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The past few weeks have been a collage of chaos. First, we witnessed our starting small foward get traded away. As fans, we were half torn, we liked Batum, but he continued to be inconsistent in his play, to discordant for the Blazers to continue to over pay him. We were confused by the assets we received in turn for him, in Henderson and Vonleh. It was the first red flag in LaMarcus Aldridge's future here in Portland. A lot of us didn't want to accept that he was going to leave, that the rest of our core would be out the door behind him. We didn't know what was happening behind Olshey's doors. We were in the dark. So when Aldridge made it official, and Olshey revealed to us that he would not be resigning Matthews and Lopez, the harsh reality of things began to set in.
All us at one time or the other were angry, some of us still are. We wanted Olshey's ass on a platter, asked for him to be fired, or to resign. We hissed and spewed profanity at Aldridge, called him a traitor,, hated on him to the extreme. This was both appropriate and necessary. Aldridge deserved the animosity of the fans for the way he handled things, and we needed to vent, to work through our anger and our disbelief. We were discombobulated, more than half our team that had won fifty plus games two seasons in a row, were gone, and slowly being replaced by younger less experienced players. I was impatient, as I am sure most of the other Blazers fans were, from the start of this process, when Olshey traded Batum, whats next? Then draft came and I expected something big was going to happen, like perhaps the 9th pick had been included in the trade with the Hornets, but no, we drafted Rondae Hollis -Jefferson then traded him to the nets with Blake for Plumlee, Then traded for two picks in the second round and took Diez and Connaughton. We fans argued what this meant, whether we were completely rebuilding or just putting a younger core around Aldridge.
With the signings of Aminu and Davis we thought Aldridge might change his mind and stay, we hoped and waited. But, alas the Popovich supplied dreams of a chamipnship lured him away. We signed Connaughton and Montero and went all in for Kanter. Alas we are left with a young team. We will mostly likely guarantee the contracts of Fraizer and Crabbe, and along with the trade for Harkless, the picture was becoming clearer. But, some of us didn't want to see it. Some of us gloated in our despair that we had been right all along, that Aldridge was going to leave, that Olshey is some stupid actor, playing the role of a lifetime.
But, while we were arguing over who was right and wrong, something was happening. It was occurring under our noses the whole time. Olshey was putting together a masterpiece. Maybe it wasn't his plan A or even B, but he had thought about this, how he would go about rebuilding this team if it came to that. He decided to be patient, knowing that there were alot of diamonds in the ruff out there, that other GMS in their haste to put together win now teams, or to quicken rebuilds, were over looking and taking for granted that they were there. But, Olshey saw them and plucked them up, engineering the best opportunity for the Blazers to have a bright future.
Ar first, I didn't understand this. I like I said was impatient, I wanted win now team, a replacement for Aldridge and a resigning of everyone else. But, all that would have done would have been to fill in the cracks with glue that might not and eventually would no longer stick. Like Paul Allen said himself, "Teams that hold on to long to something that isn't good enough are doomed to end up in mediocrity and failure." There then was no need for Olshey to convince him of anything, nor Olshey to convince me or you. They knew it was time to let go. After seething being emotional and illogical about this last few weeks of turbulence, I too realized that it was time to let go.
Now, we start anew, a carefully planned beginning, a new era of RIP CITY basketball. So, it doesn't matter who was right and wrong about this or that, because we are where we are. So instead of complaining about Aldridge or Olshey, or pouting that we may suck next year, let's get excited about what may be. Yes, we might suck, but we are in an unknown right now, we don't know how all these young guys will mesh and play together. They may surprise us like all the Blazer teams of the past, and play well. I'm not contending that they will win a championship or even make the playoffs. I am going to be realistic, but I am going to hope, and I am going to watch this team fail and succeed, and I'm going to continue to be excited about the possibilities. It is gonna be one hell of a journey and I hope you'll take it with me.
All us at one time or the other were angry, some of us still are. We wanted Olshey's ass on a platter, asked for him to be fired, or to resign. We hissed and spewed profanity at Aldridge, called him a traitor,, hated on him to the extreme. This was both appropriate and necessary. Aldridge deserved the animosity of the fans for the way he handled things, and we needed to vent, to work through our anger and our disbelief. We were discombobulated, more than half our team that had won fifty plus games two seasons in a row, were gone, and slowly being replaced by younger less experienced players. I was impatient, as I am sure most of the other Blazers fans were, from the start of this process, when Olshey traded Batum, whats next? Then draft came and I expected something big was going to happen, like perhaps the 9th pick had been included in the trade with the Hornets, but no, we drafted Rondae Hollis -Jefferson then traded him to the nets with Blake for Plumlee, Then traded for two picks in the second round and took Diez and Connaughton. We fans argued what this meant, whether we were completely rebuilding or just putting a younger core around Aldridge.
With the signings of Aminu and Davis we thought Aldridge might change his mind and stay, we hoped and waited. But, alas the Popovich supplied dreams of a chamipnship lured him away. We signed Connaughton and Montero and went all in for Kanter. Alas we are left with a young team. We will mostly likely guarantee the contracts of Fraizer and Crabbe, and along with the trade for Harkless, the picture was becoming clearer. But, some of us didn't want to see it. Some of us gloated in our despair that we had been right all along, that Aldridge was going to leave, that Olshey is some stupid actor, playing the role of a lifetime.
But, while we were arguing over who was right and wrong, something was happening. It was occurring under our noses the whole time. Olshey was putting together a masterpiece. Maybe it wasn't his plan A or even B, but he had thought about this, how he would go about rebuilding this team if it came to that. He decided to be patient, knowing that there were alot of diamonds in the ruff out there, that other GMS in their haste to put together win now teams, or to quicken rebuilds, were over looking and taking for granted that they were there. But, Olshey saw them and plucked them up, engineering the best opportunity for the Blazers to have a bright future.
Ar first, I didn't understand this. I like I said was impatient, I wanted win now team, a replacement for Aldridge and a resigning of everyone else. But, all that would have done would have been to fill in the cracks with glue that might not and eventually would no longer stick. Like Paul Allen said himself, "Teams that hold on to long to something that isn't good enough are doomed to end up in mediocrity and failure." There then was no need for Olshey to convince him of anything, nor Olshey to convince me or you. They knew it was time to let go. After seething being emotional and illogical about this last few weeks of turbulence, I too realized that it was time to let go.
Now, we start anew, a carefully planned beginning, a new era of RIP CITY basketball. So, it doesn't matter who was right and wrong about this or that, because we are where we are. So instead of complaining about Aldridge or Olshey, or pouting that we may suck next year, let's get excited about what may be. Yes, we might suck, but we are in an unknown right now, we don't know how all these young guys will mesh and play together. They may surprise us like all the Blazer teams of the past, and play well. I'm not contending that they will win a championship or even make the playoffs. I am going to be realistic, but I am going to hope, and I am going to watch this team fail and succeed, and I'm going to continue to be excited about the possibilities. It is gonna be one hell of a journey and I hope you'll take it with me.
