Meeting between Dame and Cronin today

What article?

 

Summary of the meeting is simple:

Dame has given the Blazers a couple weeks or so to show him that means actions NOT we tried BS that Cronin is king of -- again Time is ticking Cronin --- tick tock tick tock

I will say Sharpe and prolly Scoot off limits unless it means bringing in a Top 20 ish type player

 

but you have said, for weeks and weeks, that the Blazers were going to make bad trades to appease Dame. You just said it again. You practically guaranteed that the Blazers would trade the 3rd pick. You said they would quite possibly trade Sharpe AND #3 for a bad return. You said that several times

you have been constant in your predictions that Portland was going to make bad decisions. And your conviction that would happen has infused almost all of your posts here with extreme pessimism. That whichever direction the Blazers would go would be the worst of all possible directions, and whatever transactions Portland would make would be the worst of all possible transactions.

sure, there could be bad moves ahead. But what you predicted for Portland's pre-draft period, draft, and now, post draft period, did not happen. Maybe wait for something bad to actually happen before predicting more doom and gloom?

 

The man was in the building for 14 or 15 years, no? How do you know he did not interview? I am certain they have tons of knowledge of how he works and what he can bring to the job. He was basically promoted from within. It's absurd to assume there was no knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses.

Point by point:

"Over his head" - he seems like he knows what he wants and is diligently working to get there, started with tearing down a bad roster, signed assets he had to retain because he did not want to lose them for nothing, nailed 2 drafts in a row, created the framework to get Grant last year, tried to address a POA defender last year, once this backfired because of injury / whatever - quickly recovered by trading that asset and got a replacement in MT. I would argue that he seems like he is very well versed in understanding the complex job of rebuilding a roster on the fly trying to appease both a money situation, a need to win soon and prepare for the future.

"Has the owner / management watching his every move" - that's par for the course for every new leader in a specific role. Would seem like mismanagement if it did not happen.

"Gave him the job because he could be controlled" - well, duh, owners / management always want to ensure the success of the business and will not bring someone that opposes their goals. Can't really understand this qualm at all.

"He didn’t have to interview for the job" - As mentioned above, I doubt it very much, they had him in the building for a long time - even if there was no direct interview right now - he has been vetted for a long while and fits what management wants.

Frankly, sometimes I do not understand the arguments. If he makes a bad call, it's fair to criticize him. He made one in the GP2 signing, not necessarily knowing how the injury issue will unravel, but he clearly fixed it quickly and decisively.

The Dude clearly knows what he is doing. We agree he seems to try and do his best, but we disagree that he has no idea what is doing. It is very clear that he has a very clear idea of what he wants to do and he works diligently with what he has to work with to achieve it.

Does not ensure he will make it, because it is not all in his control, but every move seems measured, calculated and when it goes wrong, rectified when possible. Can't really ask for more than this, imho.

 

People keep saying this, but Dames frustrations all started after we lost to Denver and we had a veteran team. He has said he wants to compete. He has said he wants a punchers chance. Adding a couple veterans isn’t going to do that.

 

Really? I would be surprised if you could find one who would do that.

 

Because teams usually make it public when they go through an interview process. They bring in other candidates. Did that happen?

 

How many games did the second unit get abused last year. How many times did they put up less then 20 points. It was a lot. The starters could only do so much then the bench would get destroyed.

 

an article that headlined Dame was the most annoying player in the NBA because he's not doing yet what so many have predicted he'd do

 

When they promote from within? Absolutely not. They had to fire NeO (or were looking for an excuse, whatever) - and they had someone from within they know and trust. There is no requirement to interview if you believe you already have the right person on the payroll.

For example, imagine that Dame requests a trade next year - will the Blazers have to go look in the trade market for a replacement PG if they believe at this point they have the replacement already on the roster in Scoot? Same could happen here. They had him around for a long time to know what they wanted to know. His long employment time is basically his very long interview.

 

It's a decent article, but what he failed to add is that , Blazers management could have done a better job in acquiring assets, that were available in the market. Not just recently, but last year as well. Blazers management has failed to take a chance on acquiring wing help in any respect. Did they try to go after Lauri Markkanen, or John Collins? Some may have went ,meh, if that kind of move was made, but Ainge looks like a genius now that Markkanen is allowed to be more than a spot of 3 guy.

John Collins was just acquired for basically a cheese sandwich and a bag of chips. So sure , one can say Dame hasn't done himself any favors by having writers speak for him, but the franchise hasn't taken any chances either , to show him they mean what they say.

Dame obviously wants to stay. But he wants some help to compete. Fair asking to me. Instead of saying the plan is to add around him. Show him. Neil , sure as hell, didn't. Adding fringe players, while bigger markets got real talent for pennies on the dollar. It's happening again.

While i'm not a big Beal fan, Phoenix got him for next to nothing. Not saying Joe has to dive into the Lava. But at least dip your toe into the hot spring where others are taking a soak. Just looking at the pool isn't accomplishing anything. Maybe the pool's too hot, but maybe it's just right. You won't know till you try.

Dame wants to see him make the move. That means getting said talent and living with the decision, right or wrong. Yoda said "DO or do not" , "there is no try " Add the player Joe.

 

He seemed to think we had a punchers chance when we were starting Harkless/Aminu/Kanter, same with Powell/RoCo/Nurk, and I'd even say early in the season he thought so with Hart/Grant/Nurk.

In the past, it hasn't taken much for him to believe.

 

Why can't you see that post?

 

If I were going to think of a move that really tipped the scale for a team that could also help us, I think of the Nuggets' acquisition of Aaron Gordon. He gave them the size Milsap just couldn't match and put them on that next level. His scoring went down, but he opened up the court for Jokic and Murray simply by his low post presence. He also took a lot of pressure off of Jokic to defend and rebound in the post.

It's that kind of player (perhaps less skilled than Gordon) that could really help this team.

 

I don’t remember him ever saying that. He’s getting older. His patience would appear to be wearing thin. Even his buddy Nate Jones essentially said that Dames teams have sucked.

 

those can be expensive, the Blazers ultra-youth bench is much cheaper.

 

Bingo! That was the start for Denver. Then they tweaked it with the additions of KCP, and Bruce Brown. Many in here, including myself, wanted to acquire Gordon. We didn't. Again failure to launch. No More Guards Joe. The pick of Murray is promising. Now go add a proven Wing stud.

 

Speaking of Marang, why does he post so much nonsense?

"Luka, Tatum, Trae & Ja being the only players as the #1 (as Scoot would be) here that have the ball in their hands and ultimately responsible for their teams winning (Hali if you squint)."
>
Haliburton is a insanely good PG at his age.

"Trading a guy who’s the 4th most important player on the team ruins adding the guy that on his own was the best offense in the league last year is certainly a way to frame something."
> About Nic Claxton. Fourth best? Dude...

 

This ain't Moneyball. You have to spend big money to acquire valuable pieces , whether in a trade, free agency, or both. It cost.

 

Maybe this will refresh your memory

https://www.si.com/nba/trailblazers/news/damian-lillard-on-blazers-title-hopes-i-think-we-can-do-it

https://theathletic.com/1272286/201...blazers-are-now-saying-the-quiet-part-loudly/