I dont think Drummonds defense offsets his FT... if hes "stopping" 8-10 points but going 3-10 from the line then it's a wash.
IIRC Crawford had a player option. The Blazers could not deal him past the trade deadline in February. Thus, that option could not have possibly have been on the table.
Nobody outside of the Pacers locker room and family knows why Hibbert struggled, maybe it was Paul George or Andrew Bynum banging his wife as was suggested. Or he was fed up with something else. Maybe he was injured? We don't know anything other than he was an all star who for weeks looked like a shadow of his former self.
Neil Olshey has been lucky not good. He took Lillard and Leonar_ because they were need positions. If we did not need a PG Olshey would have drafted Harrison Barnes. We won on Lillard and lost on Leonar_. Then Olshey publicly admitted to not bolstering the bench last season cause he did not believe in the team. This season he made a couple of trades the most important was getting Lopez. Once again he got lucky there because had the Pelicans asked for any real asset for Lopez he would have balked. Then he got Robinson from Houston who was desperate for cap space. Taking the large amount of luck into account Olshey has looked like a success but he has certainly benefited from other teams desperation and the team choosing to draft need over best available. Does he have any other Mo Williams type shrewd moves in him this summer or will Portland continue to flounder with one of the worst benches in the NBA?
And iirc, the Blazers and Crawford extended the date of his opt out by two days so he could be included in a trade during the draft. I think the idea was that if the blazers could send him to a team he wanted to go to, he'd agree to not opt out or something.
Yet several other GMs could have been similarly lucky and taken similar advantage of other teams' desperation, and they didn't. "Luck" only goes so far; you still have to make the moves.
I don't think you understand what "lucky" means. The Lopez and Robinson trades were not "luck," they were shrewd moves made by a guy who had a limited amount of cap space and used that cap space to the utmost. At some point it's not luck, it's skill.
Skill right had New Orleans asked for Meyers Leonard in that deal it does not get done. Sure Neil deserves some credit for making the deal happen but it was New Orleans who was desperate to trim salary for Evans. Same goes for TRob he was smart enough to make himself available to talk a deal but it was Houston who was throwing him away to sign Howard.
What I find valuable about Olshey is his relationship with players. He has enough of a rapport and respect around the league to convince players to come play in Ptd. Several teams wanted Wright and Mo for that price but they choose to come to Ptd. Hibbert agreed in principal to sign with Ptd when I'm sure many teams were willing to offer him a max deal. I get the sense Olshey has the respect of many players around the league and playing in small market Ptd doesn't seem to be as much of an issue with Olshey as GM.
You're right, the deal doesn't get done because they were trying to clear cap space. Neil was able to get us involved in the deal and we got two key pieces for nothing. Do you think new Orleans was just drunk dialing every gm and Neil was the first to answer?
I think he has done an incredible job adding talent for pennies on the dollar. What I'm not sure about, partly due to his own words, is if those moves were better than even he thought they'd be.
I am sure the Pelicans made it known Lopez was available maybe Olshey was the first to call or maybe we offered the most but one thing clear the Pelicans and Rockets were ready to make a deal. It's not like he called them and convinced them to deal us those two guys for nothing they were already there and he benefited. Same as he benefitted in LA from being handed Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
So it's agreed the Pelicans and Rockets were looking to make a deal, and Olshey was able to make a deal with each of them that improved the Blazers. Kudos to Olshey.
I don't think cmeese47 thought that one through. Being a nega-poster is filled with a lot of false arguments and straw men.
You contradict yourself (not the first time you've done so on this exact same issue). NOP did not, and would not, have asked for Meyers Leonard. As you correctly stated, NOP was desperate to clear cap space. So, they would have NEVER asked to take back Leonard's guaranteed $2.2 million in salary. Instead, they asked for a second rounder with no guaranteed contract and no rookie salary scale requirements. Besides, even if NOP had asked for Leonard, how do you know Olshey would have turned them down to get the proven starting center LaMarcus Aldridge had asked for in his exit interview? With both Lopez and Robinson, he saw opportunities to upgrade our talent without giving up a single rotation player, and he pounced all over those opportunities. There's a difference between being opportunistic and being lucky. It's the ability to recognize opportunities and take advantage of them. BNM
