I know there's a lot of Olshey detractors here, but I think he's on fire, right now. DJJ looking great for $10 mil. RoCo is awesome, and worth the 2 1sts without giving up any players. And now, Powell looking like a foundational piece. We've done a lot of suffering as Blazer fans, and it has taken a long time, but... Replacing Plums with Nurk, and replacing Aminu/Harkless with RoCo/Powell really feels like a huge improvement.
That's his market rate. The question is, which teams will be able to free up the cap space to give him that offer. It's the Bird Rights we have that are the cherry on top. At worst it will force a sign and trade.
The problem is he has almost half our salary and close to half of our talent/trade capital tied up in Dame and CJ or he is keeping Stotts around or possibly both. Whichever it is, every season he just keeps doubling down. He hasn't moved on Stotts if it's Stotts's fault and he hasn't split Dame and CJ up if that's the problem or he hasn't fixed both if they're both insurmountable obstacles to contending. He's tried to shuffle everything else around and has made some good moves doing that but if you don't have the cornerstones of your team set up correctly then the team tends to crumble. The good thing is that if you are right and these moves are the ones he needed to make we will contend this season but if you're wrong it's just another season out of nine seasons that we are not in contention. The buck does stop with him.
I think Powell was a great trade and hope Portland can keep him. Why are the Bird Rights advantageous and why would it force a S and T? I should know this.
Bird Rights allow a team to go over the cap to sign their free agent. S&T's don't happen much anymore because there's not much leverage involved. And the payoff for the team trading a player usually isn't a lot more than a future 2nd round pick
I'm definitely on the trade CJ bandwagon, but this sounds like "1st world" problems. If healthy, I think we are contenders.
I've watched some of the national guys talking about the playoffs, and the trade deadline acquisitions, and I only have one thing to say... #TheySleep
No worries. In the offseason, Neil will tell Powell that we are not re-signing Melo, and Powell will get an extra half of Melo's shots.
You can’t get any more “protect-carmelo’s-legacy”-y than putting him in a position to get into the Top 10 in scoring. Considering how close he is to #10 at this point in the season, I would bet on him being gone and maybe playing with Lebron or playing the same mentorship role he had with Portland in NY.
We're healthy and I don't want to here about a guy whose best season was averaging 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in 18 minutes and if you want to talk about the bubble being better, look at his per 36 numbers in comparison, he was actually worse. So all of that being said... you must think we're contenders so we better contend.
It’s obvious that the team doesn’t view this as a rental and wants to re-sign him. The recruiting has already begun. From Quicks article on Powell today https://theathletic.com/2527784/202...nues-working-to-keep-a-promise-to-his-family/ Norman Powell was still getting over the shock of being traded from Toronto to Portland when he found himself on the phone with members of the Trail Blazers’ organization. He couldn’t believe his ears. They asked the oddest of questions, Powell thought. What laundry detergent did he use, and what scent? What was his mom’s favorite color? What snacks did he like? Did he have pets? Did he prefer red or white wine? What size bed did he sleep on? “They asked literally everything,” Powell said. One week later, when the Blazers returned from a four-game trip, bringing Powell to Portland for the first time as a Blazer, it all made sense. Powell had been in Portland for less than a day, but already he felt like he had a home. The Blazers had arranged for Powell to rent the vacant house of former player Kent Bazemore, located on the banks of Lake Oswego. And inside the home, Powell found it was stocked with all his favorite necessities, from a California King size bed and big screen TV, right down to the lavender-scented laundry detergent and Welch’s Berries-N-Cherries fruit snacks. The organization even arranged for a service to drive his two Pomeranian Huskies — Apollo and Odin — from Tampa to Portland. Waiting for them were dog beds filled with toys. “It was amazing,” Powell said. “And I mean, AMAZING. They went all out. They did everything you can think of to make sure that I’m comfortable.” Much of the personal detail was made with Powell’s impending free agency this summer in mind. “We have a very brief time to make a strong and lasting impression on Norman,” said Neil Olshey, the Blazers’ president of basketball operations. “That doesn’t just mean on the basketball court, but also for life off the court for himself and his family.” The Blazers want to give Powell a window into what life can be like in Portland long term. It’s why they decorated in colors that would appeal to his mother, furnished rooms to make his girlfriend comfortable, and directed him to a home with pristine views of the lake and Northwest foliage. “The first step to getting a ‘yes’ on a contract is getting a ‘yes’ on the market and town, so we want to show the best possible version of ourselves,” Olshey said. “We hope he wants to be here, and if he doesn’t, then it won’t be for lack of information.”
wow, that's some serious recruiting pitch. And AWESOME. Retaining powell would be amazing, and much better than paying Trent 20 mil.
I would re-sign Powell and evaluate how he and CJ coexist under a new coach/system. I wouldn’t trade CJ just yet, and I’m not a CJ groupie. If it doesn’t work you can always make a trade later.
Idk, I don’t think him picking up his option is a bad thing, even if you don’t want him on the team. That’s a decent sized expiring Olshey can use in a trade. Remember when Hezonja picked his option up and was traded a couple days later lol. And Jones has much more value than Hezonja as a player.
