Blazers offseason worse than the Rockets and Heat

Yep. Meyers is such a "key" that the Blazers spent the entire MLE to ensure he is even lower in the rotation than he was last year.

 

Also, Bert Kolde is always breathing over the shoulder of any Blazer GM.

 

Is old Bert still hanging around?

 

He's Paul Allen's version of the cicada. Except instead of appearing every 17 years, he shows up every 4 years to annoy everyone and make a mess of things, gets a coach or GM fired, then goes back into hibernation until things are looking up for the Blazers again.

 

Repped

 

THE SKINNY: I'm not being critical here; Portland didn't do anything really wrong. But the Blazers just didn't do much at all. Portland didn't delve too deeply into free agency, with a solid rotation, a lot of guaranteed contracts going forward for at least this coming season and a need to prepare for 2015, when Cousin LaMarcus will likely opt out and become a free agent. He's said he'll do so only to sign a bigger deal and wants to stay in Portland, but this coming season's results could certainly impact that decision. Blake replaces Williams as Lillard's backup, and Kaman comes in after struggling at Dallas and with the Lakers to stay in the regular rotation. He won't be starting here, which should help. The Blazers are also looking for internal improvement from the likes of second-year guards C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe, or third-year man Will Barton.

I think that is dead on.

I agree with the notion we really don't know the moves will play out until we see it in action. Kaman and Blake at their best will help Ptd greatly, at their worst will add nothing to Ptd and we will probably get something in between.

I don't buy into the notion these were the only moves the Blazers could make. Olshey decided to keep the starting 5 together and not seek any big trade and didn't try to create cap room to go after free agents the way other teams did. Not saying it was the wrong decision, but Olshey decided not to break things up and only utilize MLE and BLE to help bolster the bench. Other teams show that you don't need cap space going into the summer to make a trade or go after free agents. Also I don't think Olshey really tried hard to keep Mo. Let's see how it all works out . . .

 

I don't think that Olshey tried to keep Mo at all. I think he helped him pack his bags, gave him a nice, "Thanks for the season and best of luck to you," and didn't think about him again all summer. Olshey made the decision to add a couple of journeymen to fortify the second unit. The intent was to put a couple of guys in there who would provide some stability and then let the young guys have the opportunity to provide some improvement. He clearly values the cap room that he can create next summer above trying to add the bits and pieces that he could have made a run at this summer with the limited resources he had available. The way I look at it, if the second unit can simply improve an average of say 2-3 points on offense and 2-3 points on defense, that will be enough to propel the Blazers into the upper echelon of the league. If it doesn't work, then Olshey has the opportunity to really shake things up next summer.

 

There was one rumor that NO offered the same deal Blake got to Mo first and Mo declined. But I agree it didn't seem like the Blazers were real interested in keep Mo.

I guess deciding not to keep Mo was my point. The feeling I was reading was the Blazers did all they could with what they had. I don't see it that way. GMs are creative and NO could have done more if he wanted to (like keeping Mo as one example or looking to make a trade or locking someone more high profile down for 4 yrs using the MLE). But NO has a plan and that plan was to not break up the starting 5, add to the bench using the MLE and BAE, and when Hawes didn't work out, keep flexibility for next year and having a roster that allows the young players time to develop. Might be a good plan (makes sense in my book, although didn't like Kaman for 5 million) . . . but we will see.

But to say NO did the most he could with what he had, I don't think is accurate. He could do more, but decided that isn't the best route to take at this time.

 

Some around here see Mo's departure as addition by subtraction. I'm not quite of that opinion, but I do think that Blake's 3-point shooting and more secure ball distribution will fit better with what Stotts is trying to do than Mo did. Hard to say what Kaman will do. I think that he has the talent to be a significant upgrade over Freeland or Leonard. His attitude is probably the most important thing. It seems like he kind of tends to shut down a bit when he doesn't like the way that a coach is using him...at least that's my read on his stints in LA and NO. He seems excited to be here and he has an established relationship with both Olshey and big man coach Kim Hughes, so I'm hopeful all of that carries over to a good year.

 

I think Olshey looks at more subtle things than "OMG HAVE TO HAVE BEST PLAYER EVER! IF NOT YOU STUPID GM GET OUT!".

and stuff.

 

Ok thats fine to grade absolutely. But how can the Miami Heat while losing the best basketball player on the planet have absolutely gotten better than the Blazers who made basically no changes? Ridiculous!

 

It's luck, not an algorithm.

 

Gee, there's a shocker.

 

That or no income tax, awesome beaches, night life, and a more famous franchise.

 

If the Blazers didn't do anything wrong then why the heck are they behind two teams with the biggest wrongs in the league this offseason. Makes zero sense to me.

 

Haha... I can imagine Paul Allen holding old Bert in a cage until he sees something wrong and then he unleashes him "release the kraken" style.

 

I'm happy when I read things like this. This team thrives on being slighted and underestimated and there's been a ton of that this offseason already. People are saying our season was a fluke and discrediting our win over Houston.

 

Signing Kaman and Blankey didn't do much for me either, but it has to be better than losing your only decent bench players and only getting d league players and guys that have been out of the league for years and losing the best player in the league.