Sorry, I'm trying to remember any trades that occurred under any of the last 3 CBAs that got us to the Conf Finals or any trades in the last 25 years that got us to the Finals.
We were one quarter away 18 years ago and that doesn’t happen without pippen and smith, 2 players acquired via trade. That’s by far the most successful season this franchise has had in the past 2 decades. To be fair we have had a lot more draft choices and mediocre fa signings over the past 18 years, maybe if we actually put our nuts on the table and pulled a few big trades every decade we would all have some to remember.
Oh, so that time that the CBA allowed trades that put you insanely over the salary cap, or the owner to basically shell out money at will to make things happen? Yes. Let's go back to that. But until we do, your position seems....short-sighted and doomed to failure. Trades are fine in and of themselves, but only as a part of talent acquisition/Asset management (to include CBA-regulated money as well as non-, like assistant coaches, health coordinators, barbershop chairs in the PF, etc). Draft picks have to be maintained to keep pipelines of cost-controlled players in the fold. FAs can bring in new veteran blood.
I agree with this...when you have a solid base of 3 guys to draft those players and sign those veterans around. We don’t! That’s why we should be doing anything possible to acquire another All-Star level player. We are completely overpaying average fa to come here, I’d rather overpay via trade for a player that can actually make a difference. If we weren’t throwing money away on guys who get DNPs every night maybe it would make trades a little easier. Hark and Myers could not be on this team and NOTHING would change, and I’m not gonna even start on turner, we should be thankful for him, NO wanted to give Parsons even more! Neil deserves to be fired for that alone.
He also traded Will Barton and a first for an injured half-season of Afflalo. Which kind of puts a damper on the "we need to trade for difference makers!" idea. That team that was #2 in the West at one long stretch, started Dame (drafted by POR), LMA (drafted by POR), Batum (drafted by POR), Wes (undrafted, then Toxic-offer FA'd by us---which can't be done the same way anymore) and RoLo (draft night trade). We also had Crabbe (drafted), Blake (drafted), Freeland (drafted), Kaman (FA) and those massive trades for Afflalo (already mentioned), Alonso Gee and Dorell Wright.
All that to say, in the recent CBAs PA's willingness to spend has been undercut a bit with a really restrictive tax structure. We should focus in the following order: 1) Team amenities. Make it so that players want to come here, are comfortable when they are here, play their best here, and want to stay when they're done here. Nothing goes against the salary cap. Barbershop in the PF. Catered lunches. New whirlpools. Doctors and training staff that do aggressive prevention of injuries. 2) Draft picks. a) Fixed-cost contracts...you know exactly what you're spending and don't have to negotiate. b) it's a captive audience...you don't have to have the player's permission or another team's. c) You have at least 5 years of team control, and usually 8-9 if you want it. 3) FA. You don't have to do anything except a) have enough cap space (problematic) and b) get the player to want to come here. See #1. 4) Trades. You have to have your team buy off on it, their team buy off on it, the player not be disrupted due to the move, or chemistry concerns post-trade. Trades have a place, but not exclusively, and definitely not as the centerpiece of a scorch-the-earth asset acquisition mentality.
Yeah I’m not really talking about making trade offers for the Affalos of the league, even though that’s the Niel way. In related news Myers and Hark are making about $122k per DNP, that’s cool.
We can’t sign all-stars in free agency, they won’t come here. That leaves trading for a sure thing or drafting someone and waiting 4 years to find out you missed.
The rules that make it impossible for teams to dump salary are just hurting the small market franchises the rules was created for. It makes the system that much more favorable to big market teams who can dump salary quickly and then turnover their rosters. Its a crock of shit!
See? Because we made dumb "trade for difference makers now!!11!" trades, we didn't have draft picks for cost-controlled young players. We didn't have players in place that we could could on to take Crabbe's spot when he got offered his deal. We didn't want to let our backup center go for free without getting a new one, which would have cost more (google "Mozgov"). We now are building a pipeline of talent, so that if someone wants Mo for cap space this summer, we have options. If we get a good value for Chief or Ed, we have options. If Pat or Shabazz gets offered big money, we don't have as many options. If we'd have had a closer-to-prime-time Pat, things look a lot different in 2016.
Not having players in the pipeline is why we overpaid 5 players that offseason? Hmm ok I give up, we see this a little different, that’s cool though.
Maybe you have 20 years to wait, but most of us are bored and want change. No, it's because Olshey overpaid everyone and is handcuffed now. For example, he misjudged McCollum to be another Lillard.
I still think we work at dumping a bad contract a year, and we got a chance to turn this thing around. I actually think the hard part will be keeping Dame happy but if Collins improves and we add decent players for a run in a couple of years.... there is no reason to think we can't be contenders. Dame is what 28? That will be the rub I think. But Collins has every chance of being the third star.
I will not say fire Olshey because I like him personally, and hope he sticks around for a long time. I think people forget easily that running an nba team isn’t espn fantasy basketball. He’s hit some homeruns and has some FA misses. But he’s in Portland and he has some structural barriers that he cant get rid of (very white city, weather, up here all by ourselves). The team has always competed, gone to playoffs, had some good runs. Also- do not ever forget that owners, including PA, both shoot down trade ideas and conversely force trades that the GM isn’t supportive of. Not everything is on Neil. If he gets fired tomorrow he will go to work very quickly (in Oakland BTW).
Jlprk is correct in every word of this post. I like CJ but is he the 19th best player in the league? Or a top 3 SG? That’s what he’s paid as. That was the worst offseason for any gm I can think of, 5 horrible contracts, that’s close to half the roster!
I agree RipCityBoy....and Collins, even though offensively has plenty of room to grow, is a very SMART player. I watch every game and he plays smart out there and that is half the battle with a rookie. His offensive game will come when he builds some body mass and his outside shot is already looking decent. Back to my original post, I think there are a few options to get Kevin Love here and dump one of those "bad contracts" that are basically just sitting on the bench! I do like Evan but I would presume he will be part of trade talks just because of the inconsistent play and he is a mid level player. I really had high hopes for him and maybe he will work out? The player I think needs to go is Chief. I have tried to warm up to his playing style and I just don't see the same player on a day to day basis. He might have a good game every 4 or 5 games, his ball handling is horrible, has zero strength or finesse at the rim offensively. He actually started to look like improvement was on the horizon and then he has a game like he had in Denver. I just don't see a deep playoff run with him.
The way the new guys come rolling in declaring CJ as a "horrible contract" makes me want to go full HCP. The longer I'm around here the more I feel it creeping up in my veins. For fucks sake.
Why would it matter if I’m new around here? I’m not new to message boards or blazer knowledge, unless there’s some rule on the board about homerism or something? 4/$106 mil for a one way SG isn’t a bargain. If you think he’s a a top 3 sg in nba like he’s paid cool, I don’t.
It is a bargain compared to what Myers/Hark/and Turner make for what production they offer compared to CJ if that’s better.
