I’d eat that too, however it definitely doesn’t look as good as Master Baker Olshey’s cake. Maybe if he spent less time working on his baking and more time calling other teams we could get what needs to be done, done.
Cake is a total flop, has bad mix of "ingredients" and our GM tries to sugarcoat it which is the usual total bullchit spewing forth from him
LOL...every thread here has that potential and since the Blazers hired Roy Rogers, Trigger has to be somewhere in Portland
That defense got torched for over 118ppg by a beat up Denver team that only put up 106ppg against Phoenix in their next series. (ppg = per 48 minutes to factor for the OT game against us)
With the lack of size starting at 2 and 3 ... and the lack of depth and height with the bigs ... and crappy D ... it's no cake at all ... some would say.
1) Our lack of size at the 2 and 3 caused us to have a big negative +/- with the starters on the floor - oh wait, it didn't... at all. 2) Lack of depth? Absolutely, but roster is not finished. Knee jerk reactions are common here, you're not alone in this. 3) Crappy D, for sure - but we just dumped our 2 worst bench defenders (who both had big negative +/-). One of the replacements should be a plus defender (Nas). The cake is just fine.... but I agree with you, and others, that it would be better with a CJ trade.
I believe Olshey should be given 9 more years (on the logic that nothing counted with Stotts, there's no way to know if the rosters were good or bad with Stotts coaching) and, then, when Billups is being blasted as the worst coach in the NBA and totally misusing Olshey's amazing personnel, we can reset the timer on Olshey.
I can dig it OP. Hopefully Billups holds these dudes accountable. Things we need to improve on Defense- Obvious Lee More offense- Less Dame and CJ gunning from all spots Get Nurkic more involved offensively. I love Dame, this has been his team. It's not just about the parts around him, He's gotta buy in on defense. He's the leader. Attitude reflects leadership. Get this whole team playing hard nosed defense.
He legit said "the team isn't good enough". Dame is smart. He knows trading CJ is gonna be one of the things that has to be done to bring back a more balanced roster. Dame knows this is a business. I'm sure him and CJ have had the talk. CJ isn't dumb either.
If we wanna get technical, he also said a new coach might change the trajectory of the team and specifically mentioned examples of other teams that made a jump after they hired someone else. I’m not sure there’s a mandate for a new roster/trade. I don’t think Dame cares how they get better, as long as they get better. You really think he wouldn’t wanna win with CJ in an ideal world?
Billups has mentioned using CJ more off the ball. If he’s used as a Klay/Redick he would be lethal. I’ve felt he’s been misused by Stotts who essentially gave him the same freedom Dame got. I’m not against a McCollum trade, maybe even prefer it, but I’d still be curious to see this plan in motion. I’m not trading him just to trade him. He could increase his value before the deadline.
If we wanna get technical he followed that up by saying that he doesn't see this roster as being one that could contend even if Chauncey is the greatest coach ever. So, I think he either had a change of heart after talking with Chauncey and Neil or he's just giving it time before Neil either makes a move or he asks out. Multiple reports said he wants to give Chauncey a shot and other reports said that he wouldn't ask to be dealt until he saw what the team could do. Those reports speculated that means that if the first couple of months don't go well and there hasn't been an upgrade to the roster... that he'll ask to be traded by the deadline. Obviously these reporters spend a lot of time talking out of their asses. So who knows what's going to happen but that timeline sounds pretty logical given what we've heard from Dame.
This cake has been out of the oven and out on the counter for 9 years. The cake is moldy. There's flies. It's completely dried out. It's time to throw the cake in the garbage.
I don't disagree that resigning Norm has made CJ expendable. We need an upgrade at PF. My point was that fans were suggesting that Dame was going to be pissed when he got back from Tokyo if no major move was made. Which in a roundabout way meant that Dame was going to be pissed if CJ was still on the team. I don't doubt that Dame and CJ have discussed the possibility, but thinking that Dame would be furious that it has not been done........ is a little ridiculous.
That’s his best buddy on the team, and we know enough about Dame to know how loyal he is to his people. In an ideal world he would want to play and win with CJ. No way he’s telling Olshey to trade him. He’s more likely to be against it than for it. Yes he wants to win, and he’s pushing Olshey, but I don’t believe he wants it at any cost. He would’ve already asked out if it was. It’s still kinda funny though how everyone has just taken the stance that it’s Olshey who is vehemently against trading McCollum, and not his best friend/team captain.
