2025 Off-Season Strategy - What will Cronin do?

[Case2012]

RJ is simply not a winning player. He puts up decent raw stats but nothing he does has ever translated to winning basketball.

Career
WS48 0.50
OBPM -0.6
DBPM -1.2
ORtg 105
DRtg 115
USG 26%
Per 100 Poss OnCourt -2.3
Per 100 Poss On/Off -4.2
EFg .49%

He is fools gold. Not great at anything, requires high usage per his style of play, quite slow as well. Stay away.

Dude you literally just proved my point by just posting some advanced stats. What's the context of those numbers?

Those aren't everything, did you even watch those clips? Look at his numbers after going to Toronto, I bet they tell a different story.

How good was NY in that time frame? Weren't they rebuilding and tanking? Hasn't Toronto been tanking?

[BlazersBroncos]

RJ is simply not a winning player. He puts up decent raw stats but nothing he does has ever translated to winning basketball.

Career
WS48 0.50
OBPM -0.6
DBPM -1.2
ORtg 105
DRtg 115
USG 26%
Per 100 Poss OnCourt -2.3
Per 100 Poss On/Off -4.2
EFg .49%

He is fools gold. Not great at anything, requires high usage per his style of play, quite slow as well. Stay away.

Dude you literally just proved my point by just posting some advanced stats. What's the context of those numbers?

Those aren't everything, did you even watch those clips? Look at his numbers after going to Toronto, I bet they tell a different story.

How good was NY in that time frame? Weren't they rebuilding and tanking? Hasn't Toronto been tanking?

His numbers in TOR are bad still.

23/24 WS48 .078
24/25 WS48 .061

23/24 OBPM +1.5
24/25 OBPM +1.2

23/24 DBPM -1.4
24/25 DBPM -0.7

23/24 USG 26
24/25 USG 28

23/24 ORTG 114
24/25 ORTG 108

23/24 DRTG 120
24/25 DRTG 116

OnCourt Per 100 Poss
23/24 -5.4
24/25 -3.4

On/Off Per 100 Poss
23/24 1.5
24/25 1.8

For example, last year among starters he was below Poeltl, Barnes, IQ, and Davion for On/Off per 100 poss. For OnCourt per 100 Poss of players w/ over 800 minutes he was below Poeltl, Boucher, IQ, Davion, Barnes and Ja'Kobe.

His WS48 for players with over 800 minutes was below Poeltl, Boucher, IQ, Agbaji, Battle, Barnes and Mogbo.
His OBPM for players with over 800 minutes was below Poeltl, Boucher and Barnes (He has his best offensive year last season - granted he required a 28% usage rate to do so).
His DBPM for players with over 800 minutes was below Poeltl, Mogbo, Barnes, Agbaji, Davion, Boucher and Ja'Kobe.
His ORTG for players with over 800 minutes was below Boucher, Poeltl, IQ, Battle, Agbaji, Mogbo and Ja'Kobe.
His DRTG for players wiht over 800 minutes was below Potltl, Barnes, Mogbo and Boucher.

And on top of this he was posting a 28.7% USG rate - above Barnes and IQ.

He just isnt very good but if you want a high usage tank commander he is the guy for the job.

[Walton1one]

Not really a Barrett fan, ask yourself why TOR wants to trade him?

Then again. I want Simons off this team any means necessary, never going to win anything meaningful with that guy playing a prominent role, not a winning player…

[Norm2953]

Make this trade and RJ will be around for another year at $29 million while both Simons/Ayton will
be gone. No need to do anything but let those guys walk, freeing up $60 million in salaries

[cucad8]

Not really a Barrett fan, ask yourself why TOR wants to trade him?

Then again. I want Simons off this team any means necessary, never going to win anything meaningful with that guy playing a prominent role, not a winning player…

Can't that then be said about Deni as well? Why would Washington want to trade him... never won anything meaningful... not a winning player...?

[Walton1one]

Not really a Barrett fan, ask yourself why TOR wants to trade him?

Then again. I want Simons off this team any means necessary, never going to win anything meaningful with that guy playing a prominent role, not a winning player…

Can't that then be said about Deni as well? Why would Washington want to trade him... never won anything meaningful... not a winning player...?

Because they were doing a total reset, and even though Deni was a good player on a good salary, they were able to net another lottery pick (#14)plus a likely future lottery pick for him, so they probably saw it as worthwhile, I think they had a new GM come in last year?

TOR wants to win now, thus the acquisition of Ingram, and all the rumors of big star chasing, which begs the question why trade Barrett then?

[PDXKnight]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45545025/nba-draft-2025-five-trades-shake-first-round

Anyone see this ESPN article with 5 proposed trades?

Brooklyn Nets get: No. 11 pick (via Portland), 2031 unprotected first (via Los Angeles)
Los Angeles Lakers get: No. 8 pick (via Brooklyn), No. 36 pick (via Brooklyn)
Portland Trail Blazers get: G Dalton Knecht, 2027 top-4 protected first (via New York)

Portland's getting robbed again for the Knicks top 4 protected pick will likely be in the 20's which
means Portland traded their late lottery pick for Knecht + 2027 pick that will be in the 20's while
while the Lakers get their center of the future (Maluach)

God ESPN is going down the ****.

Yeah I like knect but not at this price. Would love if we could get him as part of an ayton deal

[Sinobas]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

[BlazersBroncos]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

I want this. Would ask for 29 though. Likely would do it even without that.

Shaving the year is easily worth the higher AV for Beal.

[DusterBuster]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

I want this. Would ask for 29 though. Likely would do it even without that.

Shaving the year is easily worth the higher AV for Beal.

Beal would need to want to come to Portland. There’s no indication he would be remotely interested in going to Portland. He has been very liberal in exercising his NTC to make sure he only is where he wants to be for himself and his family.

[Sinobas]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

I want this. Would ask for 29 though. Likely would do it even without that.

Shaving the year is easily worth the higher AV for Beal.

Beal does have a no trade clause in his contract. Though I don't know if he would particularly care? It's not like the Suns are a winning team.

[DusterBuster]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

I want this. Would ask for 29 though. Likely would do it even without that.

Shaving the year is easily worth the higher AV for Beal.

Beal does have a no trade clause in his contract. Though I don't know if he would particularly care? It's not like the Suns are a winning team.

He does care. He’s made it very clear he is prioritizing his family (understandable), he doesn’t care about a ring, he wants to be wherever his family is OK living. When the Butler rumors were out there, Beal would goto Miami, Miami didn’t want him. Bucks were rumored to be ok taking Beal, Beal didn’t want to goto Milwaukee.

He was widely reported Beal’s decision making for his NTC was where his family wanted to live wayyyyy over a ring. He and his family love Arizona. That’s keeping him in Phoenix. If he ever gets bought out, he’s going to either sign a MLE for a fast ring or with a team at one of his families preferred destinations to just get one last check and maybe go into a coaching or FO job for a franchise where his fam wants to be… or just retire and enjoy his life.

[PDXKnight]

Wonder if we could do a Grant/RW3 for Beal trade. Both really have no trade value. The Blazers could get out of Grant's contract 1 year earlier, and for the Suns, it would spread out the financial hardship more and help with their tax situation.

We'd get Grant out of our forward rotation, and Beal could be a guard off the bench.

I want this. Would ask for 29 though. Likely would do it even without that.

Shaving the year is easily worth the higher AV for Beal.

Beal does have a no trade clause in his contract. Though I don't know if he would particularly care? It's not like the Suns are a winning team.

Id do this as well, though im pretty sure that 60 million for 2 years is more negative than 30 mil x 3. Seems like we could squeeze a pick out of them no.doubt

[Walton1one]

ESPN 2026 rankings, POR sitting right where they were LY @ #22, they are not buying the 23-18 finish, wish POR mgmt was as realistic

22. Portland Trail Blazers

2024-25 record: 36-46

Previous rank: 22

Result: Missed postseason

2025 draft picks: No. 11

After extending the contracts of coach Chauncey Billups and GM Joe Cronin, the Blazers are hoping to parlay their 23-18 second half into playoff contention in 2025-26. Portland has developed a competitive core of young talent led by forwards Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara. Still, the Blazers' top-three defensive rating in that span might be tough to maintain. Opponents shot just 34% on 3s in those games, second lowest in the league, and that typically doesn't carry over. Denver, Miami and Washington gave up the lowest 3-point percentages in the 2023-24 second half. None ranked better than 14th in 2024-25. -- Pelton

[BlazersBroncos]

Saw this on the T&T board and would be thrilled -

Royce, Timelord, and 10 to Minnesota
Randle and Grant to Phoenix
Beal and 17 to Portland

Would probably have to add some incentive to MIN but this is the type of opportunist deal we should be looking for.

[dckingsfan]

If Phoenix wants to do this deal, they simply don't play Beal until he comes around. It probably wouldn't happen at the beginning of the season...

[BlazersBroncos]

If Phoenix wants to do this deal, they simply don't play Beal until he comes around. It probably wouldn't happen at the beginning of the season...

Ya I agree I dont see PHX watering down #10 by attaching Beal.

Its why the simple Beal + 29 for Grant + RWIII idea seems to have some realism. They keep 10 and Grant is one of like 3 players in the NBA who have as bad a contract as Beal.

PDX would actually save money FWIW -

Beal 110M

Grant 102.6M
RWIII 13M

[dckingsfan]

If Phoenix wants to do this deal, they simply don't play Beal until he comes around. It probably wouldn't happen at the beginning of the season...

Ya I agree I dont see PHX watering down #10 by attaching Beal.

Its why the simple Beal + 29 for Grant + RWIII idea seems to have some realism. They keep 10 and Grant is one of like 3 players in the NBA who have as bad a contract as Beal.

PDX would actually save money FWIW -

Beal 110M

Grant 102.6M
RWIII 13M

One more thing - this actually makes Phoenix a better team. They need SF/PF depth in a big way.

Also, it makes us a worse team unless Beal magically bounces back.

But, we can then walk from Sharpe and that is a huge plus.

[oldfishermen]

Tossing a simple trade idea into the discussion.

RW3 for Grayson Allen.

Allen is a savvy vet SG. Adding him to the roster as a backup SG would depend on the direction Cronin takes in the draft, and off season trades. He may or may not fit.

For the Suns, after trading KD, they need a lot of big help. Allen will be behind a long list of overpaid SGs, and collecting dust on the bench. RW3s health could be worth the risk.

I would rather have dependable two way Allen @ $16 million rather then an overpaid Simons or Sharpe. But keep one for another season while our draft pick, Coward, settles into the starting SG slot. Trade either Simons or Sharpe for a second FRP in this draft.

Instead of having two overpaid SGs. We have one on a rookie contract, with a savvy vet on a reasonable contract. Opening cap space to re-sign our keeper core players.

[tester551]

Saw this on the T&T board and would be thrilled -

Royce, Timelord, and 10 to Minnesota
Randle and Grant to Phoenix
Beal and 17 to Portland

Would probably have to add some incentive to MIN but this is the type of opportunist deal we should be looking for.

Not legal for Suns. They are over the 2nd apron & can't aggregate salaries.