Exclusive Official 2018 Trade Deadline Thread

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by BonesJones, Jan 23, 2018.

  1. KeepOnRollin

    KeepOnRollin Well-Known Member

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    Paul's. Or at least partially (and I think mostly personally). Him pushing to match Crabbe was bad. And I know that in itself wouldn't give us room but if he did it then you have to think he made his feelings known on other moves.
     
  2. chris_in_pdx

    chris_in_pdx OLD SCHOOL

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    I'd like to hijack this thread to make a point about something: Olshey is beholden first and foremost to Paul Allen. And if Allen is satisfied with the Blazers as a mediocre team that continues to make money, what is Neil supposed to do? His actions today was clear: avoid the Luxury Tax. It wasn't to improve the team, it wasn't to clear a roster spot so that a FA could be signed... it was to save money. And that's something that only a direction from the top down could have initiated.

    I think that the Seahawks winning the title in 2014 got Allen's jones for a championship satisfied, and that the Blazers are simply a business holding to him now. Why should he throw money at winning when the Moda Center is usually at or close to capacity, merch is selling well, and the team is getting fat TV checks rolling in?

    Of course, Allen isn't going to admit to such in interviews. He's going to play the PR line that he's willing to do anything to bring a championship to Portland, yadda yadda. Proof is in the pudding. Olshey is simply following orders. And Damian is going to say the right things and play out his contract, and then he's going to sign somewhere else. The same with CJ.

    Such is life as a Blazer fan.
     
  3. LayneStaley

    LayneStaley Well-Known Member

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    Have I told everyone enough yet that I don’t do Green font? Or should I just have that as my signature?
     
  4. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Crazy thought--as I recall, tax is locked in as of the last day of the regular season. However, as we know, trades can be made in June after the playoffs but before the start of the new fiscal year. And based on everything I've heard, there is going to be a dearth of teams with any cap space this year, and a plethora of teams looking to create some. So although unlikely, one thing to keep an eye on is the possibility of the Blazers using one of their trade exceptions in a few months to take a contract they weren't willing to pay this season, but perhaps would be willing to carry into next without incurring any 2017-18 tax penalties.
     
  5. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    The Blazers had one of the largest payrolls in the NBA the last couple of years. Not money well spent, but definitely money spent. I don't think it's accurate to say that Allen no longer cares and is no longer willing to spend on the Blazers. I feel completely sure that if Olshey had put together a Curry/Durant/Green/Thompson team that required insane amounts of money to keep together, Allen would spend that money. He's simply not willing to spend crazy money on a so-so team. I can't fault him even a tiny bit for that.

    How much blame Allen deserves for the actual basketball moves that have been made, I don't know and so won't speculate. If he's insisted on players like Crabbe or Leonard or Turner, then obviously he has to shoulder some blame for that mediocrity.
     
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  6. Propagandist

    Propagandist Well-Known Member

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    Speculative and conspiratorial. There's a much simpler answer that I think makes more sense: Olshey isn't good at his job.
     
  7. andalusian

    andalusian Season - Restarted

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    Would have been funnier like that. (Fixed)
     
  8. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    I think Neil and his staff overestimated how much the cap would go up, and what contracts would look like moving forward. And it's not just our team, but many teams made that mistake. The summer of 2016 really fucked up the league. Contracts like the ones that Harkless and Meyers signed were thought to be reasonable compared to the ones that Turner, Bazemore, and Mozgov got.... but it turned out that they were only slightly less horrible, and are still anchoring us to this treadmill.

    I suspect they thought they were going to be able to move some of these guys for assets, but the market dried up and we were stuck with them.
     
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  9. Titan

    Titan Well-Known Member

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    This is something I was thinking about too. Now get out of my head.
     
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  10. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    when the major rebuild started 2 1/2 years ago, I think they were looking at a 5 year plan with end of year 3 making way for the next step up. Portland's core group to date looks pretty decent, imo, but I do more significant changes starting this off season, only to compliment the core of Dame, CJ, Nurk, Collins & Davis hopefully. Im thinking Dame is on the the wave link too, evidence of his mtg with Paul. Timing is critical and just because today is Deadline day means nothing in the total scheme of things. Perspective is needed!
     
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  11. DDolla

    DDolla Well-Known Member

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    Question... is the Blazers goal to save Paul Allen money or to get better while Dame still young?
     
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  12. tlongII

    tlongII Legendary Poster

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    Things went pretty much as I expected. I knew we wouldn't make a deal of any consequence. Neil just wanted to get under the lux tax.
     
  13. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

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    Paul has shown he will spend money on a team that is at least close to contending. I don't blame him at all for wanting to be under the tax level with one that is so far away. The thing is, how do you fix it?

    The cap this year is just over $99,000,000. Next year it goes up to $101,000,000. The Lux Tax is $119,266,000 this year and $123,000,000 next season. Dame, CJ, Turner, Leonard, Harkless, Aminu and Collings add up to over $102,000,000 just from those 7 players. That by itself is over the cap level and only $21,000.000 from the Lux Tax. With 6-8 more slots to fill and Nurkic to sign, there isn't going to be any flexibility anytime soon.

    Turner's contract could sink this roster for years.
     
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  14. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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    Neil just wants to clean up the mess he created.
     
  15. tester551

    tester551 Well-Known Member

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    Two years down.... two more to go.
    I actually think that by this time next year, Portland could possibly start to trade these guys without adding too much additional incentive.
     
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  16. craigehlo

    craigehlo Elite Wing

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    Nobody is touching Turner until the final contract year. 1 1/2 more years of him ruining this team's on-court play is unacceptable. We need to cut our losses like Knicks will need to do with Noah. He needs to be waived with the stretch provision.
     
  17. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Why would Turner agree to that
     
  18. craigehlo

    craigehlo Elite Wing

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    For a buyout you need him to agree. You can waive and stretch the contract of any player without their agreement.
     
  19. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

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    Ok I was wrong then.

    But how does that make us better? Turner is far from a useless player. No one would complain if he was making 5m.
     
  20. blue9

    blue9 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah - totally agree. I think blaming Paul is lazy and stupid.
    Perhaps you can blame him for insisting that we retain our own Free Agents - but that's it. Crabbe was a massive mistake, but one that we got out of relatively cheaply. Water under the bridge - it's not hurting the team. Meyers is stupid, but $10M isn't a MASSIVE fuck-up the way Turner is, or Crabbe would have been if BKN didn't bail us out.
    Trying to blame him on the stupidity that is Evan Turner - or any other Free Agent targeted by Neil - is ridiculous. Drafts, trades, and UFA signings all land, 100%, at Neil's feet.
     
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