It’s the 5 year anniversary since this infamous shot back in 2019. I just wanted to give a lil rant about the whole “dame ended okc” narrative that was heavily pushed the past 4 years.
The way I see it, that shot SAVED OKC and was a DETRIMENT to Dame’s career. That shot resulted in us getting Shai, who is quite literally better than Dame right now. On top of that, the next 5 years for Dame have been nothing more than mediocrity. He got bounced out the first round in 2020 and 2021, and didn’t even make the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. I feel like that 2019 shot and that series as a whole gave the trail blazers franchise an impression that they could build around Dame, but that would turn out to be a horrible decision, which is evident from the past 4 years. Additionally, Dame has had an abysmal season for the Bucks and is a big reason for their lackluster play.
That shot allowed us to acquire Shai, a superstar who is now a top 5 player in the league and (imo) better than Dame ever was at any point in his career. On top of that, we were able to garner heavy draft capital and went through an entire cultural reset characterized by development of young talent and strategic positioning for future success. We’re ultimately in a better position right now than we’ve ever been since the Russ-harden-kd era to make multiple championship runs.
What do yall think?
Tldr; the 2019 Dame game winner SAVED okc rather than “ended okc” like the narrative claims.
by giraffe_yogurt
7 Comments
1) Dame shot
2) Clippers salivating for Kawhi
3) Rockets turmoil with CP3
The three things that saved our franchise that year
Tired of this notion.
Even if that Thunder team got past the blazers it was over.
Sam Presti saved the Thunder. No one else.
There are no accidents ⚡️⚡️⚡️
But, but, we lost Playoff P! /s
Same shit w KD, but ppl still let that hurt their feelings unfortunately
Yeah, no shit. That OKC team was going nowhere. I’ve been thanking Blazers for years.
That shot arguably killed Portland. That franchise is stuck in no man’s land because they tried to keep making it work with Dame and now they have nothing.