Blazers

[Phalanx]

I love Jrue, but he is getting really long in the tooth and he is signed for three more years. The Celtics keep dumping their washed up players on the Blazers; first RWIII and Brogdon, now 35-year-old Jrue. Maybe Cronin will trade Grant for Porzingis next. I know Billups will say Jrue is his kind of player, but Billups is not smart.

The fans who like this trade are the ones who don't understand the financial aspect of basketball. Cap space gone, and the Blazers got deeper at PG but not better overall. Bad trade. I can't believe Cronin included picks besides. SMH. At least now everyone knows what Simons was worth. Not much.

Maybe this trade is the prelude to trading for Giannis. Get the band back together.

[pudgejeff]

I love Jrue, but he is getting really long in the tooth and he is signed for three more years. The Celtics keep dumping their washed up players on the Blazers; first RWIII and Brogdon, now 35-year-old Jrue. Maybe Cronin will trade Grant for Porzingis next. I know Billups will say Jrue is his kind of player, but Billups is not smart.

The fans who like this trade are the ones who don't understand the financial aspect of basketball. Cap space gone, and the Blazers got deeper at PG but not better overall. Bad trade. I can't believe Cronin included picks besides. SMH. At least now everyone knows what Simons was worth. Not much.

Maybe this trade is the prelude to trading for Giannis. Get the band back together.

My hope is they think they can get more for him at the deadline than they could get for Simons. Anything else than that, it's a brain dead move.

[pezsez1]

To be honest I hadn't seen the contract details before my previous post. Oof. I love the trade from the perspective of switching out Simons for Holiday. Simons was overrated offensively and wasn't that great of a point guard, which is where we needed him to be good. But the exchange of contract burdens is very Cronin-esque.

I'm of the mind that Cronin & co. have kind of made their beds in terms of needing to push for a deep playoff run this year. I don't think they'll have much luck moving Grant or Ayton, so it makes sense they'd push all their chips in now and leave it up to the new ownership to make another run at a rebuild (or even a soft rebuild). Holiday is the guy you want in this situation. But I'm also hoping that Cronin has something up his sleeve and that maybe this is just Step 1 to moving Grant. We've bundled Holiday before, so maybe we'll do it again. But Grant's contract is even worse than Holiday's, and Cronin is still our GM, so I'm not really holding my breath over here.

[Duck07]

I love Jrue, but he is getting really long in the tooth and he is signed for three more years. The Celtics keep dumping their washed up players on the Blazers; first RWIII and Brogdon, now 35-year-old Jrue. Maybe Cronin will trade Grant for Porzingis next. I know Billups will say Jrue is his kind of player, but Billups is not smart.

The fans who like this trade are the ones who don't understand the financial aspect of basketball. Cap space gone, and the Blazers got deeper at PG but not better overall. Bad trade. I can't believe Cronin included picks besides. SMH. At least now everyone knows what Simons was worth. Not much.

Maybe this trade is the prelude to trading for Giannis. Get the band back together.

My hope is they think they can get more for him at the deadline than they could get for Simons. Anything else than that, it's a brain dead move.

Letting Simons walk end of year is a better move than hoping you can move off Jrue's contract at the trade deadline - in which you likely have to take on a similar amount of money that won't be expiring.

That's a LOT of money now tied up in Jrue and Jerami.

[Phalanx]

I have to think this is some kind of concession that:

1. Scoot is not going to be a starter for a playoff team anytime soon.

2. Cronin has no confidence that he could sign a free agent point guard.

It's just such a bummer, because it really felt like he was starting to put value on good contracts, and now he does this. I am a fan of the wrong team, I should root for the Pacers or the Celtics. Some team whose GM has a noodle.

[greenyellow]

Everything the Blazers do until they're finally sold all feels like stopgap measures until the new ownership sets their own vision for franchise by hiring new a HC and front office.

[pudgejeff]

I love Jrue, but he is getting really long in the tooth and he is signed for three more years. The Celtics keep dumping their washed up players on the Blazers; first RWIII and Brogdon, now 35-year-old Jrue. Maybe Cronin will trade Grant for Porzingis next. I know Billups will say Jrue is his kind of player, but Billups is not smart.

The fans who like this trade are the ones who don't understand the financial aspect of basketball. Cap space gone, and the Blazers got deeper at PG but not better overall. Bad trade. I can't believe Cronin included picks besides. SMH. At least now everyone knows what Simons was worth. Not much.

Maybe this trade is the prelude to trading for Giannis. Get the band back together.

My hope is they think they can get more for him at the deadline than they could get for Simons. Anything else than that, it's a brain dead move.

Letting Simons walk end of year is a better move than hoping you can move off Jrue's contract at the trade deadline - in which you likely have to take on a similar amount of money that won't be expiring.

That's a LOT of money now tied up in Jrue and Jerami.

I 100% agree, just trying to find some sun in this what looks to be atrocious deal.

[pezsez1]

Some team whose GM has a noodle.

Cronin has made a couple of good moves as GM, but overall he's simply been in over his head. Jody forced out his former boss (Olshey) and gave him the job because she didn't want to pay top dollar for a real GM. Not a single goal he's voiced publicly has ever come to fruition. He didn't build a real team around Dame. He chickened out of a full rebuild. He signed Grant to a terrible contract and then failed to unload him. He said the team would push for the play-in until he chickened out of that, too. I mean this dude has been a full-on rudderless ship and I'm surprised people had faith in him for this long.

The new ownership can't come fast enough! I'll cheer on the team in the meantime, and if our starter is Jru Holiday then that should be fun to watch. But yeah, this franchise is frustrating AF right now. I can't wait for Cronin to be shown the door.

[Phalanx]

He didn't build a real team around Dame. He chickened out of a full rebuild. He signed Grant to a terrible contract and then failed to unload him. He said the team would push for the play-in until he chickened out of that, too. I mean this dude has been a full-on rudderless ship and I'm surprised people had faith in him for this long.

Trying to build a team while paying a shoot-first-no-defense guard like Lillard the ultra-super-max was never going to work. Olshey couldn't do it, Cronin couldn't do it, and Horst in Milwaukee can't do it either. I didn't 'have faith' in Cronin, but I did recognize that he was dealt an impossible hand and unless he had Jim Harbaugh-like stones to tell Lillard to get with it or take a hike, it was going to take years to climb out of the hole. The problem is that every time it looks like he is moving toward daylight, he pulls something like this or the Grant signing (or the Lillard extension) that puts him right back in quicksand again. I really don't want to bag on Jrue - he has been one of my favorite non-Blazers since he was with the Pelicans, but his decline last year was noticeable and now a contract that was going to end this year just turned into a larger contract for three years. It's the first shot the Blazers have had in over a decade to really form a contender, and Cronin chooses to help out the Celtics instead.

[Phalanx]

Thybulle exercises his option for next season because literally no other team in the league would pay him $11.55 million to wave a towel on the bench. Why does Cronin give all these guys player options at the end of multi-year deals? It isn't like other teams were lining up to overpay him. The dude couldn't even start for Australia's Olympic team, much less an NBA team. Cronin should hire a virtual GM any time he gets the itch to originate a contract.

[StevensTechU]

CJ McCollum heading to Washington in a swap of him and Jordan Poole.

[Phalanx]

Thybulle exercises his option for next season because literally no other team in the league would pay him $11.55 million to wave a towel on the bench. Why does Cronin give all these guys player options at the end of multi-year deals? It isn't like other teams were lining up to overpay him. The dude couldn't even start for Australia's Olympic team, much less an NBA team. Cronin should hire a virtual GM any time he gets the itch to originate a contract.

Hmm, have to correct something I said. Apparently Thybulle's contract was based on an offer sheet from Dallas. So at least one other team was, in fact, lining up to overpay him.

[pezsez1]

I'm just thankful now that everyone can agree that Cronin is a terrible GM. Absolutely terrible.

[Phalanx]

So who do the Blazers pick in the draft? I am surprised that the mocks all have them taking Jakuciones, a combo guard who would presumably replace Simons. Just going over the new depth chart here:

PG Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson
SG Shaedon Sharp, Matisse Thybulle
SF Deni Avdija, Kris Murray
PF Jerami Grant, Toumani Camara
C Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, RW III

Given that this may not be the lineup this fall, I would think a scoring wing would be able to find a spot in this rotation ahead of Thybulle and Murray, who was just a bad draft pick and should probably be dumped at the earliest opportunity. I don't like Jrue's contract, but he is still probably a better point guard than Simons was, and it makes for a more defined lineup in terms of who plays what position.

I am interested to see where Cedric Coward goes. He is probably a reach at #11, but it seems like fits the Blazers needs more than some of the projected picks. Again, hard to say what the roster will look like after all the moves are made. This draft pick (if they keep it) might also tell us something about who they plan to move. If they pick a center for instance, that probably means Ayton is not going to be here.

[pezsez1]

I'm honestly not expecting any additional trades. I think Cronin and Billups care more about winning to bolster their own resumes at this point, especially with a new owner (and likely turnover) on the horizon. They're underwater on Grant at this point, and Ayton isn't the kind of player that most teams are reaching for right now. Seems like the best path to winning over the next 1-2 years are to ride the guys we have.

I like the idea of drafting a wing or a SG. I love Shaedon, but he needs to prove he belongs in the starting lineup. This is a big year for him.