Exclusive Is Joe Cronin a good GM?

[THE HCP]

Well he just traded for an injured guy so that is not a great sign.

Is the new guy injured? Hadn’t seen that. I also want’ looking, but I guess we shipped out an injured guy, so that’s fair.

 

[Ed O]

He's good at overpaying for a mediocre team. He's good at acquiring castoffs from other teams that have good size as wings but can't shoot straight. He's good at getting a bargain deal on Avdija. He's good at not ever really starting a rebuild. He's good at giving away second rounders. He's good at drafting young centers in back-to-back first rounds.

But, no. He's a lousy GM and I hope that the new owner finally tears down this ridiculous, half-assed approach at winning and focuses less on winning PR battles while finally going about the business of building a young team with cap flexibility that acquires assets while taking its lumps and working its way towards a good team rather than the garbage Cronin has put on the court year after year.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

He's good at overpaying for a mediocre team. He's good at acquiring castoffs from other teams that have good size as wings but can't shoot straight. He's good at getting a bargain deal on Avdija. He's good at not ever really starting a rebuild. He's good at giving away second rounders. He's good at drafting young centers in back-to-back first rounds.

But, no. He's a lousy GM and I hope that the new owner finally tears down this ridiculous, half-assed approach at winning and focuses less on winning PR battles while finally going about the business of building a young team with cap flexibility that acquires assets while taking its lumps and working its way towards a good team rather than the garbage Cronin has put on the court year after year.

How confident are you that Cronin was the primary person responsible for many of these bad decisions and not primarily Vulcan/Kolde/etc? Supposedly Kolde had weekly meetings with Cronin and Billups.

I do think Cronin did great with the Dame and Deni trades.

But overpaying and forming starting groups around all the totally irrelevant vets (Ant, Nurk, Ayton, Timelord, Thybulle, Grant, GPII, etc) are huge negatives which has made this rebuild drag on far too long.

This team has sucked so much and tanked since he got the job, so while its nice we've added some - lottery picks I don't know thats really a strength of a GM to be able to have repeatedly construct a team that can lose a lot.

Still think he's not a horrible GM like John Nash or Sacramento ownership, etc. Thats a very low bar though.

 

[THE HCP]

If you are in the NO camp, what would it take for you to switch? I think considering the situation he was handed, he has done a damn good job.

 

[Cugel]

If you are in the NO camp, what would it take for you to switch? I think considering the situation he was handed, he has done a damn good job.

The Yang pick just seemed like a really really bad move. This team has only one player that is "star" caliber. POR cant afford to make a cute draft pick like Yang. Sure they get a 2028 pick from ORL, but that aint gonna be a lotto pick.

 

[andalusian]

The Yang pick just seemed like a really really bad move. This team has only one player that is "star" caliber. POR cant afford to make a cute draft pick like Yang. Sure they get a 2028 pick from ORL, but that aint gonna be a lotto pick.

Portland has exactly one star player and several maybes, which is exactly why you need to take a swing at 11 for someone you believe might be a star someday.

That’s exactly why they made this pick, it might fail because the draft in the late lottery is far from a sure thing, but the reason they made it is the exact reason you claimed they shouldn’t.

 

[THE HCP]

He move on up in my rankings if he can get Sabonis!!!!

 

[andalusian]

He move on up in my rankings if he can get Sabonis!!!!

He didn’t come for the ‘99 team reunion?

 

[Cugel]

Portland has exactly one star player and several maybes, which is exactly why you need to take a swing at 11 for someone you believe might be a star someday.

That’s exactly why they made this pick, it might fail because the draft in the late lottery is far from a sure thing, but the reason they made it is the exact reason you claimed they shouldn’t.

Coward has potential star material and so does Queen, IMHO. Both good rookies. Not MVP types but really really good. I would imagine either would be far far far far better than Yang ever will be

 

[wizenheimer]

Portland has exactly one star player and several maybes, which is exactly why you need to take a swing at 11 for someone you believe might be a star someday.

That’s exactly why they made this pick, it might fail because the draft in the late lottery is far from a sure thing, but the reason they made it is the exact reason you claimed they shouldn’t.

but....Blazers could have had the Pels 2026 first if the goal was to find a star player. A batter doesn't get credit for a home run swing when he swings at a fastball that bounces off the dirt 7 feet in front of the plate

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Coward has potential star material and so does Queen, IMHO. Both good rookies. Not MVP types but really really good. I would imagine either would be far far far far better than Yang ever will be

I gotta admit, both Coward and Queen's production has fallen off, pretty normal for rookies. We'll see if they revert back to the mean. The right move would have been to take Queen and trade him to the Pels for next year's unprotected pick.

 

[andalusian]

but....Blazers could have had the Pels 2026 first if the goal was to find a star player. A batter doesn't get credit for a home run swing when he swings at a fastball that bounces off the dirt 7 feet in front of the plate

But effin idea what these words with baseball in them mean. The identified a potential star where they were able to draft him and it either works or not. The idea is sound and making what ifs for future picks and what they mean is worthless to me, if if it. They had a path that they believed was worth a gamble and they went for it, that's what you expect a team in Portland's situation to do. Later, you will find if it worked or not, but the gamble was the right thing to do if they believed in the prospect

 

[Irish Trader]

• Target Close Date: March 31, 2026, was identified as the target date for the finalization of the sale of the blazers. Only 5 games left in the season if the sale goes thru on that date. Our near term moves to me seem to be very slim.

 

[wizenheimer]

But effin idea what these words with baseball in them mean. The identified a potential star where they were able to draft him and it either works or not. The idea is sound and making what ifs for future picks and what they mean is worthless to me, if if it. They had a path that they believed was worth a gamble and they went for it, that's what you expect a team in Portland's situation to do. Later, you will find if it worked or not, but the gamble was the right thing to do if they believed in the prospect

Pretty clearly Cronin believed in Yang to such an extent he preferred Yang + the Orlando pick over the 23rd pick + the Pels 2026 first. Some GM believed Kwame Brown was a future star; Cleveland's GM believed was a future star. Olshey believed Zach was a future star; The Kings GM believed TRob had more upside than Dame. But by your logic all those decisions were the right decisions because all that counts is intention before the choice, not the result afterwards

 

[andalusian]

Pretty clearly Cronin believed in Yang to such an extent he preferred Yang + the Orlando pick over the 23rd pick + the Pels 2026 first. Some GM believed Kwame Brown was a future star; Cleveland's GM believed was a future star. Olshey believed Zach was a future star; The Kings GM believed TRob had more upside than Dame. But by your logic all those decisions were the right decisions because all that counts is intention before the choice, not the result afterwards

My argument was not that this was the right decision, my answer to the post I answered was that it is exactly the kind of big swing a team like Portland needs to do. The book is still open on how right or wrong it was, but the kind of move made was right, it was not a "cute" idea as implied in the post I replied to.

 

[Irish Trader]

Don’t forget Billiups was under Cronins watch. Asleep at the wheel on that one. Very bad continuity move first thing in the season.

 

[wizenheimer]

My argument was not that this was the right decision, my answer to the post I answered was that it is exactly the kind of big swing a team like Portland needs to do. The book is still open on how right or wrong it was, but the kind of move made was right, it was not a "cute" idea as implied in the post I replied to.

ok...got it

I was pointing out there was a bigger swing to be had. My thinking is that Cronin/Schmitz outsmarted themselves into thinking Yang was a lot more valuable than he truly is, and will be

 

[andalusian]

ok...got it

I was pointing out there was a bigger swing to be had. My thinking is that Cronin/Schmitz outsmarted themselves into thinking Yang was a lot more valuable than he truly is, and will be

That may be so, maybe they were mistaken in their evaluation or maybe they would be proven right. That's the execution part they will be judged on.

Swinging for the fences (another baseball reference, I think) was the right thing to do, I think.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Yes, I think Joe Cronin is a good GM.

 

[HailBlazers]

The fact that Yang was partly a business decision cannot be undersold.

 

[Irish Trader]

My prediction is Joe will be gone before the start of the next season. New owners will eat whatever contractual obligations to bring in their own man.

 

[kjironman1]

My prediction is Joe will be gone before the start of the next season. New owners will eat whatever contractual obligations to bring in their own man.

Yep.
Probably Coach as well as soon as GM is gone.

 

[blazerkor]

Yep.
Probably Coach as well as soon as GM is gone.

As Blazers Broadcasting lets us know a few times every game, Tiago is only acting head coach. So the only head coach the team has to get rid of is Chauncey who is currently suspened by the league indefinitely.

 

[Chris Craig]

As Blazers Broadcasting lets us know a few times every game, Tiago is only acting head coach. So the only head coach the team has to get rid of is Chauncey who is currently suspened by the league indefinitely.

I was hoping Billups would resign after he put his house up for sale awhile back.

 

[blazerkor]

I was hoping Billups would resign after he put his house up for sale awhile back.

Yeah, I was more saying that Dundon will only have to worry about buying out Cronin if he wants all new basketball ops because we don't currently have a contracted head coach to worry about.

 

[THE HCP]

Don’t forget Billiups was under Cronins watch. Asleep at the wheel on that one. Very bad continuity move first thing in the season.

You gotta’ explain what this collection of words mean.

 

[riverman]

The Dame trade was well executed.

The Deni trade was a home run.

The CJ trade was okay.

The worst trade was the Norm move to LAC but I still have doubts that he really had much say in that. Signing GP2weeks was a bungle but he corrected it quickly.

There are far worse GMs to me.

I think the Duop trade is going to be a really good one in the end

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I was hoping Billups would resign after he put his house up for sale awhile back.

Why would Billups do that? Seems he should try to get a settlement or hold out he can get some of his contract.

Might be attorneys on both sides deciding more of how this plays out than Billups or the team.

There's zero chance he coaches the Blazers again though.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Pretty clearly Cronin believed in Yang to such an extent he preferred Yang + the Orlando pick over the 23rd pick + the Pels 2026 first. Some GM believed Kwame Brown was a future star; Cleveland's GM believed was a future star. Olshey believed Zach was a future star; The Kings GM believed TRob had more upside than Dame. But by your logic all those decisions were the right decisions because all that counts is intention before the choice, not the result afterwards

Our front office said they never got that offer. Could be lying. Could be not.

 

[blazerkor]

Our front office said they never got that offer. Could be lying. Could be not.

That's not an excuse that's an admission of incompetence. Just saying. If you make a move like that without talking to every front office in the league then you are failing at your job.

Just like right now if our front office hasn't kicked the tires with every other front office they aren't only being incompetent they're just flat out being lazy and are OK with missed opportunities.