The Portland Trail Blazers are generally viewed as a team on the upswing in the NBA, at least in a casual sense. With 36 wins in the 2024-25 season, they surpassed their previous year’s total by 15. The team is packed with young, highly-drafted players, and their potential for the future offers plenty of optimism. For those looking for reasons to be positive about the franchise, there’s no shortage of them.
However, the author of today’s Blazer’s Edge Mailbag question doesn’t share that perspective! Adding 71% more wins from one season to the next isn’t enough to impress them. Instead, they’re focused on another issue: the mistakes the franchise has made in recent years. Take a look!
Dear Dave,
I hope this letter finds you well. Better than the Blazers at least. But that’s not hard is it? You’re an eternal optimist and you’re always going to take the best outlook on things but I’m going to ask a question even you can’t squirm out of. What are the dumbest moves made by the Blazers over the past 4-5 years? More or less under [General Manager Joe] Cronin’s supervision. Give it to us. What moves would you take back if you could?
Dan
Eternal optimist? You should see the emails I get accusing me of being Satan just because I don’t praise every move the Blazers make. That’s the nature of this job—some readers think I’m too negative, others think I’m blindly positive. If I’m hearing both, I’m probably balanced. So sure, let’s lean into optimism!
As for what counts as a “dumb” move—it depends. The word implies poor judgment, but in the NBA, decisions are often constrained. Just because Portland didn’t trade for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic doesn’t mean they’re incompetent. They simply can’t.
Consider a hypothetical: a coach faces a vastly superior playoff team. He has a scheme that improves his chances from 4% to 9%, but it’s so unorthodox that it’ll draw ridicule if they lose—which they probably will. Even if it’s the smarter play, he might get fired for trying it. In sports, perception often overrides intent. Results shape reputations, not logic.
So what’s been Portland’s “dumbest” move recently? If you go by negative outcomes, it’s probably trading Damian Lillard. It ended an era and dropped the team into a rebuild. But Portland had little choice—Lillard wanted out.
If we limit “dumb” to moves with more agency, two stand out:
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Jerami Grant’s contract—five years, $160 million. He’s underperforming, and if that continues, the deal becomes a major burden.
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Drafting Scoot Henderson third overall. Early struggles and strong performances by others taken after him could make this look questionable, though it’s too soon to know.
Most execs aren’t foolish—they’re just playing a tough game. Sometimes, all you can do is make the best move available and hope it works out.
So now it’s your turn—what do you think was the Blazers’ worst move?
