Change Kaveman to Krusty....done. Wait Dame..Bart Wes...Milhouse Batum....Lisa..haha Aldridge..Chief Wiggum?? Nevermind, we need more players like Simpson characters.These guys won't work.
no, not superstars at that point but Larry Brown was the superstar that made that click. Sheed was the closest to a superstar but those Pistons were no greater than our starting 5 right now
I love Olshey . . . what the saying, he could sell ice to eskimos. He talks about how he brought in Kaman and Blake because he was looking for players with playoff experience, been through the battles, knows what it takes to win in the league. But he first went after Hawes who has had very little playoff experience. I'm sure if he landed Hawes we would be herding something different, with as much passion, but something different. In the end Olshey will be judged on how the team performs and next year will also be a huge year for him, IMO. But while we wait and see how this all plays out, it sure is fun to hear him talk . . . kind of the opposite of Pritchard. They almost say the same thing, but with much different styles.
Hickson is fool's gold. Thomas Robinson at least tries to play defense, and he tries to play basketball, as opposed to playing the "try to pad my stats" game that Hickson excels at. I do expect TRob to become better than Hickson in terms of overall benefit to the team. Possibly as early as the latter part of this season.
That Pistons team had one all-star that year - Ben Wallace, a guy who averaged 9.5ppg on .421FG% and .490FT%. Keep in mind that was also the year Jamaal Magloire was an all-star in the East. The Eastern Conference was VERY thin at the center position back then. Ben Wallace was also the only Piston to make an All-NBA team (second team) or All-Defense team (first team) that year. The individual accolades for the other players did not come until after they won a title. That team didn't have a superstar. What they had was a solid starting five that played very well together. They didn't have a single player that averaged more than 18.6ppg or had a PER above 18.8 (I know it's just a general rule of thumb but PER = 20 is considered borderline all-star). If that's the model we are emulating, Olshey is doing the right thing. He's assembled a solid starting five that have great chemistry and play well together. We already have two all-stars and Lilliard should continue to improve. Our other three starters are all very solid, easily top 10 at their positions. What we need is a better bench, and that's what Olshey is working on improving. Let that solid starting core continue gel and improve the bench through the growth of our young guys (CJ, Robinson, and Barton) and add some vets (Kaman and Blake) for stability. We won 54 games and made the second round last season with the worst bench in the league. Solidify the bench and we should be even better this year. BNM
I like the outline, but there are still some "odd" (I don't mean weird, I mean as in odds and ends) players available for probably reasonable price who I think could help the Blazers bench. Last year Olshey picked up several, with, I'm sure, the idea that some would work and some not, but investment was pretty low. I'd like to see him do that again. Even one more decent rotation player would be a big help.
He's younger, more coachable and a team player. Actually Rolo replaced Hickson at the 5 which was a huge upgrade. JJ was a stat guy but we destroyed him when playing Denver last season. Yup, I think our frontcourt is much improved from the Hickson, Jeffries days
I'm still hoping he's going to use Mo in a sign and trade to pick up one more solid bench player. This team is very close to being a title contender and another good vet could bolster the team's chances.
Neil Olshey thinks Steve Blake and Chris Kaman are veterans and that they know what it takes to win the playoffs, thus the Blazers will be better Kaman's never done shit in the playoffs GS barely even gave Steve Blake minutes in the playoffs last year Reaching a new level starts with making the Blazers a better team, and Neil Olshey failed to do that.
The Pistons reference is a bad one. It was 1 team out of the last forever that won a title without a super star on it. It's like pinning your financial future on winning the lottery. Sure it happens, but it's freakishly rare
No it's not, that Pistons team made the eastern conference finals multiple times. The championship was largely Larry Brown's ability to get them on the same page. Credit where credit is due
To be fair, Nowitzki wasn't really playing superstar-level ball anymore when the Mavs won their title either.
