Joe Cronin After Trail Blazers' Quiet Trade Deadline: "We're Happy With Who We Have and Where We're At"
📍PORTLAND, Ore. — For once, Joe Cronin came into one of these press conferences without anything to talk about.
The trade deadline came and went without any major activity from the Trail Blazers. The one move they did make, trading a fake second-round pick to Boston for little-used guard Dalano Banton, hadn’t been processed through the league office by the time Cronin spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon, so he couldn’t legally talk about it. Not that there would have been much to say.
In other words, a much quieter and more stress-free deadline than what happened a year ago, between the Gary Payton II debacle and Cronin having to find a way to justify taking a step back while also competing on Damian Lillard’s timeline.
For once, the prognostications that it would be an uneventful deadline around the league actually came true. There was no Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving trade this week. Many of the biggest names that were rumored to be on the market, such as Dejounte Murray, Kyle Kuzma and Andrew Wiggins, stayed put. You will take your Twitter alerts about Alec Burks and P.J. Washington and you will like it.
Cronin got plenty of calls before Thursday afternoon on Malcolm Brogdon, Jerami Grant and others. He didn’t like any of the offers, so he didn’t take any of them. In the days and weeks heading into the deadline, it was looking and feeling like it was heading that way. As we reported consistently leading up to the deadline, and Cronin confirmed on Thursday, the Blazers were searching for impact players that fit their rebuilding timeline more than they were searching for marginal draft capital. And as the market bore out all over the league, not many significant pieces moved even after weeks of certainty that they would.
“[W]e are happy with who we have and where we're at,” Cronin said. “Of course, we always want to be opportunistic and only just thorough in this market, but get a great deal for what our options are and what's available. In any transaction, you're just evaluating whether this is a good move for you or not. All the discussions we had this time around, we chose to pass on them.”
As a follow-up, Cronin was asked, since he’s happy with where the Blazers are at, where does he think they’re at? At 15-36 following Thursday’s loss to Detroit, which saw them blow a 23-point lead to lose in overtime, what is he seeing that he likes?
“Individually, I've seen a lot of positive things from throughout our roster,” Cronin said. “Very happy with the overall growth of our young guys as well as the quality, sustainable play that our vets have provided. And some of the surprises we've gotten, guys that were under-the-radar before the season—[Toumani] Camara, Duop Reath, those kinds of guys. And also, how all of these individuals are connecting as a group. Going into the season, we knew there were going to be a lot of ups and downs and we were going to play poorly at first, and I think we've seen that. But in totality, I like where we're headed.”
A major point of uncertainty in this rebuild is the timeline. A comment by my friend Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports on a different podcast suggesting the Blazers want to be the Houston Rockets went semi-viral and was misconstrued as Portland aspiring to have the same record Houston has now. I took it to mean similar to what I’ve been saying and writing since the start of the season—that my understanding has been that they want to keep veterans and not have the entire roster be kids.
As it stands, the Blazers have six rookies—Camara, Reath, Scoot Henderson, Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert and Ibou Badji—and two second-year players, although Shaedon Sharpe could miss the rest of the season with a core muscle injury. All eight of those players, to my knowledge, are guys they plan on keeping and building around beyond this year. That’s a lot of development that has to happen already, without trading Grant or Brogdon for yet more draft picks that would need to be developed. Their pick in the upcoming draft is already going to be very high, and they could have a second lottery pick depending on where Golden State ends up.
I asked Cronin how long he plans on staying in this developmental stage before beginning to focus once again on getting back to the playoffs.
“I know that we want to continue to grow and continue to progress,” Cronin said. “We don't want to take any more steps back, and that was part of our approach at this trade deadline. I would say we were looking more to acquire a guy than get off of a guy. But at the same time, I don't want to speed it up too much. I want to give these guys a chance to grow and develop. Not overly swing to chase a playoff spot that's unrealistic or a playoff spot that's going to get us thumped right away. I want to make sure this is a quality build that's very sustainable.”
The Blazers have 31 games and about eight weeks left to go in the season. There are going to be a lot more losses. They may not be as egregious as some of the end-of-season tanking shenanigans of last season, but they’re going to be tough to swallow for a lot of fans, even with the development that will come with them.
“I really like where we're positioned,” Cronin said. “I like where we're headed. I like where we're capable of. I like our team, I like our staff, I like our organization. I think we're well on our way to good things in the future.”