Cronin, not being an idiot notwithstanding, couldn't conjure a good-value trade if one didn't exist. Seeing as Dame was already whining about how he won't stick around for a rebuild before the Blazers landed at #3 in the draft, Cronin was stuck with either making a bad trade or using the pick. However, I don't necessarily believe that drafting Scoot automatically locked us into a rebuild. I think it still could have been feasible to trade him in July if a reasonable deal had come available. Dame simply wasn't willing to allow the team to have that option. So no matter what actions or circumstances led to the ask, the fact remains that the ask, the decision, the choice to split came from Dame. So I do not and will not view the Dame trade as "clearing room" for Scoot, which is the position with which I take exception.
Remember after the draft—before the trade request— Joe was doing a presser and someone asked him about Scoot and Dame coexisting and he was clearly uncomfortable? Feels like there might’ve been a bit of a plan in place…
Why do say Dame was whining? Cronin said multiple times he was going to build around Danme and clearly wasn’t. The gaslight was on. And thus, by saying one thing and doing another AND then drafting Scoot, sure feels like he left Dame with very few options. Again this is the classic—hell, I’ve done it!—where you essentially force someone to break up with you by not keeping up your part of the relationship.
I should go back and replace it with "publicly declaring his aversion to teenage teammates" so that everyone can be happy.
Dame could have shut his mouth and started ahead of Scoot. Allowing the team to build the value of their assets. We could have added Ayton without trading Dame. Dame, Sharpe, Tisse, Grant, Ayton wouldn't be bad with Scoot and/or Ant off the bench (especially if we could get minutes at the 4 from Little, swinging Grant between 3 and 4). Cronin would definitely have more work to do, but that team could make the playoffs.
I disagree strongly. Building around Dame seems to mean using draft picks and trades to get players like Larry Nance Jr. , Robert Covington, and Norman Powell. That's building a roster than makes the playoffs then get bounced every year. If Dame wanted the team to get to a high level, it needed to add talent. The way most teams add talent and make a huge jump is through the draft. Cronin added what I believe to be the two most talented players since Lamarcus Aldridge. And Dame wanted them traded for more Covingtons and Powells. Or did Dame think the Blazers could trade Scoot for Giannis or Embiid? Two ball dominant passers can clearly co-exist and succeed. and Scoot could possibly the best overall passing point guard ever for the Blazers, with his athleticism and passing skills. Dame's way sucked ass.
Yeah because that's how the Bucks got over the hump and the way the Nuggets did... oh wait those teams both added through trades after building their base through the draft. You have to daft well and you have to value future FRPs a helluva lot more than Olshey did but when you have a superstar and assets, you don't have to build around that superstar with drafted players that you will have to wait on to develop. Olshey was shitty at building around Dame because he let the most valuable player Dame played with here walk, he refused to trade CJ, he made dumb trades, dumb signings and dumb draft picks. He never valued balancing the roster and always overvalued the guys he did draft. Cronin sucked at building around Dame because he was way too open publicly about being willing to overpay for vet pieces that could put us into contention and then completely unwilling to overpay for those pieces. He's either an idiot or he never really intended to build a win now roster around Dame with proven talent. The last two off seasons and the trade deadline in between, he basically said he couldn't find a team that wasn't trying to make him overpay and then consistently told the media he would overpay if needed. Joe was shooting himself in the foot way more than any player who doesn't have the power to make the actual moves ever could.
Cronin had no choice but to be public about it once Dame went public. That's on Dame. Once Dame went public the value of all Portland assets dropped.
The Bucks and Nuggets have two of the best players in the world. Which they obtained in the draft. Has Dame ever been considered one of the two best basketball players in the world? Or even in the NBA?
Joe started saying push all of the chips in and overpay if necessary, way before Dame made an ultimatum. Right after he traded CJ, RoCo, Norm and Larry, Joe started saying that shit. Dame wasn't saying anything to the media at that point except that him, Chauncey and Joe constantly talked and were on the same page.
Which brings us to the most important point: Building around Dame is a stupid idea. Dame needs another player equal to him or better to get anywhere. That's not building around Dame. That's building with Dame.
Putting a balanced roster around Dame that didn't include a no defense, score only small SG next to him the starting back court was never even attempted. So we don't know what building smartly around Dame would yield because our front office never fucking did it.
So what? You and Dame want Cronin to commit career suicide and fuck Blazer fans by trading Scoot Henderson? I don't care what Cronin said or promised. It's meaningless. Circumstances change.
Thanks for moving the goal posts. You said Dame said it first I pointed out that he didn't so you just moved onto what Joe did after a year and a half at the helm of this team, seemingly ignoring that he had a year and a half before that to not put himself in that position. Drafting Scoot seems like the best move Joe had in front of him. Trading Dame at that point was also likely the best move. I don't think that's what had to be the ultimate outcome when Joe took over. I really don't give a fuck though because this is where we're at and the roster we have now is easy to be excited about. It's not me that's trying to push some narrative about Dame anymore, I'm just responding to your posts that imply we did everything we could in a smart way and Dame just wasn't good enough or fucked it up. That's not what happened but I'm ready to move on.
I don't think that hurt at all, honestly. That's just GM speak, talking about being committed to building around Dame. No GM cared about those kind of public statements, aside from knowing we weren't planning on trading Dame for cheap.
