Chauncey: 'It doesn't matter who is on the floor, they need to play a certain way. I'm developing them, but I'm also developing as a coach.'
Cronin: 'We had been talking the last 4-5 weeks about what we were going to do. We talked with CJ about a place that was a great basketball situation for him. We communicated with him and his agency and New Orleans was a place he felt was a good fit for him. It was important to us that CJ separated on good terms.'
We just have to sign him to a much lower (even minimum deal) before using the cap space. With the moratorium on signing that might be fine.
Cronin: 'We had to clear a runway for Ant. We were really encouraged by Little's growth before his injury. To Chauncey's credit, he has really empowered the younger players clear down to Greg who is just 20 years old.'
Cronin: 'Damian has been doing really well with this rehab. Part of this was also a mental break. We want to make sure he has the mental recovery as well.'
This guy talks similarly to another Joe I know.. Biden. cant believe this guy is a GM seems like a nice guy though Also seemed like the president was about to say “yeah we are still looking for joes replacement” lol
Chauncey: 'I love to teach and compete. I remember when I was young, not really feeling the love. I didn't want that to be the case for these young players. Now they are getting an opportunity to play and play with confidence like they did before they got here. Our staff is really strong in building that empowerment.'
Lets see what they say in July when we've drafted some young guys and struck out on the mediocre free agent class. "we have cap room, trade exceptions, and other tools to improve this roster up to the trade deadline"
Cronin: 'We've created this flexibility, but we may need multiple off-seasons to get it all accomplished. This was a large step in that direction. The bulk of the work still remains. The hard part begins here. We did make a lot of calls (big game hunting) and we will revisit the effort in the summer.'
Cronin: 'We need the players to be high end talent and to be sustainable, not just a 2-year window. Right now, we have flexibility to develop and compete at the same time.'
Basically my concern of Joe and the Clippers trade is confirmed. "We had teams using leverage that we are in the luxury tax against us in trades" "The clippers trade removed that leverage" Just shows he either had no ability to project simple options in the trade deadline, panicked in negotiations, or ownership was so hell bent on getting out of the tax at all costs immediately all other improvements took a back seat to Jody's checkbook.
Cronin: 'We are open to keeping our pick or moving it for something that fits. We have to see what pick X will get us and then evaluate from there.'
Of course. As I said, they have a plan and it will either work or not, but I did not expect it to be fixed immediatly. We all know the roster issues were built over multiple years, it is not going to be resolved in 2 months of Joe Cronin being a GM. He even acknowledge that by saying "the hard part starts here" and something like "it's much easier to tear down than build up".
Chauncey: 'There were more issues than just Dame/CJ being a defensive issue. It was more issues than that. It was a great offensive unit, but it wasn't enough defensive players. It wasn't just Dame and CJ. I really challenge Ant as a young player from a defensive standpoint. I hope there are other things we do to protect everybody so we have a good team defensive unit. There are only a very few 1-on-1 lock down individual defenders. It is more about the team.'
