are we tanking or are we just really this bad?

[BassPlaya]

Now we're tanking

So Dame isn't playing?

 

[Mediocre Man]

17 blown double digit leads, and counting

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

17 blown double digit leads, and counting

That lies firmly on the coaching staff. If they can’t manage to keep big leads consistently, that is them. A few could be the other team going off but that many, that’s coaching.

In essence, we are doing nothing more than playing playground ball.

 

[Mediocre Man]

That lies firmly on the coaching staff. If they can’t manage to keep big leads consistently, that is them. A few could be the other team going off but that many, that’s coaching.

In essence, we are doing nothing more than playing playground ball.

That’s how I see it too

 

[Phatguysrule]

That lies firmly on the coaching staff. If they can’t manage to keep big leads consistently, that is them. A few could be the other team going off but that many, that’s coaching.

In essence, we are doing nothing more than playing playground ball.

Has to be. Nothing else makes sense.

If the roster just wasn't good enough they wouldn't get the large leads in the first place.

 

[STOMP]

curious what you guys think

same thing I thought in the offseason, not talented enough... they are this bad no matter who is coaching

STOMP

 

[Phatguysrule]

There's always an excuse.

There was always an excuse with Olshey, and there's always an excuse for Cronin.

When do the excuses run out?

Cronin said this team wasn't complete. It's a work in progress. That's not an excuse. It's where we're at.

But the talent has been good enough to lead by double digits in most games.

 

[andalusian]

Cronin said this team wasn't complete. It's a work in progress. That's not an excuse. It's where we're at.

But the talent has been good enough to lead by double digits in most games.

Part of it is because this team gets very young very fast when some of the players sit. But a big part of it is coaching

 

[wizenheimer]

There's always an excuse.

There was always an excuse with Olshey, and there's always an excuse for Cronin.

When do the excuses run out?

I'm not a Cronin apologist, but at least he has talked about the real issues with talent and size on the Blazers, and he's done so since he was hired (which makes his signing of Payton so suspect)

on the other hand Olshey always talked about how much talent he added every off-season. It was as predictable as the seasons. Turner was a "perfect fit"; Meyers had "all-star talent"; Gerald Henderson was a "6th man of the year talent" ; CJ was "elite talent"; Nic Stauskas was "like Kyle Korver"; Hezonja was immensely talented"...yes, he said all those things

 

[Ed O]

Cronin said this team wasn't complete. It's a work in progress. That's not an excuse. It's where we're at.

Why does anyone ever give that statement any value at all?

What GM of a lottery NBA team is going to say, "We're done. This was the plan. This is the team."? It's just ridiculous.

Even GOOD teams say, "We like our guys but we're always trying to get better."

I seriously am perplexed why anyone would think that that Cronin statement matters.

 

[Tince]

Why does anyone ever give that statement any value at all?

What GM of a lottery NBA team is going to say, "We're done. This was the plan. This is the team."? It's just ridiculous.

Even GOOD teams say, "We like our guys but we're always trying to get better."

I seriously am perplexed why anyone would think that that Cronin statement matters.

Agreed that him saying it doesn't mean the team is going to magically get great.

Having said that, our previous GM would have press conferences almost solely pointing out how our roster (which was very flawed) ranked 98th percentile in some metric for the last 20 games of the season, which seemed to be implying he thought he was rolling out a juggernaut. This did not give me hope Olshey was looking to make the bigger moves that would be required to have a contending team.

I certainly appreciate Cronin's more honest and candid approach. Do I think he'll be able to land the big talent required for us to compete? No.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Why does anyone ever give that statement any value at all?

What GM of a lottery NBA team is going to say, "We're done. This was the plan. This is the team."? It's just ridiculous.

Even GOOD teams say, "We like our guys but we're always trying to get better."

I seriously am perplexed why anyone would think that that Cronin statement matters.

Because everything he has done supports that statement. We are where he said we'd be. So it's kind of stupid to hold anything against him at this point.