As Jason Quick of The Athletic writes, it’s rare for a 36-win team to reward its general manager and head coach with contract extensions like the Trail Blazers have done this month with Joe Cronin and Chauncey Billups.
However, Portland’s record this season was its best since 2020/21 and the team took a real step forward, with young players like Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, and Donovan Clingan showing improvement while Deni Avdija enjoyed a breakout year and Toumani Camara established himself as one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders. As Quick relays, Cronin believes the team is in position to start targeting specific positions and skills instead of just stockpiling talent.
“As a front office, we don’t feel that pressure to take swing after swing to try and hit on the next up-and-coming guy,” the GM explained. “We are starting to feel really comfortable with our talent base that we can be more diligent about adding specific types of guys.”
While the Blazers have a promising core of young talent, it’s unclear if any of the players currently on the roster will develop into the kind of All-Star capable of leading a contender. Cronin and Billups suggested they aren’t worried about the fact that a franchise player has yet to emerge.
“There’s a lot of talent on this roster, and I wouldn’t put ceilings on a lot of these guys,” Cronin said, per Quick. “There is still a lot of time and talent that can be maximized. So these guys … I wouldn’t write them off to becoming star-level guys.”
“It’s true you need to have top-flight guys, but to me, we are raising that, we are growing that,” Billups added. “I look at Oklahoma City, they traded for Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander), but he wasn’t a star yet. Now he’s probably going to be the MVP. Joker (Nikola Jokic) wasn’t a star when he got to Denver. They raised him into that. Giannis (Antetokounmpo) wasn’t a star when he got to Milwaukee. They raised him into that. That’s where I think we are trying to go … Deni, Shaedon, Scoot, Ant (Anfernee Simons) … We are raising those guys.”
Here’s more out of Portland:
- Noting that he heard “a lot of chatter” about the possibility of Billups being the top target in the Suns‘ upcoming head coaching search, Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter link) suggests that may have been part of the reason why the Blazers wanted to get an extension done with Billups before the season ended.
- Avdija admitted during his end-of-season media session that it was “hard to adjust” last fall after being traded from Washington to Portland but that he “didn’t look back” once he got comfortable with his new team, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. The forward’s numbers reflect that — he averaged just 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game with a .346/.233/.813 shooting line in his first 13 outings, then posted 18.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .495/.385/.775 shooting in 59 games after that, including 23.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 5.2 APG on .508/.417/.782 shooting in 20 post-All-Star appearances.
- “The future is super bright,” Avdija said of the Blazers (per Eurohoops). “I love playing with this team. We’re young. We’re exciting. We have a lot of talent.” The 24-year-old added that he plans to suit up for Israel during the 2025 EuroBasket tournament.
- While the Blazers took positive steps forward this season, they still have a long way to go before they can be considered a reliable playoff-caliber club, opines Bill Oram of The Oregonian. “I think that’s a reasonable expectation,” Cronin said when Oram asked him about making the playoffs next season. “Assuming our guys keep getting better, assuming we do our jobs and keep adding talent to this roster. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be competitive in that regard.”
Holy snit! I can’t believe this year was actually an improvement for Scoot. Yikes
Who’s going to take Ayton’s contract? Max contract for a backup? Any value for Grant? We shall see if moves can be made.
I would offer Ayton, Grant and Simons to Washington for Middleton, Smart, Holmes and Gill plus cash. Waiving Middleton, Holmes and Smart. Get off that money and free up cap space in the future
Resign Banton, accept Thybule’s player option.
Draft a SF or SG depending on where Sharpe plays. Also look at a young PF shooter. Tre Johnson or Bailey
Turn Dani into a super sixth man.
Sign three veterans (a guard, forward and big man to sit on the bench on veterans minimum contracts)
Let all the two ways guys walk and look at three others
Tank and develop the upcoming year
Give Scoot and Billups a full test drive for once.
This would be a fresh reset.
Trade Lillard for what……to still try to compete? Should of kept him. Had Brandon Williams young too
Just blow it up.
I would offer Ayton, Grant and Simons to Washington for Middleton, Smart, Holmes and Gill plus cash. Waiving Middleton, Holmes and Smart. Get off that money and free up cap space in the future
Resign Banton, accept Thybule’s player option.
Draft a SF or SG depending on where Sharpe plays. Also look at a young PF shooter. Tre Johnson or Bailey
Turn Dani into a super sixth man.
Sign three veterans (a guard, forward and big man to sit on the bench on veterans minimum contracts)
Let all the two ways guys walk and look at three others
Tank and develop the upcoming year
Give Scoot and Billups a full test drive for once.
This would be a fresh reset.
Trade Lillard for what……to still try to compete? Should of kept him. Had Brandon Williams young too
Just blow it up.
So many upsides to this team…coaches did a great job this year…most likely a few trades in the offseason
Planted “top Phoenix target” article got Chauncey an extension… well-played.
Congratulations to Billups and especially his reps!
No value in Ayton , id tell him he”s the backup then when the bad attitude hits ( im assuming 15 seconds ) revoke that and just cut him
Might seem harsh but it’s not imo.
Just cut the cancer out
it’s not worth a half season of misery to net 2 second rders
Ayton and Simons to ORL for Suggs and Jonathan Isaac… with others to make it work on the contracts. Both teams get better.