you find it funny when i point out the obvious? good luck trading for anything of significance without any moveable contracts. blinders and pointless to engage in any discussion.
Super well said and bravo. Exactly, we didn't have a chance this year and the worst thing we could have done is set ourselves up to be low on assets and a first round exit. Getting a 1st for Josh is incredible, especially in this draft and the nice thing is, Josh is fanatical and will help Brunson alot. New York is almost certainly making the playoffs ironically in part due to who Josh is. So a 1st For Josh is pretty good which means we got Grant and a 1st for CJ. Again, what we all have to realize is this was all Fait Accompli after Olshey robbed the cupboards and hamstrung us with contracts again and again. My biggest gripes with Cronin are the LAC trade and signing Nurk. Clearly signing GPII was a mistake, but 5 Seconds is probably worth a 1st or very close to it. Just as 1sts only rise in value year after year due to them being akin to "in-game currency" so too do 2nd's become increasingly valuable over time. This sets us up to have a lot of assets on draft night. We have young talented players and likely a 1st and endless 2nd's we can trade. With the dreaded "CHI" trade we can remove the protection and get a real deal done. I think things are fine. This season is already done and has been for weeks. The minute some of the sleeper teams like GSW catch their stride the West turns into the most insane murderers row in NBA history. So yeah, we aren't getting through all that talent this year, especially without HCA which is all but gone. Sure we could have gotten some of those fringe guys that were moved who were solid rotation players or at best 5th best starter material, but we wouldn't have the additional assets we have now that might get us a player of consequence. Only KD and Kyrie were true difference makers. The rest were pieces that matter for rebuilding teams, or championship teams looking to deepen their bench or filling a hole because they overloaded at 3 positions in terms of salary. None of the guys listed would have put Portland in contention. That's just facts. One of the best things Joe did was what he didn't do and that's panic trade Ant, or especially Sharpe. Thank god he didn't piss away our two best assets for a move that made us marginally better. If we couldn't get KD for those guys (and I'm pretty sure we couldn't without getting rid of the CHI protections) then trading either of them would have been foolish. Only Mikal Bridges would have helped us other than KD and he went for KD so yeah. None of the list of guys that would help us would help us contend this year. Thinking long term is wiser. Right now my dream path is them winning a chip in like 3-4 years when Dame is in his Twilight and Ant is in his prime and Sharpe is becoming the Superstar he's destined to be and next to them is....some guy we got with our hoard of draft picks, along with another guy we got with our Top-10 pick this year.
I don't disagree with Magic on this one. We get to evaluate three different young wings all of whom we can let leave or keep, it will be our decision. We got a first rounder and who knows how many seconds we added, I think three. It's not what we did that makes me upset it's the one thing we didn't do. We did not add a mobile big and we desperately needed one. There were plenty being moved and not for steep prices. So that is my only criticism of Cronin. Now we'll see what we do on draft night because it better be big time stuff. Oh and as far as big deals go, if we have four first rounders that we can trade that's the kind of haul that nets you a superstar and for a superstar we would for sure put both Ant and Nurk in to make salaries match.
That is great and all. I agree, that not panicking about Ant and Sharpe is good. Saying that, I think Sharp hasn't proven anything and calling him future superstar is nothing more, than wishful thinking. I hope he will be that good, but it is 50/50 at this point. But there is one big thing with this organization and that are priorities. And they are all but winning the Championship. This crazy deadline, with all those teams trying to keep up with each other could be great opportunity to make bold move. There was no market for Nurk, maybe, but I am sure they could find market for Lillard. He could get tons of picks and/or young talent to develop along Ant and Sharpe and this would be exiting as motherf... But, I know, Blazers are not this type of organization. Not Ring Chasers. It is about loyalty and friendship. And I get it and I got nothing but love for Dame, but from a profesional basketball perspective Blazers could be somewhere now. Instead there is one leg in past, one leg in future and nothing changes. Not one bit.
We have definitely made the decision (as has Dame) that our fates are tied together, regardless of what gives either party a better chance at a Championship. So we're going to be more Ted Williams and less Kevin Durant. I'm not sure I have a problem with that.
Those are actually two very nice assets if we decide to move into the luxury tax. And I don't dismiss that we will, we just try to save becoming a repeater once we get truly competitive.
good post...sorry it took me so long to get to it I think in a 'dark-cloud/silver lining' kind of way the Blazers are in of a bit of a win-win situation. If they do 'sink' into the lottery, and the Knicks don't, the Blazers would have two first's in a solid draft. A lot of flexibility in that and good opportunity to seriously upgrade talent. If Portland, in a major upset, does get into the playoffs, then holy-shit! that 'flexibility-killing-dumbass-WTF' encumbrance Olshey locked all future 1st round picks into is done. And the Blazers have a world of opportunity with future 1st's that has been not there for years I get people's frustration and negativity. Yeah, I do think some of it is just ridiculous, but at the same time, some of it is valid. The entire saga of Payton's career in Portland is a giant cluster-fuck...for example I do think some of these negative reactions are based upon unrealistic expectations. Some people have seriously over-valued Blazer assets leading into the trade deadlines I don't give Cronin a full pass here either. But he inherited from Olshey a roster filled with pennies, nickels, and maybe a couple of dimes; maybe. And of course one dollar. And it sure seems that people expected Cronin to convert a roster of 'pennies-nickels-a-dime-or-two-and a dollar' into a roster of 'dimes-quarters-and 2 dollars', and do so in a year. It's just not realistic at all to expect that quick a turnaround, especially with ownership allergic to tax in a league where the have's seem to have no concern about tax, and lots of it. And especially, part 2, in a league where teams were willing to spend 3 or 4 or 5 future first round picks at a time the Blazers had none to spend
Really wanted a big at the deadline. I guess they did not like Bamba who was incredibly cheap to acquire by the lakers, they likely could have got Jalen Smith from Indy very cheaply as well. That's my main gripe, really did not expect much else besides the Hart trade which I think we did fine on. Thet take fliers on guys like Reddish but no bigs?
How much of that is a reflection of the Blazers and how much of that is the Jazz and Thunder performing better than anyone anticipated, though? The Blazers are in a mosh pit of teams in the West with those two teams and a bunch of others. If this is your assessment, how would you like to be a Lakers, Clippers, Pels, T-Wolves, Warriors or Suns fan? I think it'd be fair to say all of them had higher expectations than we did. Yet we're all in that same mosh pit.
This is good and fair, for the most part. I might give the Blazers a B- on the Payton trade because they got a lot of assets and got out of a moderately bad contract for a guy that didn't do a heck of a lot when he played and didn't play a heck of a lot. Not sure what "playmaking" the author is referring to with Payton; I honestly can't remember him running the offense. He barely shot enough to even be called a 3-and-D guy. He hustled. He hustled well. And he was quick with the joke. But even beyond the contract, he might be addition by subtraction -- maybe I'm the only, but I look at Keon Johnson and I say to myself "couldn't he be contributing what Payton does and a little bit more?" Maybe they get the lower grade because they didn't get Bey.
I don't think we are ever trading Lillard. Doing so would be an unbelievably bad look for the franchise unless he publicly asked out, which is extremely unlikely IMO. His entire brand is loyalty. Also, I'm pretty sure we couldn't trade Dame even if we wanted to until the off-season. Be careful what you wish for!
