The fact that the large majority of his picks are at least rotation players in the league. He really only has one bust on his record in Portland. Its pretty much the same story if you go even further back to his clipper days.
I am not a big Neil fan, in fact I think Id be on the other side, but I think he’s done fairly well in the draft.
I don't think he's a horrible GM when it comes to the draft, but here is a list of the picks I believe he's made: Pick Name 8 Al-Farouq Aminu 54 Willie Warren 37 Trey Tompkins 47 Travis Leslie 6 Dame Lillard 11 Meyers Leonard 40 Will Barton 10 CJ McCullom 31 Allen Crabbe 39 Jeff Withey 40 Marko Todorovic 10 Zach Collins 26 Caleb Swanigan 24 Anfernee Simons 37 Gary Trent 25 Nassir Little
exactly? He also drafted Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin, and deandre Jordan btw. Also missing Connaughton.
Good catch. I knew there were some missing. I was using this site, but it's not always easy to tell. https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/olshene99x.html It seems to me, after Dame (which by many accounts was already Portland's #1 target when he arrived), he's drafted 1 starter and 4-5 role players in 11 picks. Tough to compare GM's given all the variables, but I'm assuming there are plenty of other GMs who can match that resume considering there are 150 starters in the league.
Id like to hear some names and then we can compare. I’d put Olsheys draft resume up against most GMs. btw missed Layman as well.
Sam Presti, Thunder (GM/executive VP): June 7, 2007 Bob Myers, Warriors (GM/president): April 24, 2012 Neil Olshey, Trail Blazers (president): June 4, 2012 Dennis Lindsey, Jazz (GM): August 7, 2012 Masai Ujiri, Raptors (president): May 31, 2013
12 picks as Blazer GM. 2 are currently making a significant contribution for Portland. Give him .5 for Trent. His 3rd best Blazer pick is now in Denver....is that a "+" or a "-"? Every other guy on that list is either a flop or a "project." That might be OK for a big market team that makes major trades and can sign FAs - for a small market team that needs to do well in the draft it just isn't good enough.
Well the only one i really know of is Dame’s boy, but i don't think he is quite old enough to rank yet. I do expect him to be playing high school varsity by fourth grade though.
In my opinion you can't really blame Olshey for Zach's injury. That's 3 of 5 starters he's drafted if healthy.
I agree with you on this. We don't know if Zach is an up and coming star, a solid starter, or if he's not good enough to be a full time starter. Would've been great to find that out this year.
Fair enough. I would split the difference and give him a .5 as he has not established himself as a starter.
Yeah, I'd put it as more of a TBD. Olshey did think enough of him to clear a path for him to be a starter.
Of course, Olshey also cleared a path for Simons to be our primary backup guard and gushed over his talent. Guess when the overall experience level is low you pick some guys and throw 'em in with the sharks and see how they do.