drafted 3 rookies let 3 players walk cut a halfway decent Blazer made no trades signed a player already on the team (a bad team) (Thybulle and the Euro Center signings came after Dame's trade request) Cronin did everything opposite of what he told fans and Lillard the goal was this summer. The GM said he was going to be ridiculously aggressive and pursue awesome talent, swing for the fences. Instead we saw Cronin up their trying to bunt and fouled all 3 pitches off. Cronin's job was absolutely to scare Lillard into a trade. I guess people in the Front Office were hoping Lillard was totally down with the tank Blazer game. Free 6 week vacation for the starters after All-Star break! But Lillard's competitive spirit took over, he's done with losing, he's done with Portland, he's heard enough Cronin butt kissing to last a lifetime.
considering the Blazers waived Watford, it seems pretty reasonable they probably told Eubanks they would not bring him back
That's also possible. He might have wanted to move on anyways. Hard to turn down playing with Kevin Durant in your career.
I voted both look bad - Cronin from his actions and comments prior to April, and Dame for his reps comments from July 1st onward. Between the two I'd lean to Dame looking much worse though. Hoopsjock has said on his streams something to the effect that Cronin had promised Dame the Blazers would use the lottery pick to acquire veterans to win now. That was part of the agreement of Dame and other starters sit out games to tank and not try to make a run for the playin. So I could see Dame feeling very mislead from that rhetoric when the team just keeps the rookie and acquires no veterans they were told would come. It was actually the opposite, since the team traded away a good vet in Hart who wanted to call Portland home, the Blazers have done far more rebuilding actions than win now actions. Personally I believe all of Cronin's draft decisions were very good, but his comments to fans and I'd assume to Dame are really the issue. Over promising actions he can't deliver. Maybe Cronin actually believed he'd acquire veterans but it just didn't happened, and he pivoted to a rebuild. I don't really know and it probably doesn't matter. However after the end of season press conference Cronins actions and comments have all been fine IMO. I have strongly been against Dame's camps comments the last week and a half. If he wants to request a trade then fine, just do it. But the manner they are doing it looks very bad for his legacy in Portland or the potential to reunite years from now if the team eventually is closer to contend. Kind of makes all those seasons of his brand and loyalty seem hollow which is very sad. Dame had a connection with the fans that a GM or owner never could have, thus his bad look hurts much more to Blazers fans emotionally than Cronin's bad decisions or dumb comments ever could.
Oh stop. If you knew me, or looked through my posts, you'd find someone who wanted Dame to retire a Blazer, who wanted him to be a Blazer for life. But like I posted somewhere before, his personality has caught up with his persona. There were signs before, but it's clear now. There is no defending the Miami only, run from the grind, super team seeking. There just isn't. Dame isn't who he portrayed himself to be, or more likely, he's changed. And the Blazers changed. You're right; I think Joe acted the fuckface here. He deserves the blame for either being overconfident or duplicitous. I'm guessing it's the former, but either way Dame is right to be mad. But again, mad is different than what Dame has done. It's hurt his image and our likelihood of getting a fair return. He's done what professional wrestlers do (a form of entertainment he loves); he's become the heel, the villain. I GUARANTEE he walks much of this back once the trade is complete, like it was some sort of misunderstanding. Because we didn't hear it from him. That's always his go to. Even though EVERYONE around him is saying these things, somehow it doesn't count unless he is saying it. That's quite a system. Try that with your wife or boss. Have someone relay some unreasonable shit and then be like "What? Did you hear me say it? No? Then it doesn't count!" Listen, I know it hurts, but it's just the way it is. Shit changes, people change. I mean, people that are in love enough to get married and have children get divorced. Dame just worked here and soon he won't. It's not that crazy.
It sounds like Goodwin is playing dumb. Just because a deal was rejected doesn't mean it's dead and he knows that as well as anyone. It just means neither side wanted to blink first. It's pretty common to hear about trades that are "revisited" and then are agreed. The timing of revealing the contents of those phone calls is peculiar and advantageous to Dame's image...or to Cronin's slandering.
I get why Dame would be salty, but come the fuck on..... so you sat out and didn't push for the playin. We would have gotten completely squashed like a little bug. Our team was garbage last season. The team got the third pick and a chance to draft a potential superstar. Sorry that hurt your feelings.
First, no way Dame ever comes back here as long as Cronin or Jody are here. Second, I don't believe Dame when he says he wants to win a ring here. I believe he'd only want the chance if he was still the face of the organization, not as a second or third fiddle.
It's crazy how Dame didn’t realize demanding to go to Miami would turn him into the villain in the blink of an eye. If he had not done that I think he would still be a hero in most Blazer fans eyes. He could have demanded the trade and let the Blazers try to trade him and public sentiment would have mostly been on his side. If (God forbid) Cronin folds like I do whenever my wife wants me to buy her something and ends up trading him to Miami it'll all be worth it. Here's hoping Joe isn't a sucker like me.
Joe Cronin is a softy. Just a nice guy that would never ever want to step on anyone's toes. Lillard is a badass, he looks good wearing a villains cape. Keep feeding the beast, if that's really the direction ya'll really want this to go.
LOL! I'm not calling Sly a liar. I'm saying I think people read what he wrote and took Dame's or his agent's opinion as pure fact. But even what they said indicated Cronin tried to make deals. It seemed like Dame felt upset that deals, even apparently lopsided deals, weren't accepted and that they were lied to. If you're going to admit Cronin pursued huge deals and other GMs are saying they turned them down, it's walking a really fine line to say the Blazers were dishonest simply based on whether the deal was 100% dead or not.
We're homerific for not believing Dame because of all the things I mentioned, but your default is to believe Dame while admitting we don't know the content of the conversations? This isn't even about believing the Blazers. This is about seeing what the team has done for Dame for more than a decade and hearing what Dame is saying -- because Dame's side is the only one putting stuff out there -- and just saying "You know, this makes absolutely no sense." Do you understand how hypocritical, tenuous, and I have to say nonsensical your position is, Wiz? And even if what Sly reported is true, I still don't see what the exaggeration was on his part. He said he was working on deals. Dame's team said they were told by other GMs that the deals were dead -- acknowledging that Cronin was pursuing them in admitting that. First, you have to be willing to unconditionally believe Team Dame to take your stance, because we don't even know if it's true. Second, even if it is true, you have to not have any context about how trades work and now you're arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin ... to Cronin, these deals might not be dead, he might still be thinking of ways to adjust them and get that second superstar. In other words, it's all Dame's interpretation. Anyway, all that considered, I go back to my last point on it: If the information Sly related is true, why wouldn't Team Dame just put it out there? They're willing to push this loyalty narrative. They're willing to try to submarine the Blazers' attempts to get fair compensation. They're willing to try to blackmail the Blazers and to tell other GMs not to trade for Dame. But they draw the line on saying Cronin lied to them? That makes absolutely no sense. None.
If you tell your boss you're going to have 10 new clients by the end of the week, and you only get seven while pursuing 20, does that make you a liar? Because that's what you're saying. You're saying the outcomes were all that mattered and, in effect, Cronin should have made trades that either weren't on the table or were so lopsided that they would have crippled the Blazers chances to compete both now and in the future. But don't take my word for that. Take Dame's. Dame said that teams trading for him had to consider what it would take to get him because they might not be left with enough else to still contend. The Blazers are the same. Cronin got three quality players in the draft and didn't give up anything, instead of giving up those three draft picks and who knows what other current Blazers and future considerations to get one year of Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby. You know if he made those moves the Blazers still would be in awful shape, and he'd be getting dragged over it and probably fired.
