SEASON OPENER: Blazers vs Warriors 7:00pm

[BlazersBroncos]

The worst thing right now is the dearth of filler contracts around the league that fit as ballast in trade for the disgusting brothers (Ayton / Grant / Simons).

[dunlop212]

Somebody should tell the front office that they don't get extra tanking points for putting on a horror show for the home opener.

[zzaj]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

[dckingsfan]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

Violent agreement on all of this.

Code: Select all

Simons  33
Scoot   28

Camara  30
Avdija  27
Grant   33
Murray  10
Walker   7

Ayton    31
Clingan  13

And piling on, when Sharpe comes back you will see a reduction in the minutes of Camara, Avdija, Murray and Walker. I don't think that will make for a better showing

Thing I liked - Clingan got minutes. I hope it gets up into the 18-to-20-minute range.

Either way, it will be amazing if they aren't a bottom 3 in the NBA. I did a tankathon spin where we are 3rd. We get the 4th pick

[DusterBuster]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

Cronin traded Covington and Powell away for literally nothing, so yes, he can.

[Walton1one]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

I understand what you are saying, the big unknown though, is what does Cronin view as nothing?

Cronin should know that, by leaving Billups in a lame duck state & knowing that if they are on the team he will play Simons\Grant\Ayton big minutes, he needed to "Billy Beane" that situation and trade them away so he can't play them, but he did not.

Also, I don't hold a lot of faith that Cronin will deal any of those players by the deadline, because he has shown himself to be a GM who only makes deals when he is forced to do so, and with all (3) under contract & POR under the tax, there is nothing compelling him to make a move, probably not until the next trade deadline.

This is my biggest concern, is that Cronin will sit on his hands and do nothing, all the while smiling as he talks about how this team needs more talent & growth, while he literally does nothing to help that.

[zzaj]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

I understand what you are saying, the big unknown though, is what does Cronin view as nothing?

Cronin should know that, by leaving Billups in a lame duck state & knowing that if they are on the team he will play Simons\Grant\Ayton big minutes, he needed to "Billy Beane" that situation and trade them away so he can't play them, but he did not.

Also, I don't hold a lot of faith that Cronin will deal any of those players by the deadline, because he has shown himself to be a GM who only makes deals when he is forced to do so, and with all (3) under contract & POR under the tax, there is nothing compelling him to make a move, probably not until the next trade deadline.

This is my biggest concern, is that Cronin will sit on his hands and do nothing, all the while smiling as he talks about how this team needs more talent & growth, while he literally does nothing to help that.

Yeah, that's a fair concern...especially since he's stated specifically that he wants "players" back in any trades. If he thinks he's going to get that in a trade of Simons/Grant/Ayton...well, that may partially explain why those 3 are still on the roster.

[zzaj]

I'm not really sure what people were expecting here...

It's simply not realistic to think that Billups wasn't going to play Simons/Grant/Ayton big minutes.

Like it or not, it's also not realistic to expect Cronin to trade those 3 for nothing. It just doesn't happen that way in the NBA, as far as I can tell.

Are there any teams in the NBA with a worse #1/#2 option than Grant/Simons? Maybe Brooklyn or the Wizards? We should be expecting that this team will be losing by 20 vs. most Western Conference teams. And guess what, something like the first 28 games are against WC teams. Brooke Ozendam wouldn't shut up about how some site listed the Blazer opening schedule as the hardest of any team in the last 5 years.

It should surprise NO ONE that the Blazers lost big by double digits against a superior coach with superior players. It should surprise no one if the Blazers lose 25 of their first 28 games.

Cronin traded Covington and Powell away for literally nothing, so yes, he can.

Touche...and yes, that's a very good point. Also, I still can't believe that Ariza and 2 firsts were traded for Covington.

So many of the bad moves in the Olshey/Cronin (he was director of player personnel, after all) era had to do with the refusal to bring CJ off the bench in a 6th man role. Powell, Hart, both would have been better starting next to Lillard than CJ.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Only jody allen could take a top 10
all time winning percentage team in the NBA and drop it to middle of the road

Yeah, the owner is not passionate about basketball and it shows.

Although I will point the finger at another potential source of mediocrity IMHO, Burt Kolde. I think everyone points fingers at the owner and at the GM but he (and the Vulcan group) have a hidden influence that I don't think gets enough criticism from the fans. They get to escape notice but I don't think they should as their power has almost certainly grown since Jody took over.

Of course you cannot discount the owner because the owner could change management at any time, but in terms of pure ownership she has been willing to spend and get out of the way and honestly you could ask for much less from an owner. But, Burt had worked with Allen for a long time and she is obviously letting him continue in that role with likely even more say-so and power than he ever had with Allen - who was a passionate sports fan and would not accept mediocrity. I'll be clear, I have no inside information at all, just speculation based on it seeming to make sense to me, she hasn't spend the last decade and so working with the team and doesn't come from a sports background or fandom at all and so she would probably defer to him on most basketball issues. She has a lot of other Allen estate assets to manage after all.

after a decade of Olshey, I really wanted to like Joe Cronin. But in many real ways, Cronin is starting to look like Olshey 2.0. Primarily because he's a mimic of Olshey's total commitment to straddle every fence in sight without ever picking a lane.

And this is kind of what I am getting at. Olshey is just KP 2.0 and Cho was equally useless but both those found success with other teams; I mean KP was (is?) absolutely reviled among the fans here but has found success in a long-term role with the Pacers. When all these GMs end up having similar issues you start to look at who is vetting and hiring these guys, who is evaluating their job performance and giving them goals and expectations? Cronin is a little less greasy feeling behind the mic than KP or Olshey but him being an internal hire is a huge red flag, he knows the company culture and what it takes to work his way up the ranks under Vulcan management so why should we expect anything different from him?