Disagree. Its gonna keep on going because no matter what the team does some like to complain about the negatives and ignore the positives. Anyhow, what say you about the below post?
Not including Simons kind of makes it irrelevant to most of the concerns... I'm not opposed to keeping either Grant or Ayton longer term at the right price.
Would we really be punting tough decisions? If my suggestion doesn't work out, what is the worst-case scenario? They walk, freeing up cap space? If you don't trust Cronin, fine, but that kind of limits most discussions. What are the other options? Trading the players you don't like for shit draft picks and pray that we can use those picks for some kind of fantasy trade. Talk about a great plan.
Not sure where not including Simons came into play? I didn't mention that one way or another. But I do agree with you, both he and Grant need to be moved. Im fine keeping Ayton one more year, as Reath is a huge drop off. We need two good centers.
The post you're referring to specifically excluded Simons. That's why I didn't feel it was relevant for me to respond to.
oh gotcha. Fair enough, but i think it would have solidified the argument even more. Ant sucked ass to start the season.
the process doesn't start today. The process started when Dame was traded and that's when the punting started I know you like Simons and I know you like Ayton; and I know you want to keep seeing them in Blazer uniforms. I don't. They aren't winning players imo as far as fantasy trades, I have been saying for a long time I'd be just fine with a 2nd round pick and expiring contracts for either. I doubt the Blazers could get an expiring for Grant. I've been in the 'addition-by-subtraction' stance for a while. And yes, a 2nd round pick is better than letting them walk as far as trusting Cronin to hold the line on new deals for Simons and Ayton...why the fuck should I? Why do you? He gave Simons 25M/year; gave Nurkic 18M/year; gave Grant 33M/year; gave an injured Gary Payton a max MLE deal that hard-capped the Blazers; matched the crazy Thybulle offer sheet; and traded for the albatross Ayton contract. Other than rookie deals, the only good contract on the team is Avdija's and Cronin didn't give Deni that deal; it was another GM so no, I don't trust him to hold the line and sign Simons and/or Ayton to 'good' contracts because there's nothing in his history suggesting he has that willpower
Addition by subtraction is fine for Grant, as he has a longer contract. Yes, I would take a 2nd. Dumping Ant and Ayton for a 2nd is a plan, just not one that will make a difference. Not when they are on ending contracts. As for Ant and Ayton not being "winning players" ....Ayton losing in the finals makes him a non-winning player? I am not sure how you can come up with that. Every player is a winning player if they have the right teammates.
On the vets, im not sure it was to trick someone into over paying as much as it was trying to avoid further decrease in their value. If we had started the core and brought the vets off the bench, our situation now would likely be similar. The only way to lose a bunch would have been to not play the vets at all. Im fairly certain, their value would have decreased even further if we didn't play them at all. How much is debatable. Just like how much or little it set us back. Is there a team you can think of that started a season not playing any of their vets at all, in preference to a young core in recent history? I cant.
They should have been traded prior to the season. At least 2 of the 3. Certainly Simons. The replacements would not be as good as they are. They would not be as good as our young guys. Or as respected by officials. We'd have lost a lot more games.
Yep. And it's been a disaster and very likely locked us into purgatory. I hope not. But that is the most likely scenario, by far.
Purgatory doesn't usually have 14 game improvements. Sacramento went 16 years between playoffs. That's purgatory. This is Blazer fans being over the top pessimistic because the team to too good to suck.
You don't have to suck to draft Deni Advija because you already have that guy locked up...I'm way more interested in seeing young guys become all nba or make a deep playoff run than drafting the next DeAndre Ayton...and we have him already as well. How great is it to have Toumani and Matisse defending the other team's best players? This team is really close to being legit...this off season should be the turn around. Two way players are going to get you wins...not rookies who maybe look great in college. I think we draft really well under Joe. I'm sure we'll get a good player wherever we land in ping pong ball land.
The last 10 years mvps, 3 were drafted in the top 4, 7 were out of it. If we look at the active players that defined eras and are in the conversation for being the best player in the league at the time,.LeBron was drafted first, Steph was 7, Jokic second round. If health permits, I suspect Wemby might be the next one.. I think that being good at drafting is underrated - and it feels that this FO is good at drafting,.so I am pretty positive about the franchise future as long as ownership does not interfere...
This is our only hope. Our front office has to be better than everyone else's or we have to get lucky.
