Day 1: Who is this clown? Day 2: Hey, he's better than Cho! and at least he's not PatterNash Day 5: Dude looks like a great hire! Day 30, post draft: In Oshay I trust Day 90, after the first two wins: Oshay needs a longterm deal. He's a genius! Day 140, after failing to make a trade: Oshay, can you see?? I think not. Day 220: Get that bum outtta here. Day 365: I always hated Oshay.
For the record.... I wasn't anti-Buchanan until draft night. I've been driving that train ever since.
It's really simple: I'm glad the Blazers finally made a hire and appeared to get a competent guy at that. As for loving him or hating him, I think he gets a solid two years to put his stamp on the team before I'll cast judgement one way or another (that might be more than Allen will give him?). But if he makes boneheaded or brilliant moves in the interim then I fully expect people to offer their opinions about it. We'll see what happens now I guess.
I've been of the belief that most GM's are fairly inconsequential. The very best and worst make an impact, but most GM work is going to get done in similar fashion regardless of who mans the post. However, I do believe that having a GM (almost any GM) is important in appearance. Looking like a smooth running franchise is important in drawing free agents who are on the fence between choosing from 2 franchises. So, unless our new GM is truly excellent or truly pathetic, then any hire that Paul Allen likes and works well with is good. If he is not a yes-man, and can get along with PA while giving his contrarian point of view, then even better. I'm not saying that what a GM does in selecting one player or another in a draft isn't important, or that dealing with trades isn't important, I'm just saying that usually, a proximal result will come with any average GM (at least over time).
