Doing mental gymnastics to try to ignore reality is what's silly, actually. And yet some of you keep doing it.
A year removed, here's how I look back at the 2022 offseason: Taking Sharpe and not trading the pick, Nas, and multiple first for OG appears to be a great move The Grant trade looks good, but the concern about how much it'll cost to retain him remains. The Payton signing was real bad in the short term Luckily the Blazers were able to cut bait and got some assets. In the past, we've made bad signings and they've stayed our books for many years. Failing to properly address the center depth cost the team wins. While clearly not the plan, it also played a role in the team having the #3 pick. In summary: One potentially big time, long-term acquisition, one high quality addition, one short-term failure, and one incomplete/miss. No disastrous moves.
To be fair, if I bitched and moaned about a source of entertainment for 15 years, the issue is me not finding another mode of entertainment.
maybe the bitching and moaning is the entertainment meaning....my wife has been highly entertained for 30 years
The Blazers were in contention until Aldridge abandoned ship, so ten years. Curiously, the drought corresponded to Neil Olshey’s time as GM. There’s no debate that the Blazers need major improvements to the roster to compete. The question is whether those moves can be made without blowing things up entirely. The frustrating thing to me about the total rebuild point of view is not that it may be warranted in the near future, but that it’s premature. Cronin finally has significant assets to improve the team and I think he and Dame deserve a shot to make it happen this summer. I think that Cronin can, if he so chooses, thread the needle to keep the third pick in the draft and still add veteran players that Dame needs to win now. If it works, great. If not, is anything seriously lost by waiting until the deadline to move Dame for more parts for the rebuild? Is anyone under the mistaken notion that a rebuild is going to happen in one year anyway?
I don’t believe Cronin said that at the end of free agency, but this post was made prior to that. And he definitely said too young at the end of THIS year, but not last year. Cronin went into free agency with opportunities to increase the size, length, athleticism and age and actively chose to go against what he said he wanted to do. Such as signing GPII, another guard, when we clearly needed front court depth. Not another guard. And I didn’t say the roster was a contender nor did I say it was a finished product. I said it moved us FURTHER AWAY from our goals. Which, as indicated by the final result, was true. And by the way, if he did his fucking job, injuries wouldn’t cause a tank to happen. You know, that’s why you build a team with depth (and more than one center). Cronin at least acknowledged his mistakes in the presser by saying he learned some things, which I’ll give him credit for. But if you’re defending him when he readily admitted he made mistakes is laughable at best.
Did you not read the part where it was a disaster towards his stated goals? You know, the get longer, more athletic, and more size goals? In which he unequivocally failed. And he admitted as much after the season (which was also an improvement from the predecessor, I’ll admit).
I’m not defending him; just saying that simply looking at the record as validation of your position on a total rebuild is rather absurd when the exact intent of the team during the last quarter of the season was to lose.
I never said anything about a total rebuild. I said he made stupid decisions and decisions that went directly against his word. I don’t want Dame traded.
I agree the team did not get better, deeper, or longer. They did get more athletic. Last off-season was nowhere near an A, just like it wasn't an epic disaster. It wasn't even the worst off-season in the last 10 years. I understand those who are drawn to hyperbole, won't love that.
We have very different levels of "contention" then. Making it to the 2nd round is not contender status to me. We can agree to disagree on that. We have had teams that have made the Playoffs, got into the 2nd round a couple of times, even made the WCF once....but not one of those teams was a contender. Which puts them in pretender/mediocre status since 2000. It sucks, but we have not be a legit threat since then. Everything else is just different levels of mediocrity at best.
how are you a mod? You are sooooo unaware of your own posts its crazy. You post about people copy and pasting but you are the broken record Ed. Everyone, including Joe, said this would take time. Argue semantics all you want but the facts are, the reality is, NOBODY thought there was a quick fix to contention. But here you are a year later playing the same broken record trying to dig on others when you have no clue how well your digs fit your own posts….. get a postal clue man. Just sad….
Some people cant come up with a single answer to fix but want to bitch and bitch. I think thats the problem some have with the debra downers of the board. Im all for discussing the team in reality and discussing things to help improv the team. But some people have no answer, are doom and gloom and kist want to play the “i told you so game”. Its pathetic, immature and frankly a sign of lack of intelligence. Some people just copy and paste the same grumpy shit year after year trying to make others feel their grumpiness. Most people do better when happy. So while i believe everyone has the right to voice their opinion, the naysayers will always get shit if they just bitch without providing a realistic solutions. Thats life. Thats reality. If you want to live life bitching about everything without an answer, then you better learn to live with people bitching about you or your posts…. Happy people will always push back against unhappy people trying to push their unhappiness on others.
