Desperation and Signing Carmelo Anthony | Trail Daddy: A Trail Blazers Podcast Hosted by Dave…
hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify go Ducks okay you ready to roll this is me just rolling with the Dan not planning just like jumping right in I got no outline I’m just asking questions you ready okay I’ll take that as a yes hey what’s up Blazer fans welcome to a special edition of the Blazers Edge podcast it is Thursday night and Danny is so excited to jump on and give his initial re actions to Trailblazers signing former let me see if I got all the teams right Denver Nuggets New York Knicks Houston Rocket Carmelo Anthony is coming forgot the Thunder oh I forgot the Thunder darn it well like I said I didn’t script this episode or plan this episode I’m dumping in with both feet so let’s start off what oh wait you probably can’t say it on the recording because we’re PG um tell walk me through do we have a bleep but no we don’t so get a rain on it so walk me through your initial reactions when you found out that the Trailblazers were going to be uh signing Carmelo Anthony I myself was shocked how did you feel uh it sounded like what but it was replaced with a different word um I I I quite literally scared my fiance um this is the thing that I keep going back to and this will kind of be the overarching theme of this just it reeks of desperation to sign mellow at this point like at some point in the last two games of Damen Lillard getting box in one and seeing two Defenders and kicking into the corner and nothing happening that like the the motivation behind the starting this season so poorly at 4 and8 and really looking bad for most of it that’s just the reality of it and then and throwing in the you know the gas to the fire that you came out and said you were a championship Contender this year you you asked me when we when the season started why that was a problem this is why this is why you don’t put that out there when when not everything’s set because the desperation is if this was a team that was still even the coming off the Western Conference finals and they said hey we’re we’re still building towards something we still believe in this team we’re going to make some tweaks we’re going to still build towards something do you think even with this bad start even with the injuries with all these issues that people would look at this team the same as they are right now you know I don’t answer rhetorical questions you don’t think it would be different I don’t know Dan I just I’m just puzzled why they signed a four when it seems like they need a five like just body like they just like they need somebody who is seven feet tall they need that too they need a lot of things but they need a four they they they do need a four and I was looking for a four five type and this is one of those things where you look at it and it’s like that’s they they went to Damen l or Dam went to Neil and signed off on this and that’s just that’s the position there and that’s how desperate they are there’s there’s a there’s a strong possibility that Carmelo Anthony when he joins the team will be the starter they’ve gone through quite literally everybody they’ve started honia they’ve started Tolliver they’ve started nir okay so removing ourselves emotionally from our feelings about this uh and given that Melo hasn’t played for a while but when he was in Houston although he wasn’t great he also wasn’t terrible do you think that he is at this time probably a better basketball player than those guys like should he be like if you looked at what we’ve seen out of hisia and toer so far taking out the fact that it’s Mello but do you think that he as a player has you know is as good as they are talent wise no he’s better but execution wise need wise so many things attitude fit culture there’s so many things here like how many teams have had a chance to sign him since he was let go from from Houston 29 other teams mhm none of them did why well there there are certainly issues so you have to sit here and wonder what the hell okay I there’s so many thoughts running through my head right now about this entire situation it’s hard for me to like really put it all together without cussing okay well we’ve got a bunch of questions from listeners and I’ve only got two more days of the Hallmark Channel so if I’m going to like completely immerse myself in these movies to try to like numb myself to whatever is going on right here with the Blazers I got to get on that and watch as many movies as I can so we’re GNA jump right ahead so we did get some questions from listeners and we’ll start off with Belgian Blazers I’m afraid this one might also send you around the bend Belgian Blazer wants to know how bad do you want to buy a mellow shirt could you address that like Mellow Yellow we going back to like Dick Trickle racing days sure I’ll grab one of those hell I might have one in the closet but a mellow no that was a very Niche joke yeah well you know you gota you gotta recall the days of the delicious beverage Mellow Yellow not sponsoring this podcast um yeah no and the thing is like I put a poll out earlier today like how you feeling about this and and three of the options were basically shoot me into the moon one of them was great and honestly a third of the people responding are either trolling or are legitimately excited about this and that kind of tells you the state of the situation right now the state of the team in general that this is life and something interesting to talk about yeah I mean this the thing is like right now with the way this season is and this is going to probably piss plenty of people off but they are quite literally one step away from being done for the year like they they are already ready and people like oh you’re overreacting you’re worrying no I’m not not in the least spit they are getting run out of the gate and this team we talked about this coming into the season that they’re paper thin and they’re not done making moves yet this isn’t the team that they’re going to have by the end of the year and so this idea that they they need to tread water until then they don’t need to just tread water they need to do better than that now they’re five and a half games behind the Lakers already that through 12 games they’re five and a half back they’re 13th in the west and that help isn’t coming until bare minimum December 15th bare minimum they have to tread a month before they can even consider making a move and that’s why I say this this move is entirely about desperation because they have to get to that point so I mean are you saying when it’s saying it’s about desperation you’re saying it’s about desperation because they think he’s going to move the needle in terms of them being able to get through the next few months or if it’s a move of desperation because Neil o you think Neil o wanted to make a big splash and do something so people could say he did something I think there’s probably a little bit of column A a little bit of column B because again do but do you think that like the basketball people on the Trailblazers were like you know what he can provide something to the team this is going to sound really bad to the guys that are already on the team but provide what like like you’re they’re quite literally looking for anything a bucket yeah I mean really bun of buckets actually’s he’s not gonna stop anybody yeah I know I want some oh my God I miss nage so bad and I just like it’s like when they replace the floor in the Mota Center they added like a big welcome mat underneath each one of the painted areas I mean like they can’t stop anything so are they just going to like hope to God they everybody I mean obviously this paint defense no they’re starting lineup if if Melo starts is Dame CJ Hood mellow Whiteside you might as well just put a like a red carpet down the paint like this I I I quite literally have my hands on my head right now okay we’re gonna get back to the questions because you didn’t address the uh issue about or maybe you kind of did but there’s also a whole bunch more questions from U listeners who want to know about Carmelo wearing number seven and I that’s what we were getting at that’s a hell no um as president of the Brandon Roy fan club I will absolutely lose my ever loving mind if he even comes anywhere near that Jersey 100% like I I don’t usually get emotion on with stuff I usually kind of try to detach from like how I really like how I’m feeling versus like trying to be analytical and and taking a look at a situation this is very animated analytical yeah well that’s yeah absolutely but like I do try to keep those two things separate but like my my my love for Brandon and what he did for this franchise and everything that he went through like that is a Untouchable unspeakable I will absolutely lose my mind if he puts on that Jersey that’s you just got to think that that would be a bridge too far for has to know that the 100% it’s not like he’s not in his generation right I mean they know each other I’m sure yeah and he has to know like and the thing is he can’t wear 15 either because that’s retired so like the thing is and he better not wear 25 we have a whole list of numbers that he can’t wear or 22 you can’t put 15 and seven together no 22 so well it’ll be like I said earlier like he can wear like 74 like yeah 59 that would be a good one okay well we’ll find out more about that soon enough going moving on to questions this is from John Woods uh paint undersign sign unders sign play he’s uh John asks all of melo’s minutes at the four and at the three or the five what do you think yeah if they play him at the five things have gotten even more desperate um I don’t think you’re gon to see him at the three that that really hasn’t been a problem they still have bore they still have Hood they can still put honia in there if they want to go with him too um realistically when Pascal cakam hit Mario with like the same spin back move like four times in a row that was probably the moment they’re like okay we need a 6′ n body and and then you’re just like might as well get somebody who if that’s going to happen to it we know is gon the but Ball’s gonna go in well I mean do you know the ball’s gonna go in I mean well you know more likely yeah I mean that’s that’s the thing we’re talking about like it was like well he be better than what they have and I’m like well the Baseline is so so low this kind of goes back to the whole like forward position argument that we had about harkless and aminu and but it’s not wrong I know but again but like the whole idea of like well Mo can do this he can he’s doing just fine he’ll be better and it’s like yeah but what what’s better and what’s the cost so are you saying that the thing that is disturbing to you in a non-emotional way of course is that they could have signed somebody else into that position and now their last position is taken and they are locked into him well they aren’t locked into him because it’s a non-g guaranteed contract so that’s that’s like I guess the one Saving Grace here is that right and there’s a non- guaranteed contract going pretty well down in Los Angeles to this point yeah I mean Dwight if you want to try to find the positives in something Dwight uh Howard is doing okay yeah he’s he looks like he’s willing to fit in but I we we’re we already Taking Chances with with whites side right I was going to say normally I would be you know totally uh like confident like this is no problem Dame can handle it I just know that his attentions will be split because he’s already trying to uh introduce Whiteside but I had the most brilliant idea while I was watching the game last night I think that pow gasal should be just 100% devoted to mentoring Whiteside and those two can just just stay in lock step and that way pow does all the work of helping Whiteside figure out what his role and position are so then Damien can spend time with the rest of the team and here’s the thing that we haven’t really talked about too much how desperate must Damen Lillard be to to green light this how how how far down his rope must he be to be like yeah this is what we need to do this is what needs to happen because he he quite literally came out before the season and was like no no we’re not going to sign him mhm like after like like he he publicly said no yeah and now they’re back to that point right well things change and things can change in a moment that’s my other Marcus aurelus quote I like to quote him in bad times and I said to Joe Simons on Twitter the other night my number one Marcus Aurelius quote which is never let them touch your soul but the other thing that he said is things can change in a moment and I think that those are two things that we have to hang on to to get us through this season they really can change I mean I don’t think obviously that just the injury to Zach Collins is what’s completely seemingly derailed the team so far at least that was a big part of it and that happened real fast yeah and and this kind of goes more to the point of and and this isn’t a shot at Zach this is like more the point of like the situation they were in is that if you’re basically your entire premise of your season outside of how good Damon CJ are hinged on Zack Collins how what does that say about your plan like that that’s that can’t that can’t be the case a tertiary Ro defensive role player can’t be the make or break of your season and that’s why I always said coming into this year like it’s a transition year I would AR not you mean he’s tertiary and that he is not as important as Damon CJ you don’t mean he’s tertiary in defense because I think Zack ter role player like he’s like his his role is to play defense like anything you got out of him offensively was was a bonus like but but that like when you’re hanging your your hat on that one hook of a guy who’s unproven as a starter to be that much for you that’s why I came into this season like that was probably the biggest part of it and that’s not a shot at Zach you just you can’t you can’t hang that much on a guy like that you can do that to a deman in his third year who started day since day one you you can’t do that to a guy in a new role in a new place where where Championship hopes and expectations are quite literally like sitting on his shoulders and it’s it’s not his fault that he got hurt it’s it’s not anything that has to do with him that’s just not fair to him because of the of the roster construction okay well this is the Carmelo Anthony edition of the Blazers Edge podcast so we’re going to go back to a few more Carmela questions because you and I are going to be talking again in just a few days about our regular weekly topics so we we’ll come back to Zach but uh for tonight let’s see let me find one there’s a lot of very funny ones that are probably not ones that we are going to talk about how many games does Mela play before he gets cut we are gonna just say that he is going to last the rest of the year okay this is interesting question hope not Aon honest let’s hope that that he doesn’t last the rest of the season because if he lasts the entirety of the season that means they’re not making the changes they need to make I see what you say yeah you got a point yeah well let’s see how it goes let’s just see that let’s look at Aaron Ross’s question who will play more minutes of NBA basketball this season nazer little or Zach Collins this I think that’s super interesting because now because we were like getting ready for the nazer little you know experience but now they’ve got a four an established four who’s coming in so do we see now again I think I think n’s still going to get out there I think he gives them the energy to spark and and hell if if the Mello experiment doesn’t work out guess what they’re going back to it’s gonna be to see her like we we didn’t see toiv her last game right at all at all so um I think that’s that’s just got to be the way it’s going to go here’s one from Cody Hamilton what other guy out there has oay gone after but didn’t get that we can can be expected to be on the Blazers later this year my answer is Ronda Hollis Jefferson because I was seeing last night well they they got him they but they let him slip away within like in the trade in the draft for people who were not following at that point mark Soul Blake Griffin Kevin Love um Aaron Gordon uh bogdon bogdanovich um who who else is is out there that he’s going after and because he went after before and got him now he went after po before and got him now I mean the Bazemore I mean oh god let’s hope Chandler Parsons doesn’t somehow end up here um there’s a kind of a related question from ho fob who says name other players that can fill in the Gap at four via free agency not a trade so we’ll have to like tweak that a a little bit or try to interpret that a little bit but I guess what they’re asking is what fours I wonder I’m not sure if they mean like fours who are actually still out there right now I guess we could start with that are there other fours out there right now Steve deal highlighted a couple of the guys with the you know the Dante cunninghams of the world and fared before he signed in China we talked about that when when guys started to kind of go down and and Whiteside seemed like he maybe Miss might miss a few games but I again I don’t I don’t think there’s a free agent out there that that does anything I don’t think think adding Carmelo Anthony really does anything I I I don’t think any of these like every was like the most common thing I I saw to to to my um frustration with the signing is like Well it can’t get worse yeah it can it can get worse it can go more South it can get more sour so like what do you mean elaborate on that what gets worse they lose I mean we don’t know how many games they were going to lose anyway so they just lose a bunch of games is that the worst thing that happens or you tear up the locker room you think that there’s a chance that that this could be too much the how would it Go in OKC how’ It Go in Houston like I mean you have little faith I mean when you’ve got a track record yeah yeah I do like I I I I I you have to wonder these but we just talked about Dwight Howard seems to be doing fine I do admire fact that like you and Joe like to just continually like oh you know what this will work oh you know what this might work oh you know this will might work I personally don’t like to just sit there and like keep cutting myself until I don’t bleed anymore like I just I just don’t I just I don’t want to look at this and like why why should they have to take this risk what is the game I just I guess I look at it like they did it there’s nothing I can do about it so try to understand what happened oh we mean we know what we understand what happened they’re dead desperate right so what’s it GNA look like what what’s the game what do you like what do you what is your best case scenario for this best case scenario is that he comes in he plays really well the locker room doesn’t suffer and the Blazers end up winning more games than they would have won if he hadn’t come is that like a super terrible outcome I what am I missing how is that okay so that’s your best case scenario what’s your worst case scenario that it goes terribly and the Blazers lose a whole bunch of games and fractures the locker room causes more problems like the The Net game versus what could be the net positive is incredibly slanted to me well I am just I don’t know I just that’s it’s not in my nature to worry about that like I said earlier because it’s like it has nothing to do with me I can’t do anything about it all I can do is deal with how I react to it so I that’s the thing is you you you do look at this significantly different than I do yes we do well you’re you know Dan you’re like the I guess kind of like the problem solver I mean you know like if you and I were like stuck on a life wrap in the middle of the ocean and like we were trying to like get rescued or whatever you be the one like you know watching for sharks fighting off the Sharks you know making sure that we’re catching fish and figuring out how to eat when like you know fixing all the water and everything and i’ be the one whose job it is to look out the Horizon to find land so we’re complimentary here buddy complimentary this thing the way that I look at this is the risk is not worth it and you know how I felt about when when they made the wh side trade like what’s what’s the trade-off here and we’ve already seen some of it and thankfully it hasn’t been as bad as I thought it could be really because that’s funny because I actually think it’s a lot worse than I thought it was gonna be well no remember what I said I said I I I thought the like he could quite literally derail the entire season like that’s that’s how much I was worried about that and he hasn’t done that yet but again we’re only 12 games in but like we we’ve already seen Dame actually yell at Whiteside twice on the floor and I’ve never seen him do that before like in a in a way that’s demonstrative now you’re gonna have Melo and Whiteside on the floor at the same time and say what you want about Melo being a better player than what the Blazers currently have I’m not debating that I’m not arguing that but getting somebody else making room for somebody else when they’re already trying to make room for Whiteside to make room for other guys to get CJ going like I I can’t wrap my head around why it’s worth it to risk it for what could only be a few games and if and that’s like the kind of like best case scenario because I I don’t think they need just a few more games they need a substantial lift to have any chance to be competitive unless one of these other teams in the top 10 just gets a massive injury and gets derailed any chance that Melo doesn’t come in and suck up all the minutes and we still see continued development of the young players and he’s more like considered to be you know like backup and fill in and you know the bench player or do you think we’re still on the thing where he thinks that he’s coming in to start no I I I almost guarantee that when the call was made that hey you get to come in and start yeah I can see that I I I I’d be willing to bet a substantial sum if that’s the case um but with that in mind I I think n is probably still get some minutes I think they still look at him for some developmental minutes um especially if things don’t really improve is he in the closing lineup oh sorry no no no that’s a good question to kind of Carry On from this is like let let’s say that that um things don’t go bad but they don’t go great either and they’re just happy to keep the status quo because maybe having Melo gets you a few more people in the in the building you know that’s that’s not a loss to them so you play Melo uh he he sits in that closing lineup but in between it’s Nas time and you find a way to get him minutes um because the season isn’t kind of getting any better it’s not totally derailed but it’s not getting any better it’s not getting any worse you know maybe they pick up a couple extra wins here or there but it’s not enough to kind of get them over to where they need to be if that’s the case then I I would expect to see n still get some time okay that was the most positive you’ve sounded all night good job Dan but I mean again that may sound positive but we’re still talking about this team being in a place like I I don’t want them to be like I I I you you know my view on this either be building towards something or don’t so you think no so do you think this move stops the build I think so because I don’t think I don’t think the net gain is going to help you think it signals the stop of the build but they still have Anthony that you just said they’re still going to be playing Nas yeah those guys will continue to develop I I I’m talking about record-wise like it I I know how insane it sounds 12 games of the season but what I’ve seen from this team they are they are a bad team right now they are not in a place of like oh you know things just kind of go their way I know they’ve been close in games but they have been outplay played in nearly every game they’ve been at and it’s been by the absolute Grace of Damen Lillard’s superb ability this year that nobody saw coming the level to which he’s elevated his game and that still has Tera they dropped a game where he scored 60 on 33 shots okay but why does that make adding Carmelo make them any worse like you just said that they you think that they’re a bad team and now they’ve added Carmelo Anthony and that makes them worse I’ll go and put it out there so so it’s there tank do you think that that’s what I’m getting do you think this ruins if the Blazers were to tank it’s going to make them that much better that it’s going to ruin the tank is that what the problem is it’s not as bad it used to be because the way the draft lottery odds have been adjusted but if they’re going to be a bad team be a bad team so you think it’s a bad thing because they’re going to get Carmelo Anthony and they’re going to increase just enough that it’s going to like wreck their chances that’s getting a better okay I I actually understand that that’s way easier to understand than all the other stuff that seems a little bit more nebulous instead of saying like in instead of winning like 33 games they win 37 yeah or you know instead of 31 they win 37 whatever okay so you’re upset because he might give them a few too many wins not not that not too many wins I think they might pick up one or there that they probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise again what does that help it doesn’t help anything okay they’re not they’re not I don’t think it’s enough to buoy them uplift them to get them into a playoff position to tread the water I just think they pick up maybe a couple wins throughout the season a CO a coin toss game here or there right so if they were you were hoping that they would if they were going to sign somebody it would be somebody who would make a greater like a enough of an INT pack to really leap them ahead rather than maybe boost them by a couple either either either sign either make the move for that guy you know as early as you can in the trade deadline or you evaluate and and see what the way things are going but then in April you’re mad because you’re they’re the seventh seed and they’re going to get you know if they lose in the first round like it’s kind of like they can’t really win and I think would your argument be that they got themselves into situation where they can’t win yes and that’s okay and that was the thing that we talked about a lot more off air than we talked about on air that I looked at as a transition year MH and I always did and that’s what baffled me about the whole this is the championship contending year because they didn’t have the roster that that they were going to have going in next season and that’s true most years but I’m talking major changes and it it always like well why like I understand wanting to keep a winning culture I understand wanting to always strive for greatness and I love those things but at the same time if you’re if you’re burning out Damen lard for 38 minutes a night where in a season where you might not even make the playoffs what what does that do what does that accomplish and I can’t wrap my head around that I don’t think there’s any possibility that you would think that adding Melo would make it so that Damen L doesn’t have to play so many minutes does it no no D damus and this is one thing I love about him more than probably anything is he’s never going to admit defeat he’s full money python yeah that’s what he that and it’s not fake he believed that to his very core that’s how a a three star guy from Weber State became an MVP candidate like he is an otherworldly unnatural belief in himself and it’s amazing okay I’m gonna yank us back with uh one more question and then I’m gonna get us out of here because we were supposed to go short and we’ve already gone way longer than we planned shock I didn’t okay this one sort of actually Builds on the one that I asked about the uh the closers this is from Sir Wheezy who says any chance this means less Whiteside in the fourth quarter no now they may use this as an option now that I think about it they might put out a bunch ofers yeah they might do that because the one skill that I’m certain that Melo has over everybody else that they would put at that position other than say scow is he is still a rebounder right lasers need rebounding help yes and you know what I should probably retract my all of his minutes at the four because he probably will get some closing minutes at the five the more that I think they’re not playing against somebody who’s real big yeah these teams that have gone to these small ball lineups um and again that’s why I kind of pointed out the Pascal SE yakum one um when when Mario’s just getting beat by SE yakum um melo’s not a defensive stopper but the one thing he is is he 69 he’s like 260 he’s a big guy so he can take up some space he can fight for rebounds and he’s got a reputation as a shooter yes so and he can cover a guy at the three-point line oh well now that’s something yeah like he he moves better than Hassan whes side there you go lead there’s your positive way there you go we need they need help on the three-point defense and the defense in the paint so you know if we can get help with one of those two things I’ll take it at this point okay Dan we got to cut it off there um it’s uh been quite a night everybody we can we can all go back and reflect on what just happened and uh see what happens do you my guess is that his first game back will be Monday night against Houston is that what you’re thinking I think it’ll I think it’ll be Houston I’ve been making some calls trying to find out when he’s gonna join the team he is joining on the trip that’s that would that would make for a hell of a storyline if his first game back against Houston and I’m sure the NBA is sitting there salivating over that possib that’s got to be do you know off the top of your head is that a nationally televised game I don’t off the top of my head but if it isn’t if it’s a flex game it’ll be flexed in right on oh man things are heating up well like you said a million times in which I agreed with you every time is that this is going to be an interesting season and it certainly has I uh I’m not sure how much I’ve learned but I’ve watched a lot and I’m fig feel like I will come out the other side of it Having learned a lot once I could just wrap my brain around what happened yeah seeing him in a jersey is Gonna Hurt we’ll be fine it’ll be fine it’s fine it’s fine D like I mean like physically hurt my head like it’s gonna be hard for me to wrap my head around it yeah yeah well we’ll see him in a jersey before we see pal gasal on the field or maybe pal will come back at the same time that would be awkward who’s gonna play four he should be coming back here in the next couple weeks so that’s something to watch for will will there be any Clash there um they probably op to start mellow and then um you know you you work a lineup about yeah yeah oh so interesting I am very interested to see what happens and I know I said that word like 20 times already this no it is that’s what that’s the season is gonna be like right it’s gonna be it’s not gonna be short on on any kind of hashtag content that’s for sure that’ll do it for this interesting Carmelo Anthony edition of the Blazers Edge podcast you can find me at TCB bigs on Twitter Dan take us out of here all right folks you can find me on social media dang DM and following every game Joe Simons on NBC Sports West Blazers Outsiders and which uh after the game Saturday night we’ll probably talk about this some more and have some updates on whether or not or when he’s likely to join the team uh until then uh we’ll catch youall later bye hey sports fans if you want to stay in the know with the latest news surrounding the Oregon Ducks you need to listen to the weekly webfoot review podcast on iTunes and Spotify I’m Jordan Schultz and every week I’ll be here breaking down what’s going on in Eugene and how it affects Oregon’s football and basketball teams so if you want unfiltered news and opinions delivered by a lifelong Ducks fan subscribe to the weekly webfoot review on iTunes and Spotify God ducks
On this emergency episode of the Blazer’s Edge podcast, Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang react to the news of the Trail Blazers agreeing to sign Carmelo Anthony to a non-guaranteed contract. Why would they do it? Can he actually help them? How good and/or bad can things actually get? What happens between now and the trade deadline?
It’s a near real time reaction to the agreed upon deal and well, just listen for yourself.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/33771?utm_source=youtube
