He still has that number one pick stigma but I didn’t look at him like that. For me it was a way to get rid of Nurk and getting Camara was a mega added bonus.
It's been average. They've had some good & some bad. Just running through the FA contracts that Cronin handed out: Dame was expensive, but had no choice. Grant contract was atrocious. Thybulle was reasonable. Nurk was a tad high. Simons was reasonable given the circumstances Payton was terrible, but he got out of it Little was a bit high, but he got out of it
reasonable takes, although I disagree on Simons based upon the market that season. Very few teams had over 15M in cap-space and the 2 or 3 that did had no need of guards. In terms of the market, Simons was overpaid. I understand a GM wants to keep players happy, but the market was saying Simons should have been happy with 16-19M/year rather than 25M I was speaking more about the total payroll vs wins. This season: that's the bottom half of the NBA in terms of payroll. 7 of those teams made it to the playoffs. 10 teams made it to at least the play-in. Portland was one of 5 teams that didn't, even though they were the only one of the five that didn't actively tank add that to the previous three seasons of deliberately tanking while having a payroll that barely dodged the tax (IIRC one season they were less than 200K below the line) looks like poor cap management to me. And it's hard to blame Olshey for the current cap. Obviously, Portland's cap isn't as poorly manged as Phoenix, but the Suns are setting a new standard this year for worst management
I guess it all depends upon the metrics you use to measure success. I'd argue the metrics you are using are a bit skewed to your bias. Also, let's not conflate the "That's not what I would have done" argument with immediately labeling it as "bad cap management". Let's start with overall payroll. Most teams (including Portland) appear to have an owner-implied cap at the Tax Line. So by that metric, any team below the Tax (no matter how close - even if it is $200k) is successful. Last season Portland was ~$3.7M below the tax. Did that prohibit any possible deals? Maybe. But we will never know for sure. But the evidence indicates that it is unlikely. Detroit is a unique case since they were below the actual CAP to start the year... but let's look at Orlando, Utah, Spurs, or Memphis. Did any of those teams make a meaningful move because they were $10M-20M below the tax line (that Portland could not have made at $3.7M)? I certainly don't remember any... Now let's talk about the Playoffs & play-ins. 16 out of 30 teams make the play-offs. You stated that 7 of the teams in the bottom half made it to the play-offs (so by default 6 teams in the top half in payroll missed the playoffs 20 out of 30 teams make the play-ins (or better). You stated that 10 of the teams in the bottom half made it to the play-offs (so by default 5 teams in the top half in payroll missed the play-ins Portland's front office is average. They are not league leaders and they are not bad. Do I wish Portland's front office was tops in the league? Absolutely. Will I call out things that I wish they would do differently, when I see them? Yep.. Will I moan and complain incessantly about every little move they make? Nope -> I have better things to do with my time.
