Glad you came here to say that. I understand other Wolves fans came to your board and spammed it but I am here for one reason, to discuss basketball.
the slight past tense tone seems odd to me. what we did. as if something was agreed upon. I highly, highly doubt it, since EVERYTHING seems to get leaked. Especially in these discussion.
I doubt like you said that anything was agreed upon as the numbers are not even final as of yet and nothing could have been signed. What is interesting though is that it sounds as if he may be working with Kahn to get something worked out. If it was already decided that he was going to match any offer, why would he bother talking to Kahn at all? Maybe Olshey is asking for the moon in a sign and trade. I just don't understand why he would talk to Kahn at all if there was no chance.
So far Olshey has said a whole lot since being hired (never heard a GM who loves to hear himself talk as much as Olshey and Pritchard was a Blazer GM. But after watching his actions and comparing them to what he says, I don't think you can believe much of what Olshey says. With Batum, he started out saying the Blazers will match any offer and no sign and trade (no question about it) to now sounding like a sign and trade is a possibility. I think I'm one of the biggest Batum fans around, but if Batum want to leave and Minny want to offer 11.5/yr . . . then sign and trade his ass. One Blazer fan's opinion. Love Batum, but organization over player every time.
I hope he's not 100% certain, given the Wolves still need to clear space and actually sign him to an offer sheet. I think that's too much money for the Blazers to pay Batum, but if he's signed to an $11m-ish/year deal by the TWolves, I bet the Blazers match. Ed O.
I understand that completely. Kahn is the same way. At one point, Taylor (owner of the Wolves) had to put a gag order on him or that is what it seemed like because he was drawing media for stupid comments. I like Kahn and what he has done to this point but he is good at putting his foot in his mouth also. I would be all for a sign and trade. I believe that is why we extended the timetable for the options on Webster and Miller so that we could use them for trade pieces. If we could offer up one of them and also enough extra, within reason, to get Batum, that would be awesome too.
We have the space to sign Batum as long as we wait to sign Roy until after we clear space. It could be done on the 11th. After, we just amnesty Milicic and clear Webster and Miller's unguaranteed portion next year and we will be set to sign Roy.
Well I'm glad it's not just Olshey. Love his response to the question "we heard that you said you will match any offer to Batum" and he says with a straight face "look, we all hear things" implying it was just rumor and he never said that . . . when we all know he said that. But in the end, if he improves the Blazers, I don't care how many times he puts his foot in his mouth. I think a lot of Olshey's Blazer legacy will be in the success or failure of Lillard . . . especially if the Blazers lose Batum and passed on Barnes.
Roy is table scraps at this point. You don't have Batum yet, (and if you do get him, you severely overpaid). Kahn has done some ridiculously bad things too. Olshey helped turn the Clippers around and he hasn't even had a chance yet to turn the blazers around. Kahn has been your gm for a few years now and you still haven't even made the playoffs yet. I'd say it's a bit early to say Kahn is significantly better than Olshey.
First off, Olshey simply hasn't been in office long enough with the Blazers to have an opinion about how good/bad he will be. As for Kahn, he has done a number of good things among a few bad things. Biggest thing that he did wrong, imo, was starting to put together a team without a coach. Second, he surrounded himself, originally, with all the wrong pieces (coaches, front office personnel). He has since hired Adelman and brought in a number of front office personnel that seem to be doing a better job overall. I am obvious not in the know of whether he made these acquisitions or if they were made by others but technically it would be his job to make those decisions. He had a horrible roster and bad cap situation when he took over though and those issues are now gone so we will see.
Your guys big offseason is getting a crippled player out of retirement and a 10ppg SF to over 11 mil a year.
We also brought Budinger in and are working on other moves. Don't count us out of anything. We were on the verge of making the playoffs last year and the Wolves brass are filling holes in the lineup.
