I guess I’m an NO hater, and I feel he’s either a liar or he fails at doing his job. I tend to go with liar, but in this case it’s probably better he’s a liar than a failure. Don’t like it either way...
Although I suspect that GMs in every profession find themselves in situations where they cannot be entirely candid, or sometimes not completely truthful, I don't know that Olshey has reason, motive, or personal advantage in repeatedly lying to the fan base. What I think is, he sets out aggressive, high reward strategies that in the vast majority of cases simply don't pan out. When he says, "We tried to do X, and we thought we could do Y, but AB and C just weren't there for us", that's probably true. Why wouldn't it be? Olshey has some successes, and some failures. We know about (and debate) the successes. What we don't know, and will never know, is just how many failures there have been. And what is a successful success rate for an NBA GM anyway? I'll bet a 10% success rate would make any GM, the GM of the year. Hell it could be one out of 100 for all I know. At least, I hope he's discussing that many potential scenarios in a year.
I'd prefer him to just not say anything than to lie but the lying part really doesn't bother me. This is coming from someone who was a huge supporter of his until a week and a half ago. I'm fine with going young around Dame and CJ, but I believe that can be executed better. The issue with that course is that more than likely you are not giving Dame enough immediate help. He's in his prime and I believe he has earned the right to ask for more talent around him. Wouldn't it be great to hear him say I think I can carry this team to a title instead of just I think I can lead this group to the playoffs? I'd also be fine with the approach of adding some more fire power to the team in the form of vets with playoff experience. If this was the plan then Olshey has failed, there simply isn't any other way to spin it. Now he could still rectify it by pulling off some trades but I'm just going off of what has happened so far.
I have basically told that to every sales manager I have ever had who set unrealistic goals for his salesmen to make. It didn't help.
I think this is something that folks should address...4 year college guys prime is not one and done college guys primes...the nba miles in Dame's career and Cj's started at an older age...it's not like Kobe or even Swanigan or Simons....entering the league at 19 is different than a guy like Dame who entered after 4 years of college or CJ who did the same I believe.
I get what you’re saying but isn’t it failure still to lie about what you were trying to do if you end up doing nothing? Like, say he lied about who he was targeting, and he was really targeting a big man to replace nurk (boogie) he still failed to do that. Or maybe he lied that he was targeting anyone at all and was strictly bargain bin shopping like he usually does. Isn’t that too a failure to realize the flaws in the roster? The state of the franchise currently all looks like a failure on Neil’s part to me. Lie or don’t lie I don’t really care, all that matters are results. His results are wildly underwhelming. I don’t confuse need to know information with results and I still hate Neil.
Something Olshey said that rings true as well is Mo and ET were battling injuries going into the playoffs last season...if both were healthy, we'd probably have made a better first round series against New Orleans....that was a factor in the sweep. I've never had the impression that our front office deceives the fanbase or is full of excuses..I feel like they are pretty clear about the hits and misses and the fact that this market is one that needs to improve from within not being a destination market. No GM is going to go public about conversations he has concerning trading a guy who's a starter now on the team or rotation player for one reason...they respect the player and if they keep him they don't want him feeling like he's trade fodder. That's a given to me.
PA has proven that he's not afraid to fire his GM, no matter how popular or successful they were. And I don't believe NO could lie to PA and not get caught. So, the fact NO is still here tells me that he's not the compulsive liar many think he is and PA must be aware of what moves NO has tried to make, only to be outbid. We can sit here and say we should sign this guy or that guy, but the truth is many teams were able to outbid us. Technically that is NO's fault for giving out the money he did, but PA has the final say and has to take just as much blame as NO for the bad contracts. The only FA we'll be able land are the unassuming, role player types. Any guy wanting the glitz and glam LA or NY won't be signing here. It's the Joel Pryzbillas and AFAs that are realistic targets. Which is why draft picks are so important to them. It's the only reliable way to add potential stars to the team. That's why they took a chance on Simons IMO.
If the reason for our poor showing in the playoffs was injuries then why did he say that he made a mistake by being too conservative with the TPE, draft picks, and young players and was going to switch his mindset to acquiring players that would help them in April? Once again you are allowing him to make excuses after failing to improve the team that simply aren't true otherwise he wouldn't have admitted to making a mistake. If during the exit interview he said that he truly believes that the injuries to those guys made a difference and that the "5 year plan" that he brings up was still on course then people would probably disagree with that but at least he could say that he's held true to what he said. Instead he couldn't help Dame and has to backtrack and spin everything. I'm just sick of it and that he seemingly thinks people buy that.
I get all that, it makes sense, and I do blame Allen too. He's been way less involved than normal lately and I'm not sure why. I just don't think either should get a pass when Olshey touts how aggressive Allen is and they are going to be this summer and specifically mentions targeting playoff proven vets and we end up with two 19 year old rookies and two free agents with a combined 0 playoff games in their careers. Something is off there.
I'm not allowing anybody to do anything...I'm understanding how the offseason has unfolded and being objective about it...and I've stated many times that I believe we have gotten better this offseason...I'm really stoked with the draft picks and the 3 pt shooters we added to the bench....I'm stoked about Layman, Swanigan and Collins filling Big Ed's minutes...what I'm not is a believer that we're a bottom feeding franchise going downhill..I realize I don't have much company around S2 concerning my views but I call it like I see it...and it's fine to disagree..I get that a lot around here..don't mind a bit
The issue to me isn't about if the team is better or not. Heck this team could win 50 games and would probably finish with a worse seed. Our draft pick, Layman, Swanigan, Baldwin, and Collins were all going to be a factor in how good we would be no matter what else happened this off season because they were already on the team. I never felt this way before last week but I'm starting to think more and more that Olshey isn't really doing a good job of creating opportunities and then capitalizing on them. With the roster the way it is he needs to find a way to tweak things more than just hoping someone out of our young group steps up.
When objective goals are set within an organization they can be different ratings (numeric scale against a goal, yes or no against a task, etc.) and different weightings. And each year the same goal can be weighted higher. When Paul and Neil sit down for performance reviews and how they are tracking against their goals/plan, Im sure Paul points out what his expectations are in improving and his critique as to where he is under performing. Neil would have been long gone, imo, if he wasn't tracking well against Pauls plan. As Clyde always said "no doubt about it". We know that the weighting is up big time on getting pass the first round.
he said in his interview that all the guys mentioned needed to play to make the leap...with vets in front of them they won't develop into impact players while still young....he hinted that CJ probably should have played in front of Wes his second year but Wes was the vet that held him back that last season...and he said that was probably the mistake...he didn't mention Wes by name but said vets ahead of CJ on the roster kept him on the sidelines when he was actually ready to contribute...that meant Wes to me
At the expense of losing Davis, our best offensive rebounder and best finisher at the rim. I like Curry and think he was a good pick up but he plays the same position as our two best players, it doesn't help Dame that much.
Im with you on this and Im sure he realizes he better try and spring a big trade that better balances the roster. I think Paul probably shares the blame in the bad signings and has cut him some slack but, he beer get this team past the first round this year or he's probably gone.
The two shooters we signed weren't replacing Ed....they were replacing Connaughton and Bazz...Collins, Layman, Swanigan and Meyers will battle for Ed's minutes....he explained this. Defenders left Ed alone and doubled up on our shooters...they did the same with Plumlee….no knock on Ed or Plumlee...he said we needed more offense from Ed's position...I understand why and I loved Ed but it was probably the right move going forward...Ed wouldn't be happy with a reduced role...he went to a team where he'll probably play more than he did here
