Neil Olshey Appreciation Thread

[B-Roy]

I absolutely love what Neil Olshey has done with the team since he became GM. I mean, this was the lovely team he was blessed with when he first came here:

Felton(UFA)/Smith
Wes/Crawford(UFA)
Nic (RFA)/Babbitt
LMA/Hickson(RFA)
???/???

+2 Lotto picks

Within a year, he's turned that pile of crap into this:

Lillard/McCollum
Wes/Crabbe/Barton
Nic/Claver
LMA/TRob/Freeland
RoLo/Leonard

A young roster that's not only better on the court, but with significant flexibility moving forward (both financially and trade related). They also don't have any bad contracts (Freeland @ 3 million does not count) and are looking like playoff contenders at the very least this year.

I have the utmost confidence in any move he makes. Whenever we're involved in trade or FA rumors, I never feel like we're on the verge of making a horrible deal or giving a horrible contract (unlike Milwaukee). Best GM the Blazers have had in a decade, and it's not even close.

 

[magnifier661]

Hear hear!!!! He has really gotten us relevant again! Can't wait for the season to start

 

[Boise Blazer]

I will go on a record now and say if CJ works out and we solidly make the playoffs Olshey should be a candidate for executive of the year. And this is not knowing if he has another trick up his sleeve or what we will do with the money we have left.

 

[Haakzilla]

Neil-slapped!?

 

[Stevenson]

Dude is Houdini - He makes things appear out of thin air.

 

[ABM]

Dude is Houdini - He makes things appear out of thin air.

The fact that you've said this seals the deal.

 

[magnifier661]

And this is how a small market team can utilize cap space.... A lot of posters preached this, including myself. All you need is a little patience and the right deal will come along

 

[BBert]

Neil-slapped!?

Yes and no. He's doing all this while helping, not fleecing, his trading partners. This way, other GMs won't black ball him the way some think happened to Pritchard and his big ego.

 

[Further]

Neil-slapped!?

He got Neil Holesplayed

 

[Natebishop3]

How long is Neil signed for? Paul should really think about extending the guy.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[BBert]

Summer is fun again!

 

[Boob-No-More]

I bet Paul Allen REALLY appreciates him. He's the first GM we've had who spends Paul's money like it's his own. He's stockpiling cheap young talent on very reasonable contracts without mortgaging our future. This is the NBA equivalent of money ball.

BNM

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Ben Golliver @blazersedge about 1 hour ago
Between Eric Maynor, Thomas Robinson and Robin Lopez, Neil Olshey's roster-building strategy best described as soup kitchen scrounging

What a dick.
​

 

[Rhal]

Ben Golliver @blazersedge about 1 hour ago
Between Eric Maynor, Thomas Robinson and Robin Lopez, Neil Olshey's roster-building strategy best described as soup kitchen scrounging

What a dick.
​

Ben Gollivers has been a pessimistic dick about the Blazers for awhile now. He is just like that ESPN writer who grew up a blazer fan so he feels like he has to always be critical of everything the Blazers do so they don't look like a homer.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Needle Olshey, he moves himself to be better!

 

[jlprk]

Olshey did NOT get Lopez for free.

He gave Hickson (who had to be renounced to make it happen, losing any sign and trade possibilities), 2 more 2nd round picks (in the last week, he's given a decade's worth of top-half-of-the-round picks, which means about 4 players who would have lasted), and made it happen only by using the Paul Allen advantage ($1.5M trade kicker in Lopez' contract, which most owners would have haggled over, plus $150,000 remaining in Terrel Harris' contract, which is nothing to our owner, but means enough to the other owner that they stuck it in).

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A MICROSOCK EXCEL IS!

 

[MickZagger]

Didn't want to make a new thread for it and i thought of it while reading this thread, but what happened with Elliott Williams?

 

[PDXFonz]

This is the best time of the year. Olshey is basically santa...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

This is the best time of the year. Olshey is basically santa...

lol

 

[jlprk]

Why is the long thread titled "Desperate Robin Lopez salary dump"?

Because we expected to get him for free. To make room for Tyreke Evans, New Orleans would be forced to cut Lopez.

And now, the news is that one of the 2 picks we gave is Withey, who everyone forecast for the 1st round? Oh brother.

The Basketball-Reference database says that Lopez was 50th among centers at DRB%, as a starter in a 30- team league. Hickson was something like 4th. Oh well, Aldridge will bail us out with his usual rebounding.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

I like the optimism, but give this time. We regressed last season and are not clearly better currently. We will still be the favorite for last in our division.

 

[1eyejack]

Neil's done good but it has a lot to do with the new CBA. Teams don't want to be over the cap so theirs deals out there for buyers. Lots sellers make it a buyers market

 

[Chuck Taylor]

I think we all hoped Neil could pull off a big trade or signing that would bring a star here and really "move the needle". That may or may not have been realistic, but Olshey himself said that was the goal, and it didn't happen.

Since I can appreciate that he tried, and I also believe it was probably a bit unrealistic, I'm happy with where we stand now.

However, I'm a little tired of all this "Olshey got this and that for nothing" talk. He is trading away a very, very valuable asset: cap space. It's like saying that Charlotte got Al Jefferson for nothing, New Orleans got Tyreke Evans for nothing, and whoever gets Dwight Howard also got him for nothing. That's simply not the case. Planning to have cap room takes a lot of planning and sacrifice, which is exactly why Robinson and Lopez were traded as cheaply as they were.

I do think that acquiring decent players at reasonable contacts is better than making a mistake and overpaying someone. But let's be real - Olshey is no magician. If he is truly to receive high praise, it should be for fulfilling the goal he set for himself: bringing in a difference maker to move the needle. That said, he didn't reach and overpay for a borderline star either. The summation of his smart, frugal moves puts him in the "pretty good" category so far, IMO.

 

[e_blazer]

What I appreciate about Olshey's moves this summer is that they've just been so completely competent. No dramatics...just identify solid players to fit the multiple holes in the roster and then do what's necessary to sign them. I think it's to his credit that he didn't decide to shoot for the moon just for the sake of grabbing a high profile player. There will be a time for that kind of action in the future, but for this year it's been about putting solid pieces in place that will move the Blazers into the thick of the playoff hunt. Every guy he's gone after will have solid trade value in the future. All in all, a great job so far.

 

[magnifier661]

I think we all hoped Neil could pull off a big trade or signing that would bring a star here and really "move the needle". That may or may not have been realistic, but Olshey himself said that was the goal, and it didn't happen.

Since I can appreciate that he tried, and I also believe it was probably a bit unrealistic, I'm happy with where we stand now.

However, I'm a little tired of all this "Olshey got this and that for nothing" talk. He is trading away a very, very valuable asset: cap space. It's like saying that Charlotte got Al Jefferson for nothing, New Orleans got Tyreke Evans for nothing, and whoever gets Dwight Howard also got him for nothing. That's simply not the case. Planning to have cap room takes a lot of planning and sacrifice, which is exactly why Robinson and Lopez were traded as cheaply as they were.

I do think that acquiring decent players at reasonable contacts is better than making a mistake and overpaying someone. But let's be real - Olshey is no magician. If he is truly to receive high praise, it should be for fulfilling the goal he set for himself: bringing in a difference maker to move the needle. That said, he didn't reach and overpay for a borderline star either. The summation of his smart, frugal moves puts him in the "pretty good" category so far, IMO.

Sometimes moving the needle isn't about getting a marque player. Our team was dead last in bench scoring. The team ahead of us was a + 15 in scoring. That was a huge discrepancy!

Also no bench = fatigue for our starters. We had zero interior defense. We also had no real option or vet back ups.

I think just solving a lot of those problems will make our team considerably better. We are definitely in the right track!

 

[handiman]

However, I'm a little tired of all this "Olshey got this and that for nothing" talk. He is trading away a very, very valuable asset: cap space. It's like saying that Charlotte got Al Jefferson for nothing, New Orleans got Tyreke Evans for nothing, and whoever gets Dwight Howard also got him for nothing. That's simply not the case. Planning to have cap room takes a lot of planning and sacrifice, which is exactly why Robinson and Lopez were traded as cheaply as they were.

That really makes no sense whatsoever. 1) The cap space is devoid of value if you don't use it, so using it can't be a knock on Olshey. We had numerous holes in our roster and he's filling them quickly with competent players without giving up any of the existing core. That's really, really difficult to do. 2) New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players in order to clear cap space to get Evans and Howard, so those are rather terrible examples. It's nothing like saying what you're saying it's like.

 

[B-Roy]

That really makes no sense whatsoever. 1) The cap space is devoid of value if you don't use it, so using it can't be a knock on Olshey. We had numerous holes in our roster and he's filling them quickly with competent players without giving up any of the existing core. That's really, really difficult to do. 2) New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players in order to clear cap space to get Evans and Howard, so those are rather terrible examples. It's nothing like saying what you're saying it's like.

Good post, repped.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

Sometimes moving the needle isn't about getting a marque player. Our team was dead last in bench scoring. The team ahead of us was a + 15 in scoring. That was a huge discrepancy!

Also no bench = fatigue for our starters. We had zero interior defense. We also had no real option or vet back ups.

I think just solving a lot of those problems will make our team considerably better. We are definitely in the right track!

I agree we will be better. And I like every signing individually. But Olshey could have done the same thing last year. But he kept the cap space to try and see if we could land a star via FA or trade. Once it didn't happen, he spent the money on smart moves. I'm pointing out that priority #1 didn't happen. It doesn't mean that plan B wasn't executed well, and certainly we'll be a better team for it.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

That really makes no sense whatsoever. 1) The cap space is devoid of value if you don't use it, so using it can't be a knock on Olshey. We had numerous holes in our roster and he's filling them quickly with competent players without giving up any of the existing core. That's really, really difficult to do. 2) New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players in order to clear cap space to get Evans and Howard, so those are rather terrible examples. It's nothing like saying what you're saying it's like.

So was the cap space we left on the table last summer devoid of value because we didn't use it? Of course not! It carried over to this year. We had another chance to trade it for a star, or sign one outright. When those didn't come to fruition, we used it to acquire nice role players. Cap space always has value, whether you use it or save it. The times when you actually DO use it, like we just did, are the most obvious examples of its value. Cap space is the price you pay to pick up a player without having to give one back (or the price you pay to take in more salary than you give in a trade). When you use up that scarce commodity, you can't do those extremely valuable things anymore. Your argument is like buying a new car and saying, "If I never spend my life's savings, it's devoid of value...so whatever I spend it one is basically free."

I really don't understand your 2nd argument. I agree - New Orleans and Houston gave up valuable players to clear cap space. That's why I brought it up - as an illustration of how valuable cap space is. They gave away valuable players to acquire more cap space!! How could this be interpreted as anything but an example of the value of cap space? Yet, you turn it around and say it is a "terrible example"? I'm very confused on that one.