Or, new Orleans was offering less because they knew that deal was getting us out of the tax. Getting out beforehand removed that leverage.
I love to hate on Cronin as much as the next guy, but it seems like his focus is on unbalanced trades rather than free agent talent acquisition. I’ll give him that.
next season will be painful. I think they should immediately pull the plug on Nurk to avoid any injuries. There is no reason for him to play.
Btw my favorite part of the presser was Cronin politely putting Quick in check after his slick little free agency question. Stick to writing melodrama sir, it’s the only thing you’re good at.
I still don’t get the Joe hate. This team needed a reset and he did that. Not his fault that Olshey waited too long to do this and lost value
The best thing about this Blazer press conference broadcast is that we don't have that @THE HCP dude doing replays.
So, Dame has to be gone. By the time we build the pieces around him, physically he's going to look like a shorter version of Boban.
Yes. When you tear down by giving items of value away for free, it is easy to tear down. He has shown me he doesn't have what it takes to build back up.
The problem really is that he made that first trade so early. Just now he said that it was the best offer on the table but he didn't play the situation out. I know he said that being in the tax gave other teams leverage but I just don't believe that was the best offer he would have ended up with should he have waited. I can't be certain of that but because he pulled the trigger so quickly he can't possibly be either. The reason why that's so important is because he is up there talking about unbalanced trades as the best way to use our cap space but we have to have assets to make those trades work and he very obviously left assets on the table by making that move so quickly.
You usually don't get great deals when negotiating from a position of great need. Doing the deal early removed that obstacle. Makes sense to me.
Joe Cronin's Press Conference Recap: - Eric Bledsoe is a quality veteran - Didi Louzada is a good young player - The Norm/RoCo trade was the "best deal we could get" despite it being 6 days before the deadline and multiple GMs calling bullshit - Apparently did the RoCo/Norm trade so that the Blazers being in the luxury tax couldn't be leveraged against them when he had a C.J. trade lined up that would've taken them out of the luxury tax - Possibly got less value for CJ to just make him happy - Values Joe Ingles bird rights even though he looked washed before a season ending knee injury and doesn't want to be here, while also having a $20M cap hold for those bird rights. - Doesn't have a timeline for his own plan - Talked up our ability to recruit free agents when we're Portland and it's a terrible free agent class. - Overvalues Keon Johnson, a 6'3 guard with a standing reach over 5 inches shorter than Norman Powell's - Talks about pushing Portland's trade chips all-in when Portland's ONLY legitimate trade chips are their 1st this year and a pick from New Orleans that could potentially wind up being Milwaukee's 2025 1st round pick (not good)... Impressive work. Olshey would be proud.
