Who is Quick getting info from? I really don't think he's that connected around the league. I know in the past he has referenced connections with agents, but most of the news he breaks comes from the team itself. We also know Neil is tightlipped. Any leaks coming from him are strategic. What purpose does it serve for Neil to leak to Quick now that he's going to get rid of CJ et al? And the one nugget he has about a potential CJ trade is that a team with a top 4 pick would give up their pick for CJ (something that vastly overvalues CJ), and apparently we would reject this. Quick has been terrific these past few years, but think he's going around in the circles here. Don't buy most of what he's trying to sell.
Quick is plugged in to a certain extent. I wouldn’t trust anything he says with regards to specific targets, trades, or signings.
Sounds like him talking to random people around the league and maybe some that work for the organization. But definitely not in the front office. I don't think he ever gets leaks from Olshey's FO. But yes, the stuff about the org understanding they're on the clock with Dame, but then also okay with running it back is contradictory. I do think he talks with people that work for the org though. He cited each individual player's defensive percentile. Sorry, I just don't buy that he looked up those numbers himself. Those numbers and reasoning were obviously fed to him by someone.
specific targets, i WOULD actually listen to. I'm fairly certain he had DJ pegged before FA started as a target last year. But his valuations, claims about direction of the roster, handle of the CBA, etc-- he has no idea what he's talking about.
Yeah, its crazy the pressure put on reporters to compete in this on line 24/7 news cycle. The temptation to add sizzle with claimed sources must be great.
Exactly. This is exponentially bigger than the LMA offseason. It's put up or shut up time, and this is one time where I hope olshey doesn't shut up. But I doubt it. A change is gonna come.
From OCT 16, Quick had this in his mailbag. We signed DJ on Day 1 of FA a month later: I don't think Quick knows the league or understands the stats well enough to pull a random name like Jones out of his ass. He heard it from someone. https://theathletic.com/2141622/202...olshey-sign-derrick-jones-jr-blazers-mailbag/ As a parallel, I'd keep an eye on someone he has mentioned in the past few weeks this year: Marcus Smart. And one of these guys:
he was like the 30th ranked FA among a field of 50 that SI rated last offseason. And there was no other noise about him, yet Quick makes him a headline? Dude shoulda hit the slots if he got just lucky with that one.
Portland’s ability to score isn’t the problem. Their offense was a problem, which Billups will absolutely fix.
I was listening to a lot of random podcasts then and a few people thought the Blazers should go after DJJ.
Ok, i must have missed those then, or forgotten. Regardless, my point remains. There are some things we should take as gospel from Quick, but others, take with a big grain of salt. A lot of contradictory claims in this article today and his subsequent interview on 1080. Like even an idiot would not reject a top 4 pick for CJ. No way I believe that one to be true.
I listen to various sports radio and tv shows and most are reporting what they've heard from other reports or sources. And they all present it like they are breaking news.
blazers definitely have one of the best offensive starting line-ups in the league (that being said, terry stotts didnt use them to the best of their abilities and im sure chauncey billups will) defense is the issue, maybe billups can improve defense to a certain point, im sure this team can play better (solid) defense, but not good defense and for that it requies better personnel fuck, a good coach would do wonders with dame/cj/powell/roco/nurk offensively
IF / when Jones opts into his contract I would be shocked if he is not traded which is a shame cause with a new staff it's possible he might have a legit role as a Corner 3 and D guy.
I know I did. I actually don't even think it was a bad pickup. He had the highest winning percentage of any starter on the team last season and Stotts refused to use his best offensive skills. Also when he was getting regular playing time he was hitting more than a third of his threes, keeping opposing teams honest and creating good spacing. That's just on offense, on defense he was the second most disruptive force behind RoCo and could stop opponents on the perimeter or in the post. Stotts decided to go with the teeny tiny lineup and then completely cut him out of the rotation and despite having CJ and Nurk back our record got worse.
Someone is buying it.... and unfortunately he's the guy in charge right now. I'm definitely a 'numbers guy' - but sometimes you have to take a critical eye at the numbers....