OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD - July 2021

This seems to be happening a lot lately....implying something that I didn't say at all. Didn't say anything about being involved in that one and at no point did I say anything about THAT deal moving the needle. Just that we are still waiting 9 years for Olshey to 'move the needle' as he quoted quite some time ago.

Be smart enough to comment on what I said and not the stuff lately you seem to make up and apply to it. That would be a helpful start.

 

Norm wearing a Blazers shirt on his latest IG story. Neil truly a top tier snake oil salesman if he is able to convince Norm to play SF full time again.

 

He gets more money with us. Neil could say he’ll move him to a team where he can play the 2

 

hahaha, alright my bad then. But you know exactly what you were "implying."

He's unrestricted. He is eligible for the same contract everywhere-- we can't really pay him more than other teams, can we?

 

He can get just as much with the Knicks... nobody else can offer him as much but the Knicks could. I just haven't seen anything from him that tells me he's a sure thing. If the Knicks aren't talking to him then we totally have the upper hand on anyone else. Neil also might be telling him that he'll be starting at the 2 here because Neil actually has deals he will take for CJ that he is still publicly saying aren't enough. Many possibilities with what's going on with our team.

 

I'd imagine Olshey has been talking to other teams, probably a lot. But I'd also imagine he is not making any serious offers that involve significant risk. That's his M.O. and it sure looks to me like Seattle isn't putting any pressure on him to budge him off of his long held biases on the roster

if there wasn't so much at stake it would be kind of comical. Portland needs to make some deals to give Dame a better roster. But other teams are 'waiting' to see if Dame demands a trade so the market for those non-Dame deals is stalled. Dame is the supertanker stuck in the Suez. I suppose this is not an original dilemma, but the Blazers may be stuck with the worst kind of GM to navigate that situation

 

all fair, but i don't want Olshey making his best and final offer this early into the trade season.

 

Miami, San Antonio, OKC and the Knicks are the only teams that have the cap space to comfortably be able to offer him between 18-22M if that's what he's going for.

 

sure...Portland can pay him more, and if he re-signs with Portland, it's entirely possible they will

The Knicks could make a 20M/year offer and Powell's agent could say to Olshey that Powell will sign with NY because there are better opportunities there and NY wants him as the starting SG. So Olshey counters by offering 27M/year

 

Not necessarily, but yeah, he has 20M a year guaranteed with us assuming other teams are more interested in pursuing other options first. Honestly, I don't expect many of the capspace teams to even start considering Norm until the Lowry domino falls, so Norm may just want to commit to the money early.

Yeah, talking Dame off the edge just means business as usual for good ol' Neil. I look forward to re-shuffling the decks on the Titanic.

 

I think, if you put any weight into reports and believe Dame is giving the team the early season to prove they've upgraded and would give the team to the deadline to trade him, then the only thing that I could see that would make Dame move up his timetable from the deadline to a trade demand now would be if a CJ package didn't get moved for an upgrade and Norm walked for nothing. Then we not only haven't improved the team like he mandated but would seem to have no way to do it even at the trade deadline. That might unclog the gridlock.

 

The Knicks are in the very unique position that they can keep talent that would make them just as good as last season and have 60M in cap room (54 after min cap holds). So technically they could match the 27M... I don't think they'd be that stupid.

Holy fucking shit, if Olshey committed right under 100M for three guard that are under 6'4" for next season, that would be so fucking stupid.

 

why not?

other teams might already be doing that realizing there is a lot of competition for all-star level players

the strategy of playing it cool might work in normal circumstances. But if players like Simmons and Siakam and Beal and SGA get moved before Dame gets back from Japan, and moved for packages the Blazers could have arguably matched, it could be the worst outcome for Dame & the Blazers

Dame wants the front office to match the sense of urgency he feels. If several all-star level players are moved and it appears Olshey is sitting on his hands....yikes!

 

I do wonder what happens if Dame returns from Tokyo and the roster is exactly the same.....or worse. I can't imagine that would sit very well with him.

 

Every negotiation works that way. Are you really arguing that he should just simply push all of our limited assets into the first offer he makes?

 

I don't think Dame was talked off of any ledge. I do not believe anything Olshey says to him will matter. For Dame, after 9 seasons, the test is actions, not words. My take is that Dame was at the same spot after that Vegas meeting as he was before

my hunch is that Dame doesn't trust anything Olshey says to him. The difference now is that Dame believes Seattle will not hold Olshey accountable. I don't think it was coincidence that Dame started registering major discontent after the Olshey presser on firing Stotts

obviously...that all IMO

 

I completely agree. If Olshey is conservative and patient when Dame mandated a sense of urgency to get this team in position to contend, that's the kind of thing that could accelerate Dame's decision process. Just like if Neil is aggressive, goes out and gets a Siakam or Simmons and re-signs Norm to a good contract it might accelerate Dame recommitting to his future here.

 

I think the exact same roster (meaning we re-sign Norm) with the addition of someone that Dame likes with the taxpayer MLE would buy the team a couple months of regular season basketball to prove that it's better or to make moves they didn't. Norm walking and therefore almost guaranteeing we go into the playoffs with an inferior roster than last year's... I think Dame loses his patience.

 

did I say that?

I'm saying I believe several of these trade negotiations have been going on for weeks and if Olshey is playing it cagey he won't have decent traction. If Portland has "limited assets" then they need to move more of them onto the table, early, in order to compete

 

Doesn't have to be the first offer. Just an offer that is aggressive from the get go.