Cronin media press conference

[HailBlazers]

Joe is great at saying nothing.

These reporters are great at asking nothing.

 

[RR7]

Basically my concern of Joe and the Clippers trade is confirmed.

"We had teams using leverage that we are in the luxury tax against us in trades" "The clippers trade removed that leverage"

Just shows he either had no ability to project simple options in the trade deadline, panicked in negotiations, or ownership was so hell bent on getting out of the tax at all costs immediately all other improvements took a back seat to Jody's checkbook.

Or, new Orleans was offering less because they knew that deal was getting us out of the tax. Getting out beforehand removed that leverage.

 

[Predator]

Lets see what they say in July when we've drafted some young guys and struck out on the mediocre free agent class.

"we have cap room, trade exceptions, and other tools to improve this roster up to the trade deadline"

I love to hate on Cronin as much as the next guy, but it seems like his focus is on unbalanced trades rather than free agent talent acquisition. I’ll give him that.

 

[B-Roy]

Chauncey: 'There were more issues than just Dame/CJ being a defensive issue. It was more issues than that. It was a great offensive unit, but it wasn't enough defensive players. It wasn't just Dame and CJ. I really challenge Ant as a young player from a defensive standpoint. I hope there are other things we do to protect everybody so we have a good team defensive unit. There are only a very few 1-on-1 lock down individual defenders. It is more about the team.'

That is a far cry from what he said at the beginning of the season.

 

[Cugel]

next season will be painful. I think they should immediately pull the plug on Nurk to avoid any injuries. There is no reason for him to play.

 

[Scalma]

Hahahahaha keep crying, that’s my GM.

 

[Scalma]

Btw my favorite part of the presser was Cronin politely putting Quick in check after his slick little free agency question. Stick to writing melodrama sir, it’s the only thing you’re good at.

 

[MickZagger]

Cronin: 'We need the players to be high end talent and to be sustainable, not just a 2-year window. Right now, we have flexibility to develop and compete at the same time.'

Well Lillard’s a 2 year window, so…

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Or, new Orleans was offering less because they knew that deal was getting us out of the tax. Getting out beforehand removed that leverage.

How much less could they have offered? A 2027 first instead of Milwaukee's 2025?

 

[Mediocre Man]

I still don’t get the Joe hate. This team needed a reset and he did that. Not his fault that Olshey waited too long to do this and lost value

 

[maxiep]

Chauncey: 'I love to teach and compete. I remember when I was young, not really feeling the love. I didn't want that to be the case for these young players. Now they are getting an opportunity to play and play with confidence like they did before they got here. Our staff is really strong in building that empowerment.'

If that's what he loves, he should coach a G-League team. Oh, s***...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

The best thing about this Blazer press conference broadcast is that we don't have that @THE HCP dude doing replays.

 

[maxiep]

Cronin: 'We've created this flexibility, but we may need multiple off-seasons to get it all accomplished. This was a large step in that direction. The bulk of the work still remains. The hard part begins here. We did make a lot of calls (big game hunting) and we will revisit the effort in the summer.'

So, Dame has to be gone. By the time we build the pieces around him, physically he's going to look like a shorter version of Boban.

 

[Mr. Robot]

next season will be painful. I think they should immediately pull the plug on Nurk to avoid any injuries. There is no reason for him to play.

im sure hed be fine with that, as long as he gets his contract sorted out

 

[maxiep]

Of course. As I said, they have a plan and it will either work or not, but I did not expect it to be fixed immediatly. We all know the roster issues were built over multiple years, it is not going to be resolved in 2 months of Joe Cronin being a GM.

He even acknowledge that by saying "the hard part starts here" and something like "it's much easier to tear down than build up".

Yes. When you tear down by giving items of value away for free, it is easy to tear down.

He has shown me he doesn't have what it takes to build back up.

 

[blazerkor]

I still don’t get the Joe hate. This team needed a reset and he did that. Not his fault that Olshey waited too long to do this and lost value

The problem really is that he made that first trade so early. Just now he said that it was the best offer on the table but he didn't play the situation out. I know he said that being in the tax gave other teams leverage but I just don't believe that was the best offer he would have ended up with should he have waited. I can't be certain of that but because he pulled the trigger so quickly he can't possibly be either.

The reason why that's so important is because he is up there talking about unbalanced trades as the best way to use our cap space but we have to have assets to make those trades work and he very obviously left assets on the table by making that move so quickly.

 

[Mr. Robot]

was joe cronin asked about nurk

 

[Phatguysrule]

The problem really is that he made that first trade so early. Just now he said that it was the best offer on the table but he didn't play the situation out. I know he said that being in the tax gave other teams leverage but I just don't believe that was the best offer he would have ended up with should he have waited. I can't be certain of that but because he pulled the trigger so quickly he can't possibly be either.

The reason why that's so important is because he is up there talking about unbalanced trades as the best way to use our cap space but we have to have assets to make those trades work and he very obviously left assets on the table by making that move so quickly.

You usually don't get great deals when negotiating from a position of great need. Doing the deal early removed that obstacle.

Makes sense to me.

 

[MickZagger]

Btw my favorite part of the presser was Cronin politely putting Quick in check after his slick little free agency question. Stick to writing melodrama sir, it’s the only thing you’re good at.

Lol boo hoo he asked a legit question

 

[BonesJones]

Joe Cronin's Press Conference Recap:
- Eric Bledsoe is a quality veteran
- Didi Louzada is a good young player
- The Norm/RoCo trade was the "best deal we could get" despite it being 6 days before the deadline and multiple GMs calling bullshit
- Apparently did the RoCo/Norm trade so that the Blazers being in the luxury tax couldn't be leveraged against them when he had a C.J. trade lined up that would've taken them out of the luxury tax
- Possibly got less value for CJ to just make him happy
- Values Joe Ingles bird rights even though he looked washed before a season ending knee injury and doesn't want to be here, while also having a $20M cap hold for those bird rights.
- Doesn't have a timeline for his own plan
- Talked up our ability to recruit free agents when we're Portland and it's a terrible free agent class.
- Overvalues Keon Johnson, a 6'3 guard with a standing reach over 5 inches shorter than Norman Powell's
- Talks about pushing Portland's trade chips all-in when Portland's ONLY legitimate trade chips are their 1st this year and a pick from New Orleans that could potentially wind up being Milwaukee's 2025 1st round pick (not good)...

Impressive work. Olshey would be proud.

 

[BonesJones]

You usually don't get great deals when negotiating from a position of great need. Doing the deal early removed that obstacle.

Makes sense to me.

... We ducked the tax with the C.J. trade... Dude should've done that first.

 

[Phatguysrule]

... We ducked the tax with the C.J. trade... Dude should've done that first.

I imagine he would have if that were an option. He was trying to get that done the following day, and it didn't happen even then, until the following morning. Perhaps that was part of the holdup on the CJ trade?

 

[Graduate32]

Joe Cronin's Press Conference Recap:
- Eric Bledsoe is a quality veteran
- Didi Louzada is a good young player
- The Norm/RoCo trade was the "best deal we could get" despite it being 6 days before the deadline and multiple GMs calling bullshit
- Possibly got less value for CJ to just make him happy
- Values Joe Ingles bird rights even though he looked washed before a season ending knee injury and doesn't want to be here, while also having a $20M cap hold for those bird rights.
- Doesn't have a timeline for his own plan
- Talked up our ability to recruit free agents when we're Portland and it's a terrible free agent class.
- Overvalues Keon Johnson, a 6'3 guard with a standing reach over 5 inches shorter than Norman Powell's
- Talks about pushing Portland's trade chips all-in when Portland's ONLY legitimate trade chips are their 1st this year and a pick from New Orleans that could potentially wind up being Milwaukee's 2025 1st round pick (not good)...

Impressive work. Olshey would be proud.

Wow... What a non-biased recap.

 

[Idog1976]

This should be fun.

'We tried to make additional deals, but when we weren't giving good players away for almost nothing, we weren't able to pull anything off. It takes two.'

"We were able to accomplish all of our goals in those three transactions.".

What goals? Making the Clippers better and getting pennies on the dollar in a fire sale? Also why was almost every guy we got of note in the 6'5" range?

 

[BonesJones]

I'm sure he would have if that were an option. He was trying to get that done the following day, and it didn't happen even then, until the following morning. Perhaps that was part of the holdup on the CJ trade?

If you have a ton of options to duck the tax and can't handle a GM trying to leverage against you with you being in the tax as a seller is the sign of someone that has no idea how to negotiate properly.

We had the commodity that teams wanted. Traded said commodity to any number of teams would likely be in a trade to duck the tax. There's no way that should've been leveraged against him. The fact that he says it was is damning evidence that this dude doesn't have what it takes to be a good GM.

 

[BonesJones]

Wow... What a non-biased recap.

Lots of facts in that post you quoted. Do you want to argue the facts, or my interpretation of them?

 

[maxiep]

LOL @ the excuse of being held hostage by other GM's because we were over the luxury tax. Here's how to counter it, "I'm going to make this other deal to get under it. If you don't want to meet my price, someone else will."

He reminds me of the guy who walks onto a used car lot and pays sticker price.

 

[Graduate32]

Lots of facts in that post you quoted. Do you want to argue the facts, or my interpretation of them?

Yes, this clearly is a non-biased fact: "- Talks about pushing Portland's trade chips all-in when Portland's ONLY legitimate trade chips are their 1st this year and a pick from New Orleans that could potentially wind up being Milwaukee's 2025 1st round pick (not good)..."

 

[BonesJones]

Yes, this clearly is a non-biased fact: "- Talks about pushing Portland's trade chips all-in when Portland's ONLY legitimate trade chips are their 1st this year and a pick from New Orleans that could potentially wind up being Milwaukee's 2025 1st round pick (not good)..."

What other legitimate trade chips do they have to swing a deal for something meaningful?

 

[maxiep]

"We were able to accomplish all of our goals in those three transactions.".

What goals? Making the Clippers better and getting pennies on the dollar in a fire sale? Also why was almost every guy we got of note in the 6'5" range?

It's clear the only goal was to get under the tax. These transactions weren't about present or future talent, but about maximizing value. The team will be sold and that ownership group will make the decision on Dame. His marketability is the only reason he isn't gone for a bag of chips.

 

[andalusian]

Yes. When you tear down by giving items of value away for free, it is easy to tear down.

He has shown me he doesn't have what it takes to build back up.

We are remodeling our main bathroom now. I can assure you I have no idea how to determine if a builder is capable or not after the demo - only after he had time to build.

If you are capable of than that, you are better than me. Congrats.