Does Olshey have a tendency to target white players?

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PtldPlatypus said:
I'm hesitant to broach this topic because it seems ludicrous on its face, but I'm bringing it up anyway because I think there is value in a variety of perspectives, and I'm curious if anyone else has considered this. Take this with a grain of salt, but I've heard third-hand that part of the motivation for the Blazers' front office to drafting Collins was that since he is white, he would be less likely to be unhappy in Portland, ergo more likely to stay long term.

Looking back over Olshey's tenure here, it's arguable that a disproportionately large volume of his draft/trade/free agency targets (Leonard, Hawes, Kaman, Plumlee, Connaughton, Layman, Parsons, Nurkic) have been light-skinned. Obviously there have been several other acquisitions that don't fit that description, but looking at his track record, is it crazy to question whether Olshey is allowing skin color to influence his personnel decisions?
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Lololololoool wtf is this shit
 
I would say a black American player is a lot more used to Portland than a player from Bosnia, regardless of demographics.
 
santeesioux said:
I would say a black American player is a lot more used to Portland than a player from Bosnia, regardless of demographics.
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True, the Turkish community here sucks. Not a souk to be found. At least there's a barbershop somewhere up in NE, or so I've heard.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
Looking back over Olshey's tenure here, it's arguable that a disproportionately large volume of his draft/trade/free agency targets (Leonard, Hawes, Kaman, Plumlee, Connaughton, Layman, Parsons, Nurkic) have been light-skinned. Obviously there have been several other acquisitions that don't fit that description, but looking at his track record, is it crazy to question whether Olshey is allowing skin color to influence his personnel decisions?
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Thinking a bit more seriously on this, would you say that where we've drafted, there haven't been many "sure things" (for instance, no matter how eloquent he is or leadership he exudes, we're not taking Dame if we could've taken Anthony Davis). Where we picked Pat and Layman was a place where guys with only one skill or significant weaknesses go (some teams totally punt on 2nds). In Pat and Jake, we got guys who are smart, good shooters and have hops. I would've loved (and I think NO would've also) to have the choice between Layman, and, say, Valentine or Malcolm Brogdon or DeJounte Murray (who also can shoot and seem like high BBIQ guys). Maybe Jake and Pat are around b/c other GMs bias towards not-the-white-guy if similar stats/experience/upside?
 
No.

Outside the draft, has a tendency to target mediocre talent: Davis/Harkless/Aminu/Turner
 
Olshey says he targets players who want to be here..and buy into the culture in Portland...that many are northerners isn't a surprise really...for some guy from Minnesota or Boston it's pretty mild here in the winter....we've done pretty well in the past with guys like Walton, Przybilla, Kleine, Schrempf, Purdue, Dudley, Sabonis, etc.....I don't think they were here because of ethnicity but because they wanted to be here as well. It's amazing to me how many international players are making rosters in the modern game compared to years past....
 
Fun fact.

Did you guys know that last year the Plumlee's represented 7% of American born white players in the entire league.

There are about 450 players in the NBA, so 7% of that is 31 players league wide, or barely over 1 American born white player per team.

Portland has 4, Leonar_, Connaughton, Collins and Layman out of 14, or roughly 28.5% of it's roster. Probably coincidence, but who knows?
 
Chris Rock from back in the day
"I never thought growing up that one day the greatest tennis player would be a black woman, the tallest basketball player a Chinese man and the best rapper a white dude."
back then that was Serena Williams, Yao Ming and Eminem
 
BrianFromWA said:
You mean, we shouldn't have taken the soft-spoken kid from suburban Indiana and we should've honked twice for the brash guy from inner-city DC who went to Oak Hill and was raised by his grandma? Because that better fit "Portland culture" and "PA preference?"
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We never got a chance to find out if Durant would have felt the way about Portland that Oden did. There was no black vs white tie-breaker in play there, but that doesn't change the fact that "black in Portland" was an issue. Whether it's still a factor being weighed by the front office is a valid question.
 
When we used the # 1 pick it was not on a white guy....just sayin'
 
Portland is very white. I joking told my kids to count the non employee black people they saw at PDX when we visited last. I was showing them how diverse Houston is compared to Portland.

No shit, my daughter counted 8. 8 for fucks sake. Whether real or not, it is the perception of many that Portland may not be the best place for a young rich black guy. Also the weather. Barkley joked that he's never seen the sun in Portland the other night on TNT. It's an issue.
 
KeepOnRollin said:
I could go as far as saying it could be used as a "tie breaker" for the man but if Olshey was so into white guys he would have drafted Steven Adams over CJ and Austin Rivers over Dame (we laugh now but at the time they were close in value).

And yes I know you addressed that there are outlighers....
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Austin Rivers is white?
 
dviss1 said:
This is silly.

He drafted Aminu when he could've drafted Gordon.

He targets players he thinks can help us.

/thread.
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Eric Gordon?
 
This is ridiculous. Creating a team of all or mostly white dudes in the nba isn't superiority its suicide. Neil decides on players based on talent or percieved talent, not race.
 
Chris Craig said:
He converted to mormon...hes white now
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ricky-rubio-jazz.jpg

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That MF is a wolf!
 
He probably spent too much time around Donald Sterling. Likely doesn't even know he does it. Maybe we should have an intervention......or fire him and the coach.

Yeah, the last part sounds better.
 
Mediocre Man said:
Portland is very white. I joking told my kids to count the non employee black people they saw at PDX when we visited last. I was showing them how diverse Houston is compared to Portland.

No shit, my daughter counted 8. 8 for fucks sake. Whether real or not, it is the perception of many that Portland may not be the best place for a young rich black guy. Also the weather. Barkley joked that he's never seen the sun in Portland the other night on TNT. It's an issue.
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I saw maybe 10 black people the week I was up there, saw a bunch of Asians though, probably almost as many as white people actually.
 
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