Looking back at Lillard's first head-to-head confrontation with the Blazers: both sides hinted at who failed and who had the answer

Beijing time on July 11, not long ago, Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said that the Damian Lillard deal could take "months" to complete. The reason he gave was that they were trading one of the best players of all time, and by making sure the team was in the best position.

Soon, Lillard also responded in the form of a press conference.

"I think more important than anything I've learned is patience," Lillard said. "Don't be passive. Don't jump out for things that seem to solve problems. I think the teams that are most positive after the trade are the ones who take their time and are not impulsive, or the teams that can really control their sense of urgency."

"So, I think that's what I've always done and that's what I'll do in the future." We have to be patient, we have to do what's best for the team. We'll see how it turns out. If it takes months, then months."

At this year's NBA convention, the Trail Blazers used their two lotto first-half picks to select Shatton Sharp and Scott Henderson, which intensified the conflict between Lillard and the Blazers.

Throughout the process, Cronin said, he has struggled to find upgrades to win, placing a strong helper by Lillard's side. Lillard, who has spent his entire 11-year career in Portland, said, "What's best for the Blazers? "The answer to that question is to recruit these young players, not turn them into veterans.

"Building around Lillard has always been our goal, even through the draft," Cronin said. "The difficulty we had was finding the right deal. For the first two years, we were drafted No. 7 and then drafted No. 3. During this period, we tried to find a lot of players in the market who could provide immediate strength to the team, but for various reasons they were all lost. So every time we try to weigh that up.

"In this year's draft, whether it's the number three pick or the number seven pick, we assessed that the players were better than trying to trade those picks."

"So, it's not intentional, it's just doing what's best for this team, we've been doing that and I understand why Lillard would look at it and say." Well, it's not like a chance to win, or it's not like a chance to win like anywhere else'. So, from that point of view, I mean I understand his position, I respect his position, but it makes sense to me".

Lillard renewed his contract with the Blazers last summer with more than $200 million left on his contract for four years, and in his quest to go elsewhere, Lillard made it clear that he has only one destination in mind: the Miami Heat, where the combination of Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo will immediately make the Heat the most promising team to win back-to-back Eastern Conference titles.

So far, however, Cronin has yet to find a suitable deal for the future Hall of Famer point guard. But he added that while he cares about Lillard and hopes he can move forward in the best possible shape — citing past deals involving C.J. McCollum and Josh Hart as examples of seeking the best outcome for both sides, he acknowledged that having multiple teams involved in negotiations tends to lead to better outcomes and that such deals are not easy to strike.

Cronin said: "The rest of his career is important for us and we care about that. At the same time, we have to do what's best for us, we have to find the right deal."

"Everyone wants the perfect outcome and gets him where he wants to go and we get the best reward possible. It's complicated, and it usually doesn't work out that way. ”

Cronin said he was happy to keep Jeremy Grant and Matisse Tamble, who had just reached new contracts with the team, but his goal was always to try to upgrade the team further through a deal. While he wished he had more time to find a deal before Lillard asked for a trade on July 1, he said he understood why Lillard made the decision.

As a result, Cronin admits that he feels he has failed Lillard because he cannot make Lillard feel that the team is competitive enough for him to win quickly – although Cronin said he believes the team's young core Henderson, Sharp and Anfini Simmons will be the winning players "soon".

"I don't feel like I did everything because I didn't accomplish what we wanted to accomplish," Cronin said. Effort is one thing, and so is it. But actually executing and getting results is another matter, and from that point of view, I do feel like I've failed Lillard."

"Our goal has always been to build around him and get to the top level as quickly as possible. Even internally, if we think, 'Hey, we're on the right track and we can get there very quickly,' if he doesn't feel that, it's still a failure for me because I didn't find the right deal. "

While Cronin has repeatedly said he wants to do the right thing for Lillard and that he won't rush into a bad deal, he has also said his goal has always been for Lillard to end his career where he began — and he remains hopeful about that goal.

"I haven't lost hope, just because I know this league is complicated and things change quickly," Cronin said. "Sometimes we get more information. Sometimes things don't go the way we think, and in this alliance we have to be constantly flexible and adapt to changing circumstances, and that's how I see that.

"I don't know what the future holds. I don't know what will end up here. I just know that I won't be surprised if something happens that is different from what we initially expected. "