Reading the Dame fanboys melting down post draft is just weird to me. Starting 7-8 years ago while this board near unanimously cheered on, I was way ahead of that curve getting more and more bummed from watching Soapy make one catastrophic decision after another. Thats when the milk hit the floor on Dame's career as far as contending in Portland. Now it's Joe's fault he isn't pulling multiple magic trade bunnies out of his butt from a roster that lacks talent? Neil should have been canned years ago after it became obvious to all that the big money he gave to Turner and Crabbe was as foolish as it seemed. So much stupidity followed... paddling hard with one oar dumbassary and here we are today. Unless a team is a big market Free Agent destination, drafting and developing players is the surest way to accumulate talent. It takes time though. The one good chance at instant gratification/transformation passed when San Antonio won the lotto. Lillard was 22 as a rookie, Scoot is 19. Most guys are still filling out/maturing at 19. By the time he's 22, Scoot will probably look more or less the same physically, but he's going to be getting his full grown man strength and be even stronger and faster. Weaknesses in his game will have been exposed and worked on daily. If he's as focused and smart as he seems, dude could develop into a total monster too though his game is a lot different then Dame's. Looking forward to the journey. STOMP
You saying you knew before everyone else doesn't make you better. It actually makes you look like you quit on the future of the team years before it ever made sense. Sorry you gave up so soon. I enjoyed the hope and am still enjoying the hope now. It was much funner than giving up.
Kris is fine, but I wanted Leonard Miller. I'm allowed to like who I like as prospects and I'm not going to pretend to feel differently than I feel. I've had my hits and misses so I'm not dwelling on it, but I wanted Miller. We'll see Riverman. I hope you're right, but I'm operating off my belief that Dame is as good as gone and that's not based off nothing. That's upsetting to me. Dame said he didn't want more 19 year olds and that the youth route isn't the route for him. Both he and Cronin talked about getting more size and less youth. Then Cronin drafts a 19-year old point guard. If Cronin told him he'd trade the pick to get him to sit the rest of the year, and then went back on his word to draft someone at Dame's position while acting like they wanted to build around Dame more than anything, wouldn't that upset you?
This whole thing is just so weird and it's definitely slimy by Joe. But would Joe do it right under Dames nose? That's where I have pause. There's so much grey area because we the fans know so little, but the optics are just bad no matter how you slice it. I still am glad we got some help for after Dame leaves. But it doesn't mean it's not freaking weird right now.
Why's it weird? Cronin's contradicted himself a ton in the past year. Dame said this year they have to execute something and that the young rebuilding route isn't the route for him. Cronin acted like he had the same mindset and then reportedly wasn't keen on trading the pick. People are upset because it seems like the front office misled Dame because they wanted to go the rebuilding route but want Dame to be the one to ask out.
If people aren't upset, fine. It's just strange to me why people that aren't upset don't seem to understand why people are upset. The thing that makes the most sense for me is that the ownership group and front office wants to trade Dame but doesn't want the backlash that'd come if they did it outright, so they're trying to force Dame's hand while saying they'll trade him wherever he wants to go so that they don't seem like the bad guys and they abide by Dame with the hope that he wouldn't speak badly about them upon leaving. I understand why other people would have different interpretations of this situation because it definitely is weird, but Cronin criticism isn't unjustified because all we've heard is that this summer we have to execute and be aggressive to put a good team around Dame and the "execution" so far has been to replace him.
I'm hopeful too. Just don't understand how we're going to run version 3.0 of an undersized backcourt and expect the defense to be decent.
Totally agree with you. There's a lot of fault to be had with Cronin. And a lot of work. The thing I'm happy with is he at least set up a future. The optics and how he did it is something to be desired.
Jumping to 3 changed everything. If Mikal was available, he'd be a blazer. No other offers were better than picking the BPA. Cronin did not make a trade just for the sake of making a trade unless the trade makes us better than the alternative (picking Scoot)
I get why people are upset. I get why some people wanted to continue to build around Dame. I get it. Hell, I wouldn't even be upset if that's the route that we went. It just depended on HOW we did it. Mostly I just wanted us to pick a lane, and we didn't do that... yet. I think that's where you and I tend to agree. With that said, I understand why Dame would be upset. He specifically said what he didn't want, and that's exactly what we did. I wouldn't blame Lillard for being pissed at all. However, there's the reality of the situation, and I would be pissed at Cronin if he dumped the 3rd pick for bad value. I don't think we anticipated getting the third pick. I don't think we ever thought we'd have a shot at Scoot. So again, I understand why Dame would be upset, but this is business dude. You can't take a massive L on value just because you promised Dame. That's not how this works. Woj even said it. That would be malpractice. There's an episode of Bluey that deals with promises. Bluey's dad promises to take her and her sister to the library, but they took too long at the playground and the library was closed by the time they left. Bluey is upset because her dad promised, and Bandit tells her that the library is closed and there's nothing he can do. I think anyone who is upset at Joe right now should watch that episode (if you haven't seen Bluey you should, it's a great show.) Sometimes you can't deliver on promises. Joe tried to trade the pick, but he wasn't getting fair offers. He couldn't trade Scoot for .50 on the dollar. That would have been a horrible trade for this team.
I think this is probably right. I think they want to rebuild and they want Dame to be the one to initiate it. I bet it really sucks for Dame. He just built a huge house. His family is here. He loves Portland. He doesn't want to leave. We're forcing his hand. But the reality is that it's really in everyone's best interest to part ways. We can't afford a superstar 33 year old point guard anymore, and Dame deserves to be playing on a team that has a chance at a ring. We need to start our rebuild and Dame needs to get the most out of his last 3-5 years in the league. But nobody wants to be the bad guy here. It's tough.
I think Joe just should've chose his messaging more closely, especially IF he told Dame they'd trade the lottery pick if it wasn't Wemby so that he'd sit the rest of the year. He doubled back and contradicted himself in his comments on size for the 2nd time during his tenure. The frustration is about more than not being able to pull off a trade. But the lack of execution of a plan and stated goals is frustrating too because we've dealt with that for far too long.
I still struggle to find a team to trade Dame to that gives us at least equal value and still remain a contender. Top 10 Odds to be win nxt yr as of today: Celtics Nugs Bux Suns Warriors Lakers Heat 76 Clips Griz Can any of these teams trade for Dame, give us equitable return, remain a contender?
Let's see if he can pull off a trade to net us a veteran/veterans. Trying to get a good player back and good value is different then giving players away. He created a weak perception of himself by doing that in the eyes of other GM's. Based on the actual offers we heard he got, he isn't being taken seriously. He did favors for LAC and NO thinking it would buy his way towards respect among other GM's. The same GM's just tried to walk on him again. I like Joe. He seems like a good dude. He's good at cap math, but is he a good GM? The jury is still out on that. Early results aren't exactly in his favor. Yes, it was an excellent draft if you are completely rebuilding. Schmitz had his fingerprints all over that.
I can't remember who said it, I think it was Haynes, but supposedly they don't want to deal him to a western conference team.
I don't know if you've read me post this but we could send Dame and Nurk to the Nets for Dinwiddie, Harris, Claxton, the rights to the two guys they just drafted and up to 7 future first round picks. This would leave the team with Dame, Bridges, Cam Johnson (RFA), DFS, Nurk, Simmons, Patty, the bird rights to Seth and the TPMLE. If Simmons can even turn things half way around that's the best roster Dame will have ever had around him.
