Obviously he was upset that Neil purposely gave us a bad bench. I was upset too. There were lots of good players available that would've made our team better last season. It makes sense that Aldridge would be upset. Well, now we get to see if CJ McCollum was worth it.
It was more than just CJ. It was also about gaining cap space, and maximizing it. On paper, Olshey accomplished this goal, considering that almost nobody from the Blazer bench last year will even be a rotation player in the NBA this year.
I'm glad we stunk last year. It would have been a first round exit regardless... now we can actually do something. And CJ wasn't the reason we tanked. That's just silly.
Now we can actually do something, like get bounced in the first round, a year later. No, the reason the Blazers tanked is because they had no other option. The starters were exhausted, injured, or both; the bench was inept as a bench and even worse playing anything resembling starters' minutes. Even if Stotts had squeezed every possible minute of playing time out of the best talent available on the roster, the Blazers wouldn't have been no more than a couple games better than it turned out. Just as no one at One Center Court will admit to "tanking," no fan should think that the Blazers were really capable of doing a whole lot better with last year's team than they actually did.
CJ was all we got for tanking. We could've signed Kenyon, Nate, and Birdman to one year contracts and keep our cap flexibility.
Olshey learned his craft from the Clippers. He wants to keep tanking, but is outvoted by Paul Allen and Aldridge.
Olshey seemed to do really well with the Clippers, and Allen and Aldridge's plan has given us what exactly?
Nah. Not mistaken. I know. Lets tank for a second round pick masked as the #10 pick. Sounds like a logical thing to do. Our team sucked, we didn't tank. If you don't think that, you're sorely mistaken.
If you think we sucked, I believe you're sorely mistaken. We had no depth, but we were otherwise a formidable team. We weren't great by any means, but as injuries and lack of depth took its toll, we finished poorly. But I was generally happy with where we were after 66-68 games considering the roster. And we still finished ahead of where I expected.
By the end of the season, with injuries to Nic, Wesley and LMA, the Blazers were the poster children of suckitude. You have to have at least a chance to win before a losing streak can be classified as tanking.
Funny how small this thread is considering LMA came out and said he wants to stay on the team! Maybe it is the holiday weekend or maybe fans have finally figured out that LMA pretty much stated what every NBA player in his prime says. They want to win now, they get frustrated with losing, and as long as management has a game plan on how to get better without a long rebuild then they are happy to stay. I don't think it was ever a LMA vs Portland thing. It was always a winning vs losing thing. Now I know it can be a little hypocritical at times when the players complain about losing when it is often their fault when the team loses. I mean they are the ones playing, but the bottom line is LMA is just like every other player, he gets frustrated being on a losing team. It wears on players. The media just makes it worse by consistently asking them about it. Of course they are not happy about it. Who would be? Winning is fun, losing is not. All players want to be in a positive environment. It was never anything more than that with LMA.
REPPED!!! and agree 100%. So, where are all the Chicken Littles, Debbie Downers and Negative Nancys now? Wait what, Aldridge says he wants to stay on the team??? That must be a misquote, because if it's true then the sky isn't really falling. I'm so confused. I don't know what to do. The facts remain unchanged. We have Aldridge under contract for TWO MORE SEASONS. The team will definitely be better this season than last. Aldridge got what he asked for in his exit interview - a real center with a big body who can bang down low for 25 minutes a game. Plus, he got a MUCH better bench with proven veterans like Mo Williams and Dorell Wright. We added another lottery pick and our other young guys now have a full season of experience under their belts. I never understood the reason to panic and trade Aldridge NOW!!!! He never demanded it, and it would have been totally premature. He's looking forward to playing on this new, improved team, and I'm looking forward to watching it. Should be more fun for both of us than last season. BNM
