Somebody = “many people”? Sounding like HCP saying everyone is terrible to Stotts when one jackoff was acting a fool.
If that's what you think, that's fine but the entire national media, including guys who were in front offices last season and will be next season, say that about CJ. One series isn't going to change that and efficiency that you're pointing out has always been there hasn't changed that. So you're not arguing with me, you're arguing with the popular opinion around the league. The one thing that doesn't get talked about often (I hear it mentioned nationally every once in a while) that I think is talked about in front offices is that Dame takes away from what CJ could be. I don't like CJ next to Dame, I think that's a horrible combination on the floor but that doesn't blind me to the fact that besides getting to the free throw line CJ scores in every way a player can and he does it well. When you said his eFG% wasn't elite that was obviously misleading. His is ahead of Devin Booker, Brandon Ingram, Khris Middleton this season and right behind Luka for fucks sake. Next to Dame... no thanks. Next to a guard who can cover up his lack of defense... the guy is a great guy to have on your team.
I think that the lack of having Collins available for the Denver series was critical. Kanter was totally unplayable against the Nuggets; so much so that Terry was forced to go with a small ball lineup including Rondae. With Collins, when Nurk sat he would have been able to play Zach at the 5 with Melo at PF and RoCo at the 3. That would have been huge. Probably would have swung the series to Portland. It still likely wouldn't have been enough to get past the 2nd round, but the Blazers would have at least been competitive against the Suns.
CJ is getting massively disrespected after that series. Some of it is well deserved but they think he is a scrub now for some reason.
We can all hope. If we in a three team situation had to give up CJ and future picks to get Siakam or even add in Nas, I would do it. Siakam's two way ability with Norm, RoCo and Nurk under a new coach that puts emphasis on defense and accountability would make our starting lineup elite. I don't think having DJ coming off the bench under a new coach would be a bad thing either. And hey maybe Zach will be healthy.
https://basketballfeelings.substack.com/p/exits-the-thing-about-almost https://uproxx.com/dimemag/portland-trail-blazers-gm-neil-olshey-loss-not-his-fault-quotes/
This is really nicely explained, and I agree with this interpretation. All the players are returning... unless of course a worthwhile opportunity presents itself otherwise.
spoelstra had Butler/Herro/Robinson/Crowder/Iguodala on the wing ahead of Jones. stotts had Powell/Roco/Melo/Simons ahead of him. If he wanted to, stotts could have gotten Jones minutes here, especially considering the defensive sieve(s) he had in front of jones.
where did Olshey say this? you heard the PC live? was this your takeaway as well? and that anyone coming in to take over as coach was going to have to vastly improve things “without a ton of roster changes
A little apples and oranges there. I'm not saying DJJ necessarily should have been playing this year, but Spo did have Butler, Crowder, AND Iguodala to turn to. All three were better defenders as well as far better offensive options.
Yeah, that's my point, it wouldn't have altered the course of the season. It may have been even worse in the long run, if getting past a broken Denver team would have led them to falsely evaluate this team as being close to a championship. We did that once already in 18/19, I don't want to go through that AGAIN.
Something else I found interesting was Neil bringing up a 3 for 1 trade OR 1 for 3 trade. Only one person on this roster qualifies for a 1 for 3, and it’s not Dame...
So we need better defenders, but losing against Denver and being 29th defensively was not a result of roster construction. Which is it?
Being 29th is a product of piss poor coaching. Becoming top 10-15 requires roster upgrades; that’s how I viewed it.
Have you ever listened to Neil Olshey? You have to listen to him pat himself on the back 70% of the time and give you nuggets of the truth sprinkled in 30% of the time. He didn't and never does want to take any blame but he did say we have to get better guys on defense. He said roster construction wasn't a problem then talked at length about getting another superstar next to Dame. The guy is constantly double talking but today he seemed to me to be ready to change more than just Terry Stotts but I guess we'll see.
Comment's on Nurk feeling not being able to go at Jokic were interesting. This team is being run by Jody, Bert & Neil. The Blazers are just one profit center satellite, and as long as they can be in the playoffs, and TV ratings and sites like this are doing good, they will be ok with overall performance. Becoming a team in contention within a small market that doesn't attract FA will be bonus. Once Olshey's contract is up another Junior executive will be hired or promoted. Under current ownership, imo, status quo will be ok and you just cant blame Neil alone for that.
