Cronin becomes permanent GM

[Dame Lizard]

Well, I’m not mad at the guy for taking risks, but he should have made more calculated risks. Not securing the Lakers pick was an epic failure. If the Pelicans miss the playoffs they keep their lotto pick, if they push out LA and make it to the 8th seed they get LA’s pick. That’s a very calculated risk. win-win move for them. Meanwhile Cronin accepted a distant first instead of getting a second first this year. Even if he traded for the lakers pick and it ended up being the 15th pick that’s a lot more useful in moves this off-season. It was pretty dumb.

Obviously I agree that it would have been great if we did get the protection you mentioned, but I'm sure that the Blazers asked for it (as it shouldn't have been rocket science for a GM).

Ultimately though, I think Portland would have absolutely fleeced New Orleans if that trade had progressed.

Instead we got an 90% as valuable draft pick (protections and expectations regarding Western Conference seeding considered), and perhaps that was the very max that New Orleans wanted to go to.

CJ is a good player, but is NOT a good contract imo. If we got the #8 pick for him, that would have been beyond incredible. It turns out we were very close.

[Sinobas]

I'm not as down on Cronin as many Blazer fans. The CJ trade was actually good. The Blazers simply needed to get rid of his contract. They were able shed his contract and also get Josh Hart...the fact that they were able to shed his salary and get that value is a win, despite the fact that they didn't end up with the NO pick this year.

The Clippers trade was basically a give-away in order to shed salary. I think we should have at least got a lotto protected 1st for that deal. But Keon Johnson is 19 and probably would have been a lotto pick in this year's draft.

Anyway, the crux of the situation is what he does this offseason.

[BlazersBroncos]

I would take Hart over CJ to begin with so any type of pick is just gravy for me.

Hart brings much more of what we need on the court than CJ, especially w/ Ant's emergence.