Loyalty is my greatest weakness, and I am too determined in this absurd age. - Damian Lillard
preface
Today's NBA stars can be counted with one hand, curry, Lillard and who else? I'm afraid I really have to think about it. The same is loyalty, but Lillard's situation is far less than Curry, he has no big city, no rich management, no championship, MVP, All-Star teammates, but Lillard still chooses to stick, but in exchange for being swept, a round trip, as he himself said loyalty is his biggest weakness.
Loyalty above all else
Lillard once wrote an essay reflecting his own mental journey, "Loyalty above all else." In the handwritten letter, he stated that "I will not turn my back on this city, because this city has been with me since day one." And Lillard did what he said he would, and he did it from the moment he entered the league. After 10 years with the Blazers, you never hear Lillard ask the Blazers to do anything for him, he never designates a player for management to get him at all costs, the only "finger-pointing" to the management of the team is just a suggestion to get Kidd to the team as a head coach, and this season has also proved that Than Lups is too young as manager, Kidd led the Lone Rangers forward in a big stride.
Some fans advised Lillard to be tough, like Kobe Bryant, at least force the management, but Lillard did not do this, he respected all the decisions of the team. In the 2014-2015 season, the Blazers started five-man four-man departure, Aldridge joined the Spurs, Batum joined the Hornets, Matthews went to the Lone Ranger, Lopez also left the team, and only Lillard was alone. However, even under such circumstances, he still led the Blazers to the Western Conference Finals four years later, although it was still difficult to escape the doom, but this was already the limit of the Blazers' group.
The teammates around me changed piece by piece, but the Blazers 0 never changed owners. Some say the Trail Blazers give you a 4-year, $176 million contract, with a salary of close to $50 million, and you're certainly loyal. To know that this contract is not Lillard's initiative to ask, he first signed a 5-year 140 million contract, it was he who led the Blazers to the Western Conference Finals, the management took the initiative to ask him to jump out of the contract in advance to renew the contract, he never asked the management to give him how big a contract, if you ask Lillard to cut his salary, is it to force him to get no fame and profit? Lillard was not a saint, he had done a lot to practice the creed of loyalty! And he also played the data of matching contracts with high salaries, and if he also took the initiative to spoil it, it was also a good choice for the team to fight for some young blood. But as long as Lillard is on the court, he runs out of his own bullets, leads the playoffs every year, and has no potential for new stars to join, which is also a dead end for the Blazers.
Is it really worth it?
Not long ago, the Blazers did something that surprised the entire league team, they actually traded Powell and Covington to the clippers, potential opponents in the playoffs, and only got a premium contract and two players who couldn't play, everyone said that the Clippers were robbing, and the Blazers were crazy! Although the Trail Blazers have a poor record this season, this transaction should not be made.
In recent years, the operation of the Blazers management is almost zero, the team's annual reinforcement is really a handful, of course, Portland is a small ball city team after all, and the team's market value is only in the middle, but this is not a reason for the Blazers not to act. The Warriors can be willing to pay nearly 200 million luxury taxes, the Cleveland Cavaliers were also big taxpayers, can't the Blazers take advantage of Lillard's peak to fight? In the face of such management, we can't help but ask, is Lillard's perseverance really worth it? Loyalty regardless of pros and cons is foolishness, does Lillard not understand this?
The NBA in the current era is full of groups, and forcing palace transactions during the contract period has become the norm, just as Lillard said that the current NBA is becoming more and more absurd. The NBA has become such a league, and Lillard simply cannot be left alone, either eliminated by the times or followed the pace of the times. Now Lillard is also 30 years old, as a professional player, after the age of 30 is the time to go downhill, continue to aimlessly stick to it, can only make Lillard invisible. Loyalty presupposes that you have to have a good boss, and it's clear that the Trail Blazers aren't a team worth sticking with. At that time, Garnett made LeBron choose to leave the team, and now this sentence also applies to Lillard, "Don't let loyalty hurt you."
When everyone wants you to leave, there's really no need to stick here, when Garnett left the team, Timberwolves fans sent cheers to KG, if Lillard leaves Portland, he will still be the hero of the city here. Although it is a good story to say that one person and one city is a good story, but in the business league, loyalty is really a joke, the big dream is loyal enough, does not prevent him from being sent to the Raptors when he is old; Thomas Jr. is also loyal, and his sister dies and has to endure the playoffs, but it does not prevent him from being swept out; Wade is loyal enough, and the first person in team history is only worthy of signing a basic salary and a contract of 20 million a year. The lesson of blood is always in sight, and does Lillard want to be a weight for management like these predecessors? The strong should keep their fate firmly in their own hands, like LeBron, like Durant.
epilogue
You can choose to be alone in an absurd world, but have you ever thought about the price you will have to pay? Now that he knows that loyalty is his greatest weakness, why not make a change and firmly control his fate in his own hands. When you have no honor, no one cares whether you are a person and a city, the strong will be praised, and the weak can only be reduced to a laughing stock!