The further and further we get into the off-season, the general consensus seems to migrate back to defending Olshey and Stotts after demanding for change this summer... Maybe that's just my own perception, but I wonder why that is.
If you’re judging GMs by their ability to land free agents in Portland, every single one of them would be fired. It’s not an inferiority complex - it’s actually straight from NBA players mouths. They factor in (or agents, should I say) tax as well, and most players end up in one of the significant markets. Anyhow, if that’s you’re measure, we have never had a successful GM by signing free agents. Olshey has proven to close numerous deals via trade. He has also been one of the better evaluators and accumulators of talent. He has been one of the better Drafting GMs. Our cap has been maneuvered extremely well all things considered. If you believe otherwise, we will agree to disagree. He gave out a bad contract. That’s not a poorly managed cap - that’s a bad decision. Poorly managed is OKC. Also, it’s laughable you’re talking about OKC, cap management and talent acquisition. They let Harden walk over 8 million and destroyed a team that should’ve won titles because of their legitimate fear of paying luxury tax. Now, worse managed cap in the league and making desperation moves to be relevant, in the short term, to compensate for fucking it up years ago. Presti is a trash GM that gets accolades like he has actually done something. He, or OKC ownership, blew up an NBA finals team. Brilliant!
If anything, this makes Simons performance more impressive. He doesn’t have the coaching, experience, weight room work that Trent received while at one of the best college programs in the nation - yet he has required hardly any adjustment period to the competition, which is more advanced than Trent was playing, and seemingly had adjusted better or just as well as Trent; at the very least.
I wouldn’t trade CJ and Zach for PG... no way, no how. Should check put his second half shooting numbers post broken leg. Dude isn’t the same.
This has already run too long. But okay.....I'd love to read the straight from NBA players['] mouths quotes, but there won't be any so I'm not going to hold my breath. And we have not had a go-get-'em GM in a long while, it's true. But self-fulfilling prophesies are just that. And it is an inferiority complex, that's the complex part of it. You have it too. It is true, of course, that weather, taxes, and all these things contribute to the choices made by players. But it is up to GMs to convince them, to put the work in. In fact, Neil Olshey is so bad at free agency that a player in October that wanted to be here forever, left in July. Haha. Olshey has been close? That doesn't even deserve a response, but when? And what's all this about the drafting prowess? I'm not in complete disagreement, but beyond Dame I'm not 100% sold on any of these guys. CJ is good, but waaay overvalued, and overpaid accordingly. My point has NEVER been that Presti is doing great with cap management. ONLY that he tried to compete with GS instead of just trying to make the playoffs and talk shit about fans that want more. Just like Morey did. Ainge too. They went for it. The fact that I'm getting flak for it just shows how gaslighted you guys are. This team is boring af and NOT ascending as constructed AND going to be over the cap. (Responding to this virtual propaganda has made me actually dumber.)
I would have traded CJ. Not Zach. At the time, Oladipo and Sabonis were coming off a very mediocre season. CJ should have been more than enough value to get George.
I thought he just meant after the break...but he meant after the break after the halfway point of those seasons.
I still don’t like NO, I try to be good about recognizing the good he’s done. However I feel like at this point he’s not going anywhere so complaining about it doesn’t do any good. As a Blazer fan I pretty much just gotta cheer for him to make good moves.
Lol. Yeah i realized that after the last post. Yikes. I wonder if that's true...and would there be a correlation? I'll check tomorrow...
I imagine it has something to do with Westbrook going full Hero ball in the last 2 quarters. PG13 was frozen out in the last quarter or so, so most of his attempts were probably bail outs.
This was my big question before SL. Will any of our young players shine so bright that it will get us in the Kahwi discussion. Our youngsters have as much potential as LA, Philly, and Boston. At least as good as the ones currently being offered. If I am Pops I would want Simons, Trent, Baldwin and Collins. But he only gets 2 of them plus a vet or 2.