We didn't draft RHJ for ourselves, did we? I thought it already was arranged that the pick be made for the Nets, so it really was their decision who to take there. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly. EDIT: Yeah, that's how we got Pat Connaughton.
Okay now do this for every GM in the history of the NBA. I guarantee you just about every one looks way worse than what you presented. And you can't fucking count a pick that was made for someone else as part of a trade. That shows your bias. Otherwise you shouldn't count Zach Collins you should count Justin Jackson and Harry Giles. Hopefully you can recognize how silly that is.
so you're a hindsight expert? lol I always make better decisions when it's after the fact. Unfortunately that's not a realistic option available.
I have 5 people supporting my post. You have none supporting yours. Mine is true as judged by a rational 3rd person. If you want to call my statement untrue without any backup to push some delusional narrative of your own, congrats you accomplished that. Neil ran Blazers basketball operations when the team drafted Dame, Fact.
Okay, even if this is true, it doesn't preclude him from also being Neil's pick. I think we also need to acknowledge that drafting is a with many people involved - especially the scouts. It's a collaborative process, the GM doesn't just draw straws.
You are right. I just hate when people say it was Olshey's pick and give him credit because it wasn't.
I'm not pointing fingers... but someone is making stuff up here. Olshey was hired on June 4th. Dame had his workout for the Blazers on June 15th. Bad Dog!
so who do you give credit to? Do you blame Olshey for the Leonard pick? Bottom line, the credit and blame goes to the guy in charge and that was Olshey. Spin it anyway you want but that doesn't change the FACTS.
Olshey's draft record seems a polarizing topic, but it also seems most agree he's not perfect. ABM and BP give him a B+ and B respectively, which seems about right. Kudos to Olshey for not over-ruling our scouting dept led by Buchanan at the time, and drafting Lillard. Lillard was going to be the pick if Olshey hadn't been hired, that was pretty well documented as point guard was a huge need. I still contend Olshey's greatest accomplishment as GM with the Blazers was not drafting Lillard, but convincing him to re-sign here. And his biggest failure was having an All Star in his prime walk away for nothing. He's done a lot of good things, but that last one is hard to excuse and just can't happen. To his credit, he seems to be trending up as his last 5-6 personnel decisions have been hits. It may seem nitpicking or being overly critical, but Olshey hits a lot of singles and he'll need to hit a home run or two or three if we're going to take that next step.
Lillard was the pick before NO was hired. NO was the GM when we drafted him. He gets the credit, but he shouldn't. PA and Buchanan and staff should
Buchanan? The guy who left a few days after the draft to go to Charlotte. Is this like the time PA fired KP and let him draft anyway?