At a time when player loyalty and fidelity are very rare in the NBA, Damian Lillard pledged his future with the Portland Trailblazers despite a lot of people urging him to move away from the franchise to win an NBA Championship. However, Lillard waited for the Trail Blazers front office to bring in superstar players to help him fulfil that dream while staying at Portland.
But unfortunately, that never happened and Lillard seems like he has finally run out of patience and will make a move to the free agency and will probably be the biggest piece to move in the NBA market.
While the seven-time All-Star is all set to end his long-term association with the franchise, Portland General Manager Joe Cronin reveals that it feels like a failure on his behalf. Cronin has been with the franchise for many years now but he was only made the GM in May last year. Since then he has had a lot of pressure on him to build a championship-contesting team around Lillard among other challenges.
Cronin has not had a lot of time, especially with the team building as it needs a lot of moving to help the Blazers get anywhere near the NBA title. The biggest acquisition made under Cronin was Jerami Grant. The biggest disappointment for Lillard was when the Blazers front office failed to move the No. 3 draft pick in exchange for a veteran superstar who could have complimented Lillard. But their inability to do so meant that they drafted the highly talented rookie, Scoot Henderson.
With Lillard going away, Cronin is deeply hurt and feels that this will be a major blot on his career as a GM. “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,” Cronin said. “Our goal was to win now as quickly as possible. If he didn’t feel that way, it was a failure on my end.”
Lillard who fancies a move to the Miami Heat to join his mates Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo had many unforgettable moments for the Blazers in his 11-year stay. He led the team’s best finish in 2018-19 when they swept the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. Lillard finished that season with 25.8 points, 6.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals while playing 35.5 minutes per game.
The team had a lot of potential during that time but it was probably the saturation point for the roster as they needed someone to arrive and elevate the level along with Lillard and CJ McCullum. But that never happened and in the next two years, they made first-round exits in the playoffs and last season was even worse when they failed to make it to the play-in tournament.
