Portland had an opportunity in 2017 when PG13 was being shopped, but by all reports, Olshey was making CJ untouchable in any trade for George. The first step is for Olshey to stop making players like CJ untouchable when the next elite player goes on the trade docket
And how would you be feeling right now if the Blazers had traded CJ to the Pacers for George, and then a year later he took his game to the Clippers and the Blazers got zilch?
Pretty good considering his contract gives him negative value and him being on the court has lead to a record of 8 games under .500. Would be nice to have some cap room and flexibility to truly change the roster around Dame and get out of purgatory.
I forgot about that... that would be a steal right now to get Gallinari and Gilgeous-Alexander for CJ
I'd be feeling great because then Portland would have a backcourt of Dame/Shai Gilgous-Alexander/Simons/Trent & Gallinari up front plus 3 extra 1st round picks and the options to swap 2 more firsts. The Blazers would actually have some high value trade assets and could have 30-40M in cap-space next summer if they wanted not only that, there would be the possibility of having a gallo-melo forward combo which be be lots of fun to say over and over
There are three problems with the "Clippers haul" narrative: 1) You'd have to assume that the Pacers would've wanted CJ (it's certainly possible, but not a 100% guarantee). 2) You'd have to assume that Paul George would've re-signed with the Blazers (certainly likely given that he stayed in OKC, but at the time it was a foregone conclusion he wanted to be in LA). 3) While the assets acquired for trading George were bountiful, you still would be trading your star player in the middle of Dame's prime for rebuilding type tools. Maybe he doesn't request a trade if he's on the Blazers and didn't have to play with Westbrook?
5 first round picks along with Gilchrist -Alexander and Galinarri isn't a bad haul for a player that wanted to be traded.
No facts to support it, but it seems like George signed with OKC but possibly had an agreement to trade him if he requested it as that deal between OKC and the Clippers happened way to quick and it didn't appear OKC was looking to deal with any other team.
Who knows, but that's certainly feasible. It could also have been OKC losing in the 1st round both years with George/Westbrook and quietly thinking what a rebuild would entail. Then when they got that offer from the Clippers they could frame it positively instead of "giving up."
The basic problem with any of these Monday morning GM scenarios on message boards is that we have absolutely no idea what offers may have been in play and which ones may have been rejected out of hand. I don't know if KP had so much heartburn about the way he was dumped by the Blazers that there was no way that he was doing any deal with them or not. It certainly seemed that he was looking to move George somewhere other than the Rose City. The current narrative by some on this board that CJ has negative value is, IMO, laughable.
The reason why we have no idea if acquiring PG was in play is because Neil refused to even entertain the idea of trading CJ... his close mindedness and ego may have a major negative impact on the teams future. CJ is not an untouchable player!!! He is an undersized, inconsistent high volume scorer that doesn’t play defense that will be 29 next season and he gave him an extension of over $30 mil per season a year before he had to.
The assumptions are truly amazing that you make in order to maintain your level of constant anger about Olshey. I believe that it's true that the offer for George was basically anything but Dame, CJ and Nurk. Those were the Blazers big 3 and they wanted to add George to the mix. Olshey wasn't willing to trade CJ for what could well have turned out to be a one year rental of George. I have never heard Olshey say since then that CJ, or anyone else for that matter, is off the table as far as trades go. Do you honestly believe that he wouldn't trade CJ if it would bring back Luka or Giannis? Yes, he offered CJ the extension a year earlier than necessary, but that ended up saving the Blazers money in the long run.
I’m not as anti Olshey, but not willing to sacrifice CJ for a better player, even a potential rental, is a flaw in strategy imo.
I feel like everyone is forgetting that CJ had just finished a season in which his shooting splits were an insane 48/42/91, plus he passed more that season than the following two. His true shooting % that year was the same as Dame's too. Of course looking back he hasn't been as good since but in reality there was no way of knowing that season would be the outlier.
1. Extract some sort of value out of HW/Baze/secondary youngin/pick that won't completely cripple us long term. As in, get a definitive starter level tweener on contract for longer than a year. Think Covington/Porter/Hayward/Gordon/etc. Wouldn't be opposed to Harris/Wiggins as long as we wouldn't need to put Simons/Zach on the table. 2. Explore any options to get under the tax now, to get out of repeater for next season. 3. Put out a mandate to Terry start playing Dame/CJ no more than 30 mins. And put Nurk/Zach on a similar minute restriction. 4. Scout the hell out of this upcoming draft. Get a head start and deem whether we need to keep this lotto pick or move before the other teams. 5. Ant has to be on the no-trade list. 6. Put out the feelers for coaches. No point in firing Terry this season. Essentially, gear up for next season and call this one a wash. Simons will have had a year under his belt and our contract situation will be a bit less bleak and allow for more flexibility NEXT year. And Zach/Nurk will be a season removed from rehab. Just come out strong in October 2020.
OKC extracted a ridiculous haul in that George trade. 4 first rounders and SGA and salary relief is not "zilch"
