I think we just disagree on interviews and that's totally fine. I'm not sure if I agree on him being capable or that he has a coherent plan. The list of transactions really seems to tell a different story. I have enlarged the ones that I think are key.
The good:
- I like our picks. I actually like all our picks. I think he has done very well in the draft. That's probably my favorite part about what he brings to the table.
- I like that he's willing to admit a mistake and quickly remedy it. He screwed up when he signed GPII and he got out of it pretty quick. I think that's a refreshing change of pace from what we had with our last GM.
The bad:
- The trades have not been great. The LAC trade was awful. I think it was his worst moment. The CJ trade was essentially so we could go get Grant. I have quibbled with Tince over this, but I will reserve judgement on this trade until after we see if Grant re-signs. The Hart trade was okay... but we gave up a core rotation guy for a dude that probably won't be on our team next year (Reddish) and a guy who is really good at defense, but little else (Thybulle.) This trade might be salvaged if Murray ends up being good. GPII trade was kinda meh... we got out of a bad move but it's hard to say how much GPII handcuffed us while he was here. He hard capped us and who knows who else we might have signed if we didn't go after Payton.
- Free agents - GPII was bad. Terrible. It was a horrible fit from the beginning. Nobody liked that signing. I really don't know what he was trying to accomplish with that.
So what would you say is his coherent plan? He's drafting young kids. He's converting our veterans on bloated contracts into young talent (Reddish/Thybulle/Knox/etc). The only win-now moves he has made are GPII and Grant. Payton is already gone and Grant is a free agent. He did bring back Simons and Nurk on big contracts. I just don't see what the plan is. He keeps saying it's to build around Dame, but then he uses all our picks and he seems to refuse to add size to our team. The only coherent plan has been to cut cost and he has succeeded at that. I guess he has also managed to keep Dame around, despite the past two years of drama. I get that he's trying to clean up Olshey's mess, but he's straddling two timelines. I really don't see a plan right now.
The plan was pretty clear to me.
Step 1, remove the imbalance - financially. Let's start with the financial item - this means, no longer have multiple big contracts for small guards. The Blazers basically went from 3 big contracts for Dame, CJ and a somewhat big contract for Norm to currently 2 big contracts (Dame, Ant) with Ant being much younger than CJ and Norm's places basically replaced with Shae which is bigger, cheaper. Now, Scoot was a must draft at the position and situation was, this means that there is still a balance issue, but you can't really blame Cronin for having to select him - it is still a good thing to do because he now is having to choose between basically Ant and Dame is a reasonable option for the fork in the road Portland has to choose from (Improve around Dame or tear it down for a youth movement after a Dame trade). Still a work in progress, but already much better.
Step 2, improve the talent on the roster - clearly done via the draft + trades. Talent wise, Dame + Ant in a major role + Shae + Grant + Scoot waiting in the wings is much better than Dame + CJ + Ant waiting in the wings. Still a work in progress, but clearly much better than before.
Step 3, Add size where it matters - Grant is the best Forward Portland had since LMA left, Shae is much bigger in the back-court than what Portland was dealing with for a while. Lots of work to be done, but it's being addressed slowly.
Step 4, Add defense - Tried with GP2, replaced him with MT, Grant much better than RoCo, Draft potential for the future, clearly work in progress, but better than anything Portland had since the WCF year which NeO immediately tore down because, NeO doing NeO things.
Step 5, Provide better roster for the way coach wants to play. Tried with Justice, Hart, unfortunately, Justice had injuries, Hart was not going to stay, he salvaged it for the future. Still work in progress, the elephant in the room is Nurk. He had to be signed so the Blazers do not lose an asset, but he clearly does not fit. Hopefully, the Blazers can upgrade from him this off-season.
Remember, all of this was done in basically 18 months, that's pretty good imho. I don't care about the individual trades that much - I care about the plan - and say what you want about Cronin, he was very transparent about it, he wanted to balance the roster, bring more talent, upgrade the defense. That's exactly what he is doing.
I honestly hate this trade by trade, signing by signing micro-management analysis - this is a non-exact science, not every move is going to succeed (if it was, Portland would not be able to afford Cronin) and some of them were done for very specific reasons (like creating the TPE that was used for Grant). But, if you look at the stated goals, what the constraints were and how he took advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves or pivoted when things went south, I am impressed with his work.
Now, anyone has the right to criticize every single move - but micro-management is worthless if you do not take stock of what the plan was and how it is proceeding. He told you what the plan is, he is clearly proceeding with it. You can point that there are risks if Grant leaves or if Dame leaves or whatever, but that's going to be true no matter what moves happen. The Clippers had an excellent plan of getting the Finals MVP, getting him another all-NBA forward and rolling forward with tons of money on the roster to get them to the promised land, didn't work. The Nets got the 2 time Champ and Finals MVP and got 2 dominant all-NBA guards with him, didn't work. There is no foolproof way to win a championship. There are reasonable plans of actions that either work or not. We got a GM that has a reasonable plan of action, which we have not had since the WCF year. That's as good as we can reasonably hope for, imho.
