@hoopsjock
I enjoyed your trade proposals, if I remember right you were doing them by team's in alphabetical order and it was fun and you obviously understand the salary cap rules really well so yeah I liked them.
I don't think we should give up on Dame, but I also don't think anyone is untouchable either.
In terms of CJ - I really wanted the Blazers to make CJ for Jimmy Butler work before he was traded to Minnesota. I thought Jimmy Butler would fit really well in Portland, and CJ would fit well in Chicago.
Other players I'd be interested in Bradley Beal, Middleton, or if they could get a package of a couple 3 and D players in the vein of Ariza for CJ I'd be fine with that too.
It's been brought up how they got so much better on defense, but it seems to get glossed over how crappy they were on offense, the team didn't pass, they didn't move without the ball, they ran the same play with flare screens on side pnr's about 80 times a game (hyperbole) CJ and Dame both have a tendency to play hero ball, and take bad shots or over dribble. Defense got better but the offense got ugly, they could score because they had two really good scoring options but they did not get good open shots very often.
It seems to me that you believe the Blazers can compete for championships with Dame at the helm, and I certainly think he's really good, but my confidence that he will perform in the playoffs is waning. I saw a stat that of active players with 500+ shots in the playoffs Dame has the 4th lowest shooting percentage of all of them. I believe Dame will end his career as the best Blazer ever, so I to think Dame is worth keeping around the guy is special, but they need a lot of help. I realize they were the 3 seed this year, but it seems like they're at least a couple major pieces away from the big boys.
You brought up the spurs, haven't had a lottery pick since Duncan. Well Duncan went down in the history books as one of the best PF's of all time, as one of the best career's in the history of basketball, they absolutely HIT on their lottery pick. The Blazers haven't been so lucky. Dame is not going to go down as one of the best PG's ever, he just isn't. Injuries killed Oden's career so we missed out on him having a chance to be good AND we didn't take KD.
If you read this thread it does sound like your mantra has been incremental improvement and not rebuilding, maybe some retooling if you can trade CJ to get better, but you at least seem to be against the idea of trading our better players for picks, and it makes sense the draft feels like it's basically luck.
Okay Tortured, this is why I feel like I always have to defend Olshey. Posts like this make it seem like Olshey simply chose not to acquire those guys. I appreciate that you actually listed guys though so I'll address each one.
I too would trade CJ for Butler. That is a no brainer. Any GM would do that, even ours who says CJ isn't available. On a side note, I would also have been fine with trading CJ for Dunn, LaVine, and the #7 pick last year. In my write-up for the Bulls I actually suggested trading CJ for Mirotic, LaVine, and a future protected 1st. Do you realize that CJ had a poison pill contract still at the time Butler was traded so it wouldn't even have been possible? It's been brought up several times. The Bulls are notoriously cheap. CJ at over $100 million for four more years was obviously not something they preferred. They took two young guys on rookie deals and the #7 pick in the draft. The best we could offer on a rookie deal at the time was Vonleh, Napier, and Connaughton with the #15, 20, and 25th picks. You do see the difference right?
Beal has never even been mentioned as available. I'll ask you this though, why would another team with a good PG trade their bigger shooting guard for a smaller one? They'd be trading into the same situation you say can't work. I know you didn't mention him but it would be the same with DeRozan. I'm not sure how realistic either of those guys are. I'm guessing based on how this year played out the Wizards would probably like to trade Wall instead of Beal.
Middleton is an interesting one. There is no chance he was available last summer. This year he struggled but really came on at the end. The Bucks were disappointing as well. Middleton is on a super cheap contract for his skill at $13 million. We'd have to take on a bad contract too but even that might not be enough to get him. We've talked about him ad nauseam in other threads.
The team wasn't that much worse on offense, especially when they turned it on over the 2nd half of the season. They finished 15th in Offensive Rating compared to 11th the year before. Net Rating went from 18th to 9th. That to me shows the increase in defense outweighed the slight dip in offense.
As for Dame, when you already have a really good player I just think it's silly to kick him to the curb for an incredibly small chance of getting someone better. Even if we drafted the next Duncan, what if he doesn't want to stay in Portland and we have to rebuild again when he gets good? To me there is a WAY, WAY, WAY better chance of finding the next Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Rudy Gobert, Greek Freak, or Jimmy Butler outside of the lottery. Then you have that guy AND Dame. There are examples almost every year of guys that panned out. Funny you mention the Oden thing, something Olshey had nothing to do with, but that is a perfect example of why there is no right answer. The Thunder drafted Durant, Westbrook, and Harden in consecutive years, all guys who after this year have been league MVP, and even they couldn't win a title. Drafting that well is extremely tough to do. This is coming from someone who loves the draft and would treat being a GM like it was NBA2k. I am absolutely not against trading our better players for picks. It's why I think the Kawhi trade of CJ, Collins, and a 1st round pick is stupid unless he signs an extension first. If we're trading CJ I want it to set-up our future not destroy it. I want to get picks and/or younger players.
You keep acting like you know me or what I am thinking, you obviously don't. There is no right answers here as every single one of our plans likely leads to NO title. It is the way the NBA works. I just hate when people think that after 3 seasons a team is 100% stuck and can't make a single small move to get better or make a really smart draft pick that turns into a star. Olshey did draft DeAndre Jordan in the 2nd round and has a pretty good history of drafting so I am willing to see what he does this summer. I have said over and over again that if they just re-sign their free agents and their draft pick isn't helpful then I am completely on board with cleaning house. I just feel like this summer is going to be different. Olshey and Stotts for the first time are on the hot seat instead of getting extensions like in the past. Olshey knows he has to make the team better and he needs to.
