauma and who are good, caring people. And then you see a comment like that where people are upvoting someone saying it’ll be good when they die off based on some ideological stance that completely removes humanity and empathy from the thinking and conversation.
Yeah things can be disheartening particularly online but I think one on one engaging genuinely most humans can bridge differences better even when views are starkly different and draw on human qualities like empathy and humanity that get pushed further down in group and online discourse.
But your pops has my support and gratitude and my girlfriend’s (whose father is a Vietnam vet as well) and from many others I know.
The military treats vets much worse
How the military treats vets has zero to do with how awful that comment was. It was just a gross, dehumanizing, callous comment. And I got banned for calling it out. Which seems to show what that sub is (an echo chamber with members getting supported for sharing shitty views about people).
dudes will call a genocide politics 🤣
This is redditors we’re talking about here.
Reddit is where people who get their news from TikTok come to make their points about that region of the world.
There’s plenty of informed and uninformed news accounts across social media.
Spoken like a true Fox news watcher
Except I’m a liberal Democrat. But nice try.
Except you use Fox News talking points
It’s so strange. Dani’s worst offense is that Netanyahu like him and for some reason Dani is the one who gets ostrasized for it.
What is this even referring to? I don’t see any “political bullshit” in this thread though I’m sure you can find shit takes with a bunch of downvotes at the bottom. The only thing I see is a lighthearted joke about the American-Israeli connection
Put some respect on Wes Matthews name
I’m bias cause I went to WSU and love Klay Thompson but I always thought prime Klay on some of those Blazers teams could have easily lead to the Blazers having a dynasty and not the Warriors.
Swap Lamarcus with prime Nurkic. I’ve got nothing against LMA, just think that an elite 2-way center with great passing vision fits better in this dream scenario.
Nurkic nowhere near close to Aldridge
Nurk was fucking incredible before the injury
I had Nurk fever and miss the big guy but Aldridge was special in the early 2010s. He got overshadowed by Dame’s buzzer beat but LMA absolutely torched the Rockets in that series too.
In a vacuum no but there was that very brief nurk fever/pre injury version of nurk that was so fun and such a good fit
“Pre-Injury”