Well, yep, this sounds like a divorce to me (and we're the kids in this metaphor, I suppose). Clearly there is resentment and hurt feelings on both sides, and it is obvious that both sides haven't demonstrated their best selves at several points throughout this process. Assuming this is a relatively accurate picture painted in the Haynes article (big assumption, we are only hearing one side), I wish Joe could have, at the very least, handled the last month better in terms of his personal interactions with Dame around the Blazers PF and organization. That said, I also believe that the Joe was probably accurate in saying there was no way to come back. After the events of July and August, this relationship was clearly fractured and any return would feel like an ill-fitting bandaid on an expanding wound that would have continued to fester.
While I understand it is human nature to want to find the responsible sources of discontent in these scenarios (who is to blame?!), but I am just not interested in that. Sometimes a relationship has just run its course (and perhaps we even hit that point a couple of years ago). So I will continue to wish Dame the best and cheer him on to win the big one in Milwaukee, and continue to support Cronin and the Blazers administration's efforts to improve the future of the roster. Obviously, both can be true, and we don't need to find the villain... well except, Miami... fuck Miami.
