THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Lillard wanted to remain a Blazer — until he didn't

As the Aussies would say …

“G’Day.”

I like that greeting, kind of an all-purpose salutation.

Best of all, it requires no response.

When I lived in Scotland, folks on the street would say …

“Fit like?” (How are you?)

The general answer was: “Nae bad.” (Not bad.)

But of course, if you’d just been in a car accident, that reply wasn’t exactly enough.

OK, so enough with handshakes and top o’ the morning …

Let’s get on to our subject of the day.

Our task here on July Fifth is to answer two questions.

The first, and most important: Did you get through the Fourth without injury or other mishap?

No exploding device went off prematurely, like, in your arms?

My dad once lit off a Roman candle at a neighborhood party, and the blazing object landed square in the middle of our roof.

The local fire department was summoned, of course, and my folks (and their friends) had to endure a lecture that I’m pretty sure left them embarrassed.

But …

They were also damn lucky.

NOW, IF you had a safe and sane Fourth, then good for all of us.

So …

Let’s get to the sports business here.

Our issue concerns Portland icon Damian Lillard, and how folks in the Northwest — heck, basketball fans everywhere — feel about his request for a trade.

You can argue either side of this thing, and make a pretty good point.

Lillard has played 11 years for the Blazers on his way to the Hall of Fame, and he’s made it to the Western Conference finals exactly once.

To the championship series …

Never.

Last season, when it became obvious Portland couldn’t even reach the play-in tournament that involves almost the entire NBA, general manager Joe Cronin asked Dame to sit out the last 10 games to give the Blazers a better spot in the draft lottery.

Lillard did as requested, taking his 32.2 points and 7.8 assists per game to the bench.

Portland predictably went 1-9, finishing 33-49 overall and grabbing the No. 3 spot in the draft.

Dame believed that the Blazers planned to build a contending team around him, and that high draft pick gave them some serious ammo.

Instead of trading for some battle-tested talent, though, Cronin chose rookie guard Scoot Henderson from the G-League Elite — essentially, Lillard’s eventual replacement.

The move did not go over well with Portland’s only star.

So …

When the NBA’s free agency period opened on Monday, Dame publicly asked to be traded — and specifically, he wanted Portland to make a deal with Miami.

YES, IT was a shock to Blazers fans.

Quite simply, they didn’t know HOW to react.

On the one hand, Lillard not only had been a fabulous servant of the franchise (career average of 25.2), but he was deeply involved in every part of the Portland community.

It’s almost impossible to be more popular than Dame Lillard in the Rose City.

Looking at it THAT way, you could say that Dame (now 32) had earned the right to play for a contender and get a shot at his only title.

However …

Just a year earlier, Lillard had signed a two-year extension to his already handsome contract, giving him $48 million this season and eventually landing at $63 million per season.

Money is one thing, since they throw it around like confetti in the NBA, but when he signed the extension, Dame went out of his way to pledge his career to Portland.

“I don’t think that you earn something like this just by going out there and scoring a bunch of points,” Lillard said.

“Something that’s missing in our league is character, and the fight and the passion and pride about, you know, not just the name on the back, but the name on the front.”

Despite the love Oregonians have for Lillard, his sudden change from Mr. Portland to “point-guard-for-hire” came as a shock, and you could hardly blame longtime fans for feeling they’d been hit with hypocrisy.

Whether or not Lillard gets his move to Miami (Boston is also trying to work a deal) isn’t the issue here.

It’s more about loyalty versus business — especially when, to paraphrase Dame himself — he’s had loyalty on the back of his jersey for 11 years.

So, let me ask: Where do you land on Dame Lillard’s request for a move?

It’s a hell of a question.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The

Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through

Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a

Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”