How Were Damian Lillard & The Trail Blazers Able To Bury The Hatchet? | Primetime W/ Isaac & Suke

How Were Damian Lillard & The Trail Blazers Able To Bury The Hatchet? | Primetime W/ Isaac & Suke

Damen Lillard is back in Portland. They had a kind of a weird press conference last night because uh Shake Voice Joe Cronin was up there and he he’s like it’s nice to have him back. He is not the most dynamic public speaker. And then Chance was up there and they’re asking him like, “Oh, how you going to use Damian? I don’t know. He’s not even not even going to play for a year.” But look, it’s a it’s a feel it’s a feel-good moment for the city. Yeah, they they did the uh and and I can appreciate this uh how Damen Lillard fits in. That’s a problem for future Joe Cronin and Johny Phillips. Yeah, they don’t really care. No, they just like the win of it’s a legacy play. Lillard’s back. Everybody loves that. They’re going to go watch him play when he’s back. And that’s great. They love him. Lillard’s a legend. Absolutely. So, here are a few things that he had to say. Uh one, a lot of people were asking uh you know how it all went down and his relationship with Joe Cronin because he requested a trade. Yeah, it was rough. there was there was some hurt feelings and the Blazers wouldn’t trade him to Miami where he wanted to go and so here was Dame on his relationship with the GM. I think toward the end I think it was a lot of um misunderstandings and and miscommunication and when it when something like that comes up you know people are hurt you know is I’m not saying nothing and then I’m seeing things that was said by me you know and now I’m looking at things sideways. So, um I think more than anything it was miscommunication and and misunderstandings and um Joe and I never sat down and talked about that. You know, it just kind of sat out there and it we let it be what it was. And I think that was the mistake. But um I wouldn’t say I was when I left I just was not a big fan of Joe. Me and Joe had a great relationship, you know, the entire time before he became GM and while he was GM, but I think at that time, you know, it was it was a hard time, you know, like I was moving on and things were being said, like I said, so it was more a misunderstanding than anything. And um the last game that we played here, you know, I went over before the game and I said hello to Joe, I said hello to Jody. And um for me um I really wanted them to know that it was you know no hard feelings. You know when that during that time when it was happening um sometimes when you’re emotional you handle things from a a position of protecting yourself and not knowing what’s going on you know on the other side. And then over time you you calm down and you figure it out. And you know I’m not a kid so you know that wasn’t hard for me to do. And it honestly wasn’t a even after that, it wasn’t a long conversation to to move past that. And I think that was because we never had a a bad relationship or it was never a, you know, a dislike or um us not being a fan of each other like you said. I don’t really get how they miscommunicate that badly with their star player. Like I mean that’s on the franchise. Well, I understand. Some of that is some of that is is uh how would you say whitewashing it. I mean what what to me what clearly happened there is both realized that you had different agendas. Damen Lillard wanted to win and wanted to win right now and Portland was going in a different direction and miscommunication was probably talking out of both sides of your mouth and Dame saying that I never want to leave and Portland saying that they’re going to go all in. It’s one of those where you’re both trying to keep the other one happy, but you want different things. And so I ultimately I think that’s how the miscommunication happens. Um, and I think it was probably a little bit worse than what they’re letting on there. But when you’re you you’ve put that away and you water under the bridge and you’re reuniting, no one’s going to be like, “Yeah, those sons of bitches.” And and the other side’s not going to be like this guy, you know, he screwed us over by only wanting to get him traded to one place. But I I think from listening to people that were close to that situation, that was a little more contentuous than than they’re letting on. But bygones be bygone. And you had two people, an entity, an organization, and Damen Lillard that needed to go in separate directions because they were looking at two different things. Yeah. I mean, all that may be true. I just don’t understand why you still can’t sit down with your star and comm communicate directly like that. That that to me says bad management. He he is your franchise. And yes, you understand that you have to part ways. So, communicate. Communicate that. Talk it out. Be a man. Sit down and, you know, hash it out. Tell them what you’re thinking. But he’s saying they didn’t do that. And I don’t think it’s on him to do that. I think it’s on the franchise to do that with him. And I don’t know why this is. Maybe it’s just because uncomfortable conversations get weird and you’re always afraid of a player uh taking the uh the nuke option and blowing the whole thing up. But it feels like very few franchises clearly communicate with I don’t get that. How many times have you heard uh hey I got traded and I didn’t get a call. I found about it on Twitter or they called me and two seconds later it was out on social media. I mean this is like a tale as old as time. For whatever reason franchises are not good at communicating with players when it comes to these sorts of things. And I do think it stems from if you’re honest with a player and you tell them what’s going on and that player decides to blow up your spot. I think that can get uncomfortable and kind of tank trade values and all of that and you don’t want to get into a public peing match with your star player. So I I think all of those things kind of come in and muddle the waters. Yeah. kind of I don’t mean it doesn’t have to be public, you know, if he takes it, but it usually ends up Well, if he takes it public, then that’s on then you have a reason to say, “All right, this has gotten ugly and uh we’re just going to do what we do.” But otherwise, like he’s it’s not like you didn’t like him. No, it’s not like he didn’t give you everything. He gave you everything. He was He is your franchise. And so I just don’t think it’s hard to just I don’t know, communicate, just talk. Well, at least I I’ll give him credit for a couple years later both sides being able to put all that crap aside because there were hurt feelings and Well, they’re lucky Dame’s a a good dude and and actually is emotionally intelligent and wants to be here, you know, cuz otherwise I think a lot of players wouldn’t wouldn’t go back to the way they handled it. No, absolutely not. And here is Lillard on his rehab and expectations for this next year. Me personally, I I know how I’m going to approach the whole rehab process, taking my time. Um, a lot of trust in the the people around me, a lot of trust in the surgeon that I went to. We’ve stayed connected. Um, and I think I’m going to return to form. That’s that’s just my true belief. I I think I’ll return to form. I think uh with this injury, a lot of the people that I’ve spoke to that have experienced the injury and come back for it, a lot of the the surgeons that I spoke to, a lot of the PTs that I’ve spoken to um have shared a lot of information with me and um a lot of it was encouraging for me. Um and I know what what my assignment is to um to make that happen and that’s what I’ve been focused on doing. All right. Well, you won’t see him this year. No, most likely. Although they got a little weird about that question. There was a They were laughing about that. Yeah. Lillard kind of took the uh you know, don’t count me out sort of thing, but then he quickly said uh as I’ve gotten older, I understand that it’s about taking care of myself that he is not going to play this year. He’s not. It would be, you know, it would be a mon this season. Yes. It would be a a cousin Eddie head sewn to the carpet sort of thing if you even attempted this. So you’ll see him on the court next fall. Yes. fall of 2026. But hey, it’s great. Damen Lillard’s back in Portland, baby. He’s like a He’s like a Portland legend cruising around on his jet skis down on the Willilta. I’ve said all along, I do not think you have ever given out free shoes, an ambassador to the city, that loves it here, that embraces it here, and that has been the quality of player. I I think if if you were to say all the things combined play on the court because you got Walton, you got Clyde and really I think it’s just those three. It’s Walt and Clyde and and and Damen Lillard, Brandon Roy had a little bit of it. He did, but it was it was a short his his career ended due to injury and he was also Seattle guy, which you know, but had Brandon stayed healthy, this is the sort of thing that I Bren and Roy walk so that Damen Lillard could run because it was the same sort of thing um that just embraced the city and you couldn’t ask more of it. But you’re right and and that Roy because the way it ended, he didn’t make his home here. The cool thing about Lou is it sounds like this is going to be home that he’s not going anywhere. He will be a Jerome Kersy, Terry Porter fixture here for 20, 30 years, but at a much higher level because he’s a, you know, he’s a top 75 player of all time.

Download the Audacy App to listen to all of your favorite shows and podcasts:
iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audacy-radio-sports-talk/id323701765
Android: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=audacy&c=apps&hl=en_US&gl=US

Stay up to date with 1080 The Fan on Social Media:
𝕏 : https://twitter.com/1080TheFAN
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1080thefan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1080TheFAN/

#NBA #NBAOffseason #NBAFreeAgency #MilwaukeeBucks #Bucks #FearTheDeer #DamianLillard #Dame #DameDolla #Giannis #GiannisAntetokounmpo #KyleKuzma #PortlandTrailBlazers #TrailBlazers #Portland #RipCity #Blazers #BlazersNews #JackedRamsays #JeramiGrant #DeniAvdija #DeandreAyton #ToumaniCamara #ScootHenderson #DonovanClingan #DalanoBanton #ShaedonSharpe #JodyAllen #YangHansen #HansenYang #JrueHoliday