I know what you're saying, but I'm going to conditionally disagree. This is only awkward on Dame's side and it's only as awkward on his side as he chooses to make it. I don't know how many Insta followers the Blazers have, but I'm sure they lose and gain them all the time. It has absolutely nothing to do with the product on the floor. If people on the Blazers don't act like a bunch of 15-year-old girls and take this as some major slight, it's not awkward. This is all a Dame problem. The only way it really becomes a Blazers problem if Dame is still with the team and is disruptive in practices or team functions. If he is, the Blazers can take actions to mitigate that, too. But Insta unfollows are unbelievably childish from a 30-year-old man, especially one who got so much from his association with the Blazers. I look at it this way. Dame is like a 3-year-old throwing a tantrum because he broke his favorite toy. The Blazers can get angry and yell at him to shut up, or they can let him cry it out until his attention is caught by something else. Like the child, Dame's got to understand reality in some way. The Blazers don't need to exacerbate it, and I don't think they will. Dame and his people need to understand something. They are the ones that broke this situation. They are the ones that made it more difficult to trade him. They are the ones that sabotaged his "maturity-and-loyalty" brand. All stuff like this does is make him look more like he is one of the true frauds of the NBA, but we can know that without taking slight at it.
If the Heat give up every asset they can (3 unprotected picks, 2 unprotected swaps, Martin, Herro routed to a 3rd team, Jovic, Jaquez, 2nd rounders) that is an excellent return and the Blazers should jump on it. So no totally disagree with your statement that the Blazers should exclude the Heat from trade deals right now. The Blazers should hold out for the best return from a Dame trade regardless of the team and regardless of the time. Waiting for an arbitrary number of months or a specific team is a very shortsighted way that may prevent the Blazers from getting the most talent back in a trade. That said no the Blazers do not need to accept a poor return from the Heat. The Heat either fork over every asset they can to do a deal now, or if not then yeah the Heat and Dame can just wait for the Blazers to get offered a better deal.
They're winning the PR battle with portions of this fanbase because they're trying to. Cronin was hired as a PR guy. Whatever Cronin says, people buy.
Nah. Not really, that works both ways, and, while you often have good contributions to make on things Blazer basketball, this is one of several occasions where your bias has been clear from the start and created an obvious blind spot that I'll be shocked if you ever openly accept.
I mean, when doing the smart thing is actually winning the PR battle, when not doing the infantile, self-destructive stuff Dame and his people did is winning the PR battle, then, you know, maybe it's just doing the prudent thing and winning the PR battle is serendipitous.
I couldn't disagree more. When have you felt the rest of the league looks at Portland to set the trends on how they're going to operate? The Spurs aren't going to start behaving like the Blazers because of this. If having patience nets us a better deal, then I'm fine waiting. Though it should be noted that waiting doesn't always produce increased value, so there is a risk there. The Blazers need to try to obtain the best return possible, with all 29 teams. Don't limit it to only the Heat and don't exclude the Heat. I'd like to hope the Heat package isn't going to be the best one, but if it is, and it appears the overall value of Dame is about to diminish, you pull the trigger. Making or not making moves out of spite, pitty, anger, etc. is a horrible idea.
Who source said Cronin was hired as a PR guy? That seems manufactured to fit a narrative. If the Blazers wanted a fake GM that was actually just super smooth in press conferences, I'd think Cronin would've been super low on that list.
not true Torey Basketball operations intern Entering his 17 th season with the Trail Blazers in 2022-23, Cronin originally joined the team as a basketball operations intern in 2006. In 2010 he was promoted to Pro Scout/Salary Cap Analyst where he was a crucial part of the player evaluation and roster construction process. Joe is about as far from a PR guy as Olshey was from being a humble nice guy. That's why I like Joe the most...he's not pretentious..he also didn't spend his apprenticeship under Olshey, he spent most of it under Chad Buchanon and Rich Cho....
It's 100% manufactured to fit a pre-determined narrative. That's not to say that Cronin has done a spectacular job with things, but why the hell would the team *purposely* alienate their fans, their best player and in doing so significantly lower the teams potential value in a sale?
I agree with you. My comment wasn't meant to praise Cronin, but to simply shift things more towards the facts.
it's a 1-2 PR pitch in Portland. Cronin does the normal flexibility & cap space moving forward stuff. Then Billups grabs the mic to amplify the selling. some beauty's from 2022 trade deadline presser; - Cronin "We have a bunch of different tools. We can be a cap-room team, we can be a trade-exception team, we can be a mid-level team. We have numerous ways to acquire high-end talent, specifically players that can earn more than the midlevel. So we feel like we're in a good position to build a roster that fits the way Chauncey wants to play, to create an identity here where we're defending and playing together." - Cronin "We have a lot of young guys that are playing well right now, CJ Elleby, Dennis Smith, Trendon Watford, Greg Brown, a lot of good young players that to Chauncey's credit, he's really empowered them. I told Chauncey three weeks into the job that I've never seen a coach empower young players like he does." - Billups "Yeah, I think the retool, which is what we feel it is, I think it's already in full effect. You look at some of the deals that we've made, like you guys are all kind of familiar with how I've been, what I kind of like to see on the floor in terms of just playing together and just being competitive. I love competitors. It's a big thing. I think all the best teams in the league are heavily, heavily loaded with competitors. And so you look at what we've done over the last week or so, and we've already started that ball rolling. Josh Hart is an ultimate competitor in the game, he competes on both ends of the floor. Eric Bledsoe, who I'm very familiar with, competitor who can really guard, can really get downhill. Justice Winslow, we've seen him the last few games. I mean, he's picking up LeBron James full court making it tough on him. Competitor. So I think we're off to a good start. I'm very, very happy. I think Joe has done an incredible job in a short amount of time that he's had." -reporter Highkin; "Joe, is the plan to keep Eric Bledsoe for the rest of the season?" - Cronin: The plan is to keep Eric Bledsoe through the season, yes." my point is, none of these competitors are even on this Blazers team after 1 year. Except the real ultimate competitors... Coach Billups & Joe Cronin.
That's incorrect. Bledsoe was not waived until July 6th, which means he was in fact kept for the rest of the season. I'm not saying that Cronin hasn't lied...maybe he has...but that is not an example of one.
Obvious bias? There's obviously two sides to this story, and only Cronin's side has been heard publicly. You buy it and insult Dame without even knowing his side of things.
