If the Blazers are not going to Fire NeO then bring in someone like a Adelman or someone like a Jerry West etc to be an advisor and give NeO a opinion through an outsiders point of view and not what might be "YES" men who work for NeO
If the justification was that we are trying to win now, you would find a third team. Lets say the pick was Cleveland at three, I think it would be pretty hard for Toronto to turn down giving up Siakam as the third team.
Unless in Neils arrogance, he's convinced himself that the 'roster is not the issue'... I'd be betting on that scenario. I wouldn't be surprised if the basis of Dame's comments are only 'we need to have urgency' and 'show me what your plans are'. Neil can be completely mis-reading the room. The clock is ticking.....
considering they've met twice face to face, that too for extended period of time (AND with Chauncey in tow), I don't know how that misunderstanding can happen. I certainly hope it's not a case of Olshey calling Dame's bluff.
Feels like philly is posturing. Once they realize they can’t get a “star” for him they’ll open up to the idea of someone like CJ.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...ing-draft-pick-deals-amid-damian-lillard-buzz Portland during down CJ offers.
That makes sense that we wouldn't just take picks for CJ, Dame wants a proven commodity to help him now. What should be happening though is we should have those offers for picks on hand and see if we can get that known impact difference maker from a third team. Maybe Neil is trying that and failing to find a willing partner but I definitely hope he hasn't put out word that we aren't taking calls on trade offers for CJ that are centered around picks because that would limit our knowledge of what we could offer a third team.
The appeal of a high pick sounds great, but let's say it's love and 3 for CJ. It's easy to say flip 3. To who? For what? How? We're turning the corner from Kanter and melo and we're gonna bring in love? And if you keep 3, then Dame's asking out.
If this is right, anyone having any faith in Olshey's basketball acumen needs to schedule an appointment with a medical professional. "Although Olshey has never publicly admitted it, he knows he failed last season in not recognizing a bench centered around Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter was fatally flawed from a defensive standpoint." Seriously? He failed to recognize Kanter/Melo was a defensive disaster? Un-freaking-believable! I just don't trust Neil to do anything different than he has done in the previous 9 seasons. It may be too late to do what he needs to. This needed to be address several years ago.
It was one of the worst contracts in the league and I definitely wouldn't want to keep it or the pick for that matter but a rebuilding team would likely be OK with eating his salary this season and buying him out the next or use it as an expiring; if that meant getting the third pick. I think Detroit might make that deal for Grant. To have the first and third pick in this draft with the three guys they have from last years draft and the rest of their young talent would be huge for that team.
As for if Portland were to get the #3, this Draft is being talked about as the best since the LeBron James, Melo, Wade, Bosh Draft of 2003. So help could be available immediately and could go a long way towards helping Dame for years to come and transitioning to the next Blazer era.
There's nothing wrong with having options. It's a problem with a coach who feels guilted into playing them. Coaches in the playoffs finished games with different lineups almost every other game. Stotts wasn't willing to try anyone other than the vets he propped up. He didn't get anyone else prepared. That's the sign of a horrendous coach. Melo and Kanter had value last season so having them isn't the problem. They could have used Giles or Little if they wanted more defense but the coach didn't.
Bringing up Melo reminded me of another reason Olshey is one of the worst to ever do it. The idea that a team would ever make a player's legacy a priority is so unbelievably foolish. Olshey should have been fired right after he told the media that was how he got Melo to re-sign.
I mean Stotts was just following through on the promise to protect Melo's legacy... oh and Stotts is already fired supposedly because there were no problems with the roster, it was all Terry's fault.
Teams are offering high lottery pick for CJ? If we really are going to run the same lineup as Quick alludes to, with bargain bin backups. I’d rather just start the rebuild now and trade Dame for more picks. Get Jalen Green and Jalen Suggs/Evan Mobley and start the rebuild from there.
Some of the guys at the top of this draft might be better than CJ is on day 1. Unfortunately would have to eat that Love contract but bfd. Worth the high ceiling player potentially available at 3.
Yeah, I'm hoping Quick is operating on pieces of information and mistakenly filling in the blanks. You're right, first of all I don't think "running it back" is an option because I really doubt that Norm wants to continue to play SF for us when he could play his natural position for the same money with the Knicks. That being said, even if we just brought back everyone and made a good signing with the taxpayer MLE, that wouldn't be good enough for Dame. So yeah at that point the best idea would be to blow it up, especially with an offer on the table that could get us one of those guys in the draft for CJ. I just hope Quick is wrong and we will move a package centered around CJ during the draft for a star forward who will complement this team and most importantly Dame and then re-sign Norm to start in the back court with Dame.
