Markelle Fultz Says This Is the Best He’s Felt In the NBA

Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers had a meeting to discuss their future on Monday and he came away with the meeting remaining patient to see what moves they make during the free agency period.

“This was the meeting a lot of the league was watching to see if Damian Lillard requested a trade,” said Brian Windhorst on Get Up Tuesday morning. “And he absolutely did not. From what I understand, the tenor of the meeting was that he doesn’t want to pressure on the Blazers. He wants to see what they do in free agency. He’s going to give them that time do that. This is an interesting strategy move.

“He said at the end of the season ‘Get me veterans.’

“The draft came and went and no veterans. He’s still not pressing from what I’ve been told. He’s still going to give the Blazers every opportunity to work through this free agency process this week whether it’s through trades or signing players.

“I will tell you that this is going to potentially cause some teams that were going to make offers for him to have move on with business. They were waiting to see whether Dame Lillard was going to be on the market before they started to make moves this week. Now, some teams are going to have to make a decision either go forward or wait around. Lillard is going to wait around.

“It’s certainly a move. I guess not surprising considering the way Dame has operated with the Blazers now for years. It did take some people in the league by surprise that he didn’t go forward with what everyone was expected him to do.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo was introspective following the Milwaukee Bucks season coming to an end in five games against the Miami Heat. Asked what happened to cause his Bucks to fall to the Heat in the first round, Antetokounmpo was candid in his response.

“They were playing to beat us and we were playing to win a championship”, Antetokounmpo said. “We were a little bit ahead of ourselves, to be honest.”

Antetokounmpo went on to say he doesn’t consider the season to be a failure.

“It’s not a failure,” he said. “It’s steps towards success. There’s always steps to it. Michael Jordan played 15 years. He won six championships. The other nine years, he was a failure? (No.) So why do you ask me that question? It’s the wrong question.

“There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re able to be successful. Some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn. Some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You don’t always win. Some other people are going to win. And this year, somebody else is going to win. Simple as that.

“We’re going to come back next year, try to be better, try to build good habits, try to play better. Not have a 10-day stretch of playing bad basketball. And hopefully we can win a championship. So, for 50 years, from 1971 until we won in 2021, that we didn’t win a championship, it was 50 years of failure? No, it was not. There was steps to it. And we were able to win one. Hopefully we can win another one.”