It also wasn't an asset we acquired from the team we made the trades with. Honestly, that's such bad logic. We can't let teams fuck us over so we can further access existing assets. We should be able to get further access to those assets while getting something close to equal value coming back for outgoing assets. If you think CJ (even on his contract) and Norm (who I think has a great contract) were leveraged correctly when the return on them was Hart, Winslow, Johnson, a potential late lotto pick or future first, and second rounders then we're at a huge impasse.
That's not even taking into consideration the value of Larry and RoCo which despite what so many in here think, they did have positive value not negative value RoCo was reportedly sought after by a lot of teams heading into the deadline. The trades made were weak and lazy, instead of getting third teams involved or finding different destinations for all of the players Cronin was willing to take big Ls to get under the cap and free up cap space that he fully intended to use on players already on the roster. Just for reference the Pels deal doesn't have to be a big L it will be if the pick end up as the 2025 Bucks pick which means Joe was willing to take a big L on it. The Clippers deal was and is a big L. The moves lacked creativity and foresight. Just took what we could get in big chunks recklessly.
I don't know why people want to give this guy a chance this off season to make more simple, desperate and reckless deals.