kayla has been off IG and noticeably absent in his social media posts the past few months. does not surprise me
You play 10+ years and what do ya get Another day older, ain't got no vets L.A. don't ya call me, cuz I can't go I promised my soul to the Heat, ya know..... Tennessee Ernie Ford
I'm surprised we haven't heard more of the Cavs trying to get involved in the trade. Seems to me it'd be the ideal time for them to get Nas and unload Osman. If I'm the Blazers, I'd want the Cavs involved because, if there's truth they're looking to move Jarrett Allen, it's a great opportunity for the Blazers to bring him in.
Yeah, the fact that Shelburne posted that BOS had enough assets to do it kinda makes it seem like they're trying to give Riley time to beat the offer...not that they're completely unreasonable. (For the record, I'd like them to be Ainge-level unreasonable and get back a haul. But that's tough to do)
Not for me. People forget that Lebron the GM absolutely gutted the future of those late-2000s Cavs team for just the reason people are saying about Cronin...."trade our assets in lopsided deals for guys I want (like Wally Szczerbiak and Mo Williams and Joe Smith and...) and I'll stay." Then after he couldn't win with his guys, he goes to South Beach and leaves a flaming wreckage with little future behind him. The real Lebron analogy would've been if Dame had said "trade Scoot and Sharpe and Simons for (insert formerly good player here that doesn't get us over the hump), and fill out the roster trading future firsts for older players on bad contracts, and after we lose in the playoffs this year I'm leaving for nothing."
Ugh.... Zach Lowe and John Hollinger are crapping all over our dreams. They think the Heat trade is reasonable and they don't even think that Miami needs to include all their assets.
Eh, that's what Hollinger thinks, though Lowe called the whole enchilada trade from the Heat (i.e. they offer everything) "palatable." And I think that's fair. It's not a great package and not likely the best out there, but if we ended up with at least two of Jovic, Jaquez, and Martin and four picks (at least one coming from the Herro flip), I think it is fair to call it tolerable. Not ideal, but tolerable. Hollinger is one of the most overrated "analysts" around, so I generally ignore nearly all of his opinions.
Lowe asked Hollinger about the "do right by Dame" thing and if it matters if we send Dame to Siberia/backlash from players etc. Hollinger: "I don't think that's a thing. Honestly... 99% of free agency decisions are based on one thing, which is which team can offer the most money. Then when you get into these situations with max players, they all want to go to the same four cities, and Portland, Oregon is never going to be one of those cities. So what are you doing here... you gotta make the best deal for your team that gives you the best asset haul. Now that may end up being Miami just because other teams are leery of him not being happy where he's sent, but we ran into this situation twice in Memphis and inevitably you're going to send the guy to a pretty good situation if he's an older player because a 20 win team isn't going to be going after him unless they're just run by morons. Marc ended up going to Toronto because that ended up being the best deal we had, Mike ended up going to Utah because that ended up being the best deal. They both went to really good teams. Marc won the title and Mike's team had the best record in the league one year. So I just think that's inevitably what happens. They go somewhere good but when a player gives you a list of one destination, you're not required to accommodate that. I'm sorry. Especially when he has 4 years left on his deal and you just extended that deal for two years and 120 million or whatever and made him defacto GM for 18 months."
Is this too gready? OKC: Bertans + Miami '25 -> Finney-Smith Thunder get a playable player that they can flip at a later date. They give up Miami's (late round pick) for the better player. Miami: Herro, Martin, Jaquez, Jovic, Lowery, + '24 '26, '28, '30, +swaps in '27. & '29 4 Dame, Little, Bertans, Miami '25 Heat get their guy, but have to eat a contract. Getting their 25 pick back unlocks all their remaining picks for Dame Nets: Simmons, Finney-Smith, PHX '29 ->. Lowery & Simons Nets get the scoring guard they need & a vet mentor PG while dumping Simmons Blazers: Dame, Simons, Little. -> Herro, Martin, Jaquez, Jovic, Simmons, + 5 firsts & 2 swaps Blazers get a haul.
Some good stuff in Woj's most recent article on ESPN. Here are some highlight quotes: "As he executes the exit of the greatest player in franchise history, executives talking to Cronin describe him as devoid of sentiment. Business for Lillard, business for the Blazers." "Goodwin is telling organizations outside of Miami that trading for Lillard is trading for an unhappy player. As interference goes, this is a time-honored agent maneuver to depress offers and clear a path to a predetermined destination. General managers who talked with ESPN suggested that pressure won't impact how they'll proceed. They would have Lillard under contract for four years, and believe his default mechanism would remain playing hard and well." "Cronin has made it clear his allegiance is to the franchise's future, not its past." "Portland doesn't want guard Tyler Herro and the four years and $120 million owed on his extension, but there are teams that have told ESPN they would surrender a good first-round pick to the Blazers -- maybe something more -- to become a facilitator by taking on Herro in a three-way deal." "This is the trade of Joe Cronin's NBA life. It doesn't have to go quickly, but it does have to go right."
Interesting. Iirc, Woj has been portrayed as anti-Shams (to be fair, I lean that way) and therefore both anti-Dame and even more stuff bordering on off-topic (articles around Christmas of 21 insinuating Dame wasn’t all he talked about. Hmm…) Sign of either his feeling of invincibility right now or his affection for the Blazers that he’s the lead in the response to the Big Media, Riley and Agent Machine message.
I understand that the general sentiment is that Woj is "carrying water for Cronin", but this is precisely in line with how I've felt it should go all along. I have a really hard time believing that Dame would suddenly become a pouty malcontent if he is traded to a team that he didn't hand-pick, and doubt that any GM's believe that would happen. If Miami doesn't step up its offer, I don't see how Cronin accepts an offer from them.
It seems pretty clear that Aaron Goodwin is an asshole. Dame's trade demand seems the most egregious of any of them in recent history (save for other than Ben Simmons, the difference is that the team has catered to him for years whereas Ben was being shit on constantly). I wonder if teams avoid doing business with him in the future.
