Why is the long thread titled "Desperate Robin Lopez salary dump"? Because we expected to get him for free. To make room for Tyreke Evans, New Orleans would be forced to cut Lopez. And now, the news is that one of the 2 picks we gave is Withey, who everyone forecast for the 1st round? Oh brother. The Basketball-Reference database says that Lopez was 50th among centers at DRB%, as a starter in a 30- team league. Hickson was something like 4th. Oh well, Aldridge will bail us out with his usual rebounding.
I like the optimism, but give this time. We regressed last season and are not clearly better currently. We will still be the favorite for last in our division.
Neil's done good but it has a lot to do with the new CBA. Teams don't want to be over the cap so theirs deals out there for buyers. Lots sellers make it a buyers market
I think we all hoped Neil could pull off a big trade or signing that would bring a star here and really "move the needle". That may or may not have been realistic, but Olshey himself said that was the goal, and it didn't happen. Since I can appreciate that he tried, and I also believe it was probably a bit unrealistic, I'm happy with where we stand now. However, I'm a little tired of all this "Olshey got this and that for nothing" talk. He is trading away a very, very valuable asset: cap space. It's like saying that Charlotte got Al Jefferson for nothing, New Orleans got Tyreke Evans for nothing, and whoever gets Dwight Howard also got him for nothing. That's simply not the case. Planning to have cap room takes a lot of planning and sacrifice, which is exactly why Robinson and Lopez were traded as cheaply as they were. I do think that acquiring decent players at reasonable contacts is better than making a mistake and overpaying someone. But let's be real - Olshey is no magician. If he is truly to receive high praise, it should be for fulfilling the goal he set for himself: bringing in a difference maker to move the needle. That said, he didn't reach and overpay for a borderline star either. The summation of his smart, frugal moves puts him in the "pretty good" category so far, IMO.
What I appreciate about Olshey's moves this summer is that they've just been so completely competent. No dramatics...just identify solid players to fit the multiple holes in the roster and then do what's necessary to sign them. I think it's to his credit that he didn't decide to shoot for the moon just for the sake of grabbing a high profile player. There will be a time for that kind of action in the future, but for this year it's been about putting solid pieces in place that will move the Blazers into the thick of the playoff hunt. Every guy he's gone after will have solid trade value in the future. All in all, a great job so far.
Sometimes moving the needle isn't about getting a marque player. Our team was dead last in bench scoring. The team ahead of us was a + 15 in scoring. That was a huge discrepancy! Also no bench = fatigue for our starters. We had zero interior defense. We also had no real option or vet back ups. I think just solving a lot of those problems will make our team considerably better. We are definitely in the right track!
That really makes no sense whatsoever. 1) The cap space is devoid of value if you don't use it, so using it can't be a knock on Olshey. We had numerous holes in our roster and he's filling them quickly with competent players without giving up any of the existing core. That's really, really difficult to do. 2) New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players in order to clear cap space to get Evans and Howard, so those are rather terrible examples. It's nothing like saying what you're saying it's like.
I agree we will be better. And I like every signing individually. But Olshey could have done the same thing last year. But he kept the cap space to try and see if we could land a star via FA or trade. Once it didn't happen, he spent the money on smart moves. I'm pointing out that priority #1 didn't happen. It doesn't mean that plan B wasn't executed well, and certainly we'll be a better team for it.
So was the cap space we left on the table last summer devoid of value because we didn't use it? Of course not! It carried over to this year. We had another chance to trade it for a star, or sign one outright. When those didn't come to fruition, we used it to acquire nice role players. Cap space always has value, whether you use it or save it. The times when you actually DO use it, like we just did, are the most obvious examples of its value. Cap space is the price you pay to pick up a player without having to give one back (or the price you pay to take in more salary than you give in a trade). When you use up that scarce commodity, you can't do those extremely valuable things anymore. Your argument is like buying a new car and saying, "If I never spend my life's savings, it's devoid of value...so whatever I spend it one is basically free." I really don't understand your 2nd argument. I agree - New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players to clear cap space. That's why I brought it up - as an illustration of how valuable cap space is. They gave away valuable players to acquire more cap space!! How could this be interpreted as anything but an example of the value of cap space? Yet, you turn it around and say it is a "terrible example"? I'm very confused on that one.
One thing to note is that yes it did carry over, but we ended up having less cap space this year because Batum's extension kicked in and because of rising salaries. Not to mention Neil basically had to use a team stripped bare in order to position ourselves to even have as much cap as we did.
i absolutely love what Neil Olshey has done. he's had a great summer. he's used what he had, which is more rigid in the past, & come up with a bench. i predict two things: 1. we will not have the worst bench in the nba. 2. we will make the playoffs because we have the depth of this bench.
Last year's cap space had no measurable value because it was unused. If anything, it was a negative. The cap space was cashed in this year and suddenly has value. Sure, Olshey could have pushed it off another year, but do you really believe he would have landed a marquee free agent? In Portland? Your car buying example is ridiculous. You can spend your savings on all sorts of things. It can accrue interest if unused. Cap space can only be used to acquire players. If it isn't doing that, it's wasted. Surely, you can come up with better than that? As for #2, you said, "It's like saying that Charlotte got Al Jefferson for nothing, New Orleans got Tyreke Evans for nothing, and whoever gets Dwight Howard also got him for nothing." On the contrary, it's nothing like that. We gave up nothing but cap space. They gave up components of their team.
It seems like you're just looking at the value of the team based on the roster alone, and I'm looking at the roster and including cap space. If you look at it from a roster standpoint only, I agree with what you're saying. But if you have two teams with the exact same amount of talent, and one has 12M in cap space while the other has none, which one has more potential in the future? The one with cap space. So while our roster has improved, it was not free - it came at a cost....the cap space. We seem to be going around in circles on this point.
Definitely, that's what I'm looking at. And your hypothetical falls flat because we wouldn't have the same talent level as another team if we didn't use the cap space. Just look at last year. We had cap space but one of the worst benches in NBA history. We wouldn't be going in circles if you would come up with an analogy that holds water.
You think Utah will win more games than we will? Even if we trade Aldridge for nothing we're better than the Jazz.
To get good players in a trade, you have to trade good players. Who could we have given last year in a trade or a sign and trade? Now we have better assets. We don't know just how good they'll be, but we know they're certainly valued more highly than what we had last year. Olshey is building this roster from the ground up, rather than taking the shortcuts PA's money allowed Whitsitt to take. KP I thought was great, but McMillan wasn't the right coach to execute his plan. Also, KP's ego got the best of him. He started to believe his own hype. He's learned his lesson and I think is doing a much better job for Indy.
