What if Cronin and his cronies have plans to keep our vets and make a splash at the playoffs? We trade #7 and #14 to Houston and hope Ricarcher falls to #3. And that’s where draft night excitement ends? And one blockbuster Summer trade: Ant Simons + Thybulle to NY For Julius Randle Ayton / Williams III /Reath Randle / Walker Grant / Risacher / Camara Sharpe / Banton / Rupert Scoot / Brogdan playoff team? Good mix of youth and vets? Simons gets moved making room for Sharpe & Scoot minutes With plenty of draft capital over the next few years ———- I wonder if this is how Cronin is thinking?
pivoting to this 10 months after trading dame would be incredibly idiotic ....so i fully expect our directionless FO to do such a thing.
Dame was the one who wanted out! Blazers gave him an extension but he wanted to go play with Miami. And in hindsight, we simply couldn’t put a team around a $52 million a year point guard - and win a title. My point with this thread is for us to consider what things might look like should Cronin be attempting a “makeover” versus a “rebuild.” Structuring a team capable of making the playoffs while grooming young players: Ayton / he’s just 26 in July Randle / certainly tradable at the deadline if we are not in contention. Same goes for Williams. Grant / certainly tradable at the deadline for more draft assets and opening up playing time for Risacher Sharpe / will have his playing time Scoot / will get his and our guards will have Brogdan as player-coach. Trade Brogdan at the deadline for an asset and clear cap space if we are not in contention We might even able to be under the luxury tax with this approach. And quite honestly, this “tanking” is not sustainable. Gotta keep things exciting and win more than 21 games.
dame had not asked for a trade when Cronin decided our best move on draft night 2023 was to take a 19 yr old PG, and 2 other rookies after repeatedly preaching to go for vets. so please, save me the revisionist history
writing was on the wall by draft night; Blazers were not going to field a title-contending team around Dame and is zillions
Guys! Dame is no longer a Blazer. We got what we got. Just suggesting we take a look at what Cronin may be considering other than three more years of tanking and trading away all of our vets. No thoughts on this?
This is a bullshit, shit on Dame thread. It's gross. Joe told us and Dame that he was going to build a contender around Dame so many times and then did the opposite after, every time making moves like it was going to be a rebuild not building towards immediate wins and now some are saying Joe can't even fully commit to that? If that's the case fuck Joe and his apologists! (No personal insults intended)
Bill Walton, Brandon Roy, Damian Lillard - oh! and Carmelo (just kidding) are my all time Blazer favorites. No need to say this thread has anything to do with shitting on Dame. For the third time, I don’t see Lillard on the team any longer, I can’t imagine that this tanking can be sustainable and keep fans in the seats AND we have Ayton, Williams, Grant, Thybulle and Brogdan. And we have an unfortunate logjam at guard and the consensus here seems that Ant Simons must go in order to open up playing time for Sharpe and Scoot. You really think Cronin is going to get rid of Ayton, Williams, Grant, Thybulle and Brogdan AND Simons by opening of training camp?
I don't think Joe will do the right thing and that would be to get rid of at least Williams, Grant, Thybulle and Brogdan... Ant really hurts the two young guards we drafted instead of trying to keep Dame so hopefully he would go too. I'm not even saying you're wrong. This is the kind of bullshit Joe might pull, I'm just saying it's pathetic and disgusting as a Blazers fan, if our front office won't commit to contending or rebuilding.
and it’s not easy rebuilding by tanking, falling to #7 because all hopes were placed on the way ping pong balls would bounce, year after year. Look! Our “young Simons” has now gotten too old for our so-called rebuild! I personally am not a great believer in total rebuilds. Name a champion that was comprised of all draft picks.
Anfernee is trapped. He can't escape. Ant is super-glued to Cronin & Billups. The next step is to give Simons soo much money, he won't ever complain about his team getting punked in this dejavu losing atmosphere. Kinda like Grant. We never see Jerami getting upset after losses. "incentives" are plentiful to hang with Jody's retooly rebuilders. Free vacation before the season ends. Some stat padding in garbage time. Getting yanked early when the game is out of reach. A head coach that ignores losing efforts. Reporters that get paid to smootch. And Lamar Hurd, who lathers up every Blazer with All-Star level talent while the game is on TV.
the GM is confused. It was a tsunami of Blazer injuries last season. Cronin is a basketball computer, and the hard drives turned into floppy disks. Joe watched the bad losses with the squeal of a dial-up modem in the background. I think Joe actually believes this team doesn't need any more help to be competitive. Fans are allowed to use the Memphis comp, a playoff team with a ton of injuries and a oft-suspended gat toting All-Star. Unless it's a future pick, Joe ain't trading nothing. There's no rolling the dice anymore in Portland. It just is what it is, and will be what it becomes.
We will soon find out based on who's on the team come training camp. But yeah, it may take till trade deadline to really figure out what the plan is or isn't?
Like Atlanta did, we could try for at least the playin, this year and possibly still end up in lottery and winning the Damn thing.
No it's not. It is a thread where someone gave a trade idea. Then someone disagreed with it because it made no sense, since we'd just traded Dame. Then the OP said Dame wanted out. I don't see how anyone could read that as a "shit on Dame thread", personally. In terms of the original idea: I actually don't hate it. In terms of what I'd prefer as approaches for the team go: Trade Grant and Bogdan. Go all-in on the rebuild and get more high-end young talent to join Scoot and Sharpe. Make the OP's trade. We would be balanced better and while we wouldn't be great, we would be more competitive. Keep the team as is. Randle might be too shoot-first, and/or he might not be able to do enough things to make the team good, but he's about the same level of player that Simons is, and he doesn't play the same spot that Scoot/Brogdan/Sharpe do, so it would probably be a lateral move talent-wise but a positive move in the standings. In terms of Dame: As the OP said, he's gone. What's done is done. He is going to be 34 next month. Randle is almost five years younger, and Scoot is almost 13.5 years younger. He is owed a LOT of money that might turn into a huge albatross as he turns 36+ Again: I would prefer to tear down and rebuild, rather than half-assing it, but this would be better than our current half-assing efforts.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I don’t see this [my post] as a “horrible” approach; * As much as I like Ant, we must invest in Sharpe and Scoot and playing time coupled with the mentorship of Brogdan (at least until the trade deadline) is in line with the “rebuild” thinking; *Grant can contribute as well as mentor Ricarcher if we find a way to draft him; *Randle, if he can play next to Ayton, gives us a pretty decent front court. I think our second round picks need to focus upon finding a Center and/or Power Forward prospect. We simply don’t need guards; *I don’t want to create a roster of 22 year olds that can’t win games. This builds a culture of losing and accepting losses - which is my problem with the past two years and Billups; an “it’s ok that we lost because we are young and learning” crap. I prefer to structure a team that is competitive, and is flexible come the trade deadlines this and next year. Randle, Ayton, Grant and Thybulle all have 3+ years remaining which is perfect for having flexibility at the trade deadline this and next year.
