Player exit interviews and statements - 10 am

To Sly’s point: A sacrifice is something a person does that they are NOT rewarded for, that incurs some negative outcome to the person doing it, and which is generally for the selfless benefit of someone else. The work C.J. puts in will result in him playing a game we all love and ultimately being paid what, 100 million dollars or so? Some sacrifice. Where do I sign up for that? Fuck CJ if he’s so fucking self centered he’s crying about the work required to do his job and be paid more in one year than most of us will earn in our entire lives. I’m sick of professional athletes crying about their “sacrifice”. If it’s such a god damned sacrifice, I hear Burger King is hiring.

 

I do not agree. I would prefer to retain CJ and trade Lillard.

 

The reporters there had gotten into the habit of simple, dumb questions, due to brief interviews of a bunch of dumb players.

Then the 2 smart guys appeared, and it was hard to suddenly change the interview style.

 

So what exactly is that? It wasn't that long ago that this team missed the playoffs 6 straight seasons. It also wasn't that long ago that this franchise had two top 6 picks have career ending injuries. There is no excuse for getting swept as the 3 seed in the playoffs, it sucks. At the same time there a lot of teams that would kill to have a GM with the resume that Olshey has.

After drafting Drexler, this team only made it out of the 1st round (lost in the 2nd round that one time) once until going to the Finals in 1990. In fact in 1989, Drexler's 6th season like this one for Dame, the Blazers got swept out of the playoffs in the 1st round. It was their 4th straight 1st round exit and at that time their record was 4-16 in their last 20 playoff games. Does this sound familiar? Do you wish they would've traded Drexler and Porter and Kersey then? They did change from coaches during the 88-89 season. Maybe that is what needs to happen here.

I'm not saying this team is destined to make the Finals next year, just that teams usually take time to come together and each year you continue to build. I'm sure if this site existed back then we would have all been in here questioning if Drexler would ever have playoff success. The playoffs pissed me off this year but I like what Olshey has tried to do to add the missing pieces so far (almost impossible to do in one year) and will only change that stance if he fails to improve the team this summer.

 

Heard that had there been a game 5 neither Damian or CJ were for sure able to play due to injuries

 

I'm almost in on everything you're saying except that we lost in the Finals, losing 3 straight at home. We didn't exactly celebrate that year. I'm glad we're not going to overreact. Some people want to fire Stotts without a better coach in mind. And lots of people want big trades for the sake of big trades. Lots of people would be happy reading CJ regardless of the return. Just change for the sake of change. He tried to get us Paul George. They said no. They tried to get Melo and I maintain he would've played well for us. Trading CJ for Barnes would be awful. Would the difference between Barnes and Aminu be so great that we'd be fine with Pat or Wade at starting SG? Besides, if Dame/CJ doesn't work, why would Dallas want Dennis/CJ?

 

Hahahshahahshshshahhahahshahshshahahabhahahdjdjsjsh

Ha fucking HA.

 

Let me explain what I meant by the one year thing before someone jumps on me about him having 6 years.
Year one: Adds Lillard
Year two: Adds CJ, RoLo, Mo Williams
Year three: Bad summer with no 1st round draft pick due to a trade before he got here and bad signings in Blake and Kaman
Year four: Aldridge leaves changing the course of the team so Olshey decides to basically blow it up with the exception of Dame and CJ while choosing/forced to save cap space for the following summer. Adds Aminu, Davis, and Plumlee as positives.
Year five: Bad summer with the biggest culprit making a massive mistake signing Evan Turner to a big contract. No 1st rounder that year due to the Afflalo trade. Adds Nurkic during the season to avoid this being a complete disaster.
Year six: Adds Collins (along with others that could potentially have an impact but I'm only including potential starters as good adds)

Obviously others can think differently but in my opinion this is what that all means:

He's added definite starter level talent in Dame, CJ, and Nurk. He's added hopefully a fourth member of that group in Collins. This summer he has to find a way to add another starter level talent. Then you still have guys like Aminu and Harkless as well and the team is really starting to take shape.

For the Blazers in the 80's it was like this (We all know about the Bowie/Jordan thing but outside of that the Blazers had some incredible draft picks):
Year one: Add Drexler
Year two: Add Kersey
Year three: Add Porter
Year four: Add Duckworth
Year five: No one that really helped them in 1990
Year six: No one that really helped them in 1990 either
Year seven: Added Buck, Uncle Cliffy, and Drazen Petrovic

Now the year seven summer is here for this team. That team was able to add talent while keeping the core of a team that had underperformed in the playoffs while only trading away an oft injured Bowie and through the draft. This is what I'm talking about when I say I want to see the team build on the good players they already have.

 

Many people that want Stotts gone and have a better replacement in mind.

 

I'm not saying that losing in the Finals was great or anything. I'm just pointing out that team couldn't do shit in the playoffs either and then were in the Finals two out of three years.

 

You have a picture of Kersey as your avatar. His teams lost 16 out of 20 playoff games too. How is that different?

 

IIRC Harkless made that comment right before being benched.

 

"In my biggest successes and my biggest failures. My mom and dad are always there ... always have been, always will be. The journey continues..." i fucking love this picture

 

Did you think those players were awesome when we got swept in 1989 first round?