I kind of agree with you. This can be addressed with one veteran PG. Without one the bench will struggle or Lillard will never come out. A good back up PG will help a young bench tremendously. It will make a huge difference. If they go with SG as the back up PG, it will make the rest of the 2nd unit look worse. But I am confident Neil won't make that mistake again. The bench was much better with Maynor than pre-Maynor. He will find someone else.
There are always exceptions. Those are just historically terrible organizations in every sense, with only Sacramento making a real run at it for a few years. We should ultimately judge Neil Olshey on how the Blazers perform during the season and in the playoffs.
Yep. I can imagine Aldridge and Lillard already getting excited about the coming season. Portland has made significant strides and can be right in the thick of the playoff race this year.
I think your statement is wrong when almost a third of the league has a problem going from terrible --> respectable. Just saying.
I've said a few times that he's making good value deals. I'm not going to say they're sensational, though.
Since 2007 the only teams that haven't made the playoffs are Minnesota and Sacramento. It's not that hard to get to respectable.
You're forgetting how long it took teams to get out of celler dweller status. Teams like the Knicks, Nets, Warriors, Clippers (Led out by NO btw).
That was my thinking. I'd rather start Meyers and let him learn that have Learch Adams. I hope we got him for a second round pick.
I think Withey will see more time than Leonard. Remember, Withey is actually older, and has a defined skill. I see Leonard and Crabbe as our D-League all-stars. Remember also that Claver and Barton saw more minutes in the end-of-season tankfest and didn't look terrible.
Clippers won a playoff series in 2006, started over and rebuilt, won another one again last year Nets were in the ECF in 2007, made the playoffs again this yea (5-year span) Warriors won a playoff series in 2007, started over and rebuilt, won another series this year Knicks didn't make the playoffs for 6 years until they made made it again in 2010-2011, and have made it 3 years in a row Idk, I think my point stands. It's just not that hard to get to become a respectable team in the NBA. Fuck Over half the league makes the playoffs
When Olshey took over, the cupboard was bare. At least this bench now has a pulse. For those who like a BBC show called "Wheeler Dealers", the host of that program--Mike Brewer--has a new show. The premise of the show is that he takes a broken down jalopy and keeps trading until he has a supercar. That's what Olshey is doing. I like this deal because Lopez is a stopgap. He's big, he defends the rim, he's smart and he's relatively cheap.
Not really. Lopez would have been better than Withey anyways. Losing your 3rd stringer isn't that important.
I still think it's a good trade, but I'm a bit bummed to see Withey go. I was excited to see him fall to the Blazers in the 2nd round. Smart move though to go with a known quantity (R Lopez), rather than betting on potential.
Me too. I liked the three-headed center of Lopez/Leonard/Withey. Still like the trade, even though it isn't the something-for-nothing we thought it was.
When your second-stringer doesn't play much D. There are times we'll need as much down-low D and rebounding as possible. ML doesn't provide much of that yet (and I'm a big ML fan).
Look, I like Withey and all (he was a steal at 39), but it doesn't really alter my opinion of the trade. Reality is, he would have been sitting on the bench unless Meyers or Lopez got injured.