Half of the forum would have accepted the deal if Jaquez was in it. Everybody knew he was ready for play.
I guess it was the silent half because the way I remember it JJjr was not a priority for most in this forum. A few thought he sucked.
Not to be That Guy, but how do you know? It was never revealed by either side exactly what the Heat's offer was. All we got was media speculation.
Yeah, for the most part my conclusion stems from what we heard across the wire. We were hearing players and picks rumored to be in the proposed deal, and Jaquez's name was never included. Miami had a good amount of time before we walked away and started talking to Milwaukee. They never as reported put their best foot forward. They were trying to get Dame for nothing. If they would have put their best offer forward without playing games, including Jaquez, Portland likely would have taken it. They didn't though. They thought they forced our hand with the public announcement of Dame only wanting to go there. Cronin waited and thank goodness he did.
Is that supposed to undermine my point? I was pretty sure that the Heat DIDN'T want to trade Jaquez, but as I said, we didn't know. All that everyone seemed sure of was that Herro was part of the deal.
Again, speculation. Their offer never looked good at the time: Jaquez was unproven and Herro was a tarnished asset. It's only now that Timelord looks possibly broken beyond repair and Brunson even more fragile than we thought, and Jaquez has kicked ass throughout the season and Herro suddenly looks amazing in the playoffs that the Heat's offer looks a lot better. Actually I think our BEST move would have been to hang on to Jrue Holiday. He was the best asset (other than Dame, and possibly not even him) in the whole deal. But he probably made it clear he was never going to set foot in Portland and that spooked Cronin.
Just the way I remember it … Miami overplayed their hand, the media facilitated the forgone conclusion of players getting what they want or — or oh no! Portland won’t be a free agent destination if they don’t cut the deal (wow! How dumb given the common assertion that Portland is not a free agent destination!) … Being reasonable was what Portland was supposed to do — and only Portland. Herro isn’t trash and neither is Ant, and I want Ant traded for best return before he starts talking about a raise. All we had on the young guys from Miami was a big maybe. Maybe one. Trade Hero. Lowry as obvious filler, smile and like it. Oh, and maybe get an unproven young guy FOR a superstar on the wrong side of 30 and getting BIG $$$. I have ZERO issues with what Cronin got in trade. He treated Dame as good as it gets while still remembering who he works for. He treated Jrue really well — which was appreciated and documented. And Miami and their fans and their media friends moved on. Cronin won for the Blazers and showed he can get the deal done with no leaks or b.s. We’ll see what happens this summer.
I noticed Barry Jackson having a meltdown on Twitter over Dame not getting traded to the Heat (yes, after the whole season) and Cronin getting more votes for Exec of the Year than Pat Riley. Then I noticed Aaron Fentress tweeted something four days ago to suggest the Heat offered the better deal ... and it only had 405 views and zero engagements.
Miami fans are like, ‘Fuck Herro’ but also ‘Fuck Portland for not trading Dame for bad picks and whatever Herro would have netted on the open market.’ interesting.
