Wizenheimer wrote:DusterBuster wrote:Wizenheimer wrote:
I think the extensions were just rewards for being company men and not rocking the boat
when a new owner takes over, if he wants to make changes, the small extension balances remaining on the Cronin/Billups deals won't be impediments to them getting walking papers
I don't know if it's even so much rewards for being "company men" (this maybe this is just splitting hairs / two-sides of the same coin here), I think it just might be that the FO just doesn't care. They seem - from the outside - to be wholly checked out on the basketball side of things. Given the timing of everything, why would they want to be going through a coaching and/or GM search at a pivotal time for the sale of the franchise. They had to have known for quite some time now (maybe even years ago) that this was going to be the offseason they pinpointed to get a sale done. So even less-so as a "reward" to both Billups and Cronin, it was just kind of something that was on auto-pilot to happen regardless.
Than like you said, after that the new owners can decide what they want to do with the previous regime's FO and coaching.
I also think a lot of us should be prepared that whatever new owners may come in may actually KEEP Cronin and Schmitz (Billups will be a bit more questionable, we'll see). I would say it's actually more likely they keep the FO in tact than it is they just flush it all down the drain. For the new owners who've come into the league the last few years, very few actually just give the previous basketball decision-makers pink slips on day one, or even a few years in.
don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a new owner will come in and just clean house in the front office. And usually, the first to go, if it happens, are people on the financial side of things. Business management types because anybody who can afford a 4B toy almost certainly has business people of his own he trusts
if there are replacements in the basketball operations, it's usually the GM and the new GM gets to decide on the coach. Cronin appears to be a company man who can get along with owners and decision makers....at least those from Seattle.
But I do think a new owner will take a look at some of the questionable moves Cronin has made. And if the sale happens in the middle or late next season and the Blazers are headed for another year in the lottery, Cronin's resume might not impress
I'm not so sure. Everyone here has been exceptionally critical of Cronin, and it's fine to get really lost in the weeds, but I'd argue the level of criticism he gets here won't even be looked at as harshly when viewed through the lens of a business owner who maybe is most just a general NBA fan vs a life-long Blazer fan - the former of which is clearly most likely to be who buys the team.
I guess I'm just asking for fans here to take themselves out of their lifelong Blazer fandom and put into a general NBA fan who just purchased a team. In that mindset, what move would you look at and seriously go "wow, what was so stupid he might not deserve to keep his job." One could look with a bit of a side-eye at the Grant extension, outside of that... what really has Cronin done that's egregiously so bad that an impartial observer would look at and recoil to the point where he needs to get rid a new GM in his spot right away? I'd argue there's nothing in Cronin's history as GM to really justify that.
Cronin still may get the axe early if the new owner is just coming in with someone who wants from day one, but that wouldn't really be a "for cause" firing of Cronin, just an owner wanting "his people" running the show.
Cronin has made moves I don't agree with, but I can't say he's made any just awful moves... like Joe Dumars giving away a near lottery guaranteed unprotected first round pick within a few weeks of getting the job, trading away a 25yr superstar for peanuts like Niko Harrison or locking up future draft capital for almost a full decade like Neil Olshey. They team also isn't 2nd apron capped with a terrible team like the Suns.
I just think we as fans look at Cronin's resume with this ultra critical eye, and while I'm not saying a new owner wouldn't do the same, I think they would be doing it from a much different perspective than us here as fans.
*He's kept the team more/less pretty financially responsible in the context of big-picture and all NBA teams.
*He's collected a lot of young assets. We can debate the players value or if they should have taken x over y, but they have young players most natioanly unbiased pundits don't hate on or talk negatively about.
*He's more often than not had trades that work out at worst neutral for the team, at best they won. No trade that's been egregiously WTF were you thinking.
*The scouting department maybe hasn't gotten that home-run pick yet (which if we're being honest with ourselves, has a lot of luck play into it), but their lottery guys have all proven to largely be NBA quality players. Lower end picks have been a bit rougher, but those are also something ever team can wiff on given the nature of bottom-half FRPs and SRPs.
I've had my complaints with Cronin's plan, and honestly still do as I've been a big proponent of just leaning into the rebuild/youth like you're driving into the side of a mountain. But... in terms of what a fresh-faced owner would be looking for out of a GM, I don't think you can truly say Cronin has been bad as his job.
Now again, I say that and then the Blazers new owner could be someone like Ishbia who decides to bring Billy King in as a "special consultant" and then they trade every unprotected pick for the next decade for Jabari Smith Jr or something stupid and then fire Cronin (or both sides "part ways") after a short powerstruggle, that's also an outcome with new owners... so not saying Cronin will keep his job either. Just trying to make the case that looking at it objectively and without our fan bias, I don't think you can say he's been terrible at the job.
Get ready to learn Chinese buddy... #YangBang
