Why does anyone forget the time portion? Building around Dame and building around Dame immediately with depleted assets are not the same thing. Cronin said he was building around Dame and he made multiple transactions that prove he did try. It was also clear that given how bare the roster was post NeO - it would take time. I believe Cronin said it himself early in his GM'ing phase. I absolutely have no issues with Dame wanting out once it was clear that the market for the 3rd pick was not good enough in the trade market for a someone that would help with the rebuild. When this happened, Dame had 2 options, go and say, I don't want to wait, here is a list of teams that I would appreciate it if you could trade me to, or, I am willing to wait until we know how good or not these guys are and help to build their value in the trade market. The issue is the way he went about it which both hurt his chance to go to his preferred location (because the Heat did not believe they had to go all in) and hurt the Blazers by not getting the right value for him. This is 100% on him, there is no way of spinning it.
Yeah, the Miami only thing was bullshit but now we are where we are... which seems like a pretty fun place to be.
Oh, I absolutely agree. Dame or his agent f'ed up - and Cronin showed you how good of a GM he can be when he has assets to work with. It backfired on Dame (perception wise, not his chance, because Cronin did better for him chance wise that Dame himself could if he went to Miami) and that's unfortunate, because we all wanted to see a much nicer separation. Some of us, unfortunately, have lost something in this process and I put that 100% on Dame and his representation. I am glad that the Blazers are where they are. I am bummed that I will find it hard to be happy for Dame in Milwaukee because of how he conducted himself on the way out.
In light of all his recent super rad moves, I think it’s easy to forget how little Cronin did to build around Dame. It had to send a message.
In light of recent alternative truth posts, I think it's easy to forget how little Cronin had to work with it and despite that made multiple moves to try and build around Dame when he had an opportunity to.
You guys sure fall into line. Whether or not Cronin should have done what he did isn’t the point. I like where we are. This team is going to be fun. But that Cronin tried to do what he said he was going to do is pretty hard to believe.
Exactly. He had very little to work with, therefore he was full of shit saying his top priority was to build a contender around Dame. I think we’re all kind of agreeing in a weird way.
No, this is the wrong interpretation of this. He had very little to work with, so the time dimension can not be ignored. He was working to build his assets via the draft - but was still clearly working on building a contender. The difference is that you and maybe even Dame - did not correctly assess how bare the cupboard was and how long it would take. Cronin himself, after the Clippers trade way back last year said this was not going to be an immediate turn-around. It is not his fault that people did not properly understand it. If he did not want to build around Dame he would not have extended him, he would have told him to prove himself after his long year off from a serious injury and once he proved himself, traded him easily with a much smaller contract and for a lot less time. So, let's stop with the nonsense that he did not try to build around him, we have the transcript of history to dispute it. You can claim he was not fast enough which is fair factually but unfair contextually given how bare the cupboard was, but to say he did not try to - is an absolute lie that is easily disproved.
Exactly; we haven’t really had strong enough pieces to deal since LMA left. Dame needs to be a 1A or 1B in a two headed monster lineup, not The Guy with scrappy pieces around him. I really thought Nurk could be that 1B but it never gelled. Cronin had to see the writing in the wall after CJ was traded. But you can’t devalue your position by saying you’re ready to trade. So instead you rebuild and pay lip service to the rebuild actually being “building around Dame” and it turns into a verbal game of chicken to see who blinks first. Dame blinked first but it wasn’t like Cronin suddenly started rebuilding only after Dame wanted out. He’d been rebuilding for at least a year by then.
I think we have to agree to disagree. I know what you are saying, but I think it’s the wrong read of the situation. So it goes! I should NOT have brought this up again. Go Blazers!
I found it entertaining (and very telling) when Dame was trying to rewrite the script when being interviewed by Haynes in Milwaukee. It's a delicate dance to try and look good after you've forced your team's hand in an ugly manner, and then you get traded to a far better situation than the one you tried to leverage. I lost most of what little respect I had left for the guy. If he'd have just owned up and said, "I really fucked up but Portland still did me a solid", I'd have been fine with it. When he admitted that he ended up in a very good spot, the least he could have done was acknowledge Cronin's efforts. But he couldn't bring himself to take it completely over the finish line (He loves "everybody" in Portland). There's pride, and then there's hubris. Sorry to all the "Ride And Die With Dame" folks but it's a shitty look. I'm hoping he doesn't take forever for his "mea culpa" because he owes one to Cronin and one to the Portland fans.
I'll start considering the possibility that he didn't try when I see something else he could have realistically done that would have been better than what he actually did.
Im telling you now im going fishing and im going to catch 15 fish! I then wake up to find the worms have dug deep and i was only able to get 7 of them. Then when i went fishing a couple larger fish took the two worms off the hook! but i caught five fish aNd will try again tomorrow when i can dig up some more worms. Now, does that make me a liar and you never will allow me to fish again?
