When I first started to get into the NBA I considered myself a New York Knicks fan being that I live in New York it made the most sense. It was the Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith Knicks but like also Pablo Prigioni Knicks so it was a fun team. I naturally got NBA 2K12 as my first 2K and my MyCareer player was drafted to the Portland Trail Blazers. I fell in love with the team immediately. (I feel like that was the best 2K as far as MyCareer gameplay goes so like 2K get back on that.) Lamarcus Aldridge was and forever will be the Master of the Mid Range, that dudes jumper was automatic. But as I played with the team I started to just root for them in real life and the next season they drafted the franchise’s greatest player, Damian Lillard.

The 2012-2013 NBA season was where I really started to pay attention. It was fate with that being Dames rookie season. The number six pick out of Weber State and the dude goes on to win Rookie of the Year over the number one overall pick out of Kentucky, Anthony Davis who was the obvious favorite for the award. From the jump he exceeded expectations and that would be how his career would go on, constantly beating expectations. Like the first game of that ridiculous Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant season was a loss to Dame and the Blazers.

He quickly started to hit his big time buckets and the catchphrase Dame Time began. We all know the big shots against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets and he is bringing all that to the Milwaukee Bucks with him because he is still that guy. That picture above has meant so much to me as a Blazer fan because that was the starting lineup I loved so much and Dame is the last of them to go. Nic Batum, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez, and Aldridge is probably my favorite team they have rostered. It’s also most likely the best team they ever rostered. That team that Dame brought to the Western Conference Finals was just a testament to his ability to exceed expectations. (I love and still miss Moe Harkless.)

There’s not one Blazer fan that won’t be rooting for the Bucks this year, playing with Giannis Antetokounmpo is something I personally dreamed of for years for Dame. I was hoping it’d be in Portland but the Milwaukee front office does a much better job of adhering to it’s franchise players needs then Portland does. If Dame ever gets to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy that’ll be a day in which I can die happy. The Bucks were the best possible team Joe Cronin could have sent him to.

As for Mr. Cronin, he clearly went about the whole Dame situation wrong due to his inability to carry out his plan to build a competitive roster around Dame but what he has gotten in return has been nothing to be mad about. The new era in Portland is going to be so much fun with Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and the best player on the roster nobody discusses: Anfernee Simons. Simons got a big farewell in Dame’s Instagram post showing how much he took Simons under his wing. In the games without Dame the last two seasons it was Simons and Sharpe who stepped up and showed they have so much potential.

The team is so young and could honestly be a competitive team very quickly. The whole roster is aligned with the top prospects all 25 or under. Deandre Ayton may have some question marks coming out of Phoenix but he gets to come to Portland and just be himself without the pressure that comes with playing for a title contender. Scoot can even come off the bench with the starting lineup being Simons, Sharpe, Jerami Grant, Robert Williams, and Ayton. Giving Scoot some leeway before he has to be the star player of this team. He’s 19, Dame was 22 when he started every game of his rookie season. Let the kid get adjusted.

Chauncey Billups is going to be under my watchful eye because I am not 100% sold on his coaching acumen and we don’t want a poor coach to stunt the growth of this young roster. He has a lot of different possibilities with the roster because they are so young and don’t have the stereotypical lead guy besides Simons. Chauncey please do a good job.

I will miss Dame being a Blazer but this process as been easier due to the tank job we have done the past two seasons and him getting traded to a team like the Bucks. Seeing him get traded has been super tough considering everything he did for the organization and how he carried himself as being a Trail Blazer forever. No matter what though he will always be a Blazer and when he retires he’ll do it as a Blazer whether that be when it comes back for his final season or on a one-day contract. Go win it all Dame.