Tim Lehrbach wrote:Wizenheimer wrote:PDXKnight wrote:
No disagreement from me, you for sure called it.
it's not always a 1 for 1 correlation between wins and winshares, but the vet-quartet of Simons-Ayton-Grant-Timelord have combined for 9 winshares. Personally I think the wins those 4 have added is closer to 12 or 13 than 9 because of the timely shooting of Simons and Ayton and 1 or 2 games by Grant.
If you assume 11 wins as a baseline, and further assume the replacement player/minutes would have added 2 or 3 wins, you're back down to 8 or 9 wins added by vets who shouldn't be on the team. That would put the Blazers at 19 or 20 wins and firmly in the 5th seed in the lottery
instead, they appear headed for the 11th or 12th seed in the lottery and the 11th seed in the 10 seed play-in race. And the only way to hope to climb into the play-in race next season is to keep all the vets around, keep them starting, and rinse/repeat the idiocy
worst-outcomes-r-us
You were right and I was wrong. As bad as they've been, the veterans have contributed to the team winning above expectations. I thought the roster was about as bad as it could get, and we'd see the Blazers atop the lottery race. Instead they were merely "bad" and outplayed the true tankers.
The thing I will continue to stand behind is that Cronin was stuck this year because there was no way to move those guys. It's his fault, of course, that he entered the season with them on the roster, but once he made that fateful decision, the team was stuck with whatever results they were going to yield.
you may be right about the trade options being about zero before the deadline....although there were persistent rumors that the Lakers were trying to get Grant and that Cronin's demands were insane
but are we really sure that Cronin ever
really wanted to trade any of the vets? Are we sure that Cronin doesn't believe the team, as it is, can compete for the playoffs?
I'll repeat what I've said before: Jason Quick reported that it was Cronin who convinced Olshey to focus on Simons in the 2018 draft; and it was Cronin who gave Simons 25M/year in his 2nd contract when the market wouldn't have given him 15M/year. We know that Cronin probably considers trading for Grant as his first big acquisition; and of course it was Cronin who gave Grant that contract that's now considered one of the worst in the league. We know that Cronin coveted Ayton for at least a couple of years before making Ayton the centerpiece of the return from the Dame trade. And that the rumors were tat Croin was extremely reluctant to consider trading Timelord
we have seen time and again that GM's can stubbornly cling to players they consider as 'their' guys; and that's most GM's not just Portland's. So, it seems it's entirely possible that Cronin has no intentions of trading Simons and Ayton, and maybe even Grant. That he's somehow deluded himself into believing they are core assets and has every intention of re-signing them
to me, that seems a more logical conclusion than assuming those players have had no trade value at any time over the last couple of seasons. I've become very pessimistic about what Cronin's plans are. I think he really wants to rinse/repeat this season, next season, anticipating better results. If the Blazers start next season with Simons-Ayton-Grant still on the team and Chauncey as the coach fully intending to start all three guys, I won't be watching
