Canzano: Welcome to summer ... where the Portland Trail Blazers hope for a way out

Don't know about you, but I understood why Paul George let the Indiana Pacers know over the weekend that he plans to leave the franchise after the 2018 season, preferably for the Lakers.

George must have watched the playoffs.

He's figured out how the NBA really works.

None of this is a positive development for the Trail Blazers. George was one of a few players that fans (and current Blazers) could dream about seeing in uniform one day in Portland. But it was another reminder that if the Blazers are ever going to make a dent in the league again they're going to need some help from the NBA's front office.

Think about what's made the Warriors great. Amazing organizational culture, sure. They've got it -- ownership down. You could see it as the Warriors were celebrating their championship earlier this month, falling over thanking each other, and talking about the solid values and vision the franchise has.

The Warriors other secrets? They drafted well. They banked on the right players. They embraced the "pace and space" dynamic. And they have a city where you can sign a free-agent talent such as Kevin Durant.

Can that formula be duplicated?

Sure.

But not in the Rose City. Because even if the organization drafted well, even if the coaching staff and front office got on the same page with how the team wanted to play, the free-agent dimension doesn't exist.

George was just the latest to remind us.

The last high-demand free agent who picked Portland was Brian Grant, who left Sacramento after the 1997 season for $56 million. I asked Grant a few weeks ago why Portland has such a tough time getting the best NBA free agents.

"Most guys remember what they see during the season and that's just rain, rain, rain," Grant said. "When you're that young or just coming into it, you're not really thinking great place and great community... you're thinking there's no sunshine and probably no place to get out. Those things."

If Portland is going to matter in the NBA, it's going to have to draft out of its mind and utilize trades better than any other team. Those two talent streams are all general manager Neil Olshey has unless the league someday changes free agency rules. Also, Portland is going to have to figure out how to dump the bloated salaries Olshey foolishly took on last summer.

Everyone left the Finals wanting to debate LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan. It's the wrong debate for Oregonians. Because as tired as the refrain is, the debate in Portland should be: Durant vs. Greg Oden? How badly did that destroy the franchise's path?

That 2007 NBA Draft wasn't bad luck. The Blazers picked the wrong guy and it made a huge difference. They also traded back in 2005 and picked Martell Webster over Chris Paul. Nevermind that both Paul (New Orleans) and Durant (Oklahoma City/Seattle) eventually left their drafting teams. Those were golden opportunities to put multi-year All-NBA players in a Portland uniform and the organization's scouting staff and front office blew it.

That can't continue to happen.

Olshey hasn't utilized the draft in any of the last three summers to make the roster better. Think about the absurdity of that. A team that doesn't have free agency at its disposal also hasn't been able to pull a legitimate NBA player out of the draft since June 2013 (CJ McCollum).

It's why Olshey desperately loaded up with bad contracts last summer. He understood that if he was going to find a path out of the mess he was going to have to bank on trades. He needed contracts to do that. So Olshey spent a combined $145 million of Paul Allen's money last summer to get Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner and spent another $41 million on Meyers Leonard. Festus Ezeli, two years and $15.1 million, was added, too.

So what now?

That's the question Blazers fans are asking as the 2017 NBA Draft approaches. The team has three picks in the first round (Nos. 15, 20 and 26) and badly needs to shed payroll.

Trading Crabbe for a first-round pick or a rookie contract would be the best option, per one Eastern Conference general manager. Portland still owes Crabbe $55 million. But you'd have to find a "win now" partner who viewed Crabbe as immediate solution. Brooklyn loved him last summer, so maybe the Nets would like to utilize some of their projected $30 million in cap space to re-visit their interest. (A small complication here is that league rules prohibit the Blazers from trading Crabbe to the Nets until one year after that offer sheet Brooklyn tendered last summer.)

Sending Leonard or Turner and a first-round draft pick to a franchise who covets either would work, too. But that trade partner is going to have to have cap space to take on those contracts. Also, it's going to have to be OK with including future draft picks. Also, it's going to have to like Leonard or Turner more than the Blazers do.

It's tricky stuff. Portland needs to dump salary. It wants future draft picks in return. It's like the organization has suddenly realized that the plan it came up with last summer is a dead end. It's trying to start over. And that brings us back to the NBA's role in this.

You've got McCollum and Damian Lillard. Center Jusuf Nurkic is interesting. But I keep thinking about what George and the Warriors are trying to tell us. And I wonder at what point the NBA will decide that the "super-team" dynamic it has fostered is not just unhealthy but demoralizing to a lot of franchises.

Portland has a narrow path to legitimacy. It's a much tighter squeeze than markets that free agents find attractive. And we're learning that if you make mistakes in a market like Portland it's difficult to overcome them. This is why the league office's No. 1 objective has to be competitive balance. And it needs to study the parity of the NFL and how to slowly move the NBA Player's Association toward a Collective Bargaining Agreement that is in no way in the best interest of the players.

That must be Commissioner Adam Silver's primary long-term objective.

In a press conference at the NBA Summer League last summer Silver said, "I don't think having two super teams is good for the league."

We all nodded.

Nearly 11 months later, he's tweaked the messaging. Silver said during the Finals that rather than focusing on how the league might break up the Warriors or Cavaliers he'd rather focus on player development and how to make the low-tier and mid-tier teams more competitive.

We all groaned.

"My answer is," he said, "let's create more great teams."

I think he needs to spend the summer in Portland.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...f/2017/06/canzano_welcome_to_summer_wher.html

 

He has all the best words, and he uses them bigly.

 

Why Olshey hasn't fixed the weather is a mystery. What the hell does he do all day?

barfo

 

were free agents flocking to Golden State before they won their title in 2015?

 

You shut your logic mouth!