Lets have a top to bottom look at this team and an honest discussion on what should be done to improve this team realistically. Neil Olshey: He has done a fair job so far, can't complain too much. He has drafted well, signed about as good of free agents that Portland can attract and has overall been a positive for the orginzation. Terry Stotts: We all know of his flaws by now, he in my honest opinion needs to be let go for the team to get better. He did a good job at reviving the franchise from where it was but his rotations, lack of defensive assignments and getting consistently out coached is killing this team. LaMarcus Aldridge: Great player, if we want to contend now we need to keep him no matter what, pretty simple. If not possible we need to move him in a sign and trade deal to the highest bidder, which won't be great as only contenders with little to no real assets will be on the block. Damian Lillard: Rough second half of the season, still a great player and someone you keep no matter what. Nic Batum: One year left on his deal, one year for him to prove he can more than what he has shown his first 7 seasons in the nba. If he can't stay healthy, be consistent or aggressive by next seasons deadline, he should be moved. Robin Lopez: A very hard decision is gonna be made, my personal opinion would be to let him walk if he gets an offer over 11 million dollars per season. If we can get him at around 10-11 he is worth keeping, bug bodies are at a premium even if they aren't all star level. Wesley Matthews: I really hope we keep him, but if a team offers him over 10 million per year for more than 3 seasons I think the smart move would be to move on as much as it pains me to say. Arron Afflalo: Pretty much the same as Matthews without the emotional attachment. CJ McCollum: I expect a big season from him next year, 6th man of the year level maybe. Meyers Leonard: He needs minutes. He has shown flashes of being our most versatile player on the team. He is a keeper. Chris Kaman: He will is a cheap, good depth piece backup big but he is cutting into younger players minutes/development. I don't particularly want to see him in a Blazer uniform but I wouldn't be mad if the team kept him on for another year. He is good trade bait after all. Steve Blake: He can stay. However, I want no part of him being our backup point guard anymore. He can be another Earl Watson for us this coming season, the backup position needs to be upgraded though. The Others: Allen Crabbe, Alonzo Gee, Joel Freeland, Dorrel Wright and Tim Frazier. I'm excited to see Crabbe's further development, he can be a decent asset going forward. Gee and Freeland are players I wouldn't mind bringing back, young defense first players are something every contender needs. Wright, if he accepts a pay cut I also wouldn't mind seeing him back. Jury is still out on Frazier for me. I don't know who to replace, draft or trade for to make this team better but in my opinion a lot is going to happen this summer and we will see a very different Blazer team next season. What are all your thoughts and opinions?
We will not win a championship with Terry Stotts. I am more than ready to let him go and find a replacement this offseason.
This franchise is dumpster fire. In 15 years we've escaped the first round ONCE. The Blazers organization does not deserve the support it gets from this fanbase.
Agree and it's not just defense. It's toughness. I really wonder if he can motivate these guys. But this offense is perimeter oriented and I think they need to get more aggressive and more of an attitude on that end. Both ends. You know I would try to take that money you would use to sign Robin and trade him for a different big. It would be sign and trade but someone like Hibbert would be nice and make a difference. Especially with a hard butt coaching him. With a different defensive, tough minded coach. Everyone else can stay.
I am not in favor of retaining Affallo. I would like to get a guy like Draymond Green or Tony Allen. I would also like to get a center who is a real shot blocker and and has instincts (and mobility) on when to help and when not to. I'm pretty lukewarm on Stotts; ir Thibodeau is available would take him.
Aldridge: Plan C franchise player. They tried to trade him twice during the Roy/Oden era, something that he brought up two summers ago when asked about why he cancelled his endorsment deals in Portland. He sold his Irving, Texas home a few summers ago and lives in L.A. full-time during the off-season. IF he leaves it will be with the Lakers. Matthews: He's the heart of this team but sadly he will never be the same. IMO, this injury is worse than a micro-fracture. Sign him at a discount of what he would've made or let him walk. Batum: Needs to fuck off, to put it mildly. Seven years of maybe this is the year he'll emerge as the third scorer that we need. He's too soft. The second highest paid Blazer and since he signed his deal he never had a PER to reach 16 or higher. He's an average player being paid like a star. Lillar_: He made the Grizz pg's look like all-time greats. His defense is atrocious. This summer he ought to work on his game rather than making commercials and building "his brand." Meyers: 8/8 with a 26 PER so far. He's close to breaking out ......if he can get away from Stotts. Kaman: What a waste of time. Blake: about what I expected.
I honestly don't think the Blazers will ever win a title under the current ownership and management. The commitment and vision just isn't there. You look at a successful franchise like San Antonio. They have a streamlined, coordinated professional outlook that starts from the owner, president that goes right to the players. THEY BUY IN TO IT. The Blazers have gone through CEOS and GM'S like Kelly Clarkson through lunch meat. The players don't know their roles and you wonder if they know what they are buying into. It's not Allen isn't a good owner, but the infrastructure and personnel aren't there. That's my take.
I don't see any particular problems with this team, except at SG where we don't know what Wes will become. This team needs some offensive sets to run where different player take the lead for a set of plays. Against the Grizz Lamarcus always had crowd unless he was way out. Needs some plays to put on for that, like a weak side cutter coming to the rim for him to hit. Need some pick n roll plays for Nic to run with several players, Same with Damian. What the hell happened with Meyers not playing tonight, Blazers lead the 2nd game 1 st quarter with this kid, our best shooter and Stotts doesn't know? Geez, the simples play of all would be Meyer on the three point weak side line when they bring the double on Lamarcus. Not once. Nothing just more of the same with less Meyers. Stotts is way better than McMillan but not near good enough to play the top half the league after they learn his limited system. Damian did better tonight with 9 assists but that needs to be a regular game and it is on the coach that it isn't the case. I don't know if a better head coach is available but I think Luke Walton would be a hell of a lot better running the offense. Jackson and Kerr think he has the stuff.
exactly, until a NHL or NFL team comes along, this team will have ZERO competition. And Zero true desire to actually win.
I don't know if people in Portland actually have a desire to do anything other than complain, eat a donut or drink beer. Portland is like a place in the Twilight Zone where you stop to get gas and buy coffee. But once you leave, every road just leads you back to the same gas station.
Chris Broussard's account of a pregame interview with LA didn't give me any warm-and-fuzzies, unfortunately. If it's to be taken at face value, it was very troubling, IMO. Olshey has done well with what he's had to work with, but I think he's got a major chore ahead of him to keep this team anywhere near its current level let alone get better if Aldridge leaves. Stotts is very reluctant to trust his bench or younger players unless he absolutely has to or it's someone like Damian. I don't know where the assets come from to add that one last key piece if LA stays, especially since Blake and Kaman aren't getting any younger or better and might both have to be replaced, too; taking a chance on Frazier might have been a pre-emptive move figuring that having Blake as your backup PG isn't going to get it done. Speaking of Stotts, I'm not so quick to want to get rid of him. I think his offensive style is a selling point to potential free agents and winning more than 100 regular season games over the last two years is hard to turn away. This team has to get better defensively, and Stotts definitely has his flaws, but I'd rather have him than return to the Nate or Mo Cheeks years. Batum, Batum, Batum ... you tease us with flashes but we never know what we are going to get from night to night. His versatile skillset comes in handy because Lillard and CJ aren't a great passer and neither Wes nor Afflalo are above average dribblers, plus he can defend four positions (three pretty well). But, IMO, he's paid too much for his inconsistent production, especially offensively, he's a good but not elite defender and he is so predictable on the pick and roll -- he almost never shoots. I just think so much rides on LA's decision. Rolo's value to the Blazers is significantly higher is LA is on the team; I don't see the Blazers going out and getting an upgrade who does what he does but maybe can play out on the pick and roll a little better or be more of a scoring threat with their cap situation if LA stays. If LA goes, well, you don't really need Lopez to fill in the gaps to benefit LA. If LA stays, I think the Blazers will be fine. Batum probably will need to be moved to offer some flexibility with the cap, but I'm beginning to think that might be beneficial on the court, too. Having LA and presumably a better Lillard than we saw the last couple of months will keep the team competitive and probably will be attractive to a good complementary starter or two down the road. CJ is blossoming to the point that he can be a reliable scoring option or trade bait to bring the Blazers something even more valuable. Leonard is kind of in the same boat, although he still has some rough spots that need ironed out. But I think the 3 spot really needs addressed, both the starter and a backup. If LA leaves, I think we're better off blowing it up, because I just don't see them replacing Aldridge. There are only so many players as valuable as he is -- he's the most dominant low block scorer in the NBA right now and he even has added 3-point range to his arsenal this season. And, as nice as Portland is, I don't imagine a lot of superstar-level players clamoring to go there to play with Lillard and a cast of average to above average guys. I'll really be hurting if that's the way it plays out. To feel like everything was going so well with a core of Roy, Oden and LA, then to lose the first two of those and get Lillard and overcome it and then to get so close and see it fall apart because we couldn't keep LA happy. That would stink, and I think the rebuild the way the NBA works these days could be a very, very long process.
I don't see how the hell you "blow up" the Blazers if Aldridge leaves. This isn't LA or NY for God Sakes, where you draw big names. Lamarcus takes off and you Damian becomes Da Man. You HAVE to a face for the franchise to draw tickets. If this team starts tanking, then Allen would seriously consider selling.
The only way the team would start tanking is if it was an order by Allen. If I knew LA was leaving, Everyone would be available including Damian for the right player or draft pick.
Then I guess you would be happy being the Kevin Love Timberwolves in perpetuity. I would not. If you lose LA and just build around a shoot-first PG in the Western Conference, you are stuck in lottery limbo anyway. You aren't getting into the playoffs. You aren't getting the top pick. And you aren't drawing big names just because Damian Lillard is here, either. You end up stuck in a position where you don't get better or worse, you just hang around the outer rim, missing the playoffs most years and losing badly in the first round when you make it every now and then. If that's what you want, more power to you. I don't want to be stuck in mediocrity for a decade or more.
I forgot the board rule that nothing any reporter ever reports that might be negative toward the Blazers might have any shred of validity. Sorry.
