He's simply too comfortable in his relationship with both the Portland Trailblazers organization and Damian Lillard.

Joe has been with the Blazer organization that he's seemingly incapable of rocking the boat. Now I don't know Joe and he seems like a very smart person. But can anyone who's listened to him give interviews tell me he has a definitive "alpha" personality. Let's look at the moves that Joe has made thus far. And convince me that he's a shrewd negotiator. Bare in mind Joe Cronins well known and predictable track record of ("best player available) He's constantly putting himself in weakest negotiating position. Two seasons the entire league saw that the Dame/CJ backcourt was not going to work, both on the court or financially. Then you throw in the resigning of Norman Powell and now you have three good guards and no one to play defense or rebound. with that in mind. The Clippers were the first team to take Cronins lunch money.

Clippers got

Norman Powell / Robert Covington

Blazers Net Keon Johnson (Another Young Guard) Best available I assume and Cap relief

So there again Portland with an issue in the front court, trades two plus defenders for a project guard

Ok next Draft with Dame asking for help a need for front court help and size the blazers spend 7th pick on best player available. Now Sharpe may become a great player. But you already had Ant and Dame. Elite scoring guards. You needed size, you couldn't trade for OG so you said fine I'll just use the pick. WIth Sochan, Duren and Tari Eason all still on the board, We took another guard. We could have traded back in the draft and still netted another pick and one of those front court players. But "Best Available" is the predictable play for Cronin so teams don't negotiate with him.

Up next.

Hornets took Joe Cronins lunch money. Hornets fully away that the Blazers were shopping CJ gave us the bare minimum in return.

Hornets got CJ and Nance two rotation players

Blazer Net Kris Murray and Scoot Henderson. (Another Guard and a wing player) Again he's allergic to drafting or signing a big. Now the entire time. Joe Cronin is saying we're committed to building around Dame. At the end of last season Cronin admited he let Billups down with his roster construction. Going into the off season he new he needed vets, and he new he needed size. His answer was Drew Eubanks, Watford and Jerami Grant. Now kudos to Grant, but if you have only 1 true center who can barely stay healthy, then you are going to struggle to defend and get rebounds.

Now this off season having admitted the need for vets and size. Cronin got smaller and younger. He did the very opposite of his own stated goals. Why you may ask? Again best player available.

What Cronin has done is simple. He's knee capped his own ability to build out the roster properly. He has arguably 4 high level guards. The entire league knows 1 or 2 must go. Teams are starting negotiations with him by low balling.and they can do this be cause his hand is shown.. Teams know he has to get rid of two guards. Why on earth would they trade what he deems to be equal or better compensation.. Instead of doing what is best for the team. Joe is doing what's best for Joe. If he were doing what was best for the team, he'd quit drafting to signing guards. He would indeed diversify his portfolio.

If you hold 3 good stocks in the tech market, then you become vulnerable if the tech market takes a hit. You lose a bunch of money. Now if you diversify and pick up a stock in phamacueticals then you may ride out the market a little better than not. Cronin has put all his eggs in the "guard basket" He's essentially said that if a guard is the best basketball player on his board. Then he will take the guard. He literally said he'd rather have good basketball players on his team regardless of size or position. Heart and determination won't win you games win you physically cant block shots or get rebounds.It's a very simple basketball concept.

So that in a nutshell is the problem. Joe isn't willing to sacrafice individual talent in order to diversify his roster to compensate for it's height and size short comings.. He's comfortable with this stance and is now very predictable in any negotiation he enters. Sometime best deal isn't necessarily realized immediately. There's a chance that the accumulation of more size and overall talent could out weigh the superstar potential of an individual.

Faithful partners will always realize when a partner is no longer willing to do what is best for success and longevity of the team. Their head scratching actions and or inaction speaks much louder than any words ever could. Dame wanted to be here, but Cronin made it impossible for the fan base and Dame to stomach. Now we're left with a too small roster, still 3 high level guards and no useful bigs to speak of. We're headed for the lottery yet again. If we get another top 5 pick, Joe will no doubt take the best player available. If that's a 6'4" guard, Joe will stick to his guns and take that guard. He's predictable and this team will be stuck at the bottom on defense, but we'll score 130 a game.

For Joe Cronin "We're commited to winning" is essentially the same as "Trust the Process" in Philladelphia. Only they were upfront with it. Dame has been upfront with his desires and in return he's used smoke and mirrors to secretly rebuild. In a few season's we'll have a roster full of guards and still be in the lottery.

This is why Joe must go. The rest of the league has his number and unwilling to deal with him in negotiation.