We're headed for yet another season of upper mediocrity. Utah, Denver, Phoenix, Lakers, Warriors, Clipps, probably Dallas..... ALL BETTER THAN US!! Right? I mean, RIGHT???
Even if he blew it up, he'd have to blow up the team again. If Neil knows one thing, he knows how to blow it.
I'm not Olshey's #1 fan, but blowing it up doesn't make sense. The odds of rebuilding and finding a top 10 player isn't great, then require that it's a top 10 who wants to be loyal to Portland, unlikely. We have that guy now, we need to figure out a way to make it work!
I don't think we have any idea how good the Blazers are going to be with the addition of Nance, a deeper and more defensive-oriented bench, and a healthy, more fit, and excited Nurkic. I like what Billups is selling as his plan to pull the defense up from the cellar it's been in the past couple of years. All-in-all, I'm certainly not willing to say that Utah, Denver, Warriors, and Mavs are better than the Blazers. The Clippers without Kawhi for who knows how long aren't a lock to be better than the Blazers. Blowing the team up for a total rebuild would look pretty silly if there's really a chance to trade CJ for Simmons or another stud SF or PF. This team is literally one trade away from being a contender.
Well, when one cleans out a cluttered garage, sometimes the best solution is to pull everything out, then put back the stuff you want to keep, and rid yourself of that which you don't. Plus, it's difficult to change a flat tire while you're tooling down the road. Best to pull over, change the tire, then carry on. Olshey's not a bad drafter. There would be plentiful picks involved.
I want to see how the team performs with a new coach. I want to see how finally having a good 5th starter and 6th man help. I want to see how the defense looks without Melo or Kanter. I want to see if NAS or Simons makes a leap. If none of those lead to a big improvement I'm on board with big trades and or tearing down and rebuilding. But I'm happy to see the above first.
As stated above, you can blow it up but Neil picks again. 2 firsts to move up and grab Collins 2.0 or the guy in the late 1st who got to 350lb and out of the league? Not trusting Neal to draft talent anymore. What we shoulda done was a clean slate with a new GM instead of just the Coaching staff. Any GMs out there with street cred? Maybe a former player who is respected amongst the players?
Nah. As long as we have Dame we should be trying to win the title. If Dame wants out though... You make a big splash to convince him to stay, or you blow it up and get as many picks as possible.
I was going to comment on this but then I realized I could not comment the way I REALLY feel without insulting the poster so I will say this instead ..... If your going to make such a comment KNOW what your saying and use facts to back it up cause in reality where most fans live ( not you ) but most of us live is this. All the teams you listed only the Suns , Jazz and maybe the Lakers are LEGIT better and two of them have injury issues to deal with aka Clips with Kawhi and Nugs with Murray one is out for year and the other until Jan maybe All star break. The rest are neck and neck with Portland so it will prolly come down to Billups and his coaching and injuries for this team. You almost sound like a fan who is a ESPN die hard and drink that kool aid cause they always under estimate this team and then the team always does better for most part then those idiots at ESPN project now that is a FACT. Done for now cause I already typed much more then I had intended to about this silly post. Go Blazers !!!!!
Yeah, I’ll take a couple of ZCo’s, at least one Swanigan, a couple of Simons and a nice topping of Tolliver to balance out the crew. Ok with second rounders but not so great with first rounders.
The only IT to blow up is Dame. As long as it doesn't make sense to trade Dame, this team will stay the same.
Changing a tire is not scrapping the car. There are plenty of examples of scrap cars laying around Portland right now. The Blazers ain't one of them.
Kanter will be missed greatly on offense in the long regular season. He was exceptionally efficient on that end and a great injury fill in option. Melo however no he will not be missed. Nance Simons Snell McLemore Zeller along with a few starters can provide all the benefits of Melo inefficient offense. Melo was great for a run of games when the other starting options were Anthony Tolliver or Mario Herzonja providing absolutely nothing. The Blazers have better options now and even last season, the team didn't benefit from Melo.
Bench scoring was never really a strength. I want to see if we can stop surrendering leads INSTANTLY as soon as the starters go out. Kanter had skills that we will definitely miss: fantastic rebounder, great touch around the basket. If only he didn't have lead weights attached to his feet. I will be quite happy with Anfernee taking all the shots that went to Melo last year.
