Why is Woj talking about Portland? The dame stuff is obvious. Is this his way of saying we are involved somehow?
Is it strange that this happens on the heels of Olshey's ousting and Cronin's promotion? Clearly the talks are picking up because Cronin is motivated to make a deal. They are trying to get more teams involved to see if a workable structure can be built around CJ/Simmons. CJ doesn't have to go to Philly. Also, Woj isn't shitting on Portland here, he's making clear what our direction is. I think Woj has started a working relationship with Cronin.
That's what I thought. Make well with the new GM. Olshey is gone and he's not coming back. Improving the working relationship between Woj and Cronin benefits both.
yeah I didn’t think he was shitting on Portland, just found the inclusion of them curious. He doesn’t interact with fans, never acknowledges them. So I just find it interesting that he’s talking about the Blazers.
Man I've spent all summer on every tweet, random rumor on obscure forums, IG sleuthing and got nowhere. Lost all hope
My guess? Because Olshey and Morey were trying to trade Dame instead of CJ, and Woj was going to be the first to report it. Now that's off the table.
I kind of doubt Olshey wanted to move Dame. Lillard was his meal ticket and I'm sure he takes credit for drafting Lillard, so the same reluctance to trade CJ would probably be there with Lillard.
it could also be good for the Blazers if Olshey is still out there slinging mud to Woj and Cronin can provide a rebuttal
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ts-trade-talks-philadelphia-76ers-ben-simmons The other angle to this is that maybe trade talks have heated up because Cronin made it clear Dame is off the table and Morey has finally given up. Olshey might have been open to dealing Dame.
I take it as this: Morey was holding out for Dame because he and Olshey were pals and he thought Olshey would give him first dibs if anything happened. Now Cronin has said no dice (and Morey probably believes that an interim guy wouldn't trade Dame anyway) so there's no point in holding out for Dame any more. That might explain the sudden willingness to listen to other offers.
Right, but he was at least empowered to trade Dame. Morey can believe Cronin saying "we're not trading him" because an interim would not be empowered to offload the guy the trading of whom might put a dent in the franchise value.
So can we un-merge my thread where I had a poll about where Simmons was most likely to end up? If Sacramento had any sense...