Dame traded to the Bucks!

[JasonStern]

Not seeing how Pat Riley is the bad guy here. He made a low ball offer and the Blazers passed. As everyone forgets, Dame is owed a lot of money. Butler is owed a lot of money. Bam is owed a lot of money. Dame is 33. Butler is 33. Would a Dame trade put Miami over the top? Maybe. But in 3 years, Butler will be washed. Dame will be declining. The roster will be expensive. And you have no picks or assets to improve. Just because Dame wanted Miami and Heat fans wanted Dame doesn't mean the Heat organization was as high on trading for Dame as the media makes it out to be. I doubt that Riley and staff were working the phone 24/7 with 28 other teams trying to find the missing piece to make the trade happen, nor were they pulling assets off the table trying to put the Blazers in panic mode.

[crazylegs482]

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.

It wouldn't have mattered, because in the end, after Cronin having your quoted talk with Dame, Cronin wanted to make it messy either way, because he wanted to fully control the trade talks. He had been acting sneaky and deceptive the entire time. And once he got his chance to trade Dame, he refused any chance of fixing the situation. Cronin is dishonest and cutthroat. You can't operate like that and maintain good relationships.


This isn't a competent, well run organization, like the Lakers, Spurs, Heat, etc.... for example, the Shaq trade in 2004. The Lakers and Shaq agreed to finally part ways, and Shaq called Jerry Buss (then owner) and told him "Send me to Miami then"... Jerry Buss said "Okay", picked up the phone and called Miami, and they worked out the best deal in good faith negotiations, sent Shaq to Miami, got a fair deal, and everyone moved on without burning bridges. Was it the absolute best possible return? Probably not, but Jerry Buss and the Lakers know there are more important things to consider, and any little extra return is not worth the destroyed relationships and bad karma.


Cronin isn't built like that. Cronin wanted to make it messy, -no matter what-, because :

- he wants to open trade talks,
- he will lie about anything and everything to manipulate an outcome,
- and he doesn't give a **** what Dame wants.


That's the difference between how some franchises work.... and apparently how Portland works. Lying, taking advantage of, and manipulating people at every turn is not a recipe for success.


You look at how Dame played hardball with the trade situation.... but did you stop to think why he did that? Perhaps he knew what he was dealing with (Cronin)... and in the end, did Cronin graciously send Dame to Miami and make Dame look bad for playing hardball? Nope.. in the end, Cronin proved Dame exactly right... exposing Cronin for being unreasonable, dishonest, petty, etc...

This is depressing how much this is affecting you. The facts are the facts: Miami didn't get the deal done, they didn't want Dame enough to be willing to give up what was necessary to get him. You can blame whoever you want that helps you through your emotional crisis, but at the end of the day, Miami couldn't get the deal done. The very high likelihood is that Miami just didn't have an attractive enough package without including Bam or Jimmy.... because outside of those two, the assets in Miami are.... not that great.

[DusterBuster]

Grumpy Heat Fan is on a one man clown tour. Dude needs to let it go.

[Capn'O]

Not seeing how Pat Riley is the bad guy here.

General principle.

[Wizenheimer]

Not seeing how Pat Riley is the bad guy here.

General principle.

I think there a lot of people, such as myself, who believe that Riley had quite a bit to do with the scorched-earth tactics of Dame's agent

I'm fairly well convinced the Blazer front office shares that view....which is why they wouldn't have anything to do with Miami after the Miami-or-bust noise

[Capn'O]

Not seeing how Pat Riley is the bad guy here.

General principle.

I think there a lot of people, such as myself, who believe that Riley had quite a bit to do with the scorched-earth tactics of Dame's agent

I'm fairly well convinced the Blazer front office shares that view....which is why they wouldn't have anything to do with Miami after the Miami-or-bust noise

I mean, he's utterly ruthless. So probably.

[m0ng0]

That's your perception, is it real? We will never know and quite honestly... Who cares, it's done as dinner. This is the deal let's move on.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

A different Heat nation account. Same sort of message. They're the victims.

Read on Twitter

God that is so ridiculous. What a persecution/victim complex.

The Heat were my #2 team to come out of the East last year so like clearly I don't have some baseless bias against them.

All fanbases have good and bad apples so I don't take my impression of a team from interactions with the fans at all, I don't even take my impression of a fanbase from the most vocal general board members. Go read the Heat forum and the vast majority of posters are just your normal fans, folks any of us could get along with and have calm rational productive conversations with.

My biggest complaint about Riley is... he is really good at operating in competitive spaces. He is a tough person to be working against and while that may be infuriating for others that is a GREAT attribute to have in a GM. Sometimes he tries to bend the rules and we want to catch and keep him accountable for that but honestly a great GM should be looking for all advantages and knowing when to take risks. Grumpy is over there talking about Cronin being some master level manipulator, a shrewd cutthroat genius who is so dangerous and able to get his way as if that is some sort of insult... Geez I wish I thought of Cronin at being half those things, I would feel so much more comfortable in hoping the Blazers can get where they need to go with someone like that running the show. I think he is a corporate crony stooge, a company line man who doesn't want to offend anyone and plays it safe. I think the reason we are in this mess is he was too much of a people pleaser, not wanting to deal with hard truths or make hard decisions when necessary.

Anyways all that is to say absolutely nothing about this summer has changed my opinion of the Heat at all. They have a competent and ruthless front-office, they have a great coach and a system that gets the most out of a type of hard working player they target, and Jimmy and Butler are really really good stars to have leading the way. I don't think of any way they are a victim except that we are in a competitive situation and of course I am rooting for us over them but like.. Are they surprised I root for their team to lose games against us?

Really I think this type of flawed thinking comes more down to some weird assumption that the media you see and remember is all the media that is out there, I could go on a tangent into wider issues in society with that, but yeah people who complain about "the media" often have not reckoned with their own biases. As humans we don't have a great ability to remain objective when things get us angry or passionate, we tend to then focus and remember those things much more clearly, and so when it comes to the media people get these weird perceptions of what its intent or purpose actually is, when really it is all about controlling your attention.

[JRoy]

Grumpy Heat Fan is on a one man clown tour. Dude needs to let it go.

I never want it to end.

[Whole Truth]

I feel like I'm living in a bizarre world.

I'm pretty sure Heat fans were pumping out posts threatening Portland about how things were about to get messy leading up to the Buck trade..

Now a Heat fan is claiming Blazzer's GM wanted it messy from the start,

At this point, if I was one, I'd be embarrassed to be a Heat fan.

[DusterBuster]

Grumpy Heat Fan is on a one man clown tour. Dude needs to let it go.

I never want it to end.

Sure feels it’s going to be that way.

[DusterBuster]

I feel like I'm living in a bizarre world.

I'm pretty sure Heat fans were pumping out posts threatening Portland about how things were about to get messy leading up to the Buck trade..

Now a Heat fan is claiming Blazzer's GM wanted it messy from the start,

At this point, if I was one, I'd be embarrassed to be a Heat fan.

You need self awareness to be embarrassed, not sure Heat fans have that.

[GreenRiddler]

It’s just like I said before the trade request happened. Dame doesn’t want to look like he is abandoning the team after preaching loyalty for 11 years. A rookie GM doesn’t wanna be the guy that ran Dame outta town.

But they both want and know this marriage should end. So they both lied. Cronin lied about trying to build a winner around Dame this summer—makes no sense with Scoot on the board and Shaedon looking great last year.

Dame wants to play with Bam maybe for 3 years now and probably signed that max contract thinking he could have his cake and eat it too.

So now Dame has to spin it to make it look like he isn’t the bad guy after he went scorched earth to get to Miami and only Miami. Even going so far as lying about being willing to come back to PDX but mean ol Joe said no so he wasn’t wanted here boo hoo. Never mind the fact that it just meant he’d be willing to start the season until they could get a trade to get him to Miami, the last thing our young guys need is that circus so he rightfully said no we’ll find a non Miami deal before then.

So now Dame needs a fall guy to look bad so he’s using his spin doctor in Haynes to do it, like most bad well paid sports journalists they’ll be mouthpieces for future insider info.

I knew Dame was a bald face liar when he dunked after we already had a game won vs Chicago by pretender he didn’t know about the unwritten rule of not scoring in the last seconds when you got the game won—cause he’s a rookie LOL

Dame is just a liar and a tool who cares about money (fair) and a hyper reality where he is this very loyal people’s champ. In reality he’s a guy who struggles with double teams by picking up his dribble, relies on FTs like Harden use to and has never shown up in the most important series we needed him (Memphis, Pelicans, warriors and the Nuggets series CJ win for us)

I have the Utemost confidence in Cronin I hope he sticks around after the team is sold he turned something out of Dame/Aaron and Pats you got nothing— I wish I could’ve seen Dame and his agents face when they found out it won’t be Miami. I’m looking forward to Dame struggling in the spring vs the Celtics, Heat and the Sixers once they get Holiday back

Farewell Dame and hello Scoot, Shaedon, Anfernee and Ayton. I look forward to fun non hero ball for many seasons. Now we just need to get Kuminga or future firsts for Jrue.

[m0ng0]

It’s just like I said before the trade request happened. Dame doesn’t want to look like he is abandoning the team after preaching loyalty for 11 years. A rookie GM doesn’t wanna be the guy that ran Dame outta town.

But they both want and know this marriage should end. So they both lied. Cronin lied about trying to build a winner around Dame this summer—makes no sense with Scoot on the board and Shaedon looking great last year.

Dame wants to play with Bam maybe for 3 years now and probably signed that max contract thinking he could have his cake and eat it too.

So now Dame has to spin it to make it look like he isn’t the bad guy after he went scorched earth to get to Miami and only Miami. Even going so far as lying about being willing to come back to PDX but mean ol Joe said no so he wasn’t wanted here boo hoo. Never mind the fact that it just meant he’d be willing to start the season until they could get a trade to get him to Miami, the last thing our young guys need is that circus so he rightfully said no we’ll find a non Miami deal before then.

So now Dame needs a fall guy to look bad so he’s using his spin doctor in Haynes to do it, like most bad well paid sports journalists they’ll be mouthpieces for future insider info.

I knew Dame was a bald face liar when he dunked after we already had a game won vs Chicago by pretender he didn’t know about the unwritten rule of not scoring in the last seconds when you got the game won—cause he’s a rookie LOL

Dame is just a liar and a tool who cares about money (fair) and a hyper reality where he is this very loyal people’s champ. In reality he’s a guy who struggles with double teams by picking up his dribble, relies on FTs like Harden use to and has never shown up in the most important series we needed him (Memphis, Pelicans, warriors and the Nuggets series CJ win for us)

I have the Utemost confidence in Cronin I hope he sticks around after the team is sold he turned something out of Dame/Aaron and Pats you got nothing— I wish I could’ve seen Dame and his agents face when they found out it won’t be Miami. I’m looking forward to Dame struggling in the spring vs the Celtics, Heat and the Sixers once they get Holiday back

Farewell Dame and hello Scoot, Shaedon, Anfernee and Ayton. I look forward to fun non hero ball for many seasons. Now we just need to get Kuminga or future firsts for Jrue.

Bravo!

[Norm2953]

Any deal with the GSW would come down how much hard feelings remain after the GP2 affair.

If I had to bet on where Jrue goes, it would be the Clippers or the Bulls, since the Celtics appear to be out. Too much hard feelings with the Heat/GSW and teams oftentimes circle back to front offices they've done business with

[soobias]

i dont understand how a GM gives a player a supermax ext then sources say he wanted him out ? doesnt make since to me,but what does make since is DAME playing on the olympic team and other players(and former players) telling him he's waisting away in portland then he gets a supermax him and the blazers make an agreement to get him high quality players to play with but no such deal couldnt be done without giving up all assets and prob not for top tier talent and even DAME tried to lure players here but failed. then he asked for a trade and the blazers were ok give us some time and he says oh btw i only want to go to miami. then the word got out and he made videos in miami and we all know the rest, but then through sources and his below mediocre rap single farwell he takes shots at the organization that gave him over what $400 mil ? then he wants to perverse his image with blazer and bball fans lmao he's too old for that shyt.

[zzaj]

i dont understand how a GM gives a player a supermax ext then sources say he wanted him out ? doesnt make since to me,but what does make since is DAME playing on the olympic team and other players(and former players) telling him he's waisting away in portland then he gets a supermax him and the blazers make an agreement to get him high quality players to play with but no such deal couldnt be done without giving up all assets and prob not for top tier talent and even DAME tried to lure players here but failed. then he asked for a trade and the blazers were ok give us some time and he says oh btw i only want to go to miami. then the word got out and he made videos in miami and we all know the rest, but then through sources and his below mediocre rap single farwell he takes shots at the organization that gave him over what $400 mil ? then he wants to perverse his image with blazer and bball fans lmao he's too old for that shyt.

I haven’t heard that single (nor will I) but taking shots at the Blazers is THE LAST thing he should be doing. Yeah, giving him and his generations access to 1% wealth is just part of it. The fact that the organization put him in a favorable situation to win a championship despite the last few months is another.

Lillard needs to be kissing the Blazers’ feet, not taking shots.

[GEE]

Another unneccessary shot from his boy Haynes this morning on the Wire. Now it's a complete "Ratting out" of the organizations alleged attempt to improve their draft position, by shutting Dame down early. Why do this? I think it just makes Dame look more and more like a P.O.S.

As noted, even after all the dirty tactics to force his way to only one team, while putting Cronin in a very difficult situation... Cronin still took the high road and sent him to a destination that pairs him with talent that he always wanted, and he'll likely get a championship ring too. So why the need, to continue to take shots, when he shoud be thanking Cronin for not sending him to Toronto like POP did Kawhi... Or simply for giving him the extension that was also a true gift. Clearly ungratefull, unneccessary and a bit disgusting human behavior on Dame's behalf IMO.

[BlazersBroncos]

Ya, I think Joe managed this masterfully. Once we get a return on Holiday we should be looking at him and wondering how he pulled such a package after Dame and his snake agent torpedoed his value.

[wco81]

Hmm looks like you guys are mostly down on how Lillard is leaving the Blazers.

Wonder what the larger fan base thinks.

No doubt there will be a video tribute when the Bucks visit Portland and he should get a big standing ovation?