Trade Josh Hart traded to the Knicks

Clearly tanking.

 

he essentially told everybody that in an interview when the Knicks visited Portland. He said he was an east coast guy and his wife wanted to return to the east where her family was and also she hated flying

 

Being able to get #23 to pay off Chicago + getting Thybulle in another move — IMHO, an improvement. I do miss Hart with his grit, motor and boards.

 

Definitely worth that contract.

 

I like Josh and he deserves that money but I’m glad we didn’t give it to him. That’s with the reports of him wanting to go back east aside, I don’t think he fits our timeline anymore. Thybulle is only 26 and he makes almost half what Hart is making now.

 

Rather have that deal than $160 million to Jerami Grant.

 

yes, it's important we root for Jody Allen making lots of money. Otherwise she might get grumpy and sell the team to an optimistic owner that wants to spend money and see the Blazers win.

 

Hey… if you want to repeat the mistakes of the Olshey era and hand out big contracts to role players, I guess that’s your prerogative.

 

Josh Hart is…. What…. 6’5?

Grant is 6’8?

Yup. Let’s keep adding guys under 6’6 to our roster. It has worked SO well for us.

 

Hart plays like he's 6'9".

Grant plays like he's 6'2".

 

Grant creates offense.

Hart doesn't.

 

Was offense ever our problem?

 

And yet... you can't put a 6'2 guy on LeBron or Giannis or whoever.

 

Hart was great to have on the Blazers but his inexplicable allergy to shooting 3s and loss of aggression to the hoop made it 4 on 5. On D and rebounding he was good to go. On O, someone stole his mojo.

Getting a 1st rounder (who I expected would pay off Chicago … but became Kris Murray — really good pick) was a strong return for an undersized SF who was going to get paid more than optimal for a 6th man … somewhere else. Thybulle is the better value. For this team moving forward — Hart vs. Murray? An easy choice for me. Murray.

 

Im not convinced that there's much of a difference defensively of LeBron vs Hart or LeBron vs Grant

Same with Giannis.

Hart plays with passion, energy, & effort that you just don't see with Grant.

Without considering contracts or roster construction - I pick Hart every single time over Grant

 

Without considering contacts - You'd be alone amongst NBA GMs.

 

let's not forget blaming Neil Olshey for everything doesn't hold much water, because Joe Cronin was the #2 guy drafting all the Blazers after Lillard, and stirring up the crummy deals Olshey put together.

If Blazer fans hope Mike Schmitz can turn this team around by rebuilding through the draft, then my prerogative is to say... give up on Cronin and hand the keys to Schmitz. Acquiring veteran role players shouldn't be left to the decisions of Joe Cronin. His history of subpar talent acquisition only speaks for itself.