Dame traded to the Bucks!

[Kobewade11]

Y'all are welcome to join us when the season starts as part-time fans. Great doing business with you and I hope you get a **** haul of picks for Jrue. Can't **** wait for Dame Time.




lol Miami.

get ready for us to send you home again groupie

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10091305-inside-the-messy-divorce-between-damian-lillard-and-portland-trail-blazers

In late August, Goodwin suggested to Cronin that he meet with Lillard to mend the relationship in case his client were to return to the team. Cronin agreed, and they met at Lillard's Portland-area mansion on Sept. 5. It was the first time the two had spoken in quite some time.

With a little less than a month away from training camp opening, the two sat in the entertainment center of Lillard's home and the meeting lasted about an hour.

Lillard expressed his disappointment with how his situation had been handled, citing his steadfast commitment to the organization over the years. He questioned why there was no dialogue with Miami and expressed how it would be disheartening to be sent somewhere against his wishes.

---- snip... ----


In the Sept. 5 meeting, Cronin conveyed that if he was forced to do a deal with Miami, he had every intention of going after every attractable asset. Lillard knew then he was unlikely to end up in Miami.


Lillard then said if a deal couldn't be worked out with the Heat, he would prefer to rescind his trade request and return to the Trail Blazers.

Cronin's response to the seven-time All-Star was that there was no coming back.

Lillard was shocked, sources said. He said it was discouraging to hear he couldn't return, but added that he didn't want to be somewhere he wasn't wanted, and he ended the meeting.

[The Sebastian Express]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

I'm all for some Cronin bashing but yeah after Lillards public request and the shenanigans with his agent, bringing him back was not a favorable situation for anyone. I don't think it would have been the end of the world but no use trying to put that genie back in the bottle.


I could have sworn I saw that somewhere during the summer that Lillard's second choice after Miami was staying in Portland but then wasn't able to find that quote anywhere when folks/heat fans were talking about how there is a huge rift between Lillard and the Blazers...

[AussieBuck]

Y'all are welcome to join us when the season starts as part-time fans. Great doing business with you and I hope you get a **** haul of picks for Jrue. Can't **** wait for Dame Time.




lol Miami.

get ready for us to send you home again groupie

I'm not having a **** fight on another team's board. I'll leave you to lurk here as you move through the stages of grief.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Y'all are welcome to join us when the season starts as part-time fans. Great doing business with you and I hope you get a **** haul of picks for Jrue. Can't **** wait for Dame Time.




lol Miami.

get ready for us to send you home again groupie

I'm not having a **** fight on another team's board. I'll leave you to lurk here as you move through the stages of grief.

Living rent free in so many peoples heads these days. Salutations and go get a chip with our boy.

[zzaj]

Lol at Lillard trying to spin this in a way to make him stay the good guy.

No matter how you spin it, Lillard through his agent asked for a trade only to the Heat. His agent went so far as to tell other interested teams Lillard would only be happy in Miami. Whether that came from Lillard or Goodwin doesn’t matter…but I’ll point out that Goodwin is still Lillard’s agent. Any normal person who got a reprimand from the NBA for an action an agent took without a directive would immediately fire that agent…so read between the lines.

Cronin probably handled the rebuild poorly, Lillard said FU to the Blazers, Cronin said FU back…his FU was to trade him to a team where he can win a championship, with one of his best friends and get paid 100s of Millions in the process…

I won’t be shedding any tears for Lillard being misunderstood. Nor does this change my view of Cronin’s stellar job recapitulating the franchise.

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm all for some Cronin bashing but yeah after Lillards public request and the shenanigans with his agent, bringing him back was not a favorable situation for anyone. I don't think it would have been the end of the world but no use trying to put that genie back in the bottle.


I could have sworn I saw that somewhere during the summer that Lillard's second choice after Miami was staying in Portland but then wasn't able to find that quote anywhere when folks/heat fans were talking about how there is a huge rift between Lillard and the Blazers...

Marang reported frequently that if it wasn't Miami the general feeling was he would want to come back to Portland. Moreso it wasn't necessarily about 'get me out of Portland at any cost' but 'I want to go play with my friends in Miami while competing'.

[PDXKnight]

I'm all for some Cronin bashing but yeah after Lillards public request and the shenanigans with his agent, bringing him back was not a favorable situation for anyone. I don't think it would have been the end of the world but no use trying to put that genie back in the bottle.


I could have sworn I saw that somewhere during the summer that Lillard's second choice after Miami was staying in Portland but then wasn't able to find that quote anywhere when folks/heat fans were talking about how there is a huge rift between Lillard and the Blazers...

Marang reported frequently that if it wasn't Miami the general feeling was he would want to come back to Portland. Moreso it wasn't necessarily about 'get me out of Portland at any cost' but 'I want to go play with my friends in Miami while competing'.

I think we made the right call, it was time to move on regardless of how it played out. And it's hard to request a trade and then undo the pr nightmare afterwards if he returns, it was time to move on for both parties the moment he or his agent went public with those demands

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm all for some Cronin bashing but yeah after Lillards public request and the shenanigans with his agent, bringing him back was not a favorable situation for anyone. I don't think it would have been the end of the world but no use trying to put that genie back in the bottle.


I could have sworn I saw that somewhere during the summer that Lillard's second choice after Miami was staying in Portland but then wasn't able to find that quote anywhere when folks/heat fans were talking about how there is a huge rift between Lillard and the Blazers...

Marang reported frequently that if it wasn't Miami the general feeling was he would want to come back to Portland. Moreso it wasn't necessarily about 'get me out of Portland at any cost' but 'I want to go play with my friends in Miami while competing'.

I think we made the right call, it was time to move on regardless of how it played out. And it's hard to request a trade and then undo the pr nightmare afterwards if he returns, it was time to move on for both parties the moment he or his agent went public with those demands

I also agree from a logical standpoint we made the right decision there under current circumstances. As a fan, of course I would've wanted Dame to come back even if stuff was uncomfortable. But I understand why the front office couldn't. You can't have that hanging over Scoot and Shaedon, the idea they're just waiting there to be traded to help Dame. Or that Dame might request a trade if stuff doesn't go his way again or Miami puts a better offer on the table.

All separations where so much love exists always hurts at least a little. This one is no different.

[DusterBuster]

I'm all for some Cronin bashing but yeah after Lillards public request and the shenanigans with his agent, bringing him back was not a favorable situation for anyone. I don't think it would have been the end of the world but no use trying to put that genie back in the bottle.


I could have sworn I saw that somewhere during the summer that Lillard's second choice after Miami was staying in Portland but then wasn't able to find that quote anywhere when folks/heat fans were talking about how there is a huge rift between Lillard and the Blazers...

Marang reported frequently that if it wasn't Miami the general feeling was he would want to come back to Portland. Moreso it wasn't necessarily about 'get me out of Portland at any cost' but 'I want to go play with my friends in Miami while competing'.

Marang said he heard that directly from Dame. He and Dame were close enough that Marang could text Dame and get a response at least.

The report he wanted to come back if not Miami would line up with what Marang was saying all summer.

The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Haynes is likely getting all his reporting from Dame and Miami sources. Doubt anyone from Portland talked to him. I believe Dame’s account of things that he tried to rescind the offer and Joe said no. I’ll do something I don’t do lightly, give Joe credit here. That’s the kind of genie you can’t put back in the bottle. It’ll be a distraction for at least another year or two as Dame keeps getting older. It’ll hurt any chance for Scoot to develop playing backup to Dame, then they’ll just have to do this whole thing again next summer and Dame’s value will only keep going down from here on out. So the time was now.

Parts of the Haynes story I don’t buy is anything around the Heats offer. That feels like pure face saving. And regardless, getting Jrue to flip is better than being saddled with Herro’s contract. So even if you want to believe the offer the Heat reportedly made in the article, this deal still makes more sense as Jrue by all accounts has much higher trade value. Woj says the Blazers will get multiple picks and a player on a rookie deal. The Blazers will make up whatever they missed out on (extra picks and a Jovic level rookie contract player) by flipping Jrue.

[Moonbeam]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

Exactly this. As much as I love Dame (and I do), it was right to trade him after he made the request. It would have been a huge looming cloud over the team if he stayed in Portland.

I further agree that no one is the villain here. I maintain that Cronin is a bad GM and that he misled fans and probably Dame, but I don’t think he was acting spitefully or anything like that.

[The Sebastian Express]

I think most of us agree once it was out, there was no putting it back. If he hadn't made it publicly, yes I think you can. But not publicly, not after two months of what Goodwin was doing. You just.. gotta move on, as much as it hurts.

[soobias]

im not a fan of ayton, im not a fan of grant and im def not a fan of their contracts.
but im becoming a fan of cronin llol no one knows what the best deal he could've gotten all speculation and probably some lies from so called sources, but like many of you have said cronin put dame on a real contender with a top 3 player in his prime and got to keep all his money so dame doesnt have anything to be sad about. maybe his Entourage for they dont get to party in south beach lmao.

i actually thought miami fans would be re leaved that they wouldnt have to pay all that money left on dames contract

idk if i was reading the BR wrong but i didnt see if dame and goodwin gave cronin a chance to do business with miami before going public and hurting dame's trade value.

i think dame will do really well as the #2 which i felt he should have always been behind a really good #1 option but sadly N.O did a horrible job for too long a time to make things happen and dame is/was too attached to some players to make any real headway ie cj,nurk ect...

but onward and upward i hope but going forward i would like a real good vet or 2 to teach these young guys how to be professional and better players.

[DusterBuster]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

I’ll add too, the point about Joe not talking to Dame while he was in town, I don’t view this as Joe being shady. Look, Joe doesn’t strike me as one who hides his emotions well or can fake it.

People never consider the emotional human aspect of trades. Some GMs can compartmentalize the human from the business side for things, others have a tougher time with that. Joe strikes me as the latter, just go watch his press conferences. He can’t put it on like the more hard nosed GMs like Ainge or Bob Myers.

He knew Dame for his whole career here and he was tasked with trading the franchises greatest player. I would bet anything this was an emotionally difficult move for him and engaging Dame this late in the process would have just made it harder…

[PDXKnight]

I think most of us agree once it was out, there was no putting it back. If he hadn't made it publicly, yes I think you can. But not publicly, not after two months of what Goodwin was doing. You just.. gotta move on, as much as it hurts.

It's kind of unfortunate if Dame really did want Portland if not Miami. But indeed we had no choice after this bonehead agent mismanaged this situation gravely

[monopoman]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

Yep this is like if your wife leaves you for another man, realizes she misses you and comes back 3 months later. That doesn't always just solve the problem in the first place, Dame made his bed he can lie in it.

Sure sometimes people will get back together, forgive and forget, but that is not how everyone feels or behaves.

There were reports back in July that Lillards optimal choice was The Heat but if that was not possible he wanted to stay on the Blazers. Turns out those reports were 100% true as this shows what he was thinking.

[JRoy]

How’s them grapes?

Sour?

[PDXKnight]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

Yep this is like if your wife leaves you for another man, realizes she misses you and comes back 3 months later. That doesn't always just solve the problem in the first place, Dame made his bed he can lie in it.

Sure sometimes people will get back together, forgive and forget, but that is not how everyone feels or behaves.

There were reports back in July that Lillards optimal choice was The Heat but if that was not possib8le he wanted to stay on the Blazers. Turns out those reports were 100% true as this shows what he was thinking.

What's wild is supposedly he wanted to stay in Portland very recently after Miami fell apart and cronin basically told him thanks but no thanks. Honestly it's reasonable I'd say after the dog and pony show and the inevitable ongoing drama of a superstar trying to play pseudo gm when he's well in his 30's. And of course the fact that we are maybe at best a 35 win team with Dame

[Sinobas]

Yeah that's not a real surprise, sometimes you can't put a bandaid back on. We even discussed it here back on July, where we wondered whether POrtland might go and try to trade all our assets for Embiid if things got rough there and hope to convince Dame to stay. It's hard to do that because Dame's already ripped it off by this point. If something goes poorly, who says he won't try to take it off again?

It's just a cloud of uncertainty and everyone being on edge at that point. No one blames him for ripping the bandaid off, but based on everything else it wasn't realistic to expect it to be put back on.

Even the sentence there "If it can't be worked out." It's "well, if this can't happen, I want to stay." Not a, "Well, I've changed my mind and want to stay no matter what."

No one's the villain, sometimes stuff just doesn't work out.

Yep this is like if your wife leaves you for another man, realizes she misses you and comes back 3 months later. That doesn't always just solve the problem in the first place, Dame made his bed he can lie in it.

Sure sometimes people will get back together, forgive and forget, but that is not how everyone feels or behaves.

There were reports back in July that Lillards optimal choice was The Heat but if that was not possible he wanted to stay on the Blazers. Turns out those reports were 100% true as this shows what he was thinking.

I don't really buy the emotional crap. If Cronin wanted to retain Dame, he would have welcomed him back. Imagine if Dame were 24 and asked for a trade then changed his mind, do you really think we'd be like "sorry too late", we're trading you for Mike Conley.