I like that he mentions Nassir specifically. I actually think he's in the same mindset with a lot of the people on this forum or people that have followed the team closely over the last few years. I just wish he wasn't such a dick. And we are limited in the moves we can make anyways, so I don't know how many options we have.
Neil's the type of guy that if he wasn't involved with my team and was just the GM of some random team I didn't care about at all, I'd take joy in seeing fail. The way he carries himself and acts toward people is, IMO, horrible. He's so petty. Gets asked about Nurk's postgame comments, says he doesn't know what they were and when the reporter clarifies Neil takes him to task for not being exactly right about what Nurk said and avoids answering the question. Gets asked about playing three guys under 6-3 and gives the reporter the business because he says Dame is the proper size for a point guard ... then says he gets what the reporter meant and continues. What a jerk. Seriously, when you get asked, Neil, why more players don't predetermine why they don't want to come to Portland, consider maybe yourself as one of those reasons.
He's just a dick. He's got a bit of Ainge in him. And results wise he's not setting the world on fire. His free agent deals are all crap anyways. Or massive overpays/bidding against himself.
Watching how Neil interacts with people just really makes me appreciate how Dame treats people. If Neil had to answer some of the stuff that Dame gets asked (on a daily/gamely basis, you know, he doesn't just show up once per year), he'd be out in a week. When you're talking about professionalism with the media, can you also mention professionalism with the team executives? I mean, the GM of a team is a somewhat public role.
Just listened to it. highlights - made it seem like the coach they hire will be defensive minded as he put most of the blame on coaching rather than personnel. - thinks the bench should have more defensive oriented players than offensive (aka bye bye Melo and Kanter) - 20-25 candidates, will be reduced before starting formal interviews I’ll post more if they cross my mind those were the things that stood out to me.
Neil Olshey is a New Yorker.....if anyone has a close friend from the Big Apple they wouldn't read anything into his aggressive way of expressing himself....he's not a west coast laid back type of guy. I didn't think anything was rude or wrong about his media session at all. Made sense to me that he was pissed that the gossip around Kidd and Billups got ugly for 48 hours revisiting Kidds abuse and Chauncey's paid off sex case.....he'd have preferred if those names hadn't been tossed out early. Sounds like with 20 candidates it's going to be awhile before a coach gets hired. Also sounds like we're getting bench upgrades more than starters in his roster tweaks...he said the bench needs to defend better. Looks like he wants Ant and Nas to step into bigger roles as well.
Am I alone in thinking he was spot-on that this roster underachieved, especially defensively? And that we had a ton of pieces to have more depth in the playoffs than the 7 man rotation Stotts was using. Keeping Jones/Little parked on the bench while our lineups got destroyed on the boards while getting carved up defensively was infuriating.
he did admit to DJJ not working out as they hoped, but I’m guessing he blames Stotts for that as well (in this case he may be correct but he should’ve known how terry operates so he isnt innocent)
I also didn’t get the sense that he believes it’s time to break the backcourt up. Not only that, but he also made it seem like the three guard lineup is here to stay if it were completely up to him.
