I completely agree that you said we should trade a 22.6ppg/5.5apg/38.5% 3-point shooter on a bad team and take on $20M+ in dead salary for a late 1st round pick. That seems like incredibly poor asset management unless he was demanding out. The odds of some late 1st landing a player as good as Simons is unlikely.
There is more to asset mgmt than holding onto a player that clearly is not a part of your long-term plan because you are afraid of what the return could be. Any GM that does that should not be a GM for long. As time goes on this appears to be Cronin's Achilles heel, his reluctance to make bold moves. He only seems to make a deal when he absolutely must (Dame trade request, Brogdon FA\payroll). Dead salary often comes attached to draft capital, the more you have, the more options you have, the more chances to improve your team. Simons is not improving this team, in fact the only way he will is when he is traded.
Again, riding his contract out and letting him walk is still an option. He only has 2 seasons left. At which point, we didn't blow two seasons of a scoring guard that at least makes games more competitive. I know you have to be masochistic to be a Blazers fan. But the amount of people that want to go 0-82 is overwhelming
Now THIS is bad asset management, letting a player walk for nothing in return, or waiting too long and only getting back a minimal return because your asset has been depreciated. All for what? To be a few games more competitive? They won 21 games last year, if Simons is gone, they will win close to that without him OR Grant on the team. 0-82 is a bit hyperbolic don’t you think?
In 2 years, Simons will have been in POR for 8 years, 8 years of losing. If you think he is going to gleefully sign back up for more that is entirely unrealistic. Also, he isn't even WORTH the salary he is getting now, let alone a raise if he did resign (and only possible if Cronin overpaid him vs. the market like he did with Grant, multiple reasons why that is a bad idea given new CBA).
Simons is a glorified 6th man, who only plays on one side of the ball and has SIGNIFICANT deficiencies on the defensive end. How much is a good 6th man worth? Malik Monk is one of the better ones and he just signed for $19mil\year, and you think Simons is worth $25/$30?
At 25, he isn't even in his prime yet. And while I feel he is overpaid, he's not based on the going market. Your argument that Simons is some grizzled veteran is more of a straw man argument that I have made. Age wise, he fits a rebuild that is already three years in development
Not in his prime? He is going into his SEVENTH year, I think there is more than enough sample size to have an educated assessment of who he is as a player, and while it could be useful to a playoff\play in team, it is 100% not useful for POR. Not when you are losing 50+ games a year & getting blown out by 60pts (in a game he played in).
While his age (25) could be on the top end of fitting with the youth on this roster, the fact is his playstyle\fit with Scoot absolutely does not fit thus the reason he must go.
I don't get the defense of Simons, he is a decent offensive player, but the team loses any benefit of that b\c of his horrible defense. He is suited to be a 6th man, but he is overpaid. He will likely never accept playing behind Scoot\Sharpe, which is where he 100% should be playing right now.
