Rumor Report: Owner Paul Allen investigating whether Trail Blazers’ problem is roster or coaching

That would be a good hire.

 

While the rumors of dysfunction in the Warriors locker room under Mark Jackson seem to be all too true.
Lets remember also outside of the Heat in 2013, no one played the Spurs in the playoffs better than the Warriors.
Took some pretty big heroics from some HoFers just for the Spurs to claim that series 4-2.
Only way you didn't know GSW was coming after the 2013 playoffs is if you didn't watch that series.

The following year the dysfunction was apparently worse and the Warriors looked all too similar to the Clippers in terms of leadership, and frankly preparation.
Which directly lead to Jacksons firing and the race topic being brought up with the Kerr hiring.

I'm no Mark Jackson fan, but Kerr is far from a Brad Stevens, or Eric Spoelstra.
Outside of the dysfunction being gone, only thing Kerr did imo is let the Warriors players play. Giving them freedom to involve everyone in the offense. Not focus on iso 1 on 1 play. Or as it's known around these parts, Sargeball.

 

I said > than 50 games.

They won 59 in 200o, and were well on their way to 50+ wins in 2001 until Whitsitt upset the apple cart by bringing back Rod Strickland and Detlef Schrempf (with special treatment). That threw the locker room into total disarray, the team, which hadn't lost more than 2 games in a row all season, immediately lost 5 in a row and lost 14 of their last 22 games to finish with exactly 50 wins only to get swept by the Lakers in the first round (and again the next year).

I stand by the accuracy of my statement. 1999-2000 was the only season during Bob Whitsitt's tenure as Blazers GM than the team won > 50 wins.

Whitsitt should have been fire then and there, but Paul gave him two more years of record payrolls and disappointing results before he finally fired him.

BNM

 

Well, he also made his PF his primary facilitator and let his PG play off the ball.

It's funny, everyone claims the PF position is no longer relevant in today's NBA, yet the best team in the league runs their offense through their PF.

Sure, Green is a unique talent, but it took Kerr to recognize that talent and utilize it to maximum advantage.

BNM

 

Really?

 

No they taint.

 

Pretty sure that wasn't true. Oregon Arena Corp didn't file for bankruptcy until after Whitsitt got canned, but it was the contracts he handed out that made the team unprofitable.

They had a $105 million payroll when the salary cap was $40 million. That was 14 years and multiple record TV contracts ago. Paul Allen was willing to lose money for a chance at winning a title. He wasn't willing to hemorrhage money to be first round fodder.

The facts are simple. Whitsitt was fired for poor job performance. His last three seasons in Portland, Paul Allen received terrible ROI for his very sizable investment. It had nothing to do with the local media or few anonymous posters in some obscure forum, Whitsitt was the reason Whitsitt got fired. Plain and simple. Payroll > 2x the salary cap and the biggest payroll in the league, by a very wide margin, for three consecutive first round exits will put any GM's job in jeopardy.

Neil finds himself in a similar position. The results are similar to the end of Whitsitt's tenure (two first round exists and one second round appearance), but as bad as the payroll is now, it's not nearly as out of whack as it was during Whitsitt's reign. We currently have the 4th highest payroll in the league and are 1.23x the salary cap.

BNM

 

It wouldn't matter because the rest of the forum lemmings would be cool with that

 

I guess I'd forgotten that already, so I looked it up: Chad Ford: "What are the Cleveland Cavaliers seeking in exchange for the No. 1 pick? Sources say they reached out to the Portland Trail Blazers in an attempt to land LaMarcus Aldridge for the Nos. 1 and 19 picks. The Blazers quickly rebuffed them."

 

Granted, who we would've drafted with the #1 wouldn't have been all that good. That draft was trash.

 

Probably C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe - no shit.

Of course we SHOULD have taken (hindsight being 20:20) Giannis Adetokunbo (no shit, that's how Sports Illustrated spelled his name at the time) and Rudy Gobert, but we could have had them without trading Aldridge.

BNM

 

Best semi realistic scenario would have been Oladipo, Giannis and Gobert. How much better would we be?

Lillar, Oladipo, Freak, whoever, Gobert. Probably contending

 

Specific numbers aside, that is how I remember it.

 

I don't recall which publication ranked the franchises, but it was something legit along the lines of the Wall St Journal. I believe Portland was #3, behind NY and probably LA. That was before the NFL hit its every-day-of-the-week broadcast popularity, and I recall the Blazers ranking ahead of most NFL franchises on the list.

The financial outlook didn't change until the Jail Blazers ushered in the losing era. That's the part people remember with all the mess surrounding the arena ownership and Vulcan marching orders.

 

Don't leave the D out of Lillard's name dude. Respect the improvement he's made on that end Cpt. Hindsight.

 

Swear on my children that was not intentional, but LOL.

I was just going along with the trade scenario. Those are all realistic picks

 

While Green puts up numbers. I wouldn't call him the primary ball handler.
GSW's offense is based off everyone touching the ball. Not one player holding it for 20s then taking a contested shot. Which is what I was getting at.
I mean everyone saw Green yelling @ KD last year when he held the ball & didn't move it around when he first joined the Warriors.

Kerr isn't some innovator on the offensive end by any means. Even the wannabes on this forum said it's more difficult on the defense if everyone touches the ball.
Actually I'd argue the main reason GSW lost in 2016 is because Curry reverted to hero ball. Rather than letting people set him up.