He turned around the fortunes of this franchise, Dame’s displeasure, his own reputation, the age of this team, a guard heavy rotation, the ghost of Neil Olshey, and a mediocre center issue, in one fell swoop. And he added a heaping teaspoon of Miami comeuppance and Schadenfreude to boot! Whose going to top that?
Saw an article that mentions this somewhere. Yes I'd put money on that bet, he is probably the favorite thus far. Many fellow GMs in the league hated the 1 team list and pressure he had to accept less only from Miami. He'll get a lot of votes for successfully navigating that. So big props for the Dame haul, especially if some things happen such as Ayton/Williams play good, the Warriors struggle, Brogdon gets value in a trade, Scoot having a ROY quality year, etc. Also depends what other teams do as well, if Bucks Celtics Suns Lakers run far away with the best record one of their GMs could get it.
So outside of the Lakers, you're basically saying it's either Cronin or someone he traded with. Yeah, I'm down with that.
I hope he gets it. Even just being Runner up would be an accolade he can wear proudly. He sure went from being weakest link to Anchor and righting this ship at least on paper. Still the book has just started. Let's see how it reads at the end of this year's campaign.
Speaking of the weak link. Some people have said that Anfernee Simons is the last piece of the Olshey puzzle. Actually there are two last pieces: Anfernee Simons and Chauncey Billups. Sounds like the Blazers want to keep Simons. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Billups. He has seemed to do well with a younger lineup and more movement in the offense. Even though he was an Olshey hire to coach veterans, he might turn out to be much better with the current roster.
I'm pretty amazed at what Joe has pulled off. It may be seasons off, but I have hopes for the team being competitive again for the first time since Aldridge left, so massive kudos to Cronin. For him to win EotY though he'll probably need to have an accomplishment closer to the voting... Henderson winning Rookie of the Year would do it STOMP
A bunch are coming around. Been said a number of times that Joe Cronin is usually the smartest guy in the room.
Cronin has learned the Riddle of Steal (how one fleeces Boston right before camp). Now Crom willing, he will flip Brogdon for more assets and become King.
I'm just glad Olshey is gone. Just look at how hard he banked on Aminu and Harkless....two guys who played their way out of the league shortly after leaving Portland. He kept that core together too long, dealt how many first round picks for basically nothing, over-paid players like crazy, and didn't keep the players he did hit on like Connoughton.
It's easier to tear down a team than it is to build one up. Given the circumstances, he did well. But the fact that the best player in franchise history is gone because of his ineptitude and overpromising should not be dismissed.
Oh my GAWD how the F are people still saying this? Again, WHAT TRADE DID CRONIN PASS ON?!?!!?!?!? The only rumored trade was the #3 and Simons for OG which it seems the Raps rejected and asked for Sharpe to be included. This perfectly fits the Masai MO of being a Fantasy League lopsided trader, or back out at the last second. In Cronin's what now, just under 2 seasons, what major mistake did he make, other than Roco and Norm? Answer, he didn't. He got us off CJ's horrible deal and ended up getting multiple firsts (counting the Josh Hart 1st). He has cleared out all the Olshey deadwood (Nurk, etc.) and added the two best propsects since Dame. We have the best young core we have had since LMA/Roy, all Cronin's doing, but yeah, since Cronin took over 12/2021 he REALLY should be blamed for not keeping Dame. Let's ignore the Henry Abbot Libel worthy claim if false, that this Dame exit was planned by Goodwin for years. Let's ignore the zero trades of note other than OG Anounby and let's straight up make out of whole cloth phantom trades that Cronin mismanaged. It was Olshey, it was ALWAYS Olshey. Just stop!
I have many serious concerns about Billups ever being a contending coach. But that's totally irrelevant right now, he needs to develop young guys and have buy in from his players. Strategic X O, ability to win games, etc just don't matter at this time.
False, Dame is not gone because of Cronin ineptitude. Dame wanted a chance to contend and there was zero path for Cronin to do it in the timeframe Dame wanted.
