It's definitely easier to imagine a head coach getting replaced midseason than a GM, as they are both convenient scapegoats and more in supply. But I feel that it would simply be putting a different shade of lipstick on the same pig, and that's not what we need. We need someone to just take that pig out and make some bacon. And I simply don't trust Olshey to make the bacon.
Paul Allen. The standing orders are to "reload" on the fly. Or, rather, invent a new way for a small market team to compete for a championship without tanking or fully committing to a youth movement. I'm not sure it's ever been done? Whitsitt came close, but he had the gift of Sabonis, and still, ultimately, came up short. From my POV, the standing orders are insane. The Einstein definition. We continue to collect what crumbs can be had on the tier 3 free agent market, attempt to make rotation players out of 2nd rounders, make the occasional tier 3 player trade in hopes of getting a tier 2 player in return. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Work up to the 5th or maybe 4th seed. Watch a player go down or a player move on. Drop to borderline lottery. Scrape for crumbs, play hard. Get that 8th seed. Make hollow promises, sell false hope. Work up to that 4th seed, then crumble again. Welcome our newest star! He's going to be good, just wait and see. Wash, rinse, repeat. Change the standing orders. Allen, should take the handcuffs off Olshey, tell him he wants to win a championship and then get out of the way. He'll either succeed or fail, but at least he can truly try. Right now, the only thing we're trying to do, is remain middling.
We haven't even seen evidence that this team is underachiving. This core has been a .500 team the last 2 years, they look good at times, crappy at times, mediocre at others, but that's not uncommon for .500 pro teams. The core just isn't good. I think some fans are expecting them to play up to their contracts, but Hark was a castoff, Aminu was a backup, Nurk was a backup on a crappy team, turner was a backup...CJ McCollum should be more like a Jamal Crawford 6th man...that's his talent level.
I think it's even on Olshey, the players, and Stotts. Neil put a shit team together full of mediocre talent. There are guys who play like they don't give a shit (you get paid 8 figures, at least pretend), or incredibly selfishly. Stotts is too rigid in his strategy. Change it up, man. If you step back and think, this is the same defense that he tried to play in 2013 with Rolo/Nic/Wes. Personnel has changed, the league has changed. Why haven't you? Man this is depressing. Why is PA held at fault? He's thrown around cash for 30 yrs for his hobby, in this weak market where he won't ever see the returns on his investment like some of his peers do. I don't think you guys realize how rare it is to have an owner shell out 100 mil year after year for his players and still go out and spend the max possible for draft picks.
I think part of the problem, is how this team has peaked at the end of the season each of the last 2 years. It's given the Blazer brass an inflated view of how good they are.
But they have to have seen how they peaked with a softer schedule at the end, right? This year they started a soft part of the schedule and didn't take advantage. Not only that, they got breaks of playing so many teams without some of their top player(s) and still lost games to TOR, BRK, NOP, WAS etc. Now they have lost 3 in a row at home after a winning road trip of lackluster performances against undermanned squads. Welcome HOU....GSW. If for some reason they even manage to win one of these games, while I will be happy with the win, will be just as frustrated with the roller coaster effort that would show what they can do if they put their minds to it.
Maybe Crabbe ? That’s the only huge difference from last year that we lost He was the 3rd best 3point shooter
Yes but he took so few and was so passive, how much of an impact did that really have? I get that it helped some, but there were so many games he would just disappear and the team was still better than this.
The biggest difference between the end of last year, and the start of this year is CJ. CJ is more Carmemelol this year than ever. He's ball stopping & he's turning it over. I don't know if it's because Stotts wants to feature CJ more in a one on one role. But last year CJ lead the league in miles traveled on the court. This year it looks as if he's just standing around waiting for the ball to swing to him. Frankly Portland looks like trash with Lillard not controlling the action. Far too often Portland's offense is. 'wait for Lillard to score or get me a shot'. Welcome to being a Blazer fan for as long as I can remember. Even dating all the way back to the sheed/sabonis days when I was a kid. I remember the team getting down by 20+ at home to a bad team. Only to beat Shaq & Kobe on the second night of a b2b. Maybe it was different in the drexler days idk. But this is the Blazer team I know.
I'm ok with the Batum trade and i know it not "fair" to do this kind of chart, but i can't ignore the fact that Olshey is making this team weaker from both a financial and talent standpoint.
I got MASSIVE push back that CJ was, is and would be better than the GF. I appreciate home team player loyalty, but that makes people doubt ones credibility with steadfast positions like that.
Is here anyone who really thinks a New coach would change something? This is a mediocre roster. Dame is not elite, cj plays like carmelo and Nurkic is a inefficient Scorer who to often get's in Foul trouble. Yes his rotation is questionable, but I doesn't think a New coach would make this team better
Well, with Olshey we have one thing going for us: he no longer has any cap space to make horrible Free Agent decisions with! No seriously, hear me out. Olshey has been absolutely AWFUL when it comes to targeting Free Agents. But, without actually reviewing all of them, he's been at least 50/50 on trades, and arguably his best talent is in the draft. We are now in a position where Olshey only has 2 avenues for roster changes, and they happen to be the two avenues he's better at than the average GM. We are in a much better position with Olshey as GM than we are with Stotts as Coach.
I'll go with Neil Olshey. What's wrong with the team? To borrow a political chestnut from James Carville, "The roster, stupid." I've been following the NBA for more years than I care to admit to and I can't recall a Blazers team with a more messed up roster than what we have today. Sure, there are a lot of reasons for that, not the least of which is the Texas Traitor, but the fact remains that the roster two years later is a mess. The total lack of a starting caliber SF coupled with the grab bag of big men, none good enough, except maybe Nurkic, to warrant the clear identification as the starter is the prime problem. Tough to really saddle the coach or the guards as the main culprits (although many around here love to) when you don't have starters at the SF, PF, or C position that you can count on to hit a fricking shot when you toss them the ball in an open position. To me, picking Swanigan and Collins as your big off-season moves and then not making other trades to clear some of the lumber in front of them in the big man pecking order is mystifying and frustrating. The Blazers pissing away home games and too many close games in the easiest part of their schedule has likely cost them any shot at anything but the 7th or 8th seed and another early exit from the playoffs. That's the best case. It's also cost Dame and CJ any consideration at being All-Stars (something that's needed in order to attract future free agents here). The ball is firmly in Olshey's court. He's had more than a fourth of a season to evaluate the team. Given the Blazers' cap situation, the only way to improve the roster quickly is via trades. They're not likely to finish with a poor enough record to get any immediate help in next year's draft. So, Neil, finally there's a use for Taggart's stupid motto: Do Something!
Neil said at a meet and greet his first season that he wanted a complete rebuild and PA said no. That was part of the reason Cho was also let go. Olshey's hands are tied. He could have gotten assets for LA . He could have tanked and tried for another star to pair with Dame. He has done a decent job but the past few games have highlighted that we cannot defend a good 2 with a small backcourt . He also killed us with the four contracts he handed out last summer. He was given another contract though so again it falls on PA.
