How's everyone feel about Smokin' Joe Cronin now?

[Idog1976]

Everybody knew we were taking a hit for a Lillard trade but Joe addressed a position of need and did Dame a sold hooking him up with Giannis. Scoot is going to love Ayton. Already word is Boston, Philly, Nets, Clippers are interested in Jrue Holiday

Ooooh the Nets? Get dem young guns and picks!

 

[Whyachi]

This starting lineup (below) gave up 110 points/game on average in the first 20 games of 2021.


View attachment 57635

this team got so bad, Cronin said eff it and grenaded the sucker at the trade deadline, in arguably the biggest single team trade explosion in NBA history.

 

[Idog1976]

Still think he did Dame completely wrong, but with the Dame part of this saga over and done with, I'm moving on because rehashing it is pointless.

The Ayton part was good. First trade where you can argue he won value wise other than the JG trade that Dame made happen. Ayton trade gets a thumbs up despite my reservations.

As far as the Dame part of this trade, it hinges on the Jrue trade. Blazers should've gotten Beauchamp back, but whatever. Blazers need at least two first round picks for Jrue for it to be acceptable at all. Three for it to be better than an offer of Herro, two 1sts and swaps (which a lot of people said was horrible). Anything more than three firsts and it's pretty damn good.

I like that he's going the unprotected picks direction instead of OG.

He did Dame wrong? WTAF? Bro he sent him to Milwaukee to win a championship with Giannis and didn't bend to Riley/Goodwin. Man you got some just straight awful takes. Oh but I'm moving on now so no need to respond or rehash.

 

[Idog1976]

I'm starting to love Cronin to answer the original post's question. I am excited to see what we get from Jrue and I'm SUPER excited to see what Scoot, Sharpe and Ayton do together and to start the new era!

Gooooooo BLAZERS!

 

[blazerkor]

I don't see more runway with contracts like Grant's on the team. It's worse than anything that was on the Blazers' roster when Cronin took over and he's not younger than most (all?) of the guys Cronin traded away. Ayton is younger, for sure, but he makes more money and just got sent to us in a salary dump, essentially.

If we get assets of consequence for Grant: great. I don't know what team is going to be willing to give us anything and I find it just as likely we'll have to give up something to get out from under his contract. Guess we'll see, but right now I see it as a negative and the point of this thread was to ask peoples' opinions about how Cronin has done.

I think Jerami's contract is easily tradable between mid January and the deadline. There will be teams that need an impact player, a guy that can come in and start for them at either forward spot and those teams will have a draft pick, maybe even two. We will have featured Jerami heavily and I think offloading him won't only be easy, it will be profitable.

 

[Whyachi]

Jrue Holiday for Harden's expiring and 1 Philly first?

$$$ Jody cashing in on the Blazers tank $$$

 

[Whyachi]

You know that spouter Danny Marang ??
He was bragging about Cronin getting Giannis this summer. Hmmm... I wonder how the exact opposite happened and Bucks got Lillard ??
coincidence ?? or falsifying insider info ??

 

[Strenuus]

In a perfect world, but considering the market, I would grade according to what was available. Was there a trade in your opinion that was better that he failed to obtain?

There wasn't.

 

[Phatguysrule]

how the heck are the Blazers gonna squeeze Jrue Holiday into the rotation? I guess Blazer fans just need more patience until Cronin trades Holiday.

It doesn't matter. He won't be here long.

 

[Strenuus]

Still think he did Dame completely wrong, but with the Dame part of this saga over and done with, I'm moving on because rehashing it is pointless.

The Ayton part was good. First trade where you can argue he won value wise other than the JG trade that Dame made happen. Ayton trade gets a thumbs up despite my reservations.

As far as the Dame part of this trade, it hinges on the Jrue trade. Blazers should've gotten Beauchamp back, but whatever. Blazers need at least two first round picks for Jrue for it to be acceptable at all. Three for it to be better than an offer of Herro, two 1sts and swaps (which a lot of people said was horrible). Anything more than three firsts and it's pretty damn good.

I like that he's going the unprotected picks direction instead of OG.

Bruh how can he do dame completely wrong when he did the thing that we would want here. That 1/2 with Middleton is scary AF

And the best part, which you alluded to, is the picks after they are done.

It's a literal win win.

He did dame right, full stop.

 

[inconceivable]

Joe, what have you done?



Ant is the only remaining player Joe hasn't traded yet

 

[Samuel]

because if we only got, say, one first for Jrue and salary filler, it'd be two firsts and two swaps for Dame. Even Miami's "awful" package that included Herro and two 1sts is better than that, because Herro probably could've been flipped for another 1st.

herro would have probably been broken up and pieces sent to phoenix for ayton—I'm not sure what was left would have netted a lot or been worth as much as jrue.

 

[BonesJones]

He did Dame wrong? WTAF? Bro he sent him to Milwaukee to win a championship with Giannis and didn't bend to Riley/Goodwin. Man you got some just straight awful takes. Oh but I'm moving on now so no need to respond or rehash.

You still want to argue this? You have some awful takes too, from wanting to trade the farm for Ben Simmons to thinking the NBA is going to burn to the ground because of this Dame saga. Mine is based off what I've heard. You still want to scream at me and I want to move on. So lets move on.

 

[BonesJones]

herro would have probably been broken up and pieces sent to phoenix for ayton—I'm not sure what was left would have netted a lot or been worth as much as jrue.

Jrue is definitely worth more, just don't know if it's that much more to make a major difference between the packages.

 

[BonesJones]

Bruh how can he do dame completely wrong when he did the thing that we would want here. That 1/2 with Middleton is scary AF

And the best part, which you alluded to, is the picks after they are done.

It's a literal win win.

He did dame right, full stop.

He did what he thought was best for the team. That's it. Still think he did Dame wrong in the leadup. We disagree. Don't plan on arguing this anymore.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Anyone who thinks Blazers did Dame wrong after he got maxed out by Blazers more than he could have anywhere else… yeah, no.

Dame should’ve asked out prior to signing that deal if he wanted to do dick-ish things this off-season. I’d agree with his feelings if he’d have done it prior to signing that deal.

 

[kjironman1]

 

[ebott]

I'm OK with the moves he's made. You've gotta tear down the old building before you can build the new one. He's no worse than John Nash so he's not the worst GM we've ever had.

But all his blah blah blah about being committed to building around Dame and then doing the exact opposite in pretty much every move makes me think he's actually bad at his job. Either he really thought he could build a contender around Dame and meant what he said, in which case he's incompetent. Or he has been lying this whole time and has always wanted to rebuild.

 

[Pinwheel1]

It will be interesting to see if the article from Chris Haynes coming out today detailing the last few months (which he was promoting last night on NBA TV) will try to make Joe look bad. I think he used the word messy in describing the last few months. He essentially said Joe refused to take any of Miami's calls. That it was personal. My guess is that is an embellishment. (Maybe it happened once?)

 

[julius]

I think those (in media/etc) that keep saying that Miamis offer was better, were unknowingly or knowingly doing Dames dirty work.

Just because Dame wanted to go there, doesn't make their offer better. Especially if the Suns didn't want any part of the players from Miami, to help facilitate the Ayton trade.

Now if they *don't* trade Jrue, or the assets acquired for him are very bland, then there might be some issues there.

But I'd rather have Ayton and Jrue + a pick than Miamis offer and no Ayton.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Regardless of what we end up getting, jrue is more valuable than Herro, and in trading Dame for Jrue Joe increased the value and market demand for point guards right now.

Regardless of what happens, sending Dame to the Bucks is the better move.

It's just a better, smarter move, which maximizes the potential value we can get in return.

 

[Phatguysrule]

I'm OK with the moves he's made. You've gotta tear down the old building before you can build the new one. He's no worse than John Nash so he's not the worst GM we've ever had.

But all his blah blah blah about being committed to building around Dame and then doing the exact opposite in pretty much every move makes me think he's actually bad at his job. Either he really thought he could build a contender around Dame and meant what he said, in which case he's incompetent. Or he has been lying this whole time and has always wanted to rebuild.

He said he wanted to maximize the amount of talent on the team so we could be most competitive with Dame. He can't force teams to trade their players.

Scoot, Sharpe and Grant were the best talent that appeared to have been within Cronin's power to get. There was nothing better available for what we off loaded.

I'd include Hart as well if we could have kept him, but that was beyond Cronin's control.

It was a really tough job to improve the team Cronin took over. I don't see a path to anybody doing better.

 

[Idog1976]

You still want to argue this? You have some awful takes too, from wanting to trade the farm for Ben Simmons to thinking the NBA is going to burn to the ground because of this Dame saga. Mine is based off what I've heard. You still want to scream at me and I want to move on. So lets move on.

Good job digging up my takes from what a year plus ago? Also, if they had gone your route it would have screwed us and the NBA as I said. Reporting now shows Dame asked for Bucks and Brooklyn. My guy, you sound like a Heat fan, still in denial, take the L, or change your stance. Dame got paid, Dame's gonna get rings. Joe did as right by Dame as is humanly possible.

The only other reportage we have that's credible, was that Joe could have gotten OG for #3 plus Sharpe. I'm not aware of any other credible trades out there, ergo Joe didn't "do Dame wrong". Anything other than that, is as speculative as my take about what would have happened to the league if Joe had bent to Dame...like you seemed to want. Joe did right by Dame, and more importantly the team. Just not what some Podcaster wanted, or what he thinks happened based on supposed sauces.

 

[Idog1976]

Anyone who thinks Blazers did Dame wrong after he got maxed out by Blazers more than he could have anywhere else… yeah, no.

Dame should’ve asked out prior to signing that deal if he wanted to do dick-ish things this off-season. I’d agree with his feelings if he’d have done it prior to signing that deal.

BJ has terrible takes, and then when reportage comes out that Dame agreed to the Bucks trade, he "sticks with his guns". Pathetic.

 

[CJ_is_Gone]

It will be interesting to see if the article from Chris Haynes coming out today detailing the last few months (which he was promoting last night on NBA TV) will try to make Joe look bad. I think he used the word messy in describing the last few months. He essentially said Joe refused to take any of Miami's calls. That it was personal. My guess is that is an embellishment. (Maybe it happened once?)

I have no doubt it was personal.

I have strong suspicions that there was tampering going on & my guess is that the league was not willing to investigate at this point.

 

[julius]

Joe, what have you done?

View attachment 57636

Ant is the only remaining player Joe hasn't traded yet

Ooof, 11 of those players are scrubs. And of those 11, only Nassir has any kind of potential to be a role player. The rest were either washed up, never weres, or Damians cousin.

 

[ebott]

He said he wanted to maximize the amount of talent on the team so we could be most competitive with Dame. He can't force teams to trade their players.

Scoot, Sharpe and Grant were the best talent that appeared to have been within Cronin's power to get. There was nothing better available for what we off loaded.

I'd include Hart as well if we could have kept him, but that was beyond Cronin's control.

It was a really tough job to improve the team Cronin took over. I don't see a path to anybody doing better.

I'm hearing a lot of excuses. What I expected was results. We have no positive results. When someone doesn't do good, the opposite of that is bad. So Joe did bad.

 

[Natebishop3]

I'm hearing a lot of excuses. What I expected was results. We have no positive results. When someone doesn't do good, the opposite of that is bad. So Joe did bad.

What?

Shaedon is a positive result.

Scoot is a positive result.

Ayton is a positive result.

Thybulle is a positive result.

Grant is a positive result.

The unprotected pick and swaps from Milwaukee are a positive result.

Too early to tell on Murray or Rupert.

 

[Tince]

You know that spouter Danny Marang ??
He was bragging about Cronin getting Giannis this summer. Hmmm... I wonder how the exact opposite happened and Bucks got Lillard ??
coincidence ?? or falsifying insider info ??

Not a huge Marang guy, but I just did a Twitter search and nowhere do I see him saying Portland would be getting Giannis this summer. Can you point us to where he said such a thing?

 

[Natebishop3]

Not a huge Marang guy, but I just did a Twitter search and nowhere do I see him saying Portland would be getting Giannis this summer. Can you point us to where he said such a thing?

Marang is growing on me. He was literally the only non-Fentress reporter in Portland who was reporting things. Were those things true? They turned out to be true. Not sure if he's connected but all the other Portland media was just doing nothing. Sitting on their hands. Or... shilling for Dame.