At least with Olshey, on SOME of his deals there was upside... like, we gave up a lot for RoCo, but it's POSSIBLE he could have reverted to the player he was earlier in his career and been a 3-and-D guy. I feel a couple of his trades had this kind of possible (even if not PROBABLE) upside. With the deals that Cronin did... there's no upside. They didn't make us better in the short term and they didn't help (IMO) moving into the future. In fact, the "best case" for them in terms of value would just put a drag on a rebuilding that the franchise should be doing. That's the reason I'm more upset about the Cronin deals than I was with many of Olshea's deals (although the last few years it was entirely clear Olshey was painting us into a corner/screwing us over in the intermediate- to long-terms).
We have financial flexibility that we didn't have before. That was obviously the goal. I've seen nothing to indicate there was a high probability of getting better offers for the overpaid role players we had. It was always going to be painful getting out of the corner Olshey painted us into. With all the Olshey bashing, it's funny that so many people are surprised by it.
Of course there is an upside. There is less chance of continuing to go with an undersized, defensively deficient backcourt, there is a chance for Ant to get better with minutes and role, there is a chance of a balanced roster going forward and there is a chance of acquiring a good building block if the lottery is kind and / or the Blazers draft well. At the very least, it ripped the band-aid of a plateaued roster to try and rebuild on the fly and if it fails, do a proper rebuild by trying to find a place that will give Dame a real chance at a ring and the team a real chance of a rebuild with trade assets. So, frankly, I do not believe this is a proper assessment of the situation. With that being said, there is a very good chance that these moves will backfire, but saying there is no chance of an improvement from this reset is frankly, just wrong.
I think you have a reasonable take there. I don't agree with all of it but you are not just assuming and inferring things you (or I, or anybody) can't know I do disagree about the upside argument though. CJ-Powell-Nance-RoCo not only didn't have any upside left to offer Portland, their talents and salaries had Portland flat-lined with nowhere good to go. Portland dumped 4 players who were not adding any meaningful wins, BUT, were hogging half of the payroll just moving on from those players offers Portland options for upside that weren't available with them on the roster. Certainly it's fair to question if Cronin is astute enough to exploit those opportunities. I'm happy with the roster transition, but I have doubts about Cronin. And every time I hear about his alleged focus on Grant, my doubts grow
Lol. Highly doubtful. We likely won't be signing anybody we couldn't have already signed. That's not at all what the flexibility was for.
The Turner contract and basically all of 2016 was so horrible Neil deserved to be fired then. DJJ was also a horrible signing. But outside those most his moves I agree with you, they often had potential upside. Cronin moves instead have no short or long term upside, and remove the veteran assets that could have provided trade value this offseason. The only benefit Cronin supporters have is salary cap savings and luxury tax. Great... How does that add talent in a non free agent market like Portland?
Awesome! Can't believe all the Debby Downers in here. Not saying you all have to be Happy Happy Joy Joy, but damn. Give the plan a chance. Go Blazers!
I'm now at the point where I just roll my eyes and laugh, Ty. These guys aren't "debby downers", they just lack vision. Everything is "either/or" with some. To say things like "there is no upside" with Winslow or Hart, just flabbergasts me. To say we didn't improve is ridiculous when you consider the limited to zero upside with roco, & powell..They were nothings! To just bust up the Dame/CJ thing is an accomplishment. Period. And, oh by the way.... Have we really ever seen a healthy Damian Lillard? We're about to...So is the rest of the NBA.
Nope. Read my post again. I was trying to say (nicely) that it’s waaayyy too early to get our panties in a bunch when we genuinely don’t know all the facts. That maybe we should see how it all plays out before slitting our throats. If any of us actually knew our shit, we’d have Cronin’s job, not Joe. You get to express your opinions whether we agree or not. I’m simply doing the same.
Hey Ty... I had lunch with a buddy of mine who sometimes visits the PF and he witnessed Dame's workout the other day. "Oh....My...Gawd..." Is all he would say........(with a huge smile...) So, in a way....THAT is also an addition to this team.
I do remember how Dame used to explode to the rim after driving the lane, and we haven't really seen much of that for a long time. I don't want to get too excited thinking about the true athleticism level of a healthy Dame, but it could be special.
I think it was a four game stretch where we saw Ant, Winslow, Hart and Nurk play beautiful two way ball together...so good they shut all 4 guys down to lose more....add a healthy Dame and we're going to be fine moving ahead with plenty of options this summer to add more talent. I hope they bring Eubanks back as a backup and with Williams, Watford Greg Brown and Nas...we're not too shabby .. add Grant and Ingles or another vet ...let Blevins and Elleby go...keep McLemore around for cheap. I think it'll turn out ok next season. Good chance a lot of those guys will also be gone but as it stands...I don't see the problem moving forward....can we replace Elleby or Blevins with a 32 year old Ed Davis as an insurance big? Bring Big Ed home to Portland...I know most folks won't want that but I like the guy.
He can have all the reasons you want, he still negotiated from a position of weakness. Obviously. It's silly to try and argue otherwise.
If Portland could grab a high prospect 4, I wouldn't be against giving Ed a vet minimum deal. I wouldn't expect him to contribute which is fine.