At least not yet. Hear me out - He knew he needed a rim protector. He pursued Whiteside, who would've been perfect. He chose to stay in Miami (MIAMI) for more money. Can't blame Olshey for that. - After Whiteside was off the board, and Parsons passed, he signed Turner. He could've overplayed for a big man like Mozgov and Biyombo, but chose to go with Turner, knowing he's a better player than both those guys, and thus more of an asset. You think Turner is untradeable? Who the hell would want Biyombo? - He kept all of his own players instead of letting them go for nothing. Is Crabbe overpayed? Maybe. Probably. Would he be overpayed if he were a starter? Not with the way the NBA is headed. Is he starter material? Stats say he is. Not only is he starter material, Portland plays better the more minutes and shot attempts he gets. Harkless is a bargain and Leonards contract is that of a bench player. All three are moveable assets despite what some may think. - He made a relatively safe, short term gamble on Ezeli. It didn't work out, but now his contract becomes another moveable asset. - We still need a rim protector but the trade market is shaping up to be A LOT better than the free agent market after the Whitesides went off the table. It's looking like a buyers market. Olshey has ammo. He could even be in the conversation for someone like Cousins if he wanted to be, especially if the Kings hold onto him until the offseason. In summary, I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't believe Olshey kept this group together because he believed that it's a championship contender, but rather because he didn't want to lose his assets for nothing, and he didn't want to overpay for centers just because he needed one. He chose the patient route. The puzzle isn't finished. Let's see what it looks like when it is, and then we can call for his dumb stupid shit for brains head. Thank you.
It's really neither. Let's remember what the expectations were before last season. They tore everything down and pretty much rebuilt in one offseason. Then they overachieved, but still only won 44 games. It's still an incomplete roster. The expectations were probably accelerated too fast.
Totally agree with the first two posts. I'm not enamored with Olshey's free agent targets since becoming our GM, but I haven't lost confidence in him (yet). He has two trades to make before final judgement shall be cast. But Tater Totts? We've seen more than enough to know that he's not a good enough coach to lead an NBA team. Regardless of expectations, and whether we exceeded them (last year) or are falling short of them (this year), he simply doesn't have the chops of an NBA coach. Most coaches will have some sort of shortcoming, but Tater has far too many and he hasn't done anything to address any of them.
It's a tough job, but it's still ultimately a GM's responsibility to honestly assess his roster and keep himself above being swayed by illusory success. It's Olshey.
So letting players go for nothing would've been the smart thing to do? When he knows no FA wants to come to Portland? Trades are the blazers most realistic way of acquiring proven talent, and for that you need ammo, you need surplus.
Olshey hates it here. Hates Portland, hates the weather, the restaurants, everything. He's a big city guy with a big ego. I'm sure he came out of the off season thinking that his miracle rebuild would be enough to land him the next GM job that opens in NY or LA. Now it's quickly going to shit. He's not looking like the GM with the golden touch anymore. This team has limited moves it can make due to big salaries and limited assets to trade. He also has this weird theory that the 9 GMs in the league with ties to Popovich all conspired against him to keep him from winning GM of the year last year. In many ways I like Olshey but this is not a good team as constructed and that falls on him. If the team continues to crash and burn I would replace the GM and let the new GM decide what to do with Stotts.
No, not saying that at all. A 4 star restaurant in Portland is not the same as a 4 star restaurant in NY or LA. Portland isn't for everyone. I like it but I understand if others don't.
I am only commenting on the first part. You have had this opinion of Olshey since the day he took the job. And I am not saying you are/were wrong at all actually but you have heard of preconceived bias right? Lots of people have them and they don't even mean to. It isn't something you (or they) were trying to do.
I have heard that from multiple people inside the organization. There was a pretty funny story about Hurd's first day meeting the coaching staff at the pf and Olshey coming in and going on this giant rant about how the restaurants in Portland don't have valet parking. Listen, I don't really care if Olshey likes Portland or not. Trader Bob wouldn't even live here and I thought he was a great GM.
He signed a big extension. I've heard him talk very positively about Portland. Not sure you are accurate on this one Sly.
Letting some of them go would have been unpopular, but a better long-term strategy than saddling the team with albatross contracts on players that aren't producing (Meyers I'm looking at you). Outside of that, sign-and-trades might have been worked out, but right now the supposed "ammo" we've "stockpiled" is in pretty short supply.
Last year Aldridge abandoned the blazers, Olshey opted to rebuild and collect assets in the form of cheap contracts, low risk high reward guys. He lucked out, the Blazers had a winning season. But, how much of that was skill, how much of it was other teams underestimating us. How much of it was a group of young guys trying to prove themselves to score big contracts. We took teams by suprise. The Blazers played hard whether to earn contracts or to sate that chip on their shoulders. This year, there is no suprise. Other teams know what to expect, have learned that all they have to do is defend Dame and CJ to stop us. Our players have got their contracts. The chips seem to have faded. During the off-season Olshey failed to lure top free agents. He decided to reup on a young group of guys who played well, hoping it was for more than the bloated contracts he was now passing out. He added Turner thinking hell he can only make us better. But, maybe he was wrong. His experiment is failing at least so far this season. He is probably searching for trades to save his ass, but he is in a hole. Can he get out of it?
