I have no information to confirm or rule it out, so yes, it's certainly possible. If he has "another conversation" and doesn't ask out, that would certainly go against what has been assumed by many.
Cronin said he informed him Tuesday they were likely to make the pick at #3 and he talked to his agent multiple times yesterday letting them know their plans. Is that true? I don't know.
One of those things is just a fact. The other doesn't mean they think he is a nobody. They likely believe, he can't win a title here, so would be open to moving him while he has the most value possible (especially with CBA changes coming) and add that value to the rest of the young assets the team has. Ant Sharpe Walker Scoot Murray Rupert ....that is a significant amount of players on your roster that have almost nothing to do with Dame's timeline.
Eh, not gonna doom and gloom on what dame may do. I'm just thankful we have a plan regardless of what he does. If he stays, freaking great. I want him here! But we still had to do what's best for the team.
I don't know what this means, probably absolutely nothing, but a weird thought on Cronin with a bit of inside perspective... Everyone wants to compare Cronin to Neil, because that's the guy he's replacing, and admittedly, his first few moves and justifications sound similar. But he also worked under Pritchard and Penn. Now, I've never met Cronin, but by most accounts he's a tough, blue collar, bootstraps kinda guy. I HAVE met and worked with KP, Penn, and Neil, and let me tell you, KP fits what Cronin is perceived as being WAAAAAY more than Neil or Penn. KP's a nice enough guy, but in person he's extremely intimidating. Olshey and Penn were... not. We have yet to see a Pritchslap, but like KP, I think Joe has gotten good value in his drafts so far and has clearly put talented people around him. Maybe that's coming? Again, could mean absolutely nothing, but worth flagging that he could be modeling his approach on things other than JUST Neil's...
But how is that completely off guard? I heard all that too and that makes it seem he was in the know, and just basic knowledge would tell you that the franchise player would be in the know.
Dame was disrespected by Cronin and the Blazers, who failed and are still failing to be upfront. He is being disrespected by people on here who are waving him off and want to see him traded to make way for a new era. He has good years left in him, he's not getting ready to turn 40 yet.
Trendon, Keon, hell even Nas and we have a team option on Knox who is only 23. I think the only player we have under contract that really fits Dame's timeline is Nurk. This team is in a youth rebuild it just so happens to have a superstar at the height of his powers, Nurk, bird rights on Jerami and Matisse as a RFA. I find the 10 guys who fit a youth rebuild more compelling evidence of where the team is headed.
If you take Cronin at his word, there is no way one could say Dame was caught totally off guard. I also agree it would make sense they were in communication about the move (or lack there of) prior to the draft.
I was hoping, and he even said he was going to be transparent. He says one thing and then does another. He held a PC last night, and said pretty much nothing with a thousand words, other than that he's not going to take any risks, and hopes to pull a rabbit out of his ass on the trade market/free agency.
They last talked two days before the drafts when trades were still being discussed. Dame was probably hoping one of those would go through. I will say it's interesting he said he didn't want rookies, but has been talking a lot with Scoot pre draft.
I'm not waving Dame off, I wanted us to do right by him but now I hope he does right for himself and stops listening to Cronin's lies about putting a veteran contending team around him. The people that wanted Dame traded before last night I didn't get. I still want Dame here for my own selfishness but I'm both a Dame fan and a Blazers fan and the two are on separate paths, in my opinion. They have been on separate paths for a while and Joe keeps saying that he'll correct that trajectory and continues to do the opposite. The guy has made two moves that don't say youth rebuild... the trade for Grant and re-signing Nurk. He's made a bunch of other moves that directly fly in the face of putting a contending veteran team around Dame.
I bet Scoot was at Formula Zero and Dame just likes him but I seriously doubt Dame likes him as a teammate but maybe I'm wrong about that... it wouldn't make sense but again sometimes things don't make sense to me.
"Dame and I last talked Tuesday morning... He's not in Portland right now...had a long talk Tueday morning, you know that was two days before the draft, so, you know, there's stil a lot of things that can happen, often teams don't show their hand until Wednesday, or today, or even sometimes during the draft; but, umm, we had a long talk about trade possibilities, we had a good discussion that there is a strong likelihood we're going to draft here at 3, we didn't know exactly what player would be there. Haven't talked to him since Tuesday. Been in contact with his agent Aaron Goodwin, Wednesday, today multiple times during the draft, keeping him apprised what are plans are, of 'hey we're going to draft here' and try to communicate so we are all on the same page."
Here's my issue with what we were handed since we were awarded the #3 pick: Our options to use that + ant + Nurk (eh) were minimal. We could have gotten a guy who may play 30 games a year or 70 games a year, or 70 games in 2 years. Is that worth the risk? (Zion) Or do we risk it on a #4 option on a contender (who was thrusted into a #1 because booker went down) then traded to the nets where they went 13-15 as a #1 (bridges) + they were asking for too much Porzingas no, brown no, anyone else really doesn't elevate this team to think it'd win a championship. So they (Joe and Co) had to have a backup plan. And maybe we can get some luck, some early dividends, etc. And I want to keep Dame! I want to win with him! But the timing didn't make sense to swing for it. It sucks, but it's the reality today.
