"Upon conclusion of the 2014 season, we will know whether or not we have reached the fork in the road," Olshey says. "Either we are on the right course with our current roster by having drafted well, signed good contracts, acquired Bird [rights] players, and this group will stay together and we'll make a strong move forward. Or we're going to aggressively look to aggregate some of our assets to consolidate them into one player to join those players we believe represent the core of the franchise." ... "All of our offseason moves were made with the intention of competing immediately while not jeopardizing our long-term flexibility," Olshey says. "We are still focused and committed to developing our young talent, but it will not be at the expense of winning." Me personally.... It's playoffs or roster gets blown up and we stay in lotto hell for long time. Aldridge gets dealt and we get few picks in this years draft since bobcats likely will get our pic even if we miss playoffs. I think LA is dealt in Feb if we suck assuming his knee isn't shot.
Link? I think he means we'll either continue to add to our core if we overachieve, or make some serious trades if we underachieve (After the season is over).
I'm reading it as if we make the playoffs we will continue to add through mle, draft etc. If we do not make the playoffs we will combinecontracts for another impact guy to add to lillard, batum, and aAldridge.
Disagree. What Olshey's literally saying is that one of two things are going to happen: 1) This team grows as he hopes and we're the next Indiana Pacers, or 2) We have enough assets to trade for another piece which will help push us forward. I really don't think Neil wants to rebuild until the moment LMA lips utter that he wants out.
What I read into it is that Olshey hates it here in Portland and really wants to be GM of the Lakers. He's going to trade Lillard for Steve Blake then quit and take over for Mitch Cupcake.
I think Neil is putting a timeline on the team. Either we're competitive within that window or he blows things up. I suspect a lot of that hinges on Aldridge.
Seems pretty self explanatory to me. After this year he will evaluate who to keep and who to move. He won't let the cake bake for too long. As for your personal take: "It's playoffs or roster gets blown up and we stay in lotto hell for long time" Whatever dude...
I think one way or another when CJ comes back we are going to have too many assets which is exactly what he planned and there will be a move made at some point due to that
I've been saying this all summer, either this team is a legit playoff team this season or we need to blow it up and trade Aldridge, Mo, and whatever we can get for Wes or Lopez. We would target young players or picks for those guys. Vegas odds have us at ~38 wins! There is no sense in playing out the season with that winning percentage. Either this team is over .500 and in the playoff hunt before the trade deadline, in which case we should play out the year with the current roster. We could add a veteran role player as when we acquired Marcus Camby or Gerald Wallace for minor assets; only if an enticing opportunity presents itself. Our teams starting core looked very strong last season and our new additions all have potential to be valuable rotational players. If this team is under .500 it would be better to trade away our vets before the trade deadline. This will get us more value for them, as in Alridges case his new team will have one and a half seasons to entice him to resign instead of just being an expiring contract. That is how Utah maximized their return on Deron Williams. Trading during the season improves our chance of keeping the draft pick or having a higher selection, and a trade gives us more minutes to evaluate if young players are worth keeping in future seasons. Thats one reason I think the first 2 months of the season should be very exciting. Teams normally are rebuilding or contending when they start the season but the Blazers have two very different roads they can take.
Should turning out like Utah really be our goal? That was two seasons ago, How is that working out for them? Not trying to be sarcastic here at all, but the fact is Utah did get a great deal for Deron and they still suck. So is that really the model we want to follow?
