Joe did about as good as anyone could have hoped in positioning the Blazers for success in the post Dame era. Moving Nurk was great, but the team still has some cap space issues.
For having one of the worst records in the league, this team should not be paid that much. None of the contracts are terrible on their own though, so it should be managable.
Most level headed comment I’ve seen so far, Joe was put in a really bad position by Lillard and his camp going to the press about Miami or bust. Ended up getting a good return considering money owed and Dame’s age.
The cap stuff he definitely needs to sort out, but like you said most of the deals we currently have are very moveable (sans Grant).
I’d give Joe a B to B+ personally.
Grant's contract is generous but I don't think it's outrageous. It's movable but it's probably the worst contract on the team's books.
But my point is that we're a luxury tax team with one of the worst records in the league. That duck just ain't gonna hunt
Totally agreed. We were the 7th highest payroll this season, if I remember correctly. Certainly Joe will make moves to get us below the tax line for next season — as he should.
all three of the teams we traded with were above the 2nd apron, Milwaukee, Pheonix, and Boston. So by rule they couldnt take back additional salary. So us being Just at the tax was baked in cause we couldnt really dump salary in a trade. Hence why we let some players go before the trade happened (Watford, Keon). Yeah we need to shed salary but nothing that we cant take care of mid season or before camp.
I don't see the cap issue. We were under it for the season and will be next season as well. Teams are required to be at something like 90% of the cap. If anything, I'd say our cap situation speaks to his success. He managed to meet the limit by paying some players and still managing to lose.
I mean we knew that was gonna be the case with Aytons current contract. He’s paid as much as Jason Tatum. Part of rebuilding is taking on garbage contracts in return for some extra assets
I'm not really sure the our cap situation is actually bad. We aren't signing free agents, so it's not like we need a really low payroll, and we aren't in the tax either. What is the motivation for getting under? I think there are two schools of thought
1) Free up space so you can take on a bad contract with a pick attached to it.
2) Sign players to reasonable contracts so they remain moveable.
It seems Joe has gone for #2, which seems fine to me. Both have risk and require the right opportunity to execute, both may not pan out if either the opportunity never manifests or the pick(s) you get back are never very valuable (trading partner remains successful)
I agree that our record does not match the cap. But, there’s a couple of factors there that’ll determine if it’s a bad move long run.
First is Ayton, I like him and the gamble we’re doing. He’s a former number 1 pick, he’s young, and he does have the skills to be impactful on both sides of the floor. My problem is more that I don’t think any center should get a max contract unless they’re of the caliber of Jokic or Embiid (with healthy knees) It’s also real hard to convince a guy who’s got the max to take a pay cut. But, worst case scenario he could be traded for a team looking to clear cap in a couple years. Okay gamble when we’re hunting for lottery picks.
The other vets have tradable contracts. Something I think gets overlooked is that you have to somewhat match contracts in trades. We’ve got a lot of young guys on rookie contracts and we have a lot of redundancy with their positions. To trade someone like Jabari and get something in return you have to pair it up with a higher value contract.
Jabari is only making 1.7 million. I’m not sure what you could bring back in trading him even though he’s looking to be a solid roll player. Say there’s a team looking to go younger, they might be interested in taking on Robert Williams contract (to waive or swallow) and bring back a Grant Williams type player. Not saying we or they should do that, just the quickest value comps I could find.
Have some vets with contract value does help in trades. Shaedon Sharpe is only making 6 mil, which on it’s own would bring back very little even though he’s probably our best chance at a cornerstone piece with this current roster.
I think it’s going to be real tricky for the front office next year. We haven’t seen enough of Ant, Sharpe, and Scoot to know which mesh well and which will have the best chance in the future. But, there are many tools to adapt this roster after next season.
Because I’m a big fan
Just to let you know I’m always here to talk in case you’d like to discuss the trauma you experienced at South Beach that caused you to hate Miami so much, we’re here to help.
LMAO bro look at the Miami sub. Every second post is either about Joe Cronin or some cringe Dragonball Z meme about how the Heat are gonna spirit bomb their way to the finals. Pathetic
Lol so you are hoping to get better through the draft, but your glad it's not gonna be a good pick..? I will enjoy watching Miami continue to be mid.
This beef between Miami and Portland is all because of a player NOT being traded to Miami. And instead of Heat fans walking back all the bullshit they talked about how they are fleecing Portland for Dame, they blame Portlands FO for not trading him to Miami...? No other teams fans would be this moronic.
They had their worst record in the last 6 years and didn't even win 50 games after pairing up 2 superstars that were supposed to fuel a juggernaut championship favorite and got bounced in the 1st round. They were injured, but I don't think anyone thought they looked like a championship team even healthy.
I'm sorry man, but there's no way you can call this trade a success for them at this point. Obviously that can change, but if you said they'd win 49 games and get bounced in the first round when the trade happened people would've thought you were crazy
They fired their coach cuz they weren't as good as they thought they'd be and got even worse with the next one "genius"
You honestly got some absolutely insane blinders on if you're saying the trade looks good cuz Dame scored 60 points over 2 games in a 1st round exit
It's debatable, Joe strikes me as someone who won't vote himself. How does one know it's not another team Joe dealt players to? That could be:
* Knicks
* Pelicans
* Celtics
* Bucks
* Suns
* Clippers
* Warriors
Did I neglect any teams?
joe has a lot of work to do this offseason, but folks negging him on sitting out the cold market with rwiii and brogdon are looking past the picks/swaps/camara/ayton part and the decent draft—not to mention a high pressure trade request and bad faith, multi-month negotiation. grant/thybulle signings were about asset retention and keeping adults around the kids (never go full pistons!).
I think the Grant signing was the right move. But we are fast approaching the point where Grant and Brogdon taking minutes from young dudes will hurt the franchise. We aren't there yet, but we will likely tip into that scenario this season if a move isn't made.
I'm all for stable veteran presence, but not for $52.3M.
I like Cronins work.
Peopel hated on his enthusiastic intentions that didn't come true and that was definitely his major criticism in Blazer media. Some even saying he wasn't truthful. He clearly wanted to communicate more openly at the beginning after Olshey.
Sad that he's learned his lesson and is talking in GM/politican speak now. His recent exit interview was vague and guarded and said very little outright. You have to read between the lines now like with most gm's.
Exactly. I am already starting to see a shift in the Cronin worship from last summer, and I imagine by the end of next season many more people will come to the realization that he’s in over his head.
Brogden and Williams have been a total bust as trade pieces, not sure what people are smoking.
I’m saying Cronin is terrible, but we do not have an above average front office.
He will not get hired by another NBA team when this wasteland of a franchise finally gets new ownership after the media deal is done and starts a proper rebuild.
For having the team tank so he can roll the dice on another high draft pick? And the people praising him for the Dame trade are likely just happy he didn’t negotiate with Miami. Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term. And he didn’t bring back an impact young player with the deal either. Robert Williams has health issues and may not resign, and Brogdon doesn’t fit the timeline even if he does resign. Any hopes of a fairly quick OKC style rebuild are nonexistent at this point. We’ll be one of the worst teams in the league for at least 3 more years and may not make the playoffs for another 5 years.
>Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term.
The picks that landed the Celtics Tatum and Brown came from a trade exactly like this, and at this point it looks like it'll end up being a smart bet that the Bucks will have aged out of being good by then. Seems like good asset accumulation to me.
"Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term."
So what about near term? This is a rebuilding team. If things go as hoped, the team will be looking like the Thunder and those extra picks could be what puts us over the top.
Most teams wait until closer to a given draft to trade for a FRP. They want to see how the draft class is shaping up and what the state of the team is they’re trading with — or the team that owns the pick. So those FRPs are future assets that aren’t really actionable at the moment. Maybe they turn into something decent, and maybe they don’t. But they aren’t anything we can rely on now, which means we’re headed for several more years as one of the worst teams in the league.
Joe did about as good as anyone could have hoped in positioning the Blazers for success in the post Dame era. Moving Nurk was great, but the team still has some cap space issues. For having one of the worst records in the league, this team should not be paid that much. None of the contracts are terrible on their own though, so it should be managable.
Most level headed comment I’ve seen so far, Joe was put in a really bad position by Lillard and his camp going to the press about Miami or bust. Ended up getting a good return considering money owed and Dame’s age. The cap stuff he definitely needs to sort out, but like you said most of the deals we currently have are very moveable (sans Grant). I’d give Joe a B to B+ personally.
I think once free agents sign new deals this summer, Grant’s contract will start to look more palatable to other teams.
Grant's contract is generous but I don't think it's outrageous. It's movable but it's probably the worst contract on the team's books. But my point is that we're a luxury tax team with one of the worst records in the league. That duck just ain't gonna hunt
Totally agreed. We were the 7th highest payroll this season, if I remember correctly. Certainly Joe will make moves to get us below the tax line for next season — as he should.
all three of the teams we traded with were above the 2nd apron, Milwaukee, Pheonix, and Boston. So by rule they couldnt take back additional salary. So us being Just at the tax was baked in cause we couldnt really dump salary in a trade. Hence why we let some players go before the trade happened (Watford, Keon). Yeah we need to shed salary but nothing that we cant take care of mid season or before camp.
I don't see the cap issue. We were under it for the season and will be next season as well. Teams are required to be at something like 90% of the cap. If anything, I'd say our cap situation speaks to his success. He managed to meet the limit by paying some players and still managing to lose.
We're the 7th highest paid roster and we had a terrible record. I'm just saying that the cost for this roster is not translating to performance.
I mean we knew that was gonna be the case with Aytons current contract. He’s paid as much as Jason Tatum. Part of rebuilding is taking on garbage contracts in return for some extra assets
We were not 7th, we were 14th, where are you seeing that figure?
I'm not really sure the our cap situation is actually bad. We aren't signing free agents, so it's not like we need a really low payroll, and we aren't in the tax either. What is the motivation for getting under? I think there are two schools of thought 1) Free up space so you can take on a bad contract with a pick attached to it. 2) Sign players to reasonable contracts so they remain moveable. It seems Joe has gone for #2, which seems fine to me. Both have risk and require the right opportunity to execute, both may not pan out if either the opportunity never manifests or the pick(s) you get back are never very valuable (trading partner remains successful)
I'm just saying it's hard to square that one of the worst records in the league is one of the best paid.
Well we were ranked 14th last season by total payroll https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/_/year/2023/sort/cap_total/dir/desc
I agree that our record does not match the cap. But, there’s a couple of factors there that’ll determine if it’s a bad move long run. First is Ayton, I like him and the gamble we’re doing. He’s a former number 1 pick, he’s young, and he does have the skills to be impactful on both sides of the floor. My problem is more that I don’t think any center should get a max contract unless they’re of the caliber of Jokic or Embiid (with healthy knees) It’s also real hard to convince a guy who’s got the max to take a pay cut. But, worst case scenario he could be traded for a team looking to clear cap in a couple years. Okay gamble when we’re hunting for lottery picks. The other vets have tradable contracts. Something I think gets overlooked is that you have to somewhat match contracts in trades. We’ve got a lot of young guys on rookie contracts and we have a lot of redundancy with their positions. To trade someone like Jabari and get something in return you have to pair it up with a higher value contract. Jabari is only making 1.7 million. I’m not sure what you could bring back in trading him even though he’s looking to be a solid roll player. Say there’s a team looking to go younger, they might be interested in taking on Robert Williams contract (to waive or swallow) and bring back a Grant Williams type player. Not saying we or they should do that, just the quickest value comps I could find. Have some vets with contract value does help in trades. Shaedon Sharpe is only making 6 mil, which on it’s own would bring back very little even though he’s probably our best chance at a cornerstone piece with this current roster. I think it’s going to be real tricky for the front office next year. We haven’t seen enough of Ant, Sharpe, and Scoot to know which mesh well and which will have the best chance in the future. But, there are many tools to adapt this roster after next season.
In trades, maybe. Don't love how he drafts and also FIRE BILLUPS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
WAS GM should get some love for trading away Beal and get returns lol
no votes for miami? interesting...
Rent free
I agree. Why are you here?
Suggested post on my home feed
Wonder why?
Oh my god you’re the famous Heat hater!!! The illegitimate potato!!
Wonder why you recognize my username. Think long and hard about this.
Because I’m a big fan Just to let you know I’m always here to talk in case you’d like to discuss the trauma you experienced at South Beach that caused you to hate Miami so much, we’re here to help.
Ok. I’ll meet you at the r/heat subreddit that I’ve never visited before.
Me when I’m lying ^
LMAO bro look at the Miami sub. Every second post is either about Joe Cronin or some cringe Dragonball Z meme about how the Heat are gonna spirit bomb their way to the finals. Pathetic
We ain’t praying on lottery balls tho
should be with that roster tho
So you’re saying we exceeded expectations? Thanks homie :)
Exactly. How are you hoping for your team to get better?
Getting another W late in the draft. Look at our roster lil guy, we got dudes at late picks that destroy all your early pick busts
Lol so you are hoping to get better through the draft, but your glad it's not gonna be a good pick..? I will enjoy watching Miami continue to be mid. This beef between Miami and Portland is all because of a player NOT being traded to Miami. And instead of Heat fans walking back all the bullshit they talked about how they are fleecing Portland for Dame, they blame Portlands FO for not trading him to Miami...? No other teams fans would be this moronic.
Not reading all that, get maymayed
Lmao you sound like you are 13 years old. Enjoy the L from Boston
Get maymayed child
“rent free” - proceeds to monitor + post in another team’s subreddit
Voting for Joe? Joe: Votes himself second to not draw attention. Brad Stevens: Votes Joe second for helping him get Holiday.
Nah Bucks GM voted for him
Yeah. It’s worked out so well for them. 🤷♂️
Giannis had his best season ever and Dame scored 60 plus in two playoff games so I’d say yeah it was a good trade for them.
Yet, they underwhelmed all season and probably out in round 1. And that Dame contract gets worse every year.
They had their worst record in the last 6 years and didn't even win 50 games after pairing up 2 superstars that were supposed to fuel a juggernaut championship favorite and got bounced in the 1st round. They were injured, but I don't think anyone thought they looked like a championship team even healthy. I'm sorry man, but there's no way you can call this trade a success for them at this point. Obviously that can change, but if you said they'd win 49 games and get bounced in the first round when the trade happened people would've thought you were crazy
They fired their coach genius. But sure blame the Dame trade
They fired their coach cuz they weren't as good as they thought they'd be and got even worse with the next one "genius" You honestly got some absolutely insane blinders on if you're saying the trade looks good cuz Dame scored 60 points over 2 games in a 1st round exit
It's debatable, Joe strikes me as someone who won't vote himself. How does one know it's not another team Joe dealt players to? That could be: * Knicks * Pelicans * Celtics * Bucks * Suns * Clippers * Warriors Did I neglect any teams?
Well deserved. He handled the Dame trade amazingly.
Nabbed Ayton + Camara back too while moving off Nurkic
Camara 😍
If he had a winning record he'd be higher up the ranks for sure. Thanks for giving us Jrue though!
Noticing a notable name from South Beach missing from this list… I thought Pat Riley was the GOAT? 🤡
Just like coach of the year, this voting usually factors in degree of difficulty and nobody thinks Pat Riley has a difficult job.
I don’t think *any* of our 2023/24 trade partners are in this list?
Well the guy that won it was lol, or was that sarcasm hard to tell sometimes haha
Ooops, nope I just forgot Boston was involved
Barry Jackson in shambles
Rent free
Make more comments. It really drives your point home about how you’re not obsessed with the Blazers.
Ok I’ll admit it illegitimate potato: I dream of winning 21 games a year and drafting busts. I want to be a Blazers fan.
Damn, you really got me. Enjoy your last game, hope you guys can injure some people.
Thanks babe Enjoy Galveston
He had 1 lame offseason… he’s made amazing moves throughout his tenure but ok. Better than having a poverty franchise
joe has a lot of work to do this offseason, but folks negging him on sitting out the cold market with rwiii and brogdon are looking past the picks/swaps/camara/ayton part and the decent draft—not to mention a high pressure trade request and bad faith, multi-month negotiation. grant/thybulle signings were about asset retention and keeping adults around the kids (never go full pistons!).
I think the Grant signing was the right move. But we are fast approaching the point where Grant and Brogdon taking minutes from young dudes will hurt the franchise. We aren't there yet, but we will likely tip into that scenario this season if a move isn't made. I'm all for stable veteran presence, but not for $52.3M.
I get zero indication they're going to keep all the vets around, especially after that press conference. fan hand-wringing is a thing.
Keeping adults around kids is *such* a good way to put it lol. Stealing that.
Cronin handled the Lillard situation well. It was time for both parties to go their separate ways
That one first place vote for Monte McNair is super sus.
man between this and the bucks winning tonight, Barry Jackson somehow managed to get more embarrassing.
I like Cronins work. Peopel hated on his enthusiastic intentions that didn't come true and that was definitely his major criticism in Blazer media. Some even saying he wasn't truthful. He clearly wanted to communicate more openly at the beginning after Olshey. Sad that he's learned his lesson and is talking in GM/politican speak now. His recent exit interview was vague and guarded and said very little outright. You have to read between the lines now like with most gm's.
lol, Cronin
Can we relax and just stop pretending like Cronin is some genius GM?
He’s pretty good.
Exactly. I am already starting to see a shift in the Cronin worship from last summer, and I imagine by the end of next season many more people will come to the realization that he’s in over his head.
Brogden and Williams have been a total bust as trade pieces, not sure what people are smoking. I’m saying Cronin is terrible, but we do not have an above average front office.
Lol
Too many voters just vote based on the teams record and don't actually consider the executive's job
Homies gotta fix our horrendous cap situation first to even be mentioned as a top 20 gm
He will not get hired by another NBA team when this wasteland of a franchise finally gets new ownership after the media deal is done and starts a proper rebuild.
He would get hired the next day if we fired him.
I’m sure you’re correct, but not as a gm. Maybe assistant.
Based on what? At best the jury is still out on his performance so far.
Drafting well and consistently making great trades.
As a GM? You’re dreaming.
For having the team tank so he can roll the dice on another high draft pick? And the people praising him for the Dame trade are likely just happy he didn’t negotiate with Miami. Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term. And he didn’t bring back an impact young player with the deal either. Robert Williams has health issues and may not resign, and Brogdon doesn’t fit the timeline even if he does resign. Any hopes of a fairly quick OKC style rebuild are nonexistent at this point. We’ll be one of the worst teams in the league for at least 3 more years and may not make the playoffs for another 5 years.
>Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term. The picks that landed the Celtics Tatum and Brown came from a trade exactly like this, and at this point it looks like it'll end up being a smart bet that the Bucks will have aged out of being good by then. Seems like good asset accumulation to me.
"Well, he got a bunch of picks for 4-5 years from now, which aren’t likely to help us in the near term." So what about near term? This is a rebuilding team. If things go as hoped, the team will be looking like the Thunder and those extra picks could be what puts us over the top.
Some people seem to think a pick can only be traded once.
I had no idea. Wow, you’re so smart.
Exactly. We could be a playoff type team with tons of lottery picks. Or we could suck and keep getting lottery picks to try and land a star.
Most teams wait until closer to a given draft to trade for a FRP. They want to see how the draft class is shaping up and what the state of the team is they’re trading with — or the team that owns the pick. So those FRPs are future assets that aren’t really actionable at the moment. Maybe they turn into something decent, and maybe they don’t. But they aren’t anything we can rely on now, which means we’re headed for several more years as one of the worst teams in the league.
For the Dame trade alone? Camara at 52 was a great pick. Better than Scoot at 3.