AROUND THE NBA THREAD. Sept 2021 edition

The thing about that is, we had him in for multiple workouts AFTER Olshey was hired by the team. A lot of these rumors make it sound like we went through all of our pre-draft workout stuff, and then Olshey was brought in. He was hired on the 4th. The NBA draft combine hadn't even happened at that time.

 

I have always personally felt Olshey came on board and looked at what was available and who the team had been looking at. After looking at every option available Paul Allen and Neil Olshey made the decision to draft Damian Lillard. I have never felt that Paul Allen was not involved in that pick.

 

really. I feel like the new GM could come in and completely disagree and get his way if he saw differently.

 

I was one of those people. Glad I was wrong.

 

He could. Or he could rely on his technical people and go with what they said since he had about 3 weeks until the draft. It is not unreasonable to think he relied on his scouts. Just like it is not unreasonable to think he said fuck his scouts and took who he wanted.

 

Holy shit! Did I just hear Gabriel’s trumpet? Someone admitted they were wrong like an actual adult, on the internet...in a Sportsforum!!!

 

I thought I was wrong once, but I was wrong

 

I've been wrong...and I admitted it both times!

 

EVERY GM relies on their scouts. Scouts bring them lists of players to analyze that they think are worth it.
It’s virtually impossible for a GM to say “fuck my scouts, I’ll take who I want” since 99.99% of the time the scout is the person who originally found the player. The job of the GM is to make close decisions based on the data gathered by scouts. I.e. We have 3 players we are really high on. Scouts all have them ranked differently. Who do we pick? Up to the GM.

I highly doubt they hired Neil and said, “oh by the way, know who we are drafting so your first act as GM is being a yes man and not actually building the team you want — you were hired to be a face pretty much.” Give me a break.

What I think is reasonable is … he was hired, they came to a mutual decision “hey we’ve been looking at X, what do you think?” “Oh yeah we been looking at him too, looked great. And we really need a PG. let’s bring him in and see how he looks for a workout in front of me.” After the workout, GM approves, when he easily could’ve said “hmm, let’s look at centers” or some bullshit.

Scouts get credit.
Neil gets credit.
Ownership gets credit.

They all work together to make that decision. The reluctance of some people in this place to acknowledge anything positive by Neil is laughable. (And I don’t even like the guy). It’s not all or nothing. It’s a basketball “organization” for a reason. And the GM has so many duties, do you really think he has time to personally scout every player? Of course not. Shit in the last dance I believe Jerry Krause (old clip) mentioned something about how heavily he relied on his scouts.

 

Beal, Lavine, Tatum, Dinwiddie, Kanter, ... Roberson?

 

Of course gms rely on their scouts. It is unlikely he came in and said, no, fuck you scouts, you did all this work and identified Lillard but I'm gonna take who I want. He was hired like three weeks before the draft. It is not unreasonable to think Buchanan and the scouts already wanted Lillard bad. The likelihood of someone coming in 3 weeks before the draft and saying no I want Austin Rivers is low.

Sure, Olshey can get credit for not going away from what the scouts already knew. But not nearly as much credit as people try to throw around.

I give Olshey credit for the CJ pick.

 

I believe Olshey went to see Dame play in a snowstorm on recommendation from the scouts and came back and drafted him...he told a story about it when he got here as I recall...at any rate Paul Allen also saw film on Dame...in the end it was Neil and Paul that drafted him...no secret Paul loved pt guards...in the end...does it matter really who did what? We got lucky...Thomas Robinson was drafted just ahead of Dame and he's the guy I wanted in that draft....man was I wrong

 

What was the other time you were wrong?

 

marrying my first wife

 

For me it was the second one. Eesh. She was great in the sack and....that was it. A sheer banshee and awful on every other metric.

 

How long have you been married now?

 

I’m sure there was some dude back in the old days who said the same shit about dunking.

 

I divorced her last year and met the love of my life this summer. I never really knew what it was like to be truly loved and cared for until I met her. It might have something to do with her being born and raised in the Czech Republic. I sometimes wonder if our culture hasn't made marriage all but impossible. I was never going to even seriously date again, let alone marry.

My fiancé (Oh yes! Third time is the charm. I had doubts about my first two and none about her. My family and friends adore her unlike the first two as does my son) has changed my mind about that, but she isn’t from here. She’s fucking incredible and Ive never felt so seen and heard. She’s old school and I love it. Lillard isn’t the only one getting married this week. He’s probably a better PG, but then I always played Shooting Guard.

 

Happy for you. I was trying for a joke though…guys will put up with a lot for hot sex.