Joe Cronin vs. Dame Dolla

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Who has handled this the right way? (What team are you?)

  • Team Cronin

    Votes: 28 53.8%
  • Team Dame

    Votes: 4 7.7%
  • Neither have handled it right

    Votes: 16 30.8%
  • Both have handled it right

    Votes: 2 3.8%
  • Team Jacob

    Votes: 2 3.8%

  • Total voters
    52
When Henry Abbott was putting it out there a couple years ago that Dame wanted out, he spoke up and refuted it.

Henry Abbott seeing Lillard's trade request:

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I never had a day where I was insulted more randomly than yesterday (on Twitter, this place is better believe it or not). So many random people who came out of the woodworks, I heard it all. Grown men throwing insults at anyone who didn't have praise for Cronin and then would play the victim when they got blocked. It's absurd.

Most of my YouTube community seems to differ in opinion from a lot of the stuff I see online, so at least I have a safe place haha. It's comical that the FO is trying to flip it after saying they were obligated to build a winner around Dame and then did nothing of the sort. I don't see any player handling being a Blazer better than Dame so if we're turning on him, why should we ever embrace anyone since they'll be held to a bar no one will reach?
The Blazers Front Office opened the door and pushed Dame out. Now management and some fans think they can stand in front of the cab and say "You can only go where we tell you."

there are some power tripping oddities in Blazer Land
 
The Blazers Front Office opened the door and pushed Dame out. Now management and some fans think they can stand in front of the cab and say "You can only go where we tell you."

there are some power tripping oddballs in Blazer Land
Well, that's literally how it works when you sign a contract. He has to go wherever Portland trades him. It's not a power trip. It's reality.

And honestly, the more Dame and his agent play it this way, the more I think Cronin needs to hold out until he gets a better offer. From somebody OTHER than the Heat. Letting a player behave this way to get where they want to go should never be rewarded. Otherwise there is no point in signing contracts.
 
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And honestly, the more Dame and his agent play it this way, the more I think Cronin needs hold out until he gets a better offer. From somebody OTHER than the Heat. Letting a player behave this way to get where they want to go should never be rewarded. Otherwise there is no point in signing contracts.

Blazers may hold out but I don't believe it will necessarily generate a better offer. I know that's the prevailing theory, I'm just skeptical it will work
 
Well, that's literally how it works when you sign a contract. He has to go wherever Portland trades him. It's not a power trip. It's reality.

And honestly, the more Dame and his agent play it this way, the more I think Cronin needs hold out until he gets a better offer. From somebody OTHER than the Heat. Letting a player behave this way to get where they want to go should never be rewarded. Otherwise there is no point in signing contracts.
Sure, get 3rd teams involded, maybe a 4th team. NOBODY has seen the Dame trade package, yet everyone wants to argue it's the most terrible trade ever seen.

Who does Lillard think he is, damaging our future

Ummm, that's coming from the same people who are happy with the rebuild and want Lillard to take a hike.

Road House movie; 2nd scene, Dalton (Patrick Swayze) walks into the Double Deuce tavern for the first time. The dirty old cowboy bar has a live band playing behind a chicken wire fence. When the song ends, a really drunk guy stands up and throws a beer bottle at the stage and screams

"you're paid to play. . PLAY!"

I'm seeing that Road House drunk guy analogy used quite frequently in comment sections. It's kinda funny but sad at the same time.
 
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I mean the question is framed in a weird way but ask yourself who has done more for this team and it's a pretty easy answer. Now if Scoot and Shae end up leading us to a championship then the whole thing gets flipped but so far Joe has said one thing and done another a few times and Dame was pretty damn consistent for over a decade. I guess people have short memories and fragile hearts.
I love Dame, but his camp (per multiple reports) as well as his agent, have been quite nasty during this process. That shows me they have a weak hand, trying to use the media when Cronin holds all the cards, multiple years left and no "no-trade" clause. It seems like a lot of noise from Dame's camp and it's all a bad look. I do wonder about the Supermax extension and then asking out when it first came time that the trade could happen. I'm not saying Dame was cynical, but it's not something that should be dismissed out of hand. I think it will come out eventually.

What I wonder about is what if any trades were out there that Cronin said "no" to. I've been saying for awhile, if it came to trading Dame or Sharpe, you trade Dame and I don't say that lightly. The only scenario I would have traded Sharpe for was a no-brainer All-NBA talent and nothing less. Cronin did the correct thing if that's what his options were.
 
If it gets to the point where his agent screws us on trading him to anywhere but Miami and Miami's offer continues to suck I say don't even trade him. Let the chips fall where they may.

How could his agent block the Blazers from trading him elsewhere besides Miami?
 
by telling other teams not to trade for him because they would be trading for an unhappy player

But who gives a shit? He's not Ben Simmons. Even when Kyrie got traded to Boston despite his best wishes, he went and played without complaining.

Nobody is buying Dame's bluff and he's not unrestricted after the season. Anyone trading for him would be getting the assurance that he'll be with them the following season and beyond.

It's fine to make the request, but these are professionals.

He'll play wherever he's traded.
 
But who gives a shit? He's not Ben Simmons. Even when Kyrie got traded to Boston despite his best wishes, he went and played without complaining.

Nobody is buying Dame's bluff and he's not unrestricted after the season. Anyone trading for him would be getting the assurance that he'll be with them the following season and beyond.

It's fine to make the request, but these are professionals.

He'll play wherever he's traded.

I agree with you. He is under contract for multiple years and don't have a no trade clause. Also, he is a pro, he will not get fat like Harden did.
 
Zero evidence. They have no leg to stand on.

I don't believe for a second that word from Dame's agent will deter other teams from beating Miami's offer and convince Dame to play for them.

My take, Dame's value will be highest in Feb 2024 before the deadline. Why? Because contending teams would have a better idea whether they're enough or need a slight push to get over the hump.
 
I don't believe for a second that word from Dame's agent will deter other teams from beating Miami's offer and convince Dame to play for them.

My take, Dame's value will be highest in Feb 2024 before the deadline. Why? Because contending teams would have a better idea whether they're enough or need a slight push to get over the hump.

And with Dame having played zero minutes all season he’ll be fresh for a playoff run. I’m operating on the assumption that Dame would be totally isolated from the team and not even allowed in the buildings if he isn’t traded by training camp.
 
And with Dame having played zero minutes all season he’ll be fresh for a playoff run. I’m operating on the assumption that Dame would be totally isolated from the team and not even allowed in the buildings if he isn’t traded by training camp.
what if teams in the playoff hunt next year can't make a move for Lillard? It's best to get a solid package done now. Miami might freaking suck by the trade deadline.
 
Sure, get 3rd teams involded, maybe a 4th team. NOBODY has seen the Dame trade package, yet everyone wants to argue it's the most terrible trade ever seen.

Who does Lillard think he is, damaging our future

Ummm, that's coming from the same people who are happy with the rebuild and want Lillard to take a hike.

Road House movie; 2nd scene, Dalton (Patrick Swayze) walks into the Double Deuce tavern for the first time. The dirty old cowboy bar has a live band playing behind a chicken wire fence. When the song ends, a really drunk guy stands up and throws a beer bottle at the stage and screams

"you're paid to play. . PLAY!"

I'm seeing that Road House drunk guy analogy used quite frequently in comment sections. It's kinda funny but sad at the same time.
If it was a good offer Dame would be in Miami already.

Miami doesn't have enough to make a good offer without including Bam or Butler.
 
what if teams in the playoff hunt next year can't make a move for Lillard? It's best to get a solid package done now. Miami might freaking suck by the trade deadline.

"It's best to get a solid package done now. Miami might freaking suck by the trade deadline."

This is why Miami and Dame should get a deal done now, not why Portland should.

I hope Miami does freaking suck by the trade deadline.
 
Winning is the great elixir. When Dame and Blazers management kiss and makeup, and the team starts rollin', this will all become a distant memory. We shall see how many in here stay pissed off.
 
Winning is the great elixir. When Dame and Blazers management kiss and makeup, and the team starts rollin', this will all become a distant memory. We shall see how many in here stay pissed off.
It feels like it will be a party of one pissed off once he is traded.
 
Sure, get 3rd teams involded, maybe a 4th team. NOBODY has seen the Dame trade package, yet everyone wants to argue it's the most terrible trade ever seen.

Who does Lillard think he is, damaging our future

Ummm, that's coming from the same people who are happy with the rebuild and want Lillard to take a hike.

Road House movie; 2nd scene, Dalton (Patrick Swayze) walks into the Double Deuce tavern for the first time. The dirty old cowboy bar has a live band playing behind a chicken wire fence. When the song ends, a really drunk guy stands up and throws a beer bottle at the stage and screams

"you're paid to play. . PLAY!"

I'm seeing that Road House drunk guy analogy used quite frequently in comment sections. It's kinda funny but sad at the same time.
Nah, don't even care if he plays. He took large portions of the last 2 seasons off and nobody cared.

Just don't act this way publicly.
 
If you can't back up your opinions, you're going to get hammered on one of the more knowledgeable message boards out there. If you think being told you're wrong is a personal insult, that's kind of up to you. You can survive one of vehement, wrong and public.
Relax, I'm not calling out anyone on this forum. The RipCityTwo offers a unique perspective into a wide ranging interpretations about the Blazers and the NBA in general.

We got a teardown, we got a rebuild. Cronin lied his ass off then put Lillard stickers everywhere to cover his tracks during this process.

Right now it's trendy to jock out and pick on the fans who simply express endearment for Damian Lillard, who played his tail off for over a decade in Portland.

sorry, I won't be joining that frat pack.

 
How could his agent block the Blazers from trading him elsewhere besides Miami?
First of all, I am with you in your sentiment that we take the best offer and that Dame, no matter how unhappy, will play. He's too proud to just half-a** it on the court.

However, what his agent is doing--while not necessarily keeping other teams from making offers--is he is lowering the value of those offers. That lowering makes Miami more competitive with their garbage. The end result is Miami is more competitive in the bidding process than they otherwise would be.

The worst part about this is it is a coordinated effort between Dame, his agent, and the Heat front office. It is clearly tampering, but tampering with a loophole, so they can get away with it.

The only response to this kind of market influence is for Cronin to refuse to yield. It will extremely difficult for him to do so.
 
Listening to Haynes. He said that he checked with the league and the players association and no team has ever publicly confirmed a trade request while it was happening. So that's why he said that Dame could, if he wanted, comment publicly on the trade request/demand.

He said that the fine was $100k for a player publicly demanding a trade, and with the new CBA it actually goes up to $150k.

So it definitely seems like we did that deliberately.
 
Remember your dealing with Pat Riley who has snookered many GM's in the past
Has he? He traded for Shaq, but that helped both teams. Wouldn't call that a swindle. He got Bosh and LeBron to come to Miami and that's cool but he didn't swindle anyone to make that happen. He traded for Jimmy Butler when he was thought of as an unproductive malcontent. That worked out pretty well, a shrewd move in hindsight, but at the time I didn't think of it as a swindle.

It's entirely possible he's swindled a bunch of GMs and I just don't remember those deals. But I don't remember hearing about a Miami deal and thinking they really swindled the other team.
 
First of all, I am with you in your sentiment that we take the best offer and that Dame, no matter how unhappy, will play. He's too proud to just half-a** it on the court.

However, what his agent is doing--while not necessarily keeping other teams from making offers--is he is lowering the value of those offers. That lowering makes Miami more competitive with their garbage. The end result is Miami is more competitive in the bidding process than they otherwise would be.

The worst part about this is it is a coordinated effort between Dame, his agent, and the Heat front office. It is clearly tampering, but tampering with a loophole, so they can get away with it.

The only response to this kind of market influence is for Cronin to refuse to yield. It will extremely difficult for him to do so.
It won't be difficult for Cronin to wait it out.
 

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