Starting five is his #1 priority. Found the PG, now needs the 5. Will not waste flexibility for short run gain. Once the starting roation is set, it's on to bolstering the bench. Oh and LMA is the best 4 possible for this squad.
Olshey is a good talker that is for sure . . . has been since day 1 when Kaleb was his guy and drafting was easy as you pick best available player. Olshey can talk all day long if you give him the chance, but after all that talking I don't think you really know what he actually plans to do. He is the the bizzaro of Cho . . . I hope his results as Blazer GM is like the bizzaro results of Cho as GM.
I bet JJ and Meyers love hearing that, LOL. Can we just assume now that there is no way in hell JJ will be back next year?
I wonder if oshley has been making calls yet? I'm sure many teams have contacted him though. He has some good assets that most of us don't want to part with. Doesn't mean that he will test the waters though. The bolster the bench quote was pleasant to read. It's nice knowing that management is on the ball, understanding what our needs are. As much as I love hickson; I know he isn't part of the long term plan. I think even hickson knows this unless he is willing to take less being a bench player. I don't think it's a knock on Leonard with oshley saying we are still in search of a center. It's pretty obvious Leonard isn't ready; therefor he really isn't the answer. Maybe 2-3 years from now; we can revisit this comment and see how far Leonard got in the process. Most important is I feel oshley has the right vision for the future. We are lucky to have him as a gm.
He is quoted saying that they aren't going to make a trade to fill out the bench until the offseason, but I assume if it involved getting anything back for JJ, that will happen before the trade deadline. He also implies JJ is not the answer, so he'll probably get moved before the deadline.
I just don't see how this is possible. I mean I just don't understand why a team would give up value for a half season rental? The only way that I suspect this being of substance is if there is a team that is willing to give up a reserve (I mean lower value role player) and a couple second rounders for him. Personally, I just don't think that's a good option. Although, a team that is on the cusp of being under the cap significantly may play with the idea. Shaving 4 million maybe enough for a team being 10 million under by this summer to 14 million.
A start of what exactly? Lillard, Matthews, Batum, Aldridge and a center is a championship caliber starting lineup? b\c currently they are a .500 team....
Yes, assuming you have a decent bench. Portland is a long ways from competing, but not a long ways from fixing the problem. If this team had a defensive minded center who altered the other teams offense and three real bench players we would be super scary
I think so. If we found a defensive minded center; that would immediately be a positive effect on this team. Let's say we had Tyson Chandler playing with Aldridge as our front court. The length and defense would go up ten fold. Teams wouldn't be scoring in the paint like they are now; which forces them to play the perimeter where Matthews and Batum are really good at pressuing them.
