How's everyone feel about Smokin' Joe Cronin now?

It was clearly failure. The only credible rumor of a good player for the #3 was Lopsided Fantasy League trader Ujiri, and if it was really Scoot plus Sharpe for OG then that's an Ultra-Giga Fuck No from me Dawg.

 

What do you have against the sun?

 

Yes, but Haynes left out the other part of the quote "while a deal could be worked out with Miami".

Read the article. It's about as one-sided as it could be. "Miami felt", "Lillard felt", "Goodwin was trying". Nothing from Portland's view. Haynes was freaking Baghdad Bob on this one. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...een-damian-lillard-and-portland-trail-blazers

And for the record, if someone isn't returning my calls or texts and I really want to talk or make a deal with them, I find another way. Send them a formal proposal via certified mail for example. Make a public trade offer and say Portland isn't responding to us. It's not hard.

 

That’s a fair point. Maybe a Super Man II imprisoned in a pane of glass and shot into space.

 

I would just like someone to provide me with some sort of proof that a reasonable trade was available that would have made Dame happy and Joe turned it down.

Torey and Eric said that Jaylen Brown wanted to come here. That's fantastic.... what did the Celtics want?

Plenty of reports that Joe offered #3 and Simons to the Nets for Bridges. He was rebuffed.

Reports that New Orleans never offered Zion and only wanted the #3 for future draft assets.

Siakam wouldn't commit to signing here so trading the third pick in the draft for him would have been malpractice.

What other trades are out there? KAT? Paul George? OG? Nobody can provide one damn bit of evidence that Joe wasn't doing his job. All we have is Dame and his feelings. Just because Dame thinks he handed Jaylen Brown to Joe on a silver platter does NOT mean that Boston was willing to play ball. What if Boston wanted Scoot/Sharpe/Simons and picks? Would you do that deal?

 

I think we might see the Blazers side of all this leak in the next few days. Woj or someone else will report it out. At the very least I think we will get more information about the grievance that was filed.

 

It makes no sense.

If no Miami, I want to come back to Portland. But only until you can work something out with Miami.

I think some are taking two different quotes. Dame said earlier that he would report to camp. In the interview with Haynes, he said Dame wanted to rescind the trade if no Miami

 

For the record, Dame calling the team out publicly to improve the roster really handicapped the franchise. How do you make a trade when the rest of the league knows your star is demanding you improve your roster immediately?

I'm not blaming Dame, I get it. I'm just saying that he didn't help matters. He could have said "I want players to come to Portland if they want to play with me because I'm never leaving" publicly and say "Get me some help or trade me to a contender" privately.

 

I think Dame's brand took a massive hit this summer for obvious reasons and this article is about trying to shift the blame.

 

I don't personally. But he did not do what he said he would do, so he either lied or failed. Neither is awesome.

You mentioned Jeremi and GPII earlier. And I've always thought the same: that they are evidence of Joe trying to make it work. I think it's reasonable to think Joe had a plan that didn't work out. At all. But he kept saying the same shit: we're going to build around Dame.

All this might be better for the Blazers--probably is--but it's still fucked.

Haynes and Dame himself essential portrays Joe as childish and petty. As did the national media leading up to the trade. Everything points to this, unless we believe no outside coverage. Is "Trust no one!" the mantra? Or is the most obvious storyline the actual storyline?

 

How about act like a professional and honor the contract that he signed worth 45m-63m a year to play fucking basketball? Yes we drafted another PG because that was the best player available, and how the hell that was going to work, who knows. But maybe just let Cronin figure it out, or failing that, hang himself with the decision and get fired? What you don't do is go scorched earth and demand you get traded to only Miami. Love Dame, but he made his bed at that point, and given the last sentence of his letter yesterday I think he knows it.

I don't see either side as "evil" quite frankly. It's just unfortunate that it all happened the way it did.

 

Yes, because I know the meaning of words.

nar·ra·tive n. a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

 

No. The Miami media portrayed Joe as petty. I have listened to countless podcasts from reputable people. Zach Low, Bill Simmons, Sam Vecenie, etc etc etc. Nobody is saying Joe was petty. Nobody. If anything, they're standing up for him. Only the Miami people and Dame's own shills are the ones saying the word "petty."

 

Joe doesn't have to be the villain. That being said, it's disingenuous to say that it seemed like Joe's first priority was to build a contender around Dame. I get it that the best value with the 7th pick in 2022 might have been Shae but not for a team desperate to put a contender around Dame, I get it that the best value for the 2nd pick and 23rd pick in this past draft may have been Scoot and Kris but not for a team desperate to put a contender around Dame. Every move made by Joe with the exception of Jerami has looked like a rebuild, I hear people saying GP2 but dude wasn't ever even really here and turned into picks.

None of that means that Joe is the bad guy, he was just making the prudent moves. I wonder if Joe is averse to starting confrontation because his constant insistence that he was building a contender around Dame while doing the opposite didn't make sense. From Dame's perspective it was more of the same from a guy very involved in all of the unfulfilled promises of his predecessor. I think all of the Olshey bullshit combined with Cronin saying one thing and then doing another, even if it wasn't dishonest but just situational pushed Dame to a point of being unreasonable. I just think everyone who is looking for a bad guy in this just because so many of us are very let down is looking for a place to lay blame with prejudice and while there is plenty of blame to go around I don't think any of what has been done was underhanded.

 

Well, and Joe Cronin might as well be the antagonist in the upcoming indy movie "The Personal War of Torey Jones."

 

So the issue is not that he did not try to do what he said he will - but that Dame and he had a difference of opinion of how fast it would be.

This does not paint Joe as someone that lied, but it does paint Dame as someone that does not understand the reality of building a team from a GM standpoint properly.

 

Haynes doesn't use a quote. Of course, Dame was going to report to camp; he's under contract. The word "rescind" was Haynes', not Lillard's. Lillard said elsewhere he was willing to start the year with Portland. That's a far cry from promising to finish his contract quietly here. He wanted to move on at some point. Cronin felt it was better for the team to resolve it before the season.

If Lillard REALLY wanted to stay, he could have made a desire to stay public, and the PR nightmare faced by the Blazers would have been overwhelming and irresistible to accede to his wishes. Instead, it comes when he's on a flight to Wisconsin.

 

Oh true. Good point.

And I'm not hating on Shaedon or Scoot or anyone. I'll buy tickets and go to maybe 2o games this season. I just don't like the way Dame's tenure with the Blazers ended and believe Dame's account of how it happened. I think it makes the most sense, and again, fits with all the reports leading up to now.

 

Wow. I’m just gonna end it right here.

 

It was reported repeatedly that Joe had not spoken to Miami since Summer League. He NEVER reengaged Miami--the place Dame wanted to go. That's petty.