if you guys want to say I'm biased against Olshey and that bias might make me not give Olshey any benefit of the doubt...that's fine. For instance, I do not believe the rumor, at all, that Olshey was willing to offer CJ for Simmons, but not RoCo. But I didn't arrive at this bias blindly or under delusion. I specifically remembered that Olshey reportedly held CJ untouchable for Butler because it was only a few months after reports that Olshey held CJ untouchable in the PG13 talks I can't specifically recall anything about Kawhi, but if Olshey was not willing to trade CJ for Paul George or Butler, it's pretty logical to assume he wouldn't have for Kawhi either. He may not even have made any offers, but considering Kawhi was traded for Derozan and Poeltl, I'd think the Blazers could have at least made a competitive offer if CJ was included. IMO, as long as Olshey is GM, CJ will be a Blazer. I don't think you can say the same thing about Olshey and Dame. I'd love Olshey to prove me wrong and complete a CJ for Simmons deal
Keep in mind that we are only aware of Simmons because he wanted the world to know he was PO'ed at his team. Who's to say a star level player can't handle it the way Nance did and keep it out of the press? What if a team that thinks it is a contender gets off to a slow start and changes their mind about trading? Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. People defend GMs by asking "what trade would you have made?" That is BS. The GM is handsomely paid to know what players are available while the fans can only guess.
I'm not sure what kind of mythical unicorn that Neil thinks CJ is worth, but if it isn't Simmons, I don't know who it is.
If Neil is really resistant towards bringing in Simmons (which I think would be idiotic), it might be worth engaging Indy in a potential three-way with Sabonis landing in POR. Or Toronto with Siakam. I know everyone wants Draymond, but prefer Sabonis/Siakam over Green.
It seems the resistance is around protecting his illegitimate son, one CJ McCollum. I'm really hoping Olshey Cucked CJ's supposed father and that's what's going on here. I can't bring myself to think this guy actually legitimately believes CJ is worth too much to trade for the likes of Butler, PG-13, Kawhi, and now Simmons. That would mean our franchise is run by a delusional madman with no grasp whatsoever on player evaluation.
I re-listened to that Windy pod, and went back to what Fentress reported earlier... I don't think this is as much to do with Neil not wanting to trade CJ as much as it is the fit with Simmons. Recall, Fentress said people within the Blazers org see Ben as a guy who wants to be a PG primarily and Dame is best utilized on the ball as well (I 100% disagree with this notion) but it has at least some merit. Combine this with my guess about the rumor of the small market team with interest in Simmons being Indy, I think a three way with the Pacers makes a ton of sense. A Harris-Sabonis-Embiid front court is a bit crowded while Sabonis would be a great fit here either with or without Nurk. I'm more intrigued by Simmons' raw talent on the defensive side but I think it could work.
That was the point... if you look at @Idog1976 previous posts I was just making fun of how out of hand he had gotten with his Olshey hate.
