Joe Cronin vs. Dame Dolla

[cheesehoff]

That's how some people are making it out, but, unless I missed something, that's actually Team Dame's interpretation/spin of events.

What I've seen is Team Dame met with Cronin. Cronin told them the deals he was exploring ... admittedly offers that fit Dame's requests.

After the meeting, Goodwin called those teams and was told by all of them that Cronin was rebuffed and the deals were dead.

It sounds like Goodwin is playing dumb. Just because a deal was rejected doesn't mean it's dead and he knows that as well as anyone. It just means neither side wanted to blink first. It's pretty common to hear about trades that are "revisited" and then are agreed. The timing of revealing the contents of those phone calls is peculiar and advantageous to Dame's image...or to Cronin's slandering.

 

[Natebishop3]

I voted both look bad - Cronin from his actions and comments prior to April, and Dame for his reps comments from July 1st onward. Between the two I'd lean to Dame looking much worse though.

Hoopsjock has said on his streams something to the effect that Cronin had promised Dame the Blazers would use the lottery pick to acquire veterans to win now. That was part of the agreement of Dame and other starters sit out games to tank and not try to make a run for the playin. So I could see Dame feeling very mislead from that rhetoric when the team just keeps the rookie and acquires no veterans they were told would come. It was actually the opposite, since the team traded away a good vet in Hart who wanted to call Portland home, the Blazers have done far more rebuilding actions than win now actions.

Personally I believe all of Cronin's draft decisions were very good, but his comments to fans and I'd assume to Dame are really the issue. Over promising actions he can't deliver. Maybe Cronin actually believed he'd acquire veterans but it just didn't happened, and he pivoted to a rebuild. I don't really know and it probably doesn't matter. However after the end of season press conference Cronins actions and comments have all been fine IMO.

I have strongly been against Dame's camps comments the last week and a half. If he wants to request a trade then fine, just do it. But the manner they are doing it looks very bad for his legacy in Portland or the potential to reunite years from now if the team eventually is closer to contend. Kind of makes all those seasons of his brand and loyalty seem hollow which is very sad. Dame had a connection with the fans that a GM or owner never could have, thus his bad look hurts much more to Blazers fans emotionally than Cronin's bad decisions or dumb comments ever could.

I get why Dame would be salty, but come the fuck on..... so you sat out and didn't push for the playin. We would have gotten completely squashed like a little bug. Our team was garbage last season.

The team got the third pick and a chance to draft a potential superstar. Sorry that hurt your feelings.

 

[cheesehoff]

I have strongly been against Dame's camps comments the last week and a half. If he wants to request a trade then fine, just do it. But the manner they are doing it looks very bad for his legacy in Portland or the potential to reunite years from now if the team eventually is closer to contend.

First, no way Dame ever comes back here as long as Cronin or Jody are here.
Second, I don't believe Dame when he says he wants to win a ring here. I believe he'd only want the chance if he was still the face of the organization, not as a second or third fiddle.

 

[ebott]

It's crazy how Dame didn’t realize demanding to go to Miami would turn him into the villain in the blink of an eye. If he had not done that I think he would still be a hero in most Blazer fans eyes. He could have demanded the trade and let the Blazers try to trade him and public sentiment would have mostly been on his side. If (God forbid) Cronin folds like I do whenever my wife wants me to buy her something and ends up trading him to Miami it'll all be worth it.

Here's hoping Joe isn't a sucker like me.

 

[Whyachi]

Joe Cronin is a softy. Just a nice guy that would never ever want to step on anyone's toes.

Lillard is a badass,
he looks good wearing a villains cape.

Keep feeding the beast, if that's really the direction ya'll really want this to go.

 

[robson]

Joe Cronin is a softy. Just a nice guy that would never ever want to step on anyone's toes.

Lillard is a badass,
he looks good wearing a villains cape.

Keep feeding the beast, if that's really the direction ya'll really want this to go.

Nah, Cronin is snake and Lillard playing badass is what I see.

 

[PCmor7]

Thanks for saying I’m stupid for believing Sly!

LOL!

I'm not calling Sly a liar. I'm saying I think people read what he wrote and took Dame's or his agent's opinion as pure fact. But even what they said indicated Cronin tried to make deals. It seemed like Dame felt upset that deals, even apparently lopsided deals, weren't accepted and that they were lied to. If you're going to admit Cronin pursued huge deals and other GMs are saying they turned them down, it's walking a really fine line to say the Blazers were dishonest simply based on whether the deal was 100% dead or not.

 

[PCmor7]

which may be the case....except...

we simply don't know the content of conversations Dame had with Cronin over the last 16 months. We also don't know the conversations Dame had with Olshey, although considering Dame went over Olshey's head to Paul Allen at least twice we can surmise Dame was not happy with Olshey. We also don't know whether or not Dame had any conversations with Jody Allen and Bert Kolde, and if he did, what was said

I know there's a lot of homerific momentum right now to just say "Dame's a lying piece of shit and so is his agent and so is Pat Riley so fuck him and fuck them all". And of course if you are inclined to believe that Dame was all fake and a liar all along, it's easy to buy into that narrative, especially in light of the Miami or Bust campaign Dame's camp (and Riley) is waging

but I don't believe Dame was all fake and I don't believe he spent 11 years telling lies. I believe he genuinely and sincerely believed what he was selling, but he was guilty of not being prepared for a practical evolution of perspective. Professing complete loyalty at 26, entering his prime, with no real playoff success to date, is a lot easier than maintaining the same loyalty 7 years later at 33 when he can see the window closing on his career and his team just tanked the last 2 seasons

again, if what Sly reported is true, and that's that Cronin exaggerated past the point of reason the options Portland had, and afterwards, Dame thru his agent found out it was all bullshit, that meeting could have been the straw that broke the back. Because I'd bet Dame went into that meeting expecting honesty from Cronin. I'm not saying that's what happened. But as I said, I don't believe Dame's 11 years in Portland were all a lie, so I do believe Dame thinks what he is doing is justified; but I also think quite a bit of Dame's 'justification' is based upon anger

We're homerific for not believing Dame because of all the things I mentioned, but your default is to believe Dame while admitting we don't know the content of the conversations? This isn't even about believing the Blazers. This is about seeing what the team has done for Dame for more than a decade and hearing what Dame is saying -- because Dame's side is the only one putting stuff out there -- and just saying "You know, this makes absolutely no sense."

Do you understand how hypocritical, tenuous, and I have to say nonsensical your position is, Wiz?

And even if what Sly reported is true, I still don't see what the exaggeration was on his part. He said he was working on deals. Dame's team said they were told by other GMs that the deals were dead -- acknowledging that Cronin was pursuing them in admitting that. First, you have to be willing to unconditionally believe Team Dame to take your stance, because we don't even know if it's true. Second, even if it is true, you have to not have any context about how trades work and now you're arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ... to Cronin, these deals might not be dead, he might still be thinking of ways to adjust them and get that second superstar.

In other words, it's all Dame's interpretation.

Anyway, all that considered, I go back to my last point on it: If the information Sly related is true, why wouldn't Team Dame just put it out there? They're willing to push this loyalty narrative. They're willing to try to submarine the Blazers' attempts to get fair compensation. They're willing to try to blackmail the Blazers and to tell other GMs not to trade for Dame. But they draw the line on saying Cronin lied to them? That makes absolutely no sense. None.

 

[PCmor7]

drafted 3 rookies
let 3 players walk
cut a halfway decent Blazer
made no trades
signed a player already on the team (a bad team)

(Thybulle and the Euro Center signings came after Dame's trade request)

Cronin did everything opposite of what he told fans and Lillard the goal was this summer. The GM said he was going to be ridiculously aggressive and pursue awesome talent, swing for the fences. Instead we saw Cronin up their trying to bunt and fouled all 3 pitches off.

Cronin's job was absolutely to scare Lillard into a trade. I guess people in the Front Office were hoping Lillard was totally down with the tank Blazer game. Free 6 week vacation for the starters after All-Star break! But Lillard's competitive spirit took over, he's done with losing, he's done with Portland, he's heard enough Cronin butt kissing to last a lifetime.

If you tell your boss you're going to have 10 new clients by the end of the week, and you only get seven while pursuing 20, does that make you a liar? Because that's what you're saying. You're saying the outcomes were all that mattered and, in effect, Cronin should have made trades that either weren't on the table or were so lopsided that they would have crippled the Blazers chances to compete both now and in the future.

But don't take my word for that. Take Dame's. Dame said that teams trading for him had to consider what it would take to get him because they might not be left with enough else to still contend. The Blazers are the same. Cronin got three quality players in the draft and didn't give up anything, instead of giving up those three draft picks and who knows what other current Blazers and future considerations to get one year of Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby. You know if he made those moves the Blazers still would be in awful shape, and he'd be getting dragged over it and probably fired.

 

[Portland2014]

 

[PCmor7]

I'm just baffled by the disconnect here that has people thinking "felt" = "was."

Dame felt disrespected. But was he disrespected? Based on what's out there right now, I can't see how any informed, impartial person could say he was.

Dame felt lied to. But was he lied to? Based on what's out there right now, I can't see how any informed, impartial person could say he was.

Dame's allowed to feel however he wants and he's perfectly within his rights to ask for a trade. He doesn't even need to feel disrespected or lied to do that. Which makes his side's approach to this all the more strange.

 

[Hoopguru]

I think it's in a bad place. I haven't seen where the Blazer FO is reciprocating the bad blood Team Dame feels. I really don't think asking for more than scraps in trade is being done out of spite. And, let's be honest, what Dame is asking is pretty out of line for what players like him have fetched in the past. If you have a guy working for your insurance company and you make him a middle manager and he decides to leave for the competition, you might not like it, but you usually accept it. You don't let him keep the company car and agree to pay for his new firm's ad campaign that he's now working for them.

And, again, on top of that, I don't know how Team Dame can claim he was loyal as if he was putting up with stuff that was unreasonable. He had it better than any player in the league. He got max contracts. He got portrayed as the ideal team player and leader. No one, NO ONE gets their cousin who can't play put on the roster for a couple of months let alone two years. The Blazers gave away a lot of their future for average players Dame wanted. Dame was informed about everything.

Perhaps where the Blazers went wrong was treating Dame more like a special member of the family than just a great player. It seems to me like that went to his head and the moment he didn't get exactly what he wanted, he took it as a affront and immediately went into scorched earth mode.

Anyway, someone's going to have to show me what the Blazers are doing now that indicates a grudge, because I don't see it.

The Blazers handled it all wrong, it's on them and it will be on both to find middle ground. Joe changed course after probably;y assuring Dame we will be in a position to deal picks and some the last two years and never shared his change in vision with Dame once he saw he could get Scoot.
I say, thats the thing very thing that got Dame pissed. Say one thing and do another and now is giving it back to him. I do also think Bert and Jody got involved with the change of course also.

 

[robson]

There was never any vision. After Cronin couldn't/didn't trade #7 and (more) after Blazers couldn't make their "big splash" again and again, it was obvious Dame has to go. Even if it wasn't Scoot.
His team was bad to the core. Nobody would play defense and even fans here were dising Hart for not shooting enough 3s. No defense, no rebounds, no toughness. I am so happy this rotten culture is gone.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

...did he post more or just the stuff about the meeting and them essentially trying to fact check potential trades etc?

No.

 

[PCmor7]

The Blazers handled it all wrong, it's on them and it will be on both to find middle ground. Joe changed course after probably;y assuring Dame we will be in a position to deal picks and some the last two years and never shared his change in vision with Dame once he saw he could get Scoot.
I say, thats the thing very thing that got Dame pissed. Say one thing and do another and now is giving it back to him. I do also think Bert and Jody got involved with the change of course also.

How did the Blazers handle it all wrong?

This is just another one of these posts where you go through the list of everything Dame got out of the relationship and the response is "The Blazers were the ones in the wrong. Trust me. I don't have reasons. But trust me."

You're even saying what you think Joe "probably" did. We've got nothing to support that. Not even from Dame's side.

 

[wizenheimer]

We're homerific for not believing Dame because of all the things I mentioned, but your default is to believe Dame while admitting we don't know the content of the conversations? This isn't even about believing the Blazers. This is about seeing what the team has done for Dame for more than a decade and hearing what Dame is saying -- because Dame's side is the only one putting stuff out there -- and just saying "You know, this makes absolutely no sense."

Do you understand how hypocritical, tenuous, and I have to say nonsensical your position is, Wiz?.

the position I stated?...or the position I stated that you twisted and distorted into a straw man position that allowed you to get back on your soapbox?

I'll try to simplify:

I think Dame is obviously pissed off at the Blazers; he believes he's justified in the actions he's taking. How much legitimate justification he has is unknown to us because we don't know what Cronin has said to him in the last 18 months; or what Olshey said before Cronin; or what Jody & the Vulcans have said

however much justification Dame has, it's not enough to justify to reasonable people the Miami-or-Bust position he's staked out because that damages the Blazers and complicates their ability to complete the trade. And it sure the fuck doesn't justify his agents actions in trying to box Portland into a shitty trade. That's bad faith in my view; that's Dame going scorched earth and trying to exact some retribution....because he's pissed off and feeling betrayed. It's not right and it's not smart but it's often base human nature to land on 'fuck-you' in a divorce and stick with 'fuck-you' for a while until you want to get past the divorce

Dame's position is too extreme and too uncompromising. His equation appears to be invested in too much emotion and too little reason. People can believe what they want. What I believe is that he didn't arrive at where he is because the first 11 years of his career in Portland was a lie; that all the things he said were lies. I think his positions just weren't tested by adversity or time; but if lies were the foundation of this current situation, not all the lies were told by Dame

 

[Hoopguru]

How did the Blazers handle it all wrong?

This is just another one of these posts where you go through the list of everything Dame got out of the relationship and the response is "The Blazers were the ones in the wrong. Trust me. I don't have reasons. But trust me."

You're even saying what you think Joe "probably" did. We've got nothing to support that. Not even from Dame's side.

Bla bla bla....so you dont think Joe said hey Dame we want you to retire here and we must build around Dame?
Where did I say trust me....and Ive been giving my reason for my thinking so dont come at me with that shit. Ive not challenged you or your post with arrogance and bs, I just responded with how I see it started. Joe totally oversold sold & mid led Dame, is justly opinion dont be an ass.

 

[Hoopguru]

How did the Blazers handle it all wrong?

This is just another one of these posts where you go through the list of everything Dame got out of the relationship and the response is "The Blazers were the ones in the wrong. Trust me. I don't have reasons. But trust me."

You're even saying what you think Joe "probably" did. We've got nothing to support that. Not even from Dame's side.

I heard several times where Joe was stating we want to build around Dame & We want Dame to retire here. You didn't hear any of that?

 

[PCmor7]

the position I stated?...or the position I stated that you twisted and distorted into a straw man position that allowed you to get back on your soapbox?

I'll try to simplify:

I think Dame is obviously pissed off at the Blazers; he believes he's justified in the actions he's taking. How much legitimate justification he has is unknown to us because we don't know what Cronin has said to him in the last 18 months; or what Olshey said before Cronin; or what Jody & the Vulcans have said

however much justification Dame has, it's not enough to justify to reasonable people the Miami-or-Bust position he's staked out because that damages the Blazers and complicates their ability to complete the trade. And it sure the fuck doesn't justify his agents actions in trying to box Portland into a shitty trade. That's bad faith in my view; that's Dame going scorched earth and trying to exact some retribution....because he's pissed off and feeling betrayed. It's not right and it's not smart but it's often base human nature to land on 'fuck-you' in a divorce and stick with 'fuck-you' for a while until you want to get past the divorce

Dame's position is too extreme and too uncompromising. His equation appears to be invested in too much emotion and too little reason. People can believe what they want. What I believe is that he didn't arrive at where he is because the first 11 years of his career in Portland was a lie; that all the things he said were lies. I think his positions just weren't tested by adversity or time; but if lies were the foundation of this current situation, not all the lies were told by Dame

I think most if not all of that is absolutely fair and reasonable.

Also, if I misinterpreted your post that I quoted, my apologies. I disagree that I twisted and distorted anything you said, but there's definitely room for either of us to read the other wrong. If I did that to you, it was not intentional.

 

[PCmor7]

I heard several times where Joe was stating we want to build around Dame & We want Dame to retire here. You didn't hear any of that?

Sure I heard that. I haven't seen anything that makes it clear to me that he wasn't being honest in that, nor do I see anything he did at cross purposes with that. He did what he thought was in the best interest of the franchise. Dame decided that wasn't in his best interests. That's perfectly acceptable, but it's also not equivalent to the Blazers handling things wrong. However, it's Dame deciding that he didn't want to be here and win that way even if it was the best avenue to win at all.

Now, my presumption here, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that you're saying drafting after saying we wanted building around Dame and wanting Dame to retire here was wrong. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. If you are saying the Blazers handled it wrong by giving Dame so much say in the direction of the franchise up to this draft, I could agree with that. If you are saying the Blazers handled it wrong by making poor acquisitions in the last several years, I'd totally agree with you there. There definitely things the Blazers did wrong, but I don't see where the Cronin quote you're referencing is one of them unless you assume a number of things that either we don't know or wouldn't make sense.

 

[Hoopguru]

Is the intention still to build the roster around Lillard and build toward contending for a championship on his timeline?

Joe Cronin: It is.There’s nothing we want more than, number one, for Dame to retire a Trail Blazer, and two, put a winner around him a high-end winner. I think that’s what gets misconstrued about Dame sometimes, like for us, it’s an incredible problem to have. We have the best player in Trail Blazers history, that wants to be here and wants to have a winner put around him, and that’s our challenge. That’s where we’ve got to keep doing our thing and find ways to make this team as competitive as possible, as quickly as possible.

You have mentioned you want a more veteran-laden team and you had various assets.You’ve expended a large portion of those assets. If you’re going to build around Damian Lillard, how can you do that at his point without a first round pick or your second round pick with only so many salaries left?

Joe Cronin: I think there's still a lot of movement to be had. We’ve got to obviously do a good job in free agency and in the trade market, especially in this activity window the next two, three weeks. We’ve planted a lot of seeds on some deals, a lot of these deals we talked about outside of three, they weren’t necessarily draft related. So sometimes these deals will carry through to... could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be going into free agency or outside of the moratorium. We’ve added some young players, the goal now is to add some veteran players that can continue to ramp up this team.

 

[Hoopguru]

Sure I heard that. I haven't seen anything that makes it clear to me that he wasn't being honest in that, nor do I see anything he did at cross purposes with that. He did what he thought was in the best interest of the franchise. Dame decided that wasn't in his best interests. That's perfectly acceptable, but it's also not equivalent to the Blazers handling things wrong. However, it's Dame deciding that he didn't want to be here and win that way even if it was the best avenue to win at all.

Now, my presumption here, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that you're saying drafting after saying we wanted building around Dame and wanting Dame to retire here was wrong. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. If you are saying the Blazers handled it wrong by giving Dame so much say in the direction of the franchise up to this draft, I could agree with that. If you are saying the Blazers handled it wrong by making poor acquisitions in the last several years, I'd totally agree with you there. There definitely things the Blazers did wrong, but I don't see where the Cronin quote you're referencing is one of them unless you assume a number of things that either we don't know or wouldn't make sense.

I think Joe meant what he said and then changed his mind and I do feel he oversold it and then something significant pissed Dame off and I believe out had to do with saying one thing and doin g another. Just my take

 

[Natebishop3]

Is the intention still to build the roster around Lillard and build toward contending for a championship on his timeline?

Joe Cronin: It is.There’s nothing we want more than, number one, for Dame to retire a Trail Blazer, and two, put a winner around him a high-end winner. I think that’s what gets misconstrued about Dame sometimes, like for us, it’s an incredible problem to have. We have the best player in Trail Blazers history, that wants to be here and wants to have a winner put around him, and that’s our challenge. That’s where we’ve got to keep doing our thing and find ways to make this team as competitive as possible, as quickly as possible.

You have mentioned you want a more veteran-laden team and you had various assets.You’ve expended a large portion of those assets. If you’re going to build around Damian Lillard, how can you do that at his point without a first round pick or your second round pick with only so many salaries left?

Joe Cronin: I think there's still a lot of movement to be had. We’ve got to obviously do a good job in free agency and in the trade market, especially in this activity window the next two, three weeks. We’ve planted a lot of seeds on some deals, a lot of these deals we talked about outside of three, they weren’t necessarily draft related. So sometimes these deals will carry through to... could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be going into free agency or outside of the moratorium. We’ve added some young players, the goal now is to add some veteran players that can continue to ramp up this team.

Yeah these quotes don’t really matter because Dame met with him after he said those things, clearly gave him an ultimatum, and when Joe realized that he couldn’t deliver within Dames short timeline he hit the breaks on everything. There were reports that he tried to trade for OG on the night of free agency opening. Dame gave him the trade request either that night or the next morning. After the trade request there was no reason to really keep pursuing the “win now” timeline.

 

[PCmor7]

Bla bla bla....so you dont think Joe said hey Dame we want you to retire here and we must build around Dame?
Where did I say trust me....and Ive been giving my reason for my thinking so dont come at me with that shit. Ive not challenged you or your post with arrogance and bs, I just responded with how I see it started. Joe totally oversold sold & mid led Dame, is justly opinion dont be an ass.

Like I said in my previous response to the other post where you quoted me, I don't see where Cronin saying that in any way erases the possibility of Dame retiring with the Blazers or the team not being built around him. I think it's a stretch to suggest that, although a few board members are making that leap.

The not challenging me with arrogance and BS kind of is hollow when you tell me not to come at you with ... I'll use the word garbage because I try to avoid profanity. I mean, you understand what could be more arrogant than telling another board member what they can and cannot post to you, because it's acting like you have some kind of authority.

Starting a post with "bla bla bla" ... kind of the same thing.

You didn't say to trust you. I'd expected you to be intelligent enough to understand a metaphor, though. You gave a take that was pure opinion with no evidence. You're doing it again here with saying Cronin oversold, Cronin misled, but there are no examples of that beyond you can't connect in your mind how putting the best team around Dame with the hand Cronin was dealt could be done without it being done in the way Dame preferred. Cronin tried to make deals, according to Sly's source ... IIRC, the words used were "needle-movers" and also that Dame "felt" lied to. That's on Dame and his perception, though. Objectively, it's another matter.

 

[PCmor7]

I think Joe meant what he said and then changed his mind and I do feel he oversold it and then something significant pissed Dame off and I believe out had to do with saying one thing and doin g another. Just my take

OK, I think you realize now that you're posting your opinions, which can be influenced by what you want.

I'm saying there isn't evidence to support that.

Someone actually could come here and say "I think Dame wanted to force his way out of Portland but he wanted the Blazers to look like it was their decision and not his preference." I think as good or better argument could be made for that opinion than that Cronin deliberated misled Dame.

I think the more plausible explanation is this:

Cronin wanted to placate Dame (I think everything we've seen up to this point supports that idea). From Sly's source, big deals were pursued, but the other teams didn't agree -- there's no reason to disbelieve this since both sides and anonymous sources are saying the same thing. At that point, Cronin did the next best thing: Instead of giving up valuable resources for meh additions like his predecessor did, he chose to try to put the best talent on the floor with Dame, even if it would take a couple of years to mature. For whatever reason (he didn't want to wait, he felt he gave an ultimatum that was ignored, he felt slighted because Scoot plays PG, etc.), Dame and/or his representation decided he wanted out.

To me, this is likely and fits both the examples of how both the Blazers and Dame handled themselves up to the draft and subsequently and actually would seem like something a lot of average people would do in similar positions.

 

[PCmor7]

Yeah these quotes don’t really matter because Dame met with him after he said those things, clearly gave him an ultimatum, and when Joe realized that he couldn’t deliver within Dames short timeline he hit the breaks on everything. There were reports that he tried to trade for OG on the night of free agency opening. Dame gave him the trade request either that night or the next morning. After the trade request there was no reason to really keep pursuing the “win now” timeline.

That's a great point. People are getting stuck on this or that was being said like it was planting a flag and ground you had to hold even if you died standing there.

But these things are fluid. Cronin might have been optimistic that he could get something done that served both Dame's individual preferences and the Blazers' needs going in, but if he says "we'll give you 23, Ant and a future first for OG" or "how about 3 and 3 future firsts for Zion" and that gets turned down, that changes the whole landscape. You have to think what players might have been on the market that fit the Blazers' needs, Dame's wants and were attainable. A lot of forum members were asking and trying to answer that question since the end of the season, and there really weren't a lot of satisfying answers.

 

[Chris Craig]

Has he decided to say or is he just trolling?

 

[Natebishop3]

That's a great point. People are getting stuck on this or that was being said like it was planting a flag and ground you had to hold even if you died standing there.

But these things are fluid. Cronin might have been optimistic that he could get something done that served both Dame's individual preferences and the Blazers' needs going in, but if he says "we'll give you 23, Ant and a future first for OG" or "how about 3 and 3 future firsts for Zion" and that gets turned down, that changes the whole landscape. You have to think what players might have been on the market that fit the Blazers' needs, Dame's wants and were attainable. A lot of forum members were asking and trying to answer that question since the end of the season, and there really weren't a lot of satisfying answers.

Well I think the point that gets lost with a lot of people, or minimized, is that Dame just wanted some veterans. I don’t think thats at all what Dame wanted. He specifically talked about adding pieces to compete. I don’t think he wanted us to pull a Neil and go get another Robert Covington or Norm or Larry Nance. He wanted another star caliber player. He wanted a Siakam or a Jaylen Brown or a Mikal Bridges.

If we couldn’t get those three guys, who were we supposed to go get? If we had sent Scoot and Simons for OG that would have been an absurd overpay. Joe talked about being willing to lose a trade to keep Dame but he didn’t say he would take a massive loss. It’s like being willing to go a little over asking to get a car that you really want. It’s not like you’re offering double the ask. That would be stupid. Taking out a second mortgage so that you can pay double the value on a classic car. Not smart at all.

but it’s like some fans are still saying, “just get it done!” They don’t have any rumored deals or any actual evidence. Just get it done. It’s silly.

 

[Propagandist]

Has he decided to say or is he just trolling?

I've become accustomed to the "new" Dame, therefore my guess is he's posting this from Miami.

 

[Chris Craig]

I've become accustomed to the "new" Dame, therefore my guess is he's posting this from Miami.

Wouldn't be surprising.