I kind of think Collins is closer to Aminu than Davis but I do get that Aminu is more of a 3/4. To me Olshey loses credibility when he says they want veteran players to help them out in the playoffs and then after failing to acquire even one guy that fits that mold now says the plan is for Collins to see a CJ like jump by eliminating competition for minutes? I guess I was overly confident that this off season would be different, mainly due to Lillard's meeting with Allen. Then Olshey comes out and says this off season they are changing their approach. I really am fine with them going young, I just don't want to hear all this crap about how hard they tried or how close they were to doing something different. Even if it's true don't try to act like the course now is great when if it was such a good idea it would have been the option from the beginning.
Olshey mention Layman as a guy who was poised to make a leap and has worked to earn a shot as well...didn't dwell on it but mentioned Jake, Caleb, Zach, Simons and Trent all going to big man camp in Vegas...so it says were trusting our own young guys to step in and contribute...glad to see two of our coaches will attend as well.
He explained just why that didn't happen....quite simply..we were outbid by teams retaining their players.or players going for bigger offers..there's a difference between trying to make a deal and making the deal...the deals weren't there for us...some he said opted for the no income tax status of certain teams...others opted for more money.others for bigger markets...and the TPE was a draft day asset that he was surprised no one wanted to deal for...it's all in the interview from my perspective and it made sense to me. He then explained that plan B was to add shooters...which he did. Teams weren't gambling on salary given the moves that Golden State made...this just was not that year for almost every team...Sac is the only team with 11 mill in cap space as well. They couldn't get a game changer either
As I think I clearly stated in my post, I really wouldn't mind that much if the course was to continue to develop young guys. In fact I'm a big proponent of always developing young guys even for championship contenders. However, this was obviously not the course that Olshey wanted to go this summer so anything anyone says about the young guys getting more minutes and all that stuff is merely trying to save face for failing to execute what he wanted to accomplish.
I don't see it as "saving face" ...I see it as ways and means.. when contingencies don't come to fruition...you move on to your next options. That's how I see this off season.
What Olshey said after the season was that we were going to be aggressive in bringing in playoff vets....from what I saw...we were, but you can't make those vets sign here for 5.1 mill ….he talked with Beasley, Cousins, Spurs about Kawhi...probably even talked to Lebron's agent... and 5 wing players...we simply don't know how many offers the FO made that didn't pan out...and it's safe to say most of the league was in the same boat
Yeah I think it is the right course as well. I think you try to get a good vet that will help, (i.e Cousins) but in the the end if the only vets possible are only slightly better then the young player you have...then develop the younger ones. I honestly think Layman can be as effective as someone like Hezonja. (and as inconsistent) Yeah he might be saving face by trying to sell us on the younger ones, but I really don't pay much attention to the rhetoric. Is it really important for him to openly admit that he "failed" at obtaining the vets he wanted? How many people do that? And what does admitting it accomplish?
No...I didn't say he's a failure, I'm saying he's working within his ways and means...perspective..lot of people here don't like him, I don't have that problem
If this were perhaps the first time of not delivering on promises I'd totally agree with you. But this isn't the first time. In fact, I have lost count... For all the good stuff Olshey has accomplished, he obviously does not have realistic expectations when it comes to the market. In a bizarre twist, I guess, in order to stay positive, we have to NOT listen to a lot of what our GM has to say. I don't understand it, but it's Trail Blazer fan life at the moment.
I think some people are confusing failure with lying. Neil failed to do what he said he wanted to accomplish. That's not the same as lying. Olshey haters, take you're pick, he's either a failure or a liar. Personally, I'd rather he lie to the press about his intentions than fail at his goals. BNM
If the dude has unrealistic goals, and consistently fails at them because they're unreachable, then he's at least lying to himself. So technically he's a liar AND a failure
Riverman, I usually don't like to dispute what you are saying because I appreciate your positiveness but everything you just said (and what Olshey said) is hindsight based. Olshey acquired every member of the current roster so if they don't have trade value that is mostly on him, is it not? Sacramento is the only team with cap space right now, there were others before now that had it. Besides with several teams above the cap or in bad financial situations the TPE was valuable. I don't buy for a second that it wasn't. The truth is that they didn't want to pay the tax on whatever player they brought in with it. I totally get that it's Allen's money and he can choose to spend it however he likes but then I don't want to hear about how aggressive the owner is and how valuable the TPE is. They said they were treating the TPE like it was extra cap space and the bottom line is if that was true they had opportunities to use it. Let's say for the sake of the argument that somewhere along the lines they realized they weren't going to get any of their targets and decided to go back to the youth approach another year. That is totally fine with me but that also means they messed up in other areas. For example, they could've gotten something for Napier and Davis at the deadline last year even if it was just 2nd round picks because obviously neither were in the plans to keep. They could've then used those picks to acquire Trent instead of giving up future picks and depleting our future draft capital. Okay, they missed that one but then they had a chance to add a young player (several were given away this summer) or 2nd round picks (Lin and Chandler are two players that could've both helped the team and came along with a 2nd rounder) with the TPE this summer.
