2015 is the year LaMarcus left the blazers, and with it, the best chance the franchise had to do right for Dame. For all the handwringing about not doing right for Dame these last two off seasons, this always felt like a long shot. Making deals can be hard to make, and there’s a lot of factors that can contribute, including maybe the competence and experience of the GM. That notwithstanding, the more assets, the better is how this typically works, and the blazers lost a golden opportunity. The previous GM needed to seal the deal on LMA, or move him for assets to build around Dame.

We are at that point again, regardless of whether this is a result of front office incompetence or deliberate shift in direction to move on from the franchise player, here we are. Doing right for Dame, while not unimportant, should not be the main objective. It is imperative that the blazers get fair market value with pieces they can use or more to build around the next generation of players. I’m very skeptical that Tyler Herro has value that this blazers front office can flip. We’ve watched essentially two seasons of this same franchise unable to make a meaningful trade with Ant, so what would make anyone think they could now move Herro. If anything, I’d prefer to see the Heat try and move Herro considering the track record of the front office.

And make no mistake, the Heat NEEDS to make this work. There’s plenty of pressure on the blazers, there’s probably more so for the Heat. At this point they’ve gone all in on this deal. They don’t make this deal and I’m not this is a top 10 team next year. I’d actually pick OKC over Miami next year if the current rosters hold.

So I’ll get to my point. Cronin needs to do his best Daryl Morey impression and hold strong for what he thinks is a fair deal, whether that’s with Miami or whoever else maybe calling about Dame. If that’s 4 first round picks and 3 pick swaps, young players on rookie deals, young starters, expiring contracts and vets on deals that can easily be flipped, then stick to those guns. If that means starting the season with Dame being unhappy and having to decide whether it’s worth dressing up for games or not, so be it. This franchise won’t get another chance like this to help build around Scoot, Shaedon, and whoever else they decide is the new core of this roster. They also need to do right for this fan base that just watched over a decade of never being a serious contender despite having the best player in franchise history.