End of Season Presser Today (2 Viewers)

[Rastapopoulos]

That's exactly what someone who going to be fired WOULD say!!!

HE GONE!!

Yup. It's almost as certain as if the GM had come out and said "we have total confidence in our coach" or given him an extension the season before.

 

[Samuel]

way to take one for dundon, joey.

 

[Chris Craig]

 

[HansenYang]

GM doing his job & falling on the sword for the owner....

 

[Strenuus]

how do you know any of this?

I know that's his rep from the NHL team. But it's possible he bought the Blazers because of the rapid appreciation in value NBA teams have experienced lately. Maybe he's a basketball fan and wants to do everything you imagine he does. Or maybe, just maybe, after making his fortune in predatory sub-prime auto loans and then bailing on the company, he saw a big opportunity for rapid ROI on an NBA team and that's what he's working on while pinching every penny in sight

everything you say may be true. But considering Dundon's history I'd suggest some skepticism may be in order and blind faith is misplaced

Blazers fans had blind faith in the last 5 years of this shitty team. lol. I knew the truth in 2021 and was right every single year. So glad I didn't waste my time on such a sorry era of the Blazers.

 

[blazerfan11]

Ah, the "sucking up to Trump as a way to hold on to my job" strategy

 

[blazerkor]

Blazers fans had blind faith in the last 5 years of this shitty team. lol. I knew the truth in 2021 and was right every single year. So glad I didn't waste my time on such a sorry era of the Blazers.

You might be a more miserable fan than @AldoTrapani

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

All of you should listen to Joe Cronin's interview. Maybe some actual facts about the Dundon situation will knock some sense into some of you.
Dundon was willing to pay $20M in luxury tax fees to get a stud young player.

 

[Mediocre Man]

All of you should listen to Joe Cronin's interview. Maybe some actual facts about the Dundon situation will knock some sense into some of you.
Dundon was willing to pay $20M in luxury tax fees to get a stud young player.

Or, and hear me out, he’s being a good soldier

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Or, and hear me out, he’s being a good soldier

Listen to it and then judge it. I didn't get the "good soldier" vibe from his answers and the details he talked about.

 

[inconceivable]

Cronin Summary 4/30/2026

---

Big Picture​

Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin says the team made meaningful progress this season, showing growth despite injuries, but still has clear weaknesses to fix.

---

Key Takeaways​

1. Season Evaluation​

• Overall: encouraging but imperfect
• Strong development and playoff experience, but inconsistency hurt them
• Injuries actually helped evaluate players by forcing bigger roles and exposing ceilings

---

2. Biggest Team Needs​

• Shooting is the #1 issue
  
  • Poor spacing clogged the offense
  • Led to turnovers and inefficient scoring
• Need to upgrade overall talent, both:
  
  • Internally (young player development)
  • Externally (trades/free agency)

---

3. Roster Outlook​

• Optimism around young core (Scoot, Sharpe, others)
• Damian Lillard’s return = major boost
• Many players showed flashes of high upside, but:
  
  • Consistency is the biggest gap

---

4. Offseason Strategy​

• Open to:
  
  • “Big splash” moves (star acquisition)
  • OR smaller improvements
• Will NOT sacrifice long-term future for short-term gain
• Plan to be aggressive but disciplined

---

5. Coaching Situation​

• No final decision yet
• Interim coach (Tiago) is a candidate
• Running a wide search with no set timeline
• Refused to clarify Chauncey Billups’ status due to league restrictions

---

6. Ownership (Tom Dundon)​

• Highly involved, competitive, and engaged
• Wants:
  
  • Continuous improvement across all areas
  • Smart roster building
• Cronin strongly pushes back on “cheap owner” narrative:
  
  • Says Dundon is willing to spend big when it matters (even taking on large tax bills)

---

7. Young Player Development​

• Scoot Henderson:
  
  • Rough injury start but strong finish + playoff growth
• Shaedon Sharpe:
  
  • Took on bigger role early, later disrupted by injuries/rotation issues
• General theme:
  
  • Development is on track, but roles + health impacted consistency

---

8. Team Identity Issue​

• Core problem:
  
  • Inconsistent performance
  • Flashes of high-level play, but not sustained

---

9. Other Notes​

• Open to re-signing key players like Robert Williams
• Monitoring NBA rule changes (like anti-tanking)
• Some internal mistakes (like travel issues) were acknowledged and owned by Cronin

---

Bottom Line​

• The Blazers are on the right trajectory, but still incomplete
• Priority = shooting + consistency + talent upgrades
• They’re balancing:
  
  • Competing now
  • Not screwing up the future

---

 

[blazerkor]

Listen to it and then judge it. I didn't get the "good soldier" vibe from his answers and the details he talked about.

I agree, I don't think Dundon caved to pressure and that's why Caleb traveled with the team for game 5. I think Cronin's explanation makes sense.

 

[Hoopguru]

This new ownership group Rip City Rising knows the value of their investments go up when the team becomes a consistent winner/contender. Stand back and watch them acquire players and personnel to make it happen. Thats all they got to do, its not fucking rocket science. All department budgets should be performance based.

 

[SharpeScooterShooter]

You might be a more miserable fan than @AldoTrapani

Might?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

All of you should listen to Joe Cronin's interview. Maybe some actual facts about the Dundon situation will knock some sense into some of you.
Dundon was willing to pay $20M in luxury tax fees to get a stud young player.

Hmm. Why am I skeptical of an end-of-season presser by a GM under threat of being canned as a good source of "actual facts"?

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Hmm. Why am I skeptical of an end-of-season presser by a GM under threat of being canned as a good source of "actual facts"?

You are skeptical of absolutely everything so you should just not waste your time and continue believing the clickbait media.

 

[THE HCP]

All department budgets should be performance based.

Boy are you in for a surprise.

 

[barfo]

Dundon was willing to pay $20M in luxury tax fees to get a stud young player.

That's clearly not true. The blazers never even talked to my agent.

barfo

 

[KingSpeed]

I look forward to seeing Dame back but I can’t help but feel we should be starting Scoot and Sharpe all 82 next year. It’s the only way we can figure out what we have in them. We’re wasting time and holding them back so we might as well trade them for Giannis.

 

[kjironman1]

I look forward to seeing Dame back but I can’t help but feel we should be starting Scoot and Sharpe all 82 next year. It’s the only way we can figure out what we have in them. We’re wasting time and holding them back so we might as well trade them for Giannis.

Going back to a three guard lineup doesn’t sound promising.

 

[inconceivable]

Going back to a three guard lineup doesn’t sound promising.

At least one of Jrue Scoot Shae will be traded this summer

 

[kjironman1]

At least one of Jrue Scoot Shae will be traded this summer

Sure seems like it but remember. All year this year at least two of them were injured.
Doesn’t hurt to have some depth.

 

[Chris Craig]

Probably going to let Wesley go and sign Love.

 

[blazerfan11]

Sure seems like it but remember. All year this year at least two of them were injured.
Doesn’t hurt to have some depth.

Oklahoma City has SGA, Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and they traded for Jared McCain mid-season.
They also have Nikola Topic, who didn't play much.

After this past season, I scratch my head at people wanting to trade away point guards and replace them with fringe NBA players like Caleb Love.

Yes, it would be great for Scoot to play a lot of games and a lot of minutes, but he played 30 games during the regular season of 2025-26.

His average over 3 seasons is 52 games.

 

[inconceivable]

Or, and hear me out, he’s being a good soldier

talk is cheap. Though I wonder which team will save cap space, cost dumdum tax and get us good young talent. Who do you think is this? Giannis is not young, nor is Booker, nor is Kawhi, nor is Durant. Hmmm

 

[Mediocre Man]

Listen to it and then judge it. I didn't get the "good soldier" vibe from his answers and the details he talked about.

In all seriousness, DumDum doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks of him, so the fact the 2 way guys were on the second trip makes me believe what Cronin said was true

 

[Mediocre Man]

talk is cheap. Though I wonder which team will save cap space, cost dumdum tax and get us good young talent. Who do you think is this? Giannis is not young, nor is Booker, nor is Kawhi, nor is Durant. Hmmm

I have a gut feeling it was Zion Williamson, but that’s just a guess. And I think it didn’t happen because the asking price included Deni

 

[sheed30]

the blazers need to decide what the opportunity cost for their starting shooting guard position/that shaedon salary slot is.

oddly enough, shaedon is in a very similar position to deni avdija when he was traded from washington. in other words, the types of guys the blazers should be targeting (young players with unrealized upside on other teams) happen to precisely play for their own team (scoot/shaedon).

This right here. Sharpe is also only 22.

Yes im not against trading him for the right pieces back but im not down on him that others are and while his 1 on 1 defense still needs lots of work he did get a lot better at steals this year

 

[sheed30]

You might be a more miserable fan than @AldoTrapani

He’s a bigger troll lol.

 

[sheed30]

Like you couldn't fly them out the next day and correct your mistake? They were there for 4 days.

Didn’t he say they brought them out for the last game in San Antonio?