Sharpe is the only solid good thing Cronin has done so no I wouldn't change that. Collins or Randle were apparently both available. Blazers could've likely put a future pick in to snag one of them, it didn't have to be #7. Instead the Blazers saved the cash cutting Bledsoe. Sure you can list a dozen reasons the trades might been difficult. There are a dozen other trades to bring in veteran talent the Blazers could've done. They didn't, they saved the cash. Maybe that's a Vulcan/Jody thing and not Cronin. Well it's also a GM job to manage the owner. If Hart wasn't interested in being in Portland long term then it was Cronin fault for giving up CJ for him.
I want to see the Blazers make good decisions so this team can either win in the short term or win in the long term. It's pretty obvious when poor decisions are being made IMO: Turner and Meyers overpaid contracts, pairing Melo defense with Kanter, having the two stars be short 6'3" poor defenders, signing GP2, letting assets expire for nothing but cash savings, overpaying MLE veterans 70million, having the two stars be short 6'3" poor defenders. Maybe I'm wrong on a couple I think are bad or good, but overall I'd say when we see a dozen GM actions with clear trends we can make a fair judgment of that GMs performance. If you want to watch the Cronin story with a bag of popcorn and wait a few years to make your judgement go ahead. I'm going to complain immediately when the bad decisions happen and likewise praise any good decisions as well.
I’m pretty sure I said this summer is my timeline for judging Cronin as GM. If you want to make up my side of the conversation you can do it without me. Knock yourself out.
lol..right. All they had to do was make this year's pick unprotected...then they could have offered the 2o25 first....yeeesh every time I've heard people talk about the supposed trade for Randle, it was always with the thought of the 7th pick for the 11th pick. What the Knicks wanted was that 7th pick. We have little evidence they were willing to pay the 11th and Randle for it and the same would almost certainly be true for Collins. your assertion that the Blazers could have offered a future pick, which they didn't have, plus Bledsoe, and landed Collins or Randle is baseless. In fact, it's loopy in other words, you're suggesting there were anonymous imaginary trades and then using that vague assertion to bash Cronin. step right up and gaze at the massive hypothetical value of Eric Bledsoe's expiring contract lol...I enjoyed watching Hart as a Blazer for 60 games a lot more than watching CJ for 600 games. I'm very glad CJ isn't a Blazer any more. Good job Cronin doing what Olshey refused to do
Trades like Ainge did would have been to trade Dame. Boston got better because they traded their star players Utah traded their star players Cronin HAS picked a plan. He told everyone this was not a one year fix. So he added picks and young talent to make a move this summer to build around Dame…..which is the wrong plan, IMO
You of course are free to judge Cronin however you want. He's already performed at two trade deadlines, one draft and one free agency. After this summer he will then have had 6 key opportunities to make improvements to this roster. I wouldn't ever judge a GM by a lack of action at a single one of these moments; it takes a counterparty to complete a transaction and we don't know if any reasonable offers will be available. So I don't believe its fair to demand he take action only this summer. It might be in the best interest of the Blazers to wait. But I certainly do judge a GM any time they complete an action, or once we've had enough periods of opportunities. Perhaps you have been waiting for Cronin to take a good winning action since Neil left and your deadline is this summer. To me the biggest issues with Cronin are #1 The prioritizing of cash savings over talent; which is likely more a Jody/Vulcan thing but still is tied to Cronin performance. #2 not having a consistent direction. If we are building for youth and the long term then we shouldn't acquire vets like Hart/Grant/cap space/GP2/overpay Nurk. If we are building to win now we shouldn't dump vets like Hart/Powell/ Nance/save Bledsoe cash/ maybe not even draft Sharpe. We shouldn't try to acquire financial "flexibility" in the Clippers/Pelicans trades only to throw away that flexibility by being hard capped. We shouldn't acquire a pick for Hart on an expiring contract but give up a pick for Grant on an expiring contract. The time to decide on a clear long term direction for this franchise was when Neil was fired. I was hoping we would search for a great GM such as Ainge to come in, have a focused clear vision, and lead on to that new era. I was fine going young or going with veterans but it should've been one or the other. Instead the team handed Cronin, the cheapest GM option available, the authority to begin that change, and he took actions that consistently have reduced the talent on this team without having the means to replace it. Yes some fans just love any non Olshey action and were clamoring to have change for the sake of change. We have a roster where every single Blazers player except Watford was acquired or signed by Cronin. The roster has very little veteran talent, very little young talent, and a lack of future draft assets. How anybody can be happy with the job Cronin has done is insane to me.
I have no faith in the ownership/front office. I have not heard anyone in the media say "oh POR, now they are in a great position." or "POR is smart". It is not going to happen. It just ain't. Next years starting 5 is : Dame Ant Thybulle Grant Nurk
Such an odd conclusion, especially since it was under Cronin that Watford had his contract changed from 2-way to a regular contract. And it's also weird to credit Nurk, Simons, Little and Damian as "signed" by Cronin, since they were already on the team before he was made GM.
Cronin resigned or extended all four of them. I thought Watford current contract was under Olshey, if not then it's the entire team.
Only one of these that is "on" Cronin is Dame. He had to extend the others or there would be no replacement or contracts to trade. It's that simple. As for extending Dame, that's probably the only way to ensure him the team is not being stripped for parts to become the Kings of 16 years ago. So, I would still say that this is still all part of the recovery from the NeO regime.
They had some tough choices, including being forced to re-sign Nurk. But realistically, there was no plausible alternative way to go, at that point.
I'll tell you why you're wrong. Dame has said he isn't cool with how things are right now. If Cronin doesn't make a move that gets Dame an all star to play with on draft night then Dame will ask out before free agency starts. Cronin then will trade Dame and we'll get a good young player or two, a vet we don't really want and some future firsts that likely won't be lotto picks. He also will not re-sign Grant. I also think we'd dump Nurk in that case. So the starting lineup would likely be Ant, Shae, some young player we get in the Dame trade, our pick and the Knicks pick. What I'm saying is that there is no staying with this status quo. We will either see a big move or moves on draft night or we'll see a big move with Dame being traded.
Gotta keep Sharpe (I wouldn't trade Sharpe for anything short of a Superstar wing or center in their prime right now) and Dame and trade anyone and anything else including this year's pick unless we land #1.
And overpaying players to save money. She could be attending games to show that she's not interested in selling. Trying to increase the value of offers.
Giannis or if we get two of Bridges Brown Embiid Siakam. Those are the only players I trade Sharpe for. Yeah those are all extremely unlikely trades - that's the point, he's nearly untradable. I trade #3 or Dame before Sharpe.
