f* neil olshey

[illmatic99]

Quick is on radio right now talking about how this roster was planned/made to make trades. He mentions Ed Davis as a possible piece to move with his contract. Meyers as well, if he can make shots to increase value.

He says with these trends in rebounding and given our expectations, trades have to be considered.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Not really sure what NO could have done different? The talent is what it is. It's not like he didn't try to get Whiteside.

That seems like that is the story of Portland. I assume he also put out feelers on Howard. I thought maybe he should have gone after Ian Mahimni, but looks as if he is already injured so probably good he didn't. So who was available and wanted to come to Portland?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

So let me ask you this....


I think perhaps some of this has more to do with Stotts than Olshey. There's only so many times you can call up the same vanilla plays before the defenses adjust for it, and only so many times that you can let an opponent take a 10 point lead (or higher) before you call a time out.

He does both of these things very poorly, add to the fact that he's not a Defensive-minded coach.

I don't know if we need more plays. I was just reading about Popovich's first year coaching and he spent a lot of time on details, making sure they were executing a few plays very well. Of course the other thing he spent a lot of time on was defense which Stotts still doesn't seems to have worked out. I would rather he made the defense a little bit more complicated than the offense.

 

[illmatic99]

I never advocated trading CJ for Noel so not sure where that came from.

Noel has been bandied about by others, not you.

But having a big like Boogie to balance the floor out in a much better manner would be a good thing IMO.

I myself say if Boogie becomes available, you have to let go of CJ to get him.

Dame and CJ are very good offensively but neither passes very much, neither plays defense and they are both ball dominant. That is a lot of holes to fill.

Ball dominance doesn't matter if together the lineup they're in is scoring a ridiculous 1.14 points per possession. The problem is NOT on the offensive end.

 

[illmatic99]

This is surprising:

We take the 3rd most contested 3s of anyone in the league. Ball isn't moving to find the open shooters like it should.

 

[Trackjack]

I totally get where you are coming from as well. I'm just not sure that CJ's style fits this team when you already have someone like Dame on it. They are just both too ball dominant without either of them being much of a facilitator. Countless times I've watched CJ dribble the ball for 20 seconds and then throw up some off -balanced shot that because of his ability, often goes in. The down side of that is, no one else even touches the ball, gets involved other than countless screens or develops any rhythm.

If you rarely touch the ball on offense, for most players it can affect them on the defensive end as well. Few players want to just run around setting picks and then run back on defense play after play.

CJ has a TON of talent but I'm afraid for his career and for Portland to move forward, both of those might be better served if he is elsewhere. Portland is just too one-dimensional with him and Dame on the court at the same time...and that dimension has nothing to do with passing or defense.

I total agree with you but it up to the coach to straighten this out. I believe everyone has to be involved in the game so that make them happy then they try little harder on both ends. It Neil job to give the coach players to work with then its the coaches job to put it together. Now do I think Neil over paid on some players yes.

 

[Sarni]

For one thing, most teams value 17 million in cap space over a scrub that takes up that 17 million in cap space. Teams are much more sane about a players value during trade time, than they are in their drunken stupor to sign free agents, when they are desparate.

Also, you dont' want guys taking up 10x what they are worth, because it come come bite you in the ass later. See the Thunder letting go of Harden for example, so they didn't have to pay luxury tax. They just pittled away a dynasty.

We are not going to get any worthwhile free agent for a while. Most of the interesting ones will be getting $20M+ contracts in the near future and would pick other teams ahead of Portland anyway, like this year. Also, all our core players and potential players are signed up for the next 3-4 seasons which means we won't be in position to have to resign them and go over the cap. Yes, we will likely have to drop one of our high earners next year to stay below cap with CJ's extension (I think) but it won't be that difficult. It might happen with Ezeli that we don't have the funds to sign him but it is still two years from now.

The way I see it Olshey realized we have no chance to sign top tier free agents for a while and even mid tier FAs were going for north of $15M last year so the decision was to develop from within and see where it takes us. We may have been a little careless with that Turner deal but that's about it. With Leonard and Crabbe we believed in their potential, and in Crabbe we have a player who will still have good value if we decide to move him. Leonard could come back to bite us but IMO in current climate someone would take his $10M deal.

Harkless was a very good deal. Ezeli will prove to be a good signing. I don't see what else could have been done.

We will probably move Crabbe for Noel or Okafor in a couple of months, or put together a huge package for Cousins and everyone will be content again. There is no way we finish the season with this group, IMO we will get at least two new faces in and that has been the plan all along. Whatever happens until January is just bumping value of our assets.

 

[Scalma]

.

We will probably move Crabbe for Noel or Okafor in a couple of months, or put together a huge package for Cousins and everyone will be content again. There is no way we finish the season with this group, IMO we will get at least two new faces in and that has been the plan all along. Whatever happens until January is just bumping value of our assets.

That sounds about right to me. Couldn't lock down Whiteside, so passed on overspending on the second tier bigs, and collected assets instead to make a move at the deadline. This is what Marc Stein quoted execs around the league thought about portlands situation about a week ago as well.

And some of y'all are crazy if you don't think Leonard has any trade value. $10m is nothing these days, and a young stretch 5 is extremely valuable in today's NBA.

 

[Sarni]

That sounds about right to me. Couldn't lock down Whiteside, so passed on overspending on the second tier bigs, and collected assets instead to make a move at the deadline. This is what Marc Stein quoted execs around the league thought about portlands situation about a week ago as well.

Exactly. Nets were willing to pay Crabbe the same money. We know there is one team in the league who badly needs backcourt shooter and have a massive logjam of centers, all of them very talented.

Trading with Sixers makes so much sense that it almost has to happen. Just not sure who for. With Noel's extension coming Okafor might make more sense but he has no defense. Unless Sacramento deal us Boogie.

 

[BigGameDamian]

I got your point.

But CJ is young, he can improved his defense, otherwise he can score.

Trade everyone expect Dame and CJ and im ok.

Trade Aminu, Turner, Mason for a big man, thats all.

Falling in love with CJ ehh? Good thing your not the GM. If I remember correctly the GS fans were in love with Ellis when they traded him also. The owners fiancee was pissed. Look how that turned out. The only untouchable player for the Blazers should be Dame.

 

[Sarni]

CJ for Greek Freak only

 

[Scalma]

Exactly. Nets were willing to pay Crabbe the same money. We know there is one team in the league who badly needs backcourt shooter and have a massive logjam of centers, all of them very talented.

Trading with Sixers makes so much sense that it almost has to happen. Just not sure who for. With Noel's extension coming Okafor might make more sense but he has no defense. Unless Sacramento deal us Boogie.

I might be reaching here and I know Noel hasn't played yet, but maybe Philly knows we can't trade Crabbe until January and that's why they've held out on trading Nerlens. Crabbe fits philly perfectly, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've targeted him. Same goes for Portland and Noel.

Then we could use our surplus of bigs to get another shooter to help replace Crabbe. Someone like mclemore. Also would free up minutes for layman.

 

[illmatic99]

@TBpup and other insiders of the past, any word on how much management is concerned over this start?

Is someone like Boogie actually obtainable?

 

[santeesioux]

He didn't have a very good offseason as our meltdowns were a testament to, but I'm willing to see what he does at the trade deadline before I start bitching about him.

 

[jonnyboy]

And after our next blowout win everything will be good again for ever and ever. I don't understand when people blow the fuck up after we lose and proceed to hand pick a scapegoat. There are multiple factors behind every loss, not just a shitty gm or player. It is what it is, quit being bipolar. If certain people on here had their way there would be mass firings after every game. Just seems like abunch of hindsight and whining.

 

[Blazers Roy]

This piece of shit cake was half prepared and you burned it to a crisp. What an absoultely abysmal offseason. You paid Turner/Leonard/Crabbe about 10x what they were worth.

Everytime this team faces a good opponent they go home with shoe up their ass. Fire Neil and get a real GM rather than a soap opera star.

That's not true! he wasn't a star!

 

[chzbrgr]

And after our next blowout win everything will be good again for ever and ever. I don't understand when people blow the fuck up after we lose and proceed to hand pick a scapegoat. There are multiple factors behind every loss, not just a shitty gm or player. It is what it is, quit being bipolar. If certain people on here had their way there would be mass firings after every game. Just seems like abunch of hindsight and whining.

This is a nice idea and all but we haven't blown anybody out this year, only been blown out 3-4 times (which is like a third of the games to date) which is what has many people worried. I dont think its an overreaction when our only win over a team over 500 was the jazz on opening night without hayward or favors. We look like the nuggets but paying guys like were the cavs has a lot of posters questioning the moves we made and rightfully so if you ask me.

 

[Tunchi]

CJ on, Dame off: 0.91 points per possession
Dame on, CJ off: 1.01 points per possession
Dame on, CJ on: 1.14 points per possession

Trading CJ for offensive reasons is a dumb idea.

You don't trade CJ unless you're getting a star big man in return -- meaning AD/Boogie caliber. Ideally, you want a trio of stars with Dame and CJ as the foundation.

Now is not the time to let go of a MASSIVE advantage we have with guys who can give you 48 mins of terrific P&R play.

There is a reason Jerry West blocked a trade that would have broken up the best backcourt in the NBA for Kevin Love. And we're ready to move CJ for Nerlens freaking Noel? And CJ is a lot closer to Klay than he is Monta. We need to learn lessons from what GS did.

How is Cj closer to Klay than Monta?

 

[jonnyboy]

This is a nice idea and all but we haven't blown anybody out this year, only been blown out 3-4 times (which is like a third of the games to date) which is what has many people worried. I dont think its an overreaction when our only win over a team over 500 was the jazz on opening night without hayward or favors. We look like the nuggets but paying guys like were the cavs has a lot of posters questioning the moves we made and rightfully so if you ask me.

Yeah, it sucks watching your team lose, I hear you. Most of us here have been doing it since we were kids. But Neil Olshey can't put a gun to a star free agent's back and force him on a plane to Portland. We have an undesirable market and have to pay more to play the game. It's just the way it is. When you take this into account, Neil's decision making is not as horrendous as some make it out to be. It's not fair, but it's not the fault of the gm.

 

[illmatic99]

How is Cj closer to Klay than Monta?

CJ is shooting the three this year at 44.4% (higher than Klay has EVER shot it). He shot it at 41.7% last year, compared to Klay's 42.5%.

Monta's best ever % from 3 was 36%, and he's a career 31% shooter.

The spacing between CJ and Dame is a lot closer to that between Steph and Klay, in comparison to Steph-Monta.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Unfortunately I don't think there's anyway CJ and Damian can play together long-term. They duplicate each other way too much, both are horrible on defense, both are ball-dominant and they aren't particularly complimentary on the court together. That's not the same as saying they are "bad" players by any means. They just can't be our two best players if this team has any hope of doing anything.

 

[illmatic99]

Unfortunately I don't think there's anyway CJ and Damian can play together long-term. They duplicate each other way too much, both are horrible on defense, both are ball-dominant and they aren't particularly complimentary on the court together. That's not the same as saying they are "bad" players by any means. They just can't be our two best players if this team has any hope of doing anything.

These things are just flat out wrong.

I get if you say they have too many defensive deficiencies between them, and that it's hard to hide TWO negatives on defense (especially when they're both on the backcourt) and you 0 rim protection behind them.

But nearly every metric shows that they play well with each other, they have a synergistic effect on the team's offense, and that it's ridiculously hard to keep them BOTH in check. We need a third consistent, complementary player in the WORST way.

Take what this HOF player says for example:

 

[e_blazer]

The rebounds have been killing the Blazers. Both Plumlee and Davis are down significantly from last year. Plumlee averaged 7.7 boards in 2015 and is only getting 5.8 this year. Davis averaged 7.4 last year and is down to 4 this year. Those guys have to pick it up.

 

[Scalma]

This team is two pieces away; a center that can protect the rim and rebound, and a third scorer who can shoot consistently and slash. That's it.

One of those is already on the roster imo.

Cousins would be more of a swing for the fences rather than a necessary move, but I'd be for it as well.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

So early.... Why does anybody respond to garbage threads such as this? Especially from this poster? Dude is borderline-mixum.

 

[Tunchi]

CJ is shooting the three this year at 44.4% (higher than Klay has EVER shot it). He shot it at 41.7% last year, compared to Klay's 42.5%.

Monta's best ever % from 3 was 36%, and he's a career 31% shooter.

The spacing between CJ and Dame is a lot closer to that between Steph and Klay, in comparison to Steph-Monta.

Good point

 

[Orion Bailey]

This piece of shit cake was half prepared and you burned it to a crisp. What an absoultely abysmal offseason. You paid Turner/Leonard/Crabbe about 10x what they were worth.

Everytime this team faces a good opponent they go home with shoe up their ass. Fire Neil and get a real GM rather than a soap opera star.

I suggest stop looking through your instant media/drive-thru goggles and get a grip on the long term. I wont explain what the long term is though because you have to have vision to see it and this thread proves the lack of vision.

 

[Orion Bailey]

We are not going to get any worthwhile free agent for a while. Most of the interesting ones will be getting $20M+ contracts in the near future and would pick other teams ahead of Portland anyway, like this year. Also, all our core players and potential players are signed up for the next 3-4 seasons which means we won't be in position to have to resign them and go over the cap. Yes, we will likely have to drop one of our high earners next year to stay below cap with CJ's extension (I think) but it won't be that difficult. It might happen with Ezeli that we don't have the funds to sign him but it is still two years from now.

The way I see it Olshey realized we have no chance to sign top tier free agents for a while and even mid tier FAs were going for north of $15M last year so the decision was to develop from within and see where it takes us. We may have been a little careless with that Turner deal but that's about it. With Leonard and Crabbe we believed in their potential, and in Crabbe we have a player who will still have good value if we decide to move him. Leonard could come back to bite us but IMO in current climate someone would take his $10M deal.

Harkless was a very good deal. Ezeli will prove to be a good signing. I don't see what else could have been done.

We will probably move Crabbe for Noel or Okafor in a couple of months, or put together a huge package for Cousins and everyone will be content again. There is no way we finish the season with this group, IMO we will get at least two new faces in and that has been the plan all along. Whatever happens until January is just bumping value of our assets.

Ahh see... now that's long term vision. Wish the OP had this....

 

[Orion Bailey]

The rebounds have been killing the Blazers. Both Plumlee and Davis are down significantly from last year. Plumlee averaged 7.7 boards in 2015 and is only getting 5.8 this year. Davis averaged 7.4 last year and is down to 4 this year. Those guys have to pick it up.

Serious question.

Does anyone think we will ever be in the top half of rebounding when we are so long ball shooting dominant?
Easy rebounds come form short shots and layups. Rebounding missed threes is not easy at all.

 

[e_blazer]

Serious question.

Does anyone think we will ever be in the top half of rebounding when we are so long ball shooting dominant?
Easy rebounds come form short shots and layups. Rebounding missed threes is not easy at all.

Good point, but somebody has to get the rebound on those missed long balls. Seems like it needs to be someone wearing a Blazer jersey a bit more frequently. The fact that the rebounds go long may help explain why our bigs aren't high in rebounding, but our guards and small forwards need to do a better job.