If Evan and Meyers had one year left, would you give up our first and second rounders to dump them, just to save money - not to improve your team, but to cut costs? Also, Denver could do that because those contracts had a single year left, unlike ours. Don’t see the connection to us and Denver, at all. Completely different scenarios.
True, but still better than the guys SAS took 19 spots ahead of him at 18. I think both Simons and Trent will end up being considered steals for where they were selected. I think Trent will be a better, more aggressive version of Crabbe, who was a good value at 31. BNM
Yes, he brought in Allen and Garnett in the summer of 2007. He was crying when the Celtics didn't win the Oden sweepstakes which in theory turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him as GM. Funny how that works out sometimes.
I remember a couple years back Tony Allen was interviewed and he talked about his relationship with Olshey and how Neil was very much respected amongst many of the players from his time as a trainer, with ballers. Neil has this year to convince Paul that we are tracking in the right direction and get us to take the step. Its either going yo happen or its not, I bet it happens.
The tax thing, yes. True. But you sure as hell can blame a GM for sucking at his job, yes. Get over the inferiority complex about Portland. Olshey cannot close deals. That's on him. "Maneuvered the cap pretty well" makes me feel like I'm dreaming. What on earth. Nailed the draft?!! Yikes. And OKC is a cap mess. But at least they are getting guys. They are rejecting Melo. A guy we couldn't even get to consider us, they are jettisoning... And he still wouldn't consider us. Why? I'd say because of the Captain Olshey sailing without a rudder.
Who gives a shit if Melo is considering us? I'm just glad we're not considering him. The guy flat out sucks. There's a reason OKC is jettisoning him after just one season and eating the final year of his contract. And for everyone bitching about POR having $4.7 million in dead cap space for stretching Nicholson and Varegao, OKC is going to have $9.3 million in dead cap space for the next three seasons for stretching Carmelo. You can't praise them and condemn POR at the same time. Stretching him will save them $91 million in luxury tax payments, but they are still way over the luxury tax threshold and that $9.3 million in dead cap could have been used on someone who would actually be playing for them. All that, and they still finished behind us in the standings. Yeah, Olshey's summer of 2016 signings have come back to bite him in the ass. No doubt about that. That was a summer of stupid money league wide, but comparing our cap situation to OKC's makes Presti look way worse than Olshey. I don't think that was your goal. BNM
I just knew somebody would act like I wanted Melo. Haha. Yeah, that's not what I was saying...at all. I can praise them for swinging for the fences, yes. They went for and it didn't worked. And after it didn't, they didn't just say, "We just need to surround Melo with shooters." Nope. They moved on and are still at it, resigning Paul freaking George and signing Nerlens Noel and so forth. I would give no fucks about our payroll if we had a better roster. Want to wager whether they finish behind us this year? Yeah, I don't think you do.
I would. They still have the black hole, stat padder Westbrick leading the charge. I believ we will finish better than them next year. I think this will be the year we find more help off the bench and things click On both offense and defense. It’s a guards league and it’s looking like we are going to have our fill of athletic young guards to throw at the competition.
Totally agree. Both look like they are going to be, at the very least, solid rotation players. Which at 24 and 31 is a home run of a draft. I’m not a big fan of Neil as a gm, but he can scout a guard better than anybody. Not saying they will but, I think both can contribute right away. Trent has an nba ready body at 19 and can shoot the rock, simons doesn’t play like the skinny baby he looks like. I have not seen his slight frame hold him back at all. Both have shown a little bit of everything offensively except maybe passing. (Good news is blazers only pass is a handoff!) HOT TAKE ALERT: Could be premature but simons looks like he is the heir apparent to dame. Watching him at 19 and he’s already this good? The kid has sky high potential.
Simons has spent his time using his raw talent to beat up on high school kids. Making the jump to NBA player is huge. He has to show the brains/discipline/work ethic - or he becomes another Telfair. I understand why folks want to be optimistic, but let's wait before annointing him the next [insert player name here]. Trent has competed against a higher level of competition at Duke, and that should help his learning curve. OTOH, look how Zach struggled as a rook. (and he was more highly touted in the draft than Trent) I know some here consider me Debby Downer - but is it really realistic to think either of these guys will contribute this season? If Trent contributes next season, he will still have a sharper learning curve than CJ. Not bad for a second round pick.
Even hotter and maybe dumb take, some of Simons game reminds m of Kobe. He’s just smooth out there for a 19 year old. Again not saying he’s Kobe so don’t kill me to bad
I just wait and see approach on these 2 young guys if there going to get minutes next year. But last year Zach wasn't going to get minutes but when his chance was up he was ready to perform and never left rotation. So we never know until it happens.
No, but you're giving Presti credit for "swinging for the fences" when what he really did was a big fat whiff. If Olshey had done the same, given up valuable assets for a 1-year rental of Carmelo Anthony, only to waive and stretch him a year later creating 3 years at $9.3 million a year of dead cap space, you'd be all over his shit. People here are constantly bitching about the $4.7 million in dead cap space Olshey created by waiving and stretching Varejao and Nicholson. Presti creates twice the dead cap space and gets praised for "swinging for the fences". You make it sound like they got Paul George for free. Yeah, I love Paul George and would love him on the Blazers, but it turns out, OKC didn't even get the better player in that trade. Paul George had a good season and made 3rd team All NBA. Oladipo had a great season, won MIP, was 1st team All Defense and also 3rd team All NBA. And it wasn't just Oladipo that Pressti gave up to get Paul George, he also gave up Domantas Sabonis, who was better off the bench for IND than any big man OKC had. OKC gave up a 3rd team All NBA player who was also 1st team all defense, and completely gutted their bench to get Melo and PG13. A year later they managed to resign Paul George (who is two years older and makes $12 million more per season than Victor Oladipo - who is arguably a better player) and are paying Carmelo $9.3 million a year for the next 3 years to NOT play for them. And yet, you sing their praises. And LOL, Nerlens Noel is NOT the answer. He barely played for one of the crappiest teams in the league last season. Both Damontas Sabonins and Enes Kanter, who OKC gave up (in addition to Oladipo) are better players than Nerlens Noel. You mean like they did last year? Oh wait... Yeah, last year when they landed PG13 and Melo, EVERYONE penciled them in to run away with the NW Division and challenge GSW and HOU for the top spot in the West. How'd that work out? They improved by exactly 1 win and finished behind POR who got shit on for missing out on PG13 and Melo, yet managed to improve by 8 wins. Yeah, Olshey isn't perfect. His summer of 2016 signings were disastrous, but to praise Presti while trashing Olshey is disingenuous to an extreme - and Presti doesn't even have the Summer of 2016 everyone got stupid money excuse to fall back on. Even after waiving and stretching Melo, OKC is still hopelessly over the tax threshold for the 2nd year in a row and have over $150 million in guaranteed salary for 2019-20, which will cement them as repeat offenders, which will further tie their hands when trying to "improve" their roster. Keep in mind this is the same GM that lost Kevin Durant for nothing and gave away James Harden for peanuts. Yet, he deserves praise for "swinging for the fences", when what he really deserves is derision for repeatedly striking out. BNM
