Dame traded to the Bucks!

[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. If Haynes story is true, it just means Joe was looking for an excuse to move on from Dame. Which makes sense, given that he just drafted Scoot.

[Norm2953]

One can imagine Case is tearing up his house if Portland turned down Dame's request to return

I do think if Dame had kept quiet in the beginning, things would have been different. Portland/Miami
would have went into a negotiation and he'd be in Miami for it took 10 days to work out a deal with
the Bucks/Suns. Portland did get what they wanted, which is the addition of Milwaukee and Brooklyn
to the mix, which is why he's in Milwaukee instead of Toronto.

Too much had happened to return and its likely we'd be hearing Dame talk through the trade deadline
for there is nothing to stop Dame from asking out again and again. Last thing Portland wants is an
unhappy Dame around the next generation team with the next alpha in Scoot Henderson

[Capn'O]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

[zzaj]

All I know is that if I were Lillard, this is EXACTLY the story I’d be making public in order to stay “Mr. Loyal” with a franchise that will make up a huge part of my legacy.

I’ll wait until Cronin says Lillard wanted to rescind his request before I give Lillard the benefit of the doubt.

[monopoman]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

Well it's also pretty rare for a player to make a very public and adamant trade demand then have their second best option being no trade.

In a lot of cases these players want out and they would prefer a few teams but they want out first and foremost.

[Capn'O]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

Well it's also pretty rare for a player to make a very public and adamant trade demand then have their second best option being no trade.

In a lot of cases these players want out and they would prefer a few teams but they want out first and foremost.

I mean, isn't that it though? I don't think Dame really wanted to leave but anyone could see the writing on the wall that the team couldn't get him what he needed and the correct path was a rebuild. His trade request struck me as uncharacteristically spiteful... like "well if you won't tell me then I'm making an ultimatum." Furthermore, he knew as well as we did that Miami didn't have a trade. He was hurt and, I think, lashed out. But you don't get hurt like that if you're dying to get out.

I suspect if they had come to him and said that and that they'd prefer to move on and would work to find a good situation we would have gotten to the point where we ended up much quicker.

[Wizenheimer]

All I know is that if I were Lillard, this is EXACTLY the story I’d be making public in order to stay “Mr. Loyal” with a franchise that will make up a huge part of my legacy.

I’ll wait until Cronin says Lillard wanted to rescind his request before I give Lillard the benefit of the doubt.

sorry, but I think that's taking the blame-Dame narrative too far. He'd be stupid to make a claim like this that wasn't true

besides that, we heard 3 or 4 'reports/rumors' a few weeks ago that Dame was only interested in playing for 2 teams: Miami or Portland. So that article isn't the first hint of Dame's willingness to remain in Portland. And of course, there's 11 years of history supporting that notion

I found the article fairly credible and for the most part, spin-free. Yes, it's from Dame's POV, but again, what Dame conveys is similar to what he has conveyed in his time in Portland

so I tend to believe it. I can see how he would back off and rescind his trade request. And I can see why Cronin refused. I don't think this relationship soured when Dame asked to be traded. I think it soured when Dame's agent started his scorched-earth-Miami-or-bust campaign. And you know that I'm convinced that Pat Riley had his fingerprints all over that campaign. I'm also convinced the Blazer front office believed that as well. In fact, I think they believed it enough their hackles were so elevated that they were determined to never trade Dame to Miami and not give into Pat Riley's crappy lowball offers and leak-o-matic tactics with reporters and bloggers

personally, the article about Dame wanting to remain and Cronin refusing just makes me sad

[Effigy]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

Yeah, it always felt to me like Portland wanted to trade him but didn’t want to be the bad guy, so they waited for Dame to ask out. Don’t think they were expecting him to only want to go to Miami though.

[Capn'O]

Like, we have all the stages of grief here:

Denial: I'm staying in Portland. Nobody said otherwise
Depression: He was pretty reclusive after the draft
Anger: Trade me to Miami! I won't go anywhere else
Bargaining: Ok you aren't trading me to Miami. aaaaaaaaactually, um, maybe I can stay?
Acceptance: Fine. Milwaukee or Brooklyn would be ok.

Dude went through it.

[JRoy]

Like, we have all the stages of grief here:

Denial: I'm staying in Portland. Nobody said otherwise
Depression: He was pretty reclusive after the draft
Anger: Trade me to Miami!
Bargaining: Ok you aren't trading me to Miami. aaaaaaaaactually, um, maybe I can stay?
Acceptance: Fine. Milwaukee or Brooklyn would be ok.

Dude went through it.

Do one for Miami

[HoopsFanAZ]

Goodwin — scorched Earth.
Haynes — scorched Earth and persona non grata with the Blazers, and he obviously doesn’t care. He’s at 14:59 and washed.

Where are Lillard’s unfiltered and directly quoted words on this? Water carrier and anonymous sources don’t qualify. Bold and brave talk right there.

This criticism isn’t about Lillard. After all, Lillard is the one who always says to listen to his words not what others say. So, I will.

[zzaj]

All I know is that if I were Lillard, this is EXACTLY the story I’d be making public in order to stay “Mr. Loyal” with a franchise that will make up a huge part of my legacy.

I’ll wait until Cronin says Lillard wanted to rescind his request before I give Lillard the benefit of the doubt.

sorry, but I think that's taking the blame-Dame narrative too far. He'd be stupid to make a claim like this that wasn't true

besides that, we heard 3 or 4 'reports/rumors' a few weeks ago that Dame was only interested in playing for 2 teams: Miami or Portland. So that article isn't the first hint of Dame's willingness to remain in Portland. And of course, there's 11 years of history supporting that notion

I found the article fairly credible and for the most part, spin-free. Yes, it's from Dame's POV, but again, what Dame conveys is similar to what he has conveyed in his time in Portland

so I tend to believe it. I can see how he would back off and rescind his trade request. And I can see why Cronin refused. I don't think this relationship soured when Dame asked to be traded. I think it soured when Dame's agent started his scorched-earth-Miami-or-bust campaign. And you know that I'm convinced that Pat Riley had his fingerprints all over that campaign. I'm also convinced the Blazer front office believed that as well. In fact, I think they believed it enough their hackles were so elevated that they were determined to never trade Dame to Miami and not give into Pat Riley's crappy lowball offers and leak-o-matic tactics with reporters and bloggers

personally, the article about Dame wanting to remain and Cronin refusing just makes me sad

It’s fair to say it’s too far…and it’s true there were murmurings of him being okay with staying in PDX, and I guess it’s true he has been “loyal” (I have a hard time with that word in the NBA, given the money involved) for 11 years, or whatever. But it’s also incredibly convenient for him not to say a word about this until ex-post facto.

Maybe it’s played out exactly how it looks on the surface—only a couple of people honestly know, and we’ll likely never get the real answer.

My feelings are that it was time to move on from Lillard, no matter what—it likely was “time” a couple of years ago, but given the nature of the UFRP and 2 pick swaps which will likely be high-end, I’m glad it happened now.

Also, FWIW I think the first domino was Cronin’s moves which were essentially rebuilding under Lillard. Maybe he told Lillard he was trying to contend but was lying to keep Lillard here. Maybe he was trying and just couldn’t get it done. Maybe, maybe, maybe…who knows.

What I reject, is the idea some are posting that Cronin is a bad GM because he somehow mislead fans. If fans believe anything a GM says publicly, then that’s on the fan. Part of a GM’s job is to keep the public interested in the team and buying tickets. Cronin was never going to go public with “Well, we’re going to trade Lillard once we get a good offer for him. We don’t feel we’re in a title contention window and we need to start over.” That would be job suicide.

Cronin may have mislead Lillard, Lillard may have mislead Cronin (I’ve always wondered this about Grant’s big contract), but Cronin didn’t mislead fans…he said publicly what every other GM in the league would say.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m rambling…sorry.

[Moonbeam]

All I know is that if I were Lillard, this is EXACTLY the story I’d be making public in order to stay “Mr. Loyal” with a franchise that will make up a huge part of my legacy.

I’ll wait until Cronin says Lillard wanted to rescind his request before I give Lillard the benefit of the doubt.

sorry, but I think that's taking the blame-Dame narrative too far. He'd be stupid to make a claim like this that wasn't true

besides that, we heard 3 or 4 'reports/rumors' a few weeks ago that Dame was only interested in playing for 2 teams: Miami or Portland. So that article isn't the first hint of Dame's willingness to remain in Portland. And of course, there's 11 years of history supporting that notion

I found the article fairly credible and for the most part, spin-free. Yes, it's from Dame's POV, but again, what Dame conveys is similar to what he has conveyed in his time in Portland

so I tend to believe it. I can see how he would back off and rescind his trade request. And I can see why Cronin refused. I don't think this relationship soured when Dame asked to be traded. I think it soured when Dame's agent started his scorched-earth-Miami-or-bust campaign. And you know that I'm convinced that Pat Riley had his fingerprints all over that campaign. I'm also convinced the Blazer front office believed that as well. In fact, I think they believed it enough their hackles were so elevated that they were determined to never trade Dame to Miami and not give into Pat Riley's crappy lowball offers and leak-o-matic tactics with reporters and bloggers

personally, the article about Dame wanting to remain and Cronin refusing just makes me sad

It’s fair to say it’s too far…and it’s true there were murmurings of him being okay with staying in PDX, and I guess it’s true he has been “loyal” (I have a hard time with that word in the NBA, given the money involved) for 11 years, or whatever. But it’s also incredibly convenient for him not to say a word about this until ex-post facto.

Maybe it’s played out exactly how it looks on the surface—only a couple of people honestly know, and we’ll likely never get the real answer.

My feelings are that it was time to move on from Lillard, no matter what—it likely was “time” a couple of years ago, but given the nature of the UFRP and 2 pick swaps which will likely be high-end, I’m glad it happened now.

Also, FWIW I think the first domino was Cronin’s moves which were essentially rebuilding under Lillard. Maybe he told Lillard he was trying to contend but was lying to keep Lillard here. Maybe he was trying and just couldn’t get it done. Maybe, maybe, maybe…who knows.

What I reject, is the idea some are posting that Cronin is a bad GM because he somehow mislead fans. If fans believe anything a GM says publicly, then that’s on the fan. Part of a GM’s job is to keep the public interested in the team and buying tickets. Cronin was never going to go public with “Well, we’re going to trade Lillard once we get a good offer for him. We don’t feel we’re in a title contention window and we need to start over.” That would be job suicide.

Cronin may have mislead Lillard, Lillard may have mislead Cronin (I’ve always wondered this about Grant’s big contract), but Cronin didn’t mislead fans…he said publicly what every other GM in the league would say.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m rambling…sorry.

I’ll bite because I’ve been hammering Cronin. I didn’t say he was a bad GM because he misled fans, I said he was a bad GM and he misled fans. There are plenty of non-answers that GMs give that aren’t nearly as misleading as the sort of quotes Cronin was willingly putting out there in multiple press conferences. Anyway, it’s in the past now. Hopefully Joe can learn from this.

[Brandon-Clyde]

If Dame had been as public about being willing to return to Portland and said something to the effect that if Miami wasn't willing to offer Portland a fair deal for him that he would be happy to stay in Portland perhaps the relationship could have been repaired. Instead Dame remained silent while his agent worked to sabotage his value and try to make Miami the only suitor.

[Whole Truth]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

Well it's also pretty rare for a player to make a very public and adamant trade demand then have their second best option being no trade.

In a lot of cases these players want out and they would prefer a few teams but they want out first and foremost.

Not if the reason for asking out was influenced along with the agents very specidfic demands & the Heats arrogance of it all..

Put it together.

Butler/Heat using player influence - Hey Dame come to Miami
Heat/Dames agent - We don't have the assets, control the market, Porltand lied to meh
Heat - That's our final offer like it, no other team wants him (Thanks to said demands)
Report - Even though Portland lied to meh for me to "specifically request out to one team "Heat", I'm ok with returning to work with them, lol

Butler/Herro - Hey NBA look into Bucks tampering of our tampering, lol

[DusterBuster]

The “other side” report is now out. That being that Dame saying he would come back was not just “I’ll come back and not ask for a trade again.” It was that he was willing to come back and start the season with Portland to give the Blazers more time to find a Miami deal that works.

Again, when these things happen, there’s always mud slinging and the truth is always somewhere in the middle.

[DusterBuster]

The team wanted to move on from Lillard but didn't want to initiate. Their transactions screamed it even before Scoot but Dame was the first to acknowledge the elephant in the room and he made a rash demand.

Moving on was the right move but a cowardly way to go about it. The team should have initiated but as many have said, emotions were high and that likely clouded decision making.

This is a very fair read on the situation imo.

Sean Highkin is a fantastic no-bias Blazers best reporter, he tweeted he’s going to write his story about what happened, but in his tweet about it, he said “I know both parties (Cronin and Dame) really well, and the reality is both could of handled things better.”

So goes back to your point exactly imo. Emotions were high, Cronin needed to sack up and just trade Dame when they had clearly made the choice to rebuild vs doing those CLEARLY half assed press conferences about how he “really thinks Dame can play with Scoot and the young guys…” or that “we want to go all in with Dame”. They knew before draft night that they couldn’t get an all-in deal, so Cronin needed to go to Dame at that point and initiate the conversation and tell him, “look Dame, we tried, there’s nothing out there that makes sense, this is the direction we have to go and we think it’s best we move you somewhere where you can win”.

Meanwhile, Dame’s handling of the situation and the “Miami only” bs, plus his agent making bafflingly stupid comments to the media, just made the situation worse.

[DusterBuster]

I’ll also add, Cronin not having the stones to just face reality and making the player demand this trade is why I think he’s a bad GM. I think he’s going to be as bad as Olshey when it comes to overvaluing “his guys”.

[Pattycakes]

If Dame had been as public about being willing to return to Portland and said something to the effect that if Miami wasn't willing to offer Portland a fair deal for him that he would be happy to stay in Portland perhaps the relationship could have been repaired. Instead Dame remained silent while his agent worked to sabotage his value and try to make Miami the only suitor.

Dame showed his tissue soft true underlying nature. It’s ok we all have it, be one with your self and just accept it - it’s a toxic professional world in the nba and your morals only go so far. But don’t play the villain Dame, it’s not a good look

[Capn'O]

Like, we have all the stages of grief here:

Denial: I'm staying in Portland. Nobody said otherwise
Depression: He was pretty reclusive after the draft
Anger: Trade me to Miami!
Bargaining: Ok you aren't trading me to Miami. aaaaaaaaactually, um, maybe I can stay?
Acceptance: Fine. Milwaukee or Brooklyn would be ok.

Dude went through it.

Do one for Miami

Oh man. The Heat fans meltdown over this has been amazing. I'm too busy laughing at them for analysis.