I'm going to post this before the draft on purpose, so we can see if people's views change. What do y'alls think of Olshey so far? Here's my view: Pros: Drafted Lillard (qualification: maybe Drummond would've been the better pick. We shall see.) Traded for Robin Lopez So: he's responsible for 2/5 of the starters of the best Blazer team in a while. Cons: Traded for T-Rob when two teams had given up on him already, and we found out why Drafted Leonard (looks a lot less bad than it used to, but still, like many other teams, passed on Draymond Green and Khris Middleton) Drafted CJ (who I like a lot, but) instead of straight up better players like Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert, and players who could actually work well with Lillard, like maybe Steven Adams Traded for Afflalo (giving up on T-Rob, Will The Thrill (sob!) and Victor Claver - which is okay, because they weren't going to work out, except that 2/3 of them ended up looking a lot better than Afflalo, and he gave up a pick, and possibly committed us to a long term contract) Mixed bag: Used our free agent money last summer on Kaman, which looked good at first, then looked bad, but might turn out good in a strictly mentoring capacity Signed Mo Williams, who hit some big shots and was a nice guy but was also a defensive sieve I can't remember: we can't pin Felton and Crawford on him, can we? General impression: he's a bit like Pritchard (even looks like him) in that he's a good-looking glad-hander that you get the impression the awkward Aspie-ish Paul Allen rather admires. He seems to have a soft spot for ex-Clippers and in general people he has connections with from before (Williams, Afflalo, Kaman) even if they're not necessarily the best for us. Values "high character" (which is nice after the Jail Blazer years) but doesn't seem to value defense, except for the Lopez trade (still his high point for me). He seems to have been careful and incremental and it seems to have worked out fine so far (except for the Afflalo trade, although apparently everybody thinks Afflalo would have been awesome if Wes had stayed healthy, even though one of the few bright spots of the playoffs was CJ's play, which only happened because Afflalo was so useless) but this off season is his biggest challenge, with most of the team free agents. I could go either way with him. If he pulled off a few more trades like the Lopez trade, where a player was brought in whose effect on the team was far greater than could have been predicted from his stats, then I'm a fan. If he continues to fall in love with good shooters who can't play defense, and we end up watching a parade of layups by the other team, as at the low points in recent years, then I say show him the door. I do not expect to see him trade up for Porzingis, but would consider that a fireable offense. It's interesting that his major accomplishment in LA was landing Chris Paul. Not really much likelihood of that ever happening in Portland, so the achievement he was hired for is not what he can do for us. He's had to show other skills. Of course, he also signed DeAndre Jordan to a huge contract. A lot of people would probably say that was genius as Jordan has blossomed into a big-name player. However, I continue to believe that Jordan is overrated for everything except rebounding, so that doesn't make me all that happy.
I really like Olshey and commend his impact on the Blazers development and winning culture. He didn't cause 9 rotation players to get injured last season or we'd be singing his praises deeper in the playoffs. I think Neil is well connected and bright about the way he approaches the job. The draft is a crap shoot for every team. TRob wasn't drafted by the Blazers and he ended the season coming off the bench for the worst team in the NBA. I will say that Olshey is facing the most challenging offseason he's faced yet this summer in Portland. I think he'll surprise a lot of his detractors
For the most part I agree with your take (right down to the Lillard/Drummond comment). However, I would make these changes/additions: T-Rob: Move to "mixed bag". I don't recall really giving anything up to get him. It was a decent gamble, IMO. Meyers: Move to "mixed bag", trending towards "Pro". Add to "Cons": Targeted Hawes as Option #1 last summer. This is a huge red flag to me. Probably the worst thing he's done in Portland. Add to "Cons": Hired, and EXTENDED Terry Stotts. Another HUGE red flag to me. Add to "Mixed Bag": Targeted Hibbert when he was a FA. I put this in "MB" rather than "Cons", because at the time Hibbert looked quite good...but even back then there were questions about how good he really was. I certainly wasn't in favor of us extending a MAX offer to him - I knew he wasn't worth it. But I also understood that was going to be the only way we could possibly get him on the roster. Despite the fact that I have more on my "Cons" and "MB" list, than my "Pros" list, I still want to stick with him. Unlike KP I think he's doing his job well, despite the fact that I disagree with a lot of his decisions.
The trade for Afflalo was a "if he pans out we can keep him or if he doesn't, we have a little more cap space." I think the major factor was giving more burn to Leonardand CJ. Olshey basically forced the hand of Stotts to play Leonard and CJ more, by taking away Barton and T.Rob. They weren't getting much burn, but what burn they had took minutes away from CJ and Leonard.
He came late during that draft process. He did say that his LA scouts liked Lillard but I wouldn't give him credit for this draft. Hindsight is always convenient, and CJ looks like he has flipped a switch, but passing on Gobert stings. Hands down the best defensive big in the game right now. CJ could be good though if his playoff performance wasn't a flash in the pan. Giving up multiple second rounders for Crabbe looks bad now, too. Overall, I think he's been solid. The best GM this team has had in years. Though, I wish he was aggressive like a Danny Ainge or Trader Bob.
Here is the problem with comparing players the went later in the draft (Gobert, Middleton, Green) and its a huge pet peeve of mine when "our GM missed on that player" and said player went in the second or at the end of the first. Every other team missed on said player and there were reasons that player fell. If its within 5 picks of where we picked sure ill buy the "we missed on them" but when its 10 picks later or in the second then leave it alone. Every other team missed on that player as well it wasnt just us and it seems more of a way for someone to say that they "knew" that player would be a steal then really bashing our GM for not selecting him.
Yes, because we gave up so much to get him.... Name one GM that hasn't missed out on a better player after a selection was made? Seriously, I'll be waiting patiently. If Leonard and CJ both end up being contributing players, that will be remarkably good drafting by Olshey. And in regards to Utah, how is Exum working out? One extra year is a long term contract? Seriously, what did we give up to get Afflalo? It was a low risk move. Claver sucks. Robinson is a long term project. Thrill is a rat ball player that thrives on a shitty team. It's that simple.
Still in wait and see mode. Olshey's biggest blunder in his career has been giving up a completely unprotected pick to get rid of a decrepit Baron Davis in LA. That pick became Kyrie Irving. Let's hope he's a bit more judicious with his picks here. He quickly made up for that mistake by getting CP in LA. But I'd like to think Stern had just as much influence on that move as Neil. He will get no such favors in POR.
Doc Rivers just made a statement about how Stern threw trade opportunities away that were in motion and overruled the GMs to the point of frustration. There's a reason Olshey bolted the Clippers job.
That is why Discovery69's Draft track record is so amazing. He had both Gobert and Giannis WAY higher than any of the mock Drafts and was sold on Gobert as a Top 5 pick and Giannis as a Top 10. No hindsight there.....he's just been rock solid for over a decade with his picks and hindsight has proved that out.
Lillard was the right pick. Nba ready, desperately needed a PG. No one was higher on Drummond than me, but there is no way we should have took him over Lillard, even if he is better in the long run. We haven't had a half decent PG in forever. Now if we took meyers over drummond, that's a way different story.
Probably but we were rebuilding... Drummond is obviously the better player now. Wes could've been replaced pretty easily back then too.
Me too. The problem is, if we draft Drummond at 6, Lillard doesn't fall to 11 and our PG of the future is... Fat Boy Felton? Someone has to initiate the offense... Normally I'm a BPA guy, but given the GRAND importance of PG in this league especially right now and all the other things a GOOD PG does for a team, if team need is PG and you have two players rated similarly, you guy with the PG who MIGHT be a spot or two lower. I was desperately hoping Detroit wouldn't pick Drummond.