Zombie This is an epic disaster.

[MickZagger]

What do you think he might be referring to? A report already came out that he's going to wait and see what kind of moves we make before he signs his extension. So if that's true then his mind is clearly in the territory of leaving.

God I hope so. The value of return we can get once he forces a trade will minimize. Ugh.

 

[riverman]

I want to agree it was about KD but KD is literally the least loyal person.

It could also be in reference to CJ or Blevins

 

[Strenuus]

It could also be in reference to CJ or Blevins

Lol why?

 

[riverman]

Lol why?

humor...doesn't stick around here anymore.(I put green font on now) .one is his cousin one is his best friend....I'd say he could be referencing being loyal to keepin them around now that he's got new teammates...not that that's a bad thing but Dame is being cryptic so my guess is, he's trolling the media hacks

 

[Strenuus]

humor...doesn't stick around here anymore.(I put green font on now) .one is his cousin one is his best friend....I'd say he could be referencing being loyal to keepin them around now that he's got new teammates...not that that's a bad thing but Dame is being cryptic so my guess is, he's trolling the media hacks

Ah my bad.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Calm down and let's see what happens.

How many years have we been living with this as our mantra? There is always some excuse why we should be patient.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Dame Posted this on his Instagram story.

That should be the slogan of every Blazer fan. The time for excuses and patience is over - has been over for some time. This franchise has embraced a business model of perpetual failure and shitting all over the fans.

 

[RonBrewer]

How many years have we been living with this as our mantra? There is always some excuse why we should be patient.

Yikes! Your name fits you well. Nobody is making excuses, Einstein. New Coach, new GM and more moves to be made. If Dame is being patient, i think we can hang on a tad bit longer.

Don't forget to take your meds, they won't work as well if you skip a day.

 

[Labinot41]

Don't really blame Dame, but he waited FAR to long for this. The pressure he needed to put on was after being routed by the Pelicans. They weren't close and significant changes needed to be made. That is when Dame should have become more public and vocal. By letting Olshey hang around and by lobbying for Stotts to stay, it only made things tougher to recover from and now that he is nearing the final years of his prime, he is getting naturally impatient.

Yes, no offense to Dame, but being loyal to that Idiot Stotts and not really putting presure on Olshey earlier was a huge mistake.

 

[Strenuus]

That should be the slogan of every Blazer fan. The time for excuses and patience is over - has been over for some time. This franchise has embraced a business model of perpetual failure and shitting all over the fans.

Do we have olshey this year? Do we have stotts? So how can it be the same.

If you're never happy with the team what makes you continue to be a fan? Honest question. I'm honestly curious what makes you continue to follow the team if nothing they've done for a decade has been to your satisfaction? Has there been a moment in the last decade that brought you joy from the team? Dame? The shot? WCF?

 

[TBpup]

Do we have olshey this year? Do we have stotts? So how can it be the same.

If you're never happy with the team what makes you continue to be a fan? Honest question. I'm honestly curious what makes you continue to follow the team if nothing they've done for a decade has been to your satisfaction? Has there been a moment in the last decade that brought you joy from the team? Dame? The shot? WCF?

Frustration doesn't mean one is not a fan. Apathy does. I can appreciate passionate fans who feel like the last 10 years of one of the most impactful players to ever come through this franchise, has been a bit disappointing.

 

[julius]

Frustration doesn't mean one is not a fan. Apathy does. I can appreciate passionate fans who feel like the last 10 years of one of the most impactful players to ever come through this franchise, has been a bit disappointing.

Yeah. But preemptively deciding things are a disaster before they even play one single minute is a bit silly.

 

[MickZagger]

Do we have olshey this year? Do we have stotts? So how can it be the same.

If you're never happy with the team what makes you continue to be a fan? Honest question. I'm honestly curious what makes you continue to follow the team if nothing they've done for a decade has been to your satisfaction? Has there been a moment in the last decade that brought you joy from the team? Dame? The shot? WCF?

Knowing your favorite team has a building block star and you never try to maximize on him being so loyal is pathetic. You have to do whatever it takes to land guys around him for help. Swing for the fences man.

Or move on from that star.

 

[riverman]

Knowing your favorite team has a building block star and you never try to maximize on him being so loyal is pathetic. You have to do whatever it takes to land guys around him for help. Swing for the fences man.

Or move on from that star.

Sometimes you swing for the fences and strike out...ball has to connect with the barrel...doesn't mean you aren't swinging away though.

 

[Strenuus]

Knowing your favorite team has a building block star and you never try to maximize on him being so loyal is pathetic. You have to do whatever it takes to land guys around him for help. Swing for the fences man.

Or move on from that star.

So we're gonna villify Cronin too for the other 9 years?

Trust me, I get being upset at olshey. I was all aboard the olshey/stotts firings and was happy they happened.

But this subverted my original question. Why is someone who is so against everything the blazers have done for the decade still a fan?

Is it frustrating that we didn't win a championship? Sure. But you can also find things that are/were good even in the shit pile that was olshey.

But to then just assume Cronin was gonna hit a home run right out the gate is like expecting Bartolo Colon to get a base hit every time he came up.

Also, let me ask, if OG was a home run (strictly speaking in hypothetical on that) was the package of Sharpe, ant, and another first worth it then?

I understand WANTING to hit the home run, but then you also have to play with what you got -- and maybe we just don't have that.

Cronin cleared the deck and tried to make things happen. But we cant just get guys as home runs because that's what we expect.

There's also being realistic. Our assets kinda sucked and the big one was #7 and Toronto wanted more.

I get being frustrated, but if you're always angry because your expectations weren't met given that reality well...

"Expectations are a resentment waiting to happen".

 

[oldmangrouch]

Do we have olshey this year? Do we have stotts? So how can it be the same.

If you're never happy with the team what makes you continue to be a fan? Honest question. I'm honestly curious what makes you continue to follow the team if nothing they've done for a decade has been to your satisfaction? Has there been a moment in the last decade that brought you joy from the team? Dame? The shot? WCF?

Good question. Right now, it is like watching an old and cherished friend on trial for some heinous crime. Loyalty and tradition are at war with anger and disgust.

You ask how it can be the same? They changed some individuals...but has the franchise changed? Replacing Olshey with his top aide hardly qualifies! IMHO, they have yet to do anything to win back the benefit of the doubt. If the team makes a deep play-off run next spring, I will be glad to admit I was wrong and I will cheer for them.

 

[B-Roy]

Dame just shared this, really trying to manifest it lol

 

[wizenheimer]

View attachment 48303

Dame just shared this, really trying to manifest it lol

I don't see how it can be done.

Brooklyn is not going to hard-cap themselves (they can't because they are already over the apron), so that eliminates Simons and Nurkic. Portland is hard-capped so they can't guarantee Bledsoe and use his 19M salary. Portland has to come up with at least 41M in outgoing salary and without Dame-Simons-Nurk-Bledsoe (19M) the blazers only have 36M in salary left and that includes Sharpe

 

[calvin natt]

STOP with the loyalty/patience/poor Dame shit. He keeps signing extensions and is A-OK accepting those checks. He can LEAVE whenever he wants. All NBA stars can. It happens every year.

 

[Natebishop3]

I wouldn't know the answer to that question. Nor would I know the answer if player will change there mind. Those things have happened, but history would say they are unlikely.

I am pointing out that free agency is 30 hours old and days away from moves being official, so it might be a wee-bit premature to come to extreme conclusions.

October 2nd, 1999 - Blazers trade for Scottie Pippen
July 15, 1996 - Blazers trade for Rasheed Wallace
August 23, 1997 - Blazers sign Brian Grant
August 2, 1999 - Blazers trade for Steve Smith

Again, not saying a lot of moves don't happen right away, but there can also be moves made after the first 30 hours.

Hard cap didn’t exist.
Hard cap didn’t exist.
Hard cap didn’t exist.
And…… hard cap didn’t exist.

Also those were the Trader Bob days when we actually swung for the fences.

 

[Natebishop3]

If anyone listened to the podcast with Haynes on B-Edge a couple days ago he said the same thing or something very similar and it's no secret that if this plan does not work out Dame will walk at some point.

This really is not news and let's be honest Cronin had to try and clean up NeO's cluster BEEP and maybe he could have done it better BUT if the worst happens and Dame demands a trade out of town then it's NeO's fault not Cronin's plain and simple -- this is a fact not an opinion

Also this off season has NOT been a disaster some fans just like to see it as glass is half empty .

You can say fuck. It’s okay.

 

[Idog1976]

you know what's ironic about that?

there are posters here who have been losing their minds about the possibility of Dame getting that extension. Now, they will probably lose their minds if he doesn't get it right away

Yeah, hypocrisy is sooo IT right now. Just look literally anywhere and you'll see it.

 

[Idog1976]

Dame Posted this on his Instagram story.

Well whatever it was, it's been deleted can someone tell me what it said?

 

[Cugel]

Portland cant get KD. Reading on the Suns forum re. 3way with utah phx and brooklyn. Ayton and Simmons to Utah KD to suns. I dont know about that unless Ainge wants to try to make the playoffs this year. Thought he was blowing it up. maybe not.

 

[Paine Tablet]

Cronin 400 times: "It's not going to happen overnight"

This forum on day 1 of free agency: "Why aren't we immediate title contenders?!?! Whaaaaaaa"

What has Cronin actually done that would lead you to believe he's constructing a championship roster? He's straddling between now and the future without commitment to either. A competent GM would've been able to nab Duran and should've attempted to do so. The Milwaukee pick was a disaster and the only saving grace is that Detroit was desperate to rid themselves of Grant. That should've been a lottery pick which would've been enough to land Grant and Duran, so as to actually fill needs of depth AND add high starting potential for the future. Portland doesn't likely even need to include all those second rounders they gave to Detroit IF they had been able to get the NO lottery pick from LA. The Covington/Powell trade is even more ridiculous considering the prime asset received has no real track record and seemingly WILL NEVER GET THE OPPORTUNITY as a Blazer to build a track record. When will Keon Johnson see meaningful developmental minutes to establish himself as an asset before his rookie deal runs out? He literally traded Powell and Covington for the production of Justice Winslow and cap space!!! Pennies on the dollar!!! For the grand plan of straddling between now and the future with low probability for contention into the immediate future. I do appreciate that his best decisions have been to hold onto Olshey draft picks because I do believe in the young talent here, but IMHO he's done very little to impress me with what he was given to start with.

Also, what is true is that every contract he has doled out has been on the top end of expected dollars. I'm not sold whatsoever on his tactical negotiation skills. The deadline deals were totally bungled. We are Portland, we have no identity except for our perceived self-virtue and that is why we appreciate nice, incompetent people like Joe Cronin because we are GOOD PEOPLE.

 

[Labinot41]

I don't see how it can be done.

Brooklyn is not going to hard-cap themselves (they can't because they are already over the apron), so that eliminates Simons and Nurkic. Portland is hard-capped so they can't guarantee Bledsoe and use his 19M salary. Portland has to come up with at least 41M in outgoing salary and without Dame-Simons-Nurk-Bledsoe (19M) the blazers only have 36M in salary left and that includes Sharpe

so Cronin would have to completely reshape the roster and get some cap flexibility (again) in order to make a move for KD?

 

[RR7]

cocaine is a hell of a drug

 

[HoopsFanAZ]

DOES THIS WORK?

Since Payton hasn’t signed, the Blazers aren’t hard capped, yet.
Has the Grant deal been finalized? If not, the Blazers can send Bledsoe (and sweetener) instead of using the TPE.
Portland uses a portion of the CJ TPE to sign Payton. Blazers are no longer hard capped.

 

[Tince]

Hard cap didn’t exist.
Hard cap didn’t exist.
Hard cap didn’t exist.
And…… hard cap didn’t exist.

Also those were the Trader Bob days when we actually swung for the fences.

Are you saying the hard cap prevents meaningful trades from happening after July 2nd?

There are examples of significant player movement around the league post July 2nd since the hard cap too. I'm guessing you don't need me to provide those examples.

I agree with you Trader Bob made big moves. I'm not sure we have enough data on Cronin to say how much of a "big move" guy he is. We know he's made bigger moves in the first 6 months of his tenure than the previous GM did in 8 years.

 

[blazerkor]

DOES THIS WORK?

Since Payton hasn’t signed, the Blazers aren’t hard capped, yet.
Has the Grant deal been finalized? If not, the Blazers can send Bledsoe (and sweetener) instead of using the TPE.
Portland uses a portion of the CJ TPE to sign Payton. Blazers are no longer hard capped.

That would take a S&T from Golden State which would cost us something and still hard cap us because the use of the full MLE or being on the receiving end of a S&T triggers the hard cap. So there's really no difference in what you're proposing... it just fucks over the Pistons.