Who's Zaza gonna get minutes over anyway?? I don't hate him but he's got no upside and doesn't represent an upgrade at all.
This move makes almost no sense to me. Sure Pachulia is a vet and isn't a total dud (I think?) but what is Neil's longterm vision for this roster? Now that the Durant domino has fallen everything should be about trying to convince Allen to think 3-5 years out, when the Warriors finally start to age and fall off a bit. This feels like trying to patch a 3 foot hole in a boat with bubble gum.
And this is why MLB has slowly but surely surpassed the NBA for my affections. At least MLB (and the NFL to a certain extent) has genuine parity. Unless and until the NBA does a serious overhaul, small market teams will always be shit on, be it by the league administration or the players. For years I've felt that the NBA was a more deluxe version of "professional" wrestling. And every year the league makes less and less of a pretense of hiding that fact. As someone already pointed out in another thread, why even have 30 teams if it's the same 3-4 teams that are going to win every year while the rest of us aren't even allowed legitimate hope? This ain't on Neil or PA. This is on the league, both the players and owners. And I believe the bill will eventually come due. Thanks God for baseball.
Anyone down for a 2016 Blazers Offseason Pressconference party? I can't wait to see Turner, Pachulia and Layman with Blazer caps on, just to seal the reality of the situation. If Neil doesn't win GM of the year this year....oh....my....god.
They want a happy bench maiden, and that's Zaza. Keep our youth and have an extra body and cheerleader.
Yeah I'd rather have Jones. He has more upside and would be a likely upgrade over Vonleh in the event that Olshey is hell-bent on retaining Plumlee and Leonard as our centers.
If we add decent players without losing any of our current players, we get better. It's pretty simple.
Get Paul Allen to build a big man cloning machine? Or just sell off our assets and tank? Maybe move our team to the Russian league? Stand pat and wait another year? I personally believe a scheme and an idea are more important than a specific player (unless you can build a scheme around that person). I believe Draymond, for instance, is successful because he's been placed into a situation in which his specific skills can be maximized. So if Neal feels like he just needs a slightly above center to help the team that's better than just going for a big name who was successful in another teams system.
How can I miss my own point? I was implying Neal is trying his best with the situation handed to him. What was yours?
Baseball has, is, and will always be a better sport than Basketball, in every sense of business. the NBA is a freaking joke, and there's no end in sight for the failure that is this league.
I didn't even know Zaza was a FA. Not exciting, that's for sure. And if we're going to sign funny-looking foreigners, WHY NOT BOBAN!!??
Here's the best thing I can say about Zaza: he's at 23 among centers in RPM, but check out who's 24th and 25th.
He doesn't have to sign sub par players to bloated contracts. He doesn't have to go after Zaza. Sometimes the best move in the situation is no moves at all.
