I'm So SICK & TIRED of Neil Olshey

You just don’t get it... it’s not about which franchise is currently in better shape. It’s that Pat Riley shows accountability and has all options on the table... anything it takes to make the Heat better. With Neil there is no accountability for this seasons failure... everything went according t plan with him... bring back same coach, same core... just minor tweaks... that’s unacceptable as a fan. And to have a GM be so condescending and so angry at a fan base is disgusting to me

 

His ENTIRE job depends on how his moves pan out. Of course he's going to spin it in his favor. Name one small market team that being impatient worked out for them? It's not guaranteed to work, it probably won't.

Building an NBA champion is one of the toughest things to do in all of sports. Nothing prior to the past few years matters in terms of winning a title in the future. Just because the 1999-2000 team didn't win or the Roy-Aldridge-Oden era never amounted to anything doesn't mean this team is doomed. The 1988-89 team got swept in the first round in Drexler's 6th year and hadn't done shit in the playoffs prior. Should they have blown it up then?

3 seasons is really nothing in terms of building a winning team. There is no excuse for getting swept as the 3 seed and moves have to be made to improve but we finished higher than all but one team (Houston) that made major changes this summer. Were you expecting to win the title this year?

 

The only accountability a GM has is from his boss, not the fans and nobody hears what the discussions are between PA and Olshey. We get the idea you hate the current roster as well as hate the coach and GM, but do you have to make it that obvious in pretty much EVERY post you make? I also think you are overreacting to Olshey's post season interview and likely because you don't like the guy (it's obvious in all your posts). Imaging if everyone judged you by what you post in this forum? or are you this angry all the time?

 

I was expecting to be competitive win or lose one or two rounds. They weren’t, their “superstar” looked like he didn’t even belong on the same court as Jrue freaking Holliday. Their role players looked lost. Nurkic who is supposed to be their future at the center position got wrecked on both ends of the court.

I get it, just be patient, but Dames not getting any youngerCJ isn’t getting any taller it just feels bad. We’ll see how the summer goes I guess.

 

Below the belt.

 

CJ and Lillard are the same height.

 

I know, I pointed out CJ because he's considered the 2 guard, and most shooting guards are a couple inches taller.

I get it, be patient. It's just frustrating, and honestly I don't know how a Blazer fan at this point wouldn't be frustrated, that season ended about as bad as it could have. They had that 13 game winning streak, and everything after that was downhill, including losing to two teams who were actively trying to lose...

 

Can't argue with you. The end of the regular season, with the exception of the Utah game, and the post season were all disappointing.

 

If the team was to blow it up, how long do you expect it to be before they are realistically contending again? Wouldn't that way require more patience?

 

Yes, but I think I could be patient through a complete rebuild more than like maybe next year there a tiny bit better! I get what you guys are saying, I really do.

Part of me really admires what Philly did, and Hinkie deserves credit for a lot of things. He had the guts to trade a rookie of the year away (and where is MCW now?) and yeah they sucked but boy that team looks stacked now. I understand you rip it all apart and who knows when or if you ever get out of it. I don’t know what you guys are looking for me to say though.
The end of the season sucked and I realize we weren’t gonna win a championship this year, but I thought we were just minor tweaks away from being a serious threat for it, and it looks like the Blazers didn’t even belong there...

 

And this is what hurts. Idk a way we can improve drastically, it honestly feels like we are set up for mediocrity for the foreseeable length of Dame’s career.

 

I don’t think most fans mind having patience if their is a path to greatness... it’s worth going through some lows to achieve the ultimate goal of being a true contender. This team IS NOT a true contender... couldn’t win one game in the playoffs with home court advantage... You are not a contender if you are waiting on the right matchup to win a playoff game... there is no path forward with the core of Dame/CJ... it’s not “patience” being told to wait on something that you know will not work... DEAD-LAST IN NBA IN ASSISTS, this Dame/CJ combo will never win... undersized poor defenders who default to ISO ball because it’s their DNA... they will be 28/27 nest season and are not changing their game... trading CJ is ONLY path

 

We had a whole discussion about the Philly thing about a week ago. It would be impossible to duplicate what the 76ers did, here is what I posted:

Let's examine what actually happened in Philly:

Hinkie took over in 2013. The 76ers were coming off a disappointing season in which they missed the playoffs after making it the previous two years. They had the #11 pick. On a side not we are starting with the #24 pick so not as good pick wise but in terms of value in trades I think we probably have a little more in terms of trade power with Dame and CJ. Hinkie traded their All-Star PG Jrue Holiday for the 6th pick in that draft and a top-5 protected pick in the 2014 draft.

2013 pick 6: Nerlens Noel (Bad Pick)
2013 pick 11: Michael Carter-Williams (Even though he sucks now I can't really call the ROY a bad pick and drafting him led to a good trade later)
The rest of that off season and season was spent signing a bunch of scrubs and trading vets for 2nd round picks.
19 wins

2014 pick 3: Joel Embiid (Great pick now)
2014 pick 12 (via New Orleans pick #10 and a trade with Orlando): Dario Saric (Great pick now)
The 2014 draft was the key to this whole thing. Both players have turned out great but without them not playing for two years it wouldn't have led to them being able to tank as well the following years. How do you think this fan base would treat a center drafted that high that didn't play for two years because of injury? The 76ers really wanted a top-2 pick to get Wiggins or Parker and while having the 2nd worst record fell to 3rd. During that summer they traded Thad Young to Minnesota as part of the Wiggins/Love trade for a top-10 protected 1st rounder in 2015. At the deadline they traded their best player (MCW) for what was basically the Lakers pick from Phoenix which was a really good asset. That trade was a great one considering how MCW has played since.
18 wins

2015 pick #3: Jahlil Okafor (Bad Pick)
That summer they made another great trade that you can only do if you have cap space. They took on a bunch of crap from the Kings for 1st round pick swap rights in the 2017 draft (which they used to move up from 5 to 3) and a 2019 unprotected 1st round pick. What a stupid trade for the Kings! The team was awful though that year
10 wins

At the end of that season they forced Hinkie out even though he had set the franchise up so well that even a bad GM could've succeeded. He was there for 3 seasons and his teams were 47-199. There is no doubt that Hinkie would have taken Ben Simmons so I count that as his pick too even though he wasn't there. At that point the tanking hadn't worked at all and Embiid and Saric hadn't even played yet.

Here is the main problem with Portland trying to duplicate it: If you make a good pick and get a game changer too early in the process you risk winning too many games and not getting a high enough pick the next year. So what do you do? Do you draft only projects that will take a couple years to develop but could flame out of the league? Do you take the best player and risk getting too good too fast? The 76ers had the absolute perfect storm of crap happening that turned to gold later on. How on Earth do you duplicate that? They wasted the #6 pick in the first year by taking Noel but by taking Noel they ensured being bad later on. How many players win ROY and then are almost out of the league a few years later but you just happened to trade him while he still had value? How many centers don't play for two years allowing them to tank even further and then all of a sudden when healthy become the next coming of Hakeem Olajuwon? Not to mention the fact that if they would have gotten a top-2 pick that year they wouldn't have Embiid right now they'd have Wiggins or Parker. How many international players wait two years to come over allowing your team to tank more? How many times does making another horrible pick at #3 the following year turn out to not devastate the franchise?

On top of all that they changed the lottery odds so starting in the 2019 draft there isn't as much value in tanking. What if we get the #1 pick and it isn't a year with a stud like Simmons? All of this is why it is way more likely to end up being the Kings or Suns at the end of this than the 76ers. It is also why I think getting lucky with a Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Rudy Gobert, Greek Freak, or Draymond Green outside of the lottery is just as likely if not more so. Despite making the playoffs the last 5 years the Blazers managed to get a lottery pick which they used on Collins. He's gotta become a good player (jury is still out) and Olshey has to hit a home run on a non lottery pick at some point. Last year with the 24th pick the Jazz managed to get up to 13 to get Donovan Mitchell and completely changed the route of their franchise. It is possible to improve still.

 

Lets face it, you would just complain about different stuff during a rebuild. There is no proof that path leads to greatness either.

 

@hoopsjock
I realize luck is involved to a degree. I'm not that out of the realm of reality. Look at Boston too though, they traded off HOF'ers at the end of their career for a bunch of draft picks that have them set up for a while too. No we can't duplicate what some other team did, but we can in fact have our own ideas of how to compete for a championship. I don't really think we have the core right now to get there (I could be wrong). I think using what we have to get a bunch of high draft picks is an interesting idea and at least provide some entertainment and make me want to watch.
I'm telling you right now if they go into next season with CJ / Dame / Nurk and Stotts and the role players are mostly the same, it's gonna be painful to accept that. You gotta get lucky, but you can build through the draft and smart free agent pick ups. GS basically did that (I know they ended up with Durant, but they built mostly through the draft prior to that).

 

Heck, I have seen it happen many times where a team chooses to go all in on a rebuild and take several years to maybe get back to the same level. I have no problem with Olshey and Stotts having another year and see what they can put together. If nothing better happens then get a new GM and coach.

 

I just don't get why there is such a difference in people's mind between getting lucky in a rebuild and getting lucky with the current team by making smart moves? You think the team is mediocre yet you expect them to be able to get high draft picks for trading them?

3 years ago when Aldridge left some of the same people that are endorsing a rebuild now are people who complained about having that team too. Free agents aren't going to come here without overpaying. Boston doesn't have that disadvantage. You know I've post several ways in which the current Blazers can build a stockpile of picks and young assets to use in trades like they currently have even despite the "lack of flexibility".

 

I can look at your past posts, but I literally only decided to scroll on over here last night. I thought the team with Aldridge was pretty close, that team was like a couple solid bench players away imo. I think the team is mediocre, with overpaid talent, but I think they have two guys (we all know who they are) who could demand picks and players in return. I don't know if trading them is the way out. I really don't, but I know GS had to make a tough choice and trade away Monte ellis who at the time was basically CJ McCollum. In fact you could make an arguement Monte was better at the start of his career.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/ellismo01.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mccolcj01.html

Just back to the point, NO's schtick has gotten really old for me, and I realize it is subjective and you may not feel that way, and that's ok. We may just have to agree to disagree on how we feel about NO at this point, I hope he does something, small or big and it makes the Blazers a real contender soon, we'll see. I don't think you can blame any Blazer fan for being frustrated at how that season ended, and while sometimes it might just be an overreaction, sometimes without over reactions things just don't get done.

 

The Warriors had Klay Thompson to start at SG already when they traded Ellis. The Blazers don't have anywhere near that kind of guy waiting on their bench.

 

Fair enough, but Baldwin looked good when he played (not saying he's Klay Thomspon), but who knows. We had Wes Matthews before CJ and Will Barton, and you never know what guys will do when they get an opportunity.
Anyways, I've whined enough for one day, I'll stop moaning about it...