...in a good way. Never saw Yang coming, of course. Never foresaw a buyout for Ayton, and while that seemed suboptimal at the time, it facilitated signing Dame (which, while I don't particularly see the value for the on-court product, is definitely a feel-good story). Simons for Jrue was a fantastic surprise - I may be higher on that than anyone, just because Jrue has such a reputation for being an incredible human being and because I love good defense more than good offense. So... what's Cronin going to do to fuck it up? This is too good to be true. The only fanbases that have more of a right to feel that their team conjured something out of nothing are the Nuggets and the Clippers (and the Clippers cheat by having Steve Ballmer).
I eat pizza sometimes, so I had heard rumblings about an interest in Dame. No idea how or why, just a discussion. I had heard that the team was looking to move on from Ant, Grant and Ayton. That being said what happened to those players was a complete shock. Oh and I knew nothing about the draft This front office zigs when we all think they will zag
I'd say signing Holiday and Grant was probably a motivator for Grant this upcoming season. He and Dame are close...they won a gold medal together and Dame lobbied for Grant...at this point I wouldn't want to give up the chance to see if they can make it work and that's probably where Joe landed when they found they could bring Dame back.
I'm actually very intrigued to see how Grant plays without Ant/Ayton, and with Dame. I think there's a real chance he plays much better than last year, more like his first two Blazer seasons. Plus more willingness to play a lesser role. I mean if not doesn't seem like his trade value can go down. At least next summer he's only on a two year deal.
Yeah I wanted to move him when we could get some draft compensation, but if we are at a point now where we would have to attach picks to get rid of him, fuck that. Keep him. He’s better than anything we could get back. Rather just ride it out. I’d tell him that if he wants to get off this team, he better start playing better and getting his value up.
This is probably my favorite off-season of the Cronin era. Though I was very pleased with the initial Dame haul at the time. Love the Ayton buyout Love moving down in the draft and getting an unprotected pick Super excited for Yang ( though I wasn't immediately at the draft) Love moving on from Ant, Love Jrue - though I do think it's a bad contract in year 2 and 3 Love the defensive identity Dame signing was pretty cool, enjoy it much more than I expected. Obviously some big question marks how it'll ultimately work but I think all parties will figure that out when needed. Ultimately our 2-5 year success will primarily come down to how all our youth continues to develop.
Jeramy, Jrue, Dame — 2 year contracts with p-opts. A coincidence. Even with (and including for now) Time Lord and Matisse and Reath, this is a team that is in a developmental stage of its youth — Scoot, Shaedon, Rupert, Toumani, Deni, Clingan, Yang, and Murray … ages 21-25. Will some stability and grown man behavior accelerate the growth of the younger players? Help the roster grow in a certain way? It’s a surprising summer, and it feels like the moves are done — or maybe I’ll be surprised again.
I think Dame, Jrue and Grant is pretty darn solid second team. Highest paid second team in the league but should be able to do some good stuff...when Dame is back. I don't mind Grant on a second team (although overpaid for that) and think he could be a good option there.
If healthy and not significantly age-affected, Dame/Jrue/Deni/Grant/RW3 could be a pretty damn good starting 5. If we make it to the play-in...
