Lillard wants major trade this summer

https://clutchpoints.com/blazers-news-damian-lillard-sends-aggressive-message-to-front-office

“That means we go into the offseason and we don’t come out the way we have in the past,” Lillard said. “Where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going to try to do something,’ and then we watch other people capitalize on things that are out there, and we pass, pass, pass, pass and can’t get anything done and then it’s done.”

Sounds like he’s not thrilled with Cronin.

 

Well it’s true. You got to be aggressive. If you fail you fail, but at least you tried. Sucks that a young unproven GM’s track record is at stake but he knew this going into the position.

But, Lillard has to be okay with his buds being completely available in trades as well.

Shit or get off the pot.

 

He wasn’t thrilled by Olshey.

 

But until he pulls the trigger it’s just talk whether he’s gathering the assets or not. The last time the franchise made a blockbuster trade was to get Pippen over 20 years ago, so holding our breath that the GM will act prudent is a tough sell around these parts

 

Portland fans have heard way too much happy talk from their GMs, and seen way too little action.

 

Cronin has cleaned up a contract mess that led to the purgatory of mediocrity.
This summer he finishes the job with a big trade to help Dame or Dame (IMHO) gets traded.

 

I think Lillard gets traded. But I’m just hoping it’s not pennies on the dollar which IMHO has been Cronin’s track record

 

it may or may not be a shot at Cronin, but it's definitely a shot at Olshey. I'm pretty sure Dame detested Olshey

the issue though is ownership and the Vulcans

 

I think Dame has always been ok with buddies being traded if it was a legitimate attempt to upgrade the roster. Several of his good buddies have been traded (Batum, Barton, Plumlee, CJ)

 

Ant’s contract is hardly “huge”. 10 years ago yeah, but not today

 

This shall be the summer that determines our path over the next decade.

 

I don't trust the ownership to do right by him.

 

The biggest problem ia you have to be willing to sell high on an asset you don’t want to trade. If you truly want quality coming back then Simons and Sharpe have to be available. I’m guessing team like Clippers might blow up at end of year if they don’t go far in playoffs same for Toronto. Those are two teams you have to look at making deal.

 

Dame hopefully sees Billups is not the right guy. This team shouldn't be the 7th worst in the league with this roster.

 

Don't forget, he got a modest return on Hart who he had to give away because he couldn't afford to re-sign after handing out the aforementioned contracts. See, Joe's proactive!

Honestly, I don't know why anyone bothers complaining about the front office or roster. This team is so anchored by Dame's contract, that's the ship we're sailing on for the foreseeable future. And to continue that metaphor, we'll see how many GMs eventually go down with the ship through the duration of that contract. Unless ownership simply doesn't care about seaworthy-ness, front office performance will continue to mediocre at best.

 

let's see now....I think it's fair, in a practical sense, to wonder how many player salaries are within +/-5% of the cap compared to Dame. That's a manageable margin. He's making 42.4M. 5% of the cap is about 6M. So, the cut-off would be 36.4M.

that means 20 NBA players are "anchoring ships" around the league to about the same extent that Dame anchors HMS Portland. 43 players make more than 30M.

going back to those 20 players, more will be added over the next couple of years as the extensions of Booker, KAT, Embiid, & Jokic kick in.

having a 10 year veteran max on a top-10 talent seems more like a necessary ingredient for a contender than an anchor. The difficult trick is having a 2nd player talented enough to also warrant a top-20 salary. That's how a contender is built

 

Do right by him? His 2025-26 contract is 2nd largest in the NBA just slightly behind Curry. Sure others will pass that, but I would say they did right by him.

 

It's not all about money

 

No, just the most important one.