Something kinda occurred to me last night while watching the Olshey press conference and then thinking about it afterwards. Everytime I watch Olshey in an interview I walk away more encouraged and revitalized in the Blazers future. There are a lot of really smart basketball fans/minds in this forum that Olshey has completely convinced that he has a plan and everything is going to be fine really either way (great basketball mind or not I am one of them). Im not saying LMA is stupid in any way shape or form, probably far from it, but my point is if he can convince a lot of us to buy an igloo for example and to have faith in him then that highly encourages me that may have encouraged LMA to at least give us a legit, fair shot to see what we can do. Just my 2 cents FWIW.
Huh? What does Canzano have to do with my post on Quick? I was saying I felt a little sorry for Jason. But obviously Quck did not take offense to it as he chalked it up to Neils stressful day with the draft and his wife's surgery.
I'm sure LA is gone. BUT.... I don't think he intends to leave PdX high and dry. I suspect he'll deny he's leaving as a parting gift to Portland, so that he does give some leverage to the team in a sign-and-trade. LA has so much leverage, Portland has very little. It ain't much of a gift, but it's something.
We aren't there yet. It's not time to gloat for the people who think he's gone, and it's certainly not time to gloat for the people who think he's staying.
The "I told you so" should be directed to those that believed ESPN and Oregonian. People were already organizing "burn Aldridge Jersey" rallies or screaming "you lied to us!" Based on rumors that weren't even true.
We don't know if they're true. Sorry, I like Neil a lot, but he could be flat out lying to us right now. If Neil DOES have a plan, I certainly don't think he's going to show his hand right now. That includes whether Aldridge is staying or going. If Aldridge has, in fact, told the team he won't be back, I highly doubt Neil wants the rest of the world knowing that he has moved on and is planning on going after someone like Kevin Love. He keeps his cards close to the chest, which is the way it SHOULD be done. Unless LMA comes out and says the rumors aren't true, I would take them with a huge grain of salt.
For a pessimist maybe, but the rumors previously about Aldridge demanding trades were all false. The quoted response from Olshey of what Aldridge said "Just say it's not true" sounds exactly what Aldridge would say. Fact is, this has been the shit spewed for the past 3 years and he's still a Blazer. Until he's not a Blazer, it's safer to assume all is fake, especially since the GM said this. And if he's going to put it out there that Aldridge quoted this, then that's definitely a ding on his credibility if he's lying. I think Olshey would just stay quieted chalk up Aldridge as another free agent he cannot talk about to the media
We don't know that the trade demands weren't true. In fact, I thought Aldridge even admitted that he had wanted out until Neil convinced him to stay and added guys like Rolo. He was pretty upset about how that season ended. You guys act as thought we know for a fact what has happened behind closed doors. We don't. We have no idea what has been said. The point is, just because Neil says one thing, doesn't mean that's the 100% truth. Didn't he say he wasn't going to trade Eric Gordon before the Chris Paul trade went down? The guy is a strategist. He thinks 2 or 3 steps ahead. I'm sure he's heavily into game theory. I try to look at what he's saying/doing and think about what that could mean down the road. Example, we just added a few young guys and some people might take that as a sign that we're rebuilding, but I also see that we cleared more cap space. There are some more moves lurking just under the surface.
Be that as it may, 99.9% sure and telling the team he is leaving are click bait article titles. When the rumor about Aldridge asking to be traded came out, we mainly stayed quiet. Eventually Aldridge came out and said "It's not true!" Ironically the same quote Neil used at the press conference last night. And if Aldridge is truly giving Olshey a chance to prove he can assemble a winner, then I'm pretty confident he's staying.
That's what I think. I think he's in a "wait and see" holding pattern. See what Neil can do. There has been a ton of building for this summer since Neil took over. This is supposed to be Neil's opus. I guess we shall see what happens.
