It has been 10 days since Damian Lillard requested a trade out of Portland after the Blazers kept the third pick in the Draft, taking Scoot Henderson, and could not find any upgrades to the roster beyond re-signing Jerami Grant to a massive 5-year, $160 million deal.
That trade request felt like the culmination of a months-long staredown between the organization and Lillard, with general manager Joe Cronin being the one having to make the decisions on what moves to make (or, more importantly in this case, not to make). On Monday, Cronin addressed the media for the first time since Lillard’s request to be traded to the Miami Heat, and noted that he hasn’t spoken to Lillard personally since that July 1 request was made.
Cronin said he “understands” why Lillard wouldn’t think the Blazers had made the right win-now moves, and said it was a failure on his part to not find the deals to bring those players in.
Joe Cronin: “Building around Dame has always been the goal, even through the draft. The difficulty we ran into was finding the right deals. We kept scouring the market looking for more win-now players, and those players just weren’t available.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “I can see why Dame would look at it and see why this isn’t a win-now opportunity. From that standpoint, I understand it and respect it.”
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Joe Cronin: “I don’t feel that I did everything I could because I didn’t get done what I needed to get done. In that sense, I do feel like I failed Dame. Our goal was to win now as quickly as possible. If he didn’t feel that way, it was a failure on my end.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) July 10, 2023
Cronin also noted that there had not been any meaningful movement on trade talks, hammering home that Portland will remain patient waiting for the best possible offer, saying “if it takes months, it takes months.”
Blazers GM Joe Cronin: “We’re going to be patient. We’re going to do what’s best for our team. We’re going to see how this lands. And if it takes months, it takes months.”
Cronin says a deal that makes everyone happy often requires a list of more than one preferred destination.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 10, 2023
It’s fair to wonder how much posturing is being done on all fronts of Cronin’s statements. He says it was his failure to make the deals to bring in win-now players to keep Lillard, but the Blazers have been very conservative when it comes to making trades since he took over in terms of adding those types of players. That’s not just been a thing this summer, when they didn’t ever get serious traction on a deal for the third overall pick, but going back to the trade deadline when they traded away Josh Hart for Cam Reddish and a pick. It feels like Cronin is trying to say the right things here, but I’m not sure the actions of the last year back up this really and truly feeling like a failure in his eyes.
As for the patient approach bit, that’s the only real leverage Portland has in this whole situation. Miami’s the team that needs to get this done so they can fill out their roster, as veterans on the free agent market are not going to want to wait around for months before finding out if there’s a spot for them in Miami. Cronin is shifting as much of the onus on the Heat to find the assets Portland demands, while also inviting other teams to make their offers for Lillard to see if maybe someone will reach out with a better offer and bank on Lillard showing up regardless of what his agent is telling teams about the Heat being the only team he wants to join. The Blazers have nothing but time on their hands here, as next season is not the end goal.