Wait, our roster isn't as loaded as GS? How insightful! Philly and Milwaukee are big underachievers, as is Minnesota until this year and even with their "superior roster" they aren't really that much better than us. How do we even make the playoffs with how awful our roster is?
I get your sentiment but, if our only hope is to draft as well as the freakin Spurs then we’re fucked lol. That stretch of draft picks by San Antonio might have been the best in the history of the game when you consider where there picks were. I think the difference is I just don’t see Nurk, CJ, or Collins as obvious franchise pillars. They very well might become just that but at this point CJ is an elite scorer and very poor defender, Nurk is an inefficient traditional 5, and Collins is a 19 yr old project with potential. That’s the reality.
First of all, we barely made the playoffs last year and with a .500 record. We are a little better than last year but I wouldn’t be suprised if we finish with 43-45 wins. If you can’t see how drastically better those other rosters are I don’t know what to tell you. Sounds like you’ve been at the other end of too many of Olsheys roster pitches.
Just a small correction: The Bulls cap situation didn't really change much in the Mirotic trade because the trade itself was pretty close dollars wise this year and wasn't a lot different the following two years.
Good point...I was referencing that they didn't have to pick up Mirotic's option, and therefore could've had that 12M extra in cap space this summer. They traded him (and it) for basically a worse player and a 1st, effectively spending their 2018 summer cap space on Asik for the price of a 1st. If that makes sense.
I understand your side too, but somehow we have Dame and despite CJ only being a scorer and poor defender, Nurk being inefficient, Collins being too young, three overpaid players contributing very little, and a bunch of other rather mediocre players this team is right in the mix for the middle of the playoff seeding. If Collins comes along quicker than we thought (he's already shown fast improvement) and/or Nurk starts to figure it out (not a huge stretch) then adding the right mix of players around those four could really turn into something. I'm not guaranteeing it or anything crazy like that but it seems silly after only having Nurk for a year and Collins for less than a season in which he wasn't expected to contribute at all anyway that we have already given up that this team can't get any better. Just one more smart trade like the Nurk one or hitting on a draft pick could catapult this team right there in the mix behind GS. You can ask @kjironman1 , I was really down on this team after another sluggish start this year but that doesn't mean I can't think long term too.
If our only hope is to draft well we’re in a good position. It’s the only area I have confidence in Olshey to not fuck up.
You have much more optimism than I do. Although we both hope for the same thing I just think we want it done in different ways. The good news for you is all signs point towards Olshey choosing your option. Unless, and until, we get a new GM.
Yeah, I thought that is what you meant but I also didn't think they would let Mirotic walk for nothing after this year either. I am completely with you on not wasting assets to dump salary but... Evan Turner and two 1st round picks to Chicago for Denzel Valentine both saves us $15 million and gives us a cheap wing that could still have some potential. I wouldn't do it but I just wanted to post something that might be doable although Chicago is usually pretty cheap.
I've been hovering on the outskirts of this conversation since this morning, then I go to the Meltdown thread, write half a page which I don't post, then say fuck it and head to B/R to see if anything has happened and then back here again to begin the cycle anew. I'm a trade deadline spinning wheel of building rage. I'm constantly trying to balance my soul level dislike of Olshey with a rational assessment of what he has and hasn't accomplished. I try so hard to convince myself that there is a solid plan in place...but fuck! this is a frustrating roster. It feels like when you go to retrieve the extension cord from the garage and it's a tangled mess and you can't even find the ends except that fucking Olshey is holding the extension cord and telling me how great it is. I need to go to the Meltdown thread again, I'm losing my mind.
Instead of extension cord, think Christmas lights. Sure, they're tangled up in a big nasty ball of fuckery, but they all still work when you plug them in. Sure, you can spend your car payment going to the Clark Griswold Light Factory to get new ones, which would be easier to put up and would show "progress". Unfortunately, you now don't have a car payment, so you pull cash off of your credit cards at 24% to cover the shortfall, and in time the interest and lack of credit card space when you really need groceries sucks. Instead, just take a breath, sit down, and untangle the ball. It may take awhile, and you may get frustrated from time to time, but the lights all work and you're not throwing good money and assets you can't afford to give away just to make it quicker and easier. "Quick-and-easy is how you bake a cake or shop by mail. Quick and easy is NOT how you run a multimillion dollar enterprise such as ours."
1. I don't know what your tongue looks like but mine isn't thin and forked, so... 2. You're happy with the state of the team? You know ESPN? They have an article entitled, "A Big NBA Money Crunch is Coming." The photo accompanied shows Trail Blazers. The first paragraphs are about the Trail Blazers. Because? Olshey has invested poorly in our future. How do we go about correcting them too?
Phew, yeah, thank god it's not reality, otherwise we'd have the 6th highest payroll and a bunch of impending free agents...
I'm so happy to hear CJ is not on the block. A bit less happy to hear that Collins is viewed as a building block.
