Zombie Fire Olshey

Reported 7/2, but recorded 6/26 (linked article says Hughes' comments were the day after the draft). Clearly he already knew LA was out well before the FA period began.

 

What's that Judge Judy quote you often like to pull out? "If it doesn't make sense, it's not true," right? Does it really make sense to you that Kim Hughes would know, Canzano would know, people that tbpup talks to would know, but the team's general manager would be caught unawares?

You are welcome to hold to that extremely unlikely theory, but you're gonna be pretty well alone on that one.

 

Understood; I'm just trying to help you dial back the rhetoric just a tad.

Personally, I understood the position of those who wanted him dealt the summer of 2013. But once the team started out strong (what, 17-3 the first 20, or something like that?), it would have been ludicrous for Olshey to deal the all-star, perceived best player from a potentially contending squad. And I honestly believed that there was a good chance that Aldridge was going to stick around, given how good the team had suddenly become. Then the Houston series and 0.9 happened, and how are you going to trade a cornerstone off of that team? The fanbase would have stormed the Moda with torches and pitchforks if he had. And then they were even better that next year (in my mind), despite a few injuries here and there. Yes, we had the various rumblings that Aldridge was growing increasingly displeased with the growing level of attention and adulation that Dame was receiving, but that still wasn't a reason to bust up what appeared to be a top-3 team in the conference. At the 2015 trade deadline, we were buyers, not sellers; that Afflalo deal had a chance to be the move that put the team over the top, and we saw the fruits of that in the first 6 games he played. The advanced metrics on the team immediately following Afflalo's acquisition were at the level of the best in the league.

In my mind, the day that Aldridge mentally left the Blazers was March 5, 2015--the day Wes tore his achilles. Up until that point, we were exactly the kind of franchise Aldridge wanted to be a part of. Once Wes went down, that squad fell apart, and there was no chance he was going to stay.

So I see where the "trade Aldridge" camp was coming from all along, and for a very short period (2013 offseason) I was with them, but I have a lot of difficulty faulting Olshey for betting on himself and his ability to build a contender around LA and keep him--because as far as I'm concerned, he was one tendon away from doing just that.

 

I'd say it's just a different interpretation of the sincerity of Aldridge's comments. The claim is that he told the FO in 2013 that he wanted out. If people believe that Aldridge's public comments were just PR, then it's perfectly reasonable for those people to simultaneously say that Olshey knew all along that Aldridge wanted to leave. Especially if those people were making that very claim througjout his final two years here.

That's not revisionist history; that's consistency.

 

Wait...you're telling me that because the man you call the Texas Turncoat, the man about whom you said just yesterday:

claimed he never demanded a trade, you take that claim as gospel? If he was lying about wanting to be the best Blazer ever, was lying about looking forward to signing that 5-year-deal to stay here, why wouldn't he have been lying about not demanding a trade?

Of course he never came out and said publicly that he wanted to be traded. But there was plenty of evidence to suggest that he made that very request behind the scenes. Again, just because you didn't/don't believe it doesn't make it revisionist history on the part of those who did/do.