In 2 years as Clippers GM he: Transformed a team that hadn't made the play-offs in 5 years and won 28, 19 and 23 games the previous three seasons into a team that made the second round. The last time the Blazers made the second round was 13 years and six GMs ago. Acquired FOUR PGs better than anyone on the Blazers roster last year. Did they really "miss out" on Kyrie Irving when he was able to trade or Chris Paul and Mo Williams, sign Chauncey Billups and draft Eric Bledsoe? I'd gladly take ANY one of those guys over Raymond Felton or Nolan Smith - our "acting" GM's two big PG acquisitions. BNM
Happy this is done. Looking forward to finding our next Head Coach, followed by the 2012 Draft - - always a favorite night of basketball of mine. I'm sure it will be a "KP-like evening on draft night" Prediction: Drummond and Lillard or Drummond and Marshall
Hmm. Glad the team made a hire. Somewhat impressed with what was done in LA. If sometime could replicated on a better scale here, than I will be quite enthused.
I found out about this when I read it in the morning paper, just a sentence in NBA Notes at the end of story on WCF. There I was riding to work, and I thought of all the breast beating, hair pulling, boxer twisting, hate and despair spewing of people on this board convinced the Blazers could not or would not hire a GM --- and just burst out laughing. Other people on the train looked at me funny. Ghost Pepper has gone from freaking out over the hypothetical that no one wants to be Blazers GM to the hypothetical hiring of Jerry Sloan. Ghost Pepper, I might have more respect for your self-proclaimed "feeble mind" if you at least knew the difference between to and too. Go Blazers.
Yes, they missed out on Irving.. can you remember the last time a team traded an unprotected 1st round pick that ended up #1 overall? The bottom line is that his drafts have not been good (Al-Farouq Aminu??) and his trades have been mediocre to pretty terrible. I'm happy we got an experienced GM but I find it hard to give him credit for drafting Blake Griffen (no brainer) and having the league force the CP3 trade for him.
His CP3 trade was mediocre? I'm sure that's why he was a strong 3rd in GM of the year voting. BTW that Al-Farouq Aminu draft was horrible for talent and he still plucked Eric Bledsoe from the Thunder (who I would much rather have than Luke Babbit taken 2 spots ahead of him).
He couldn't protect the pick, and CLE had a 2.8% chance to get the #1.....Lastly, Sterling had vetoed an earlier trade of Davis and had pretty much instructed Olshey to shed Davis' salary...I think that transaction saved Sterling over $12 million... But the bottom line is even if you discount all of that the Clippers are a team on the rise, 2nd round of playoffs, fairly young still, promising future....He is responsible for most of that
I wasn't freaking out ever in any of my posts. Facts are most GM's of worth told Portland no way. We took a "Clipper exec", who worked Paul Allen for a bumped up pay check and this whole board is jumping up and down about an amazing hire. If you look at what this guy has actually accomplished, it's very average. To me this is a just a hire to the keep fans from thinking...."God how lame has this organization become!?". Mission accomplished, your reactions prove me correct. The cast of usual posters here drinking from the water of blazer conformity is the only thing stable about this organization to be honest. For the poster with the rat and the cat who brought up to and too, if you're thinking about anonymous posters on your ride home, you might need to get a fucking life and it's sort of creepy!
I'll say this....I would to love to hear Olshey's pitch to Deron Williams....He impressed Lebron, he convinced Paul and Billups...I think he can sell the vision of a team pretty well....
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/PERDiem-120605/headed-opposite-directions Good read if you have insider
did you guys catch these PA comments, I think it tells us about whether we rebuild or retool He's proven that he can quickly turn around a franchise, and we are confident he can do that in Portland."-Paul Allen I think that tells us something of what to expect. Olshey is being brought in with the expectations of a quick turn around. Allen doesn't want a long rebuild here. Again, if a quick return to playoff contention is the goal? That leans towards The Blazers making moves for established talent as opposed to drafting rookies. But in anycase, Olshey isn't being brought in to stand still. Paul wants to win, and win quickly, and with his statement I think he's revealed he expects Neil Olshey to facilitate that possibility
