Neil Olshey Appreciation Thread

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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.

One thing to note is that yes it did carry over, but we ended up having less cap space this year because Batum's extension kicked in and because of rising salaries. Not to mention Neil basically had to use a team stripped bare in order to position ourselves to even have as much cap as we did.
 
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.

Fropez!
 
i absolutely love what Neil Olshey has done. he's had a great summer. he's used what he had, which is more rigid in the past, & come up with a bench. i predict two things: 1. we will not have the worst bench in the nba. 2. we will make the playoffs because we have the depth of this bench.
 
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.

Last year's cap space had no measurable value because it was unused. If anything, it was a negative. The cap space was cashed in this year and suddenly has value. Sure, Olshey could have pushed it off another year, but do you really believe he would have landed a marquee free agent? In Portland?

Your car buying example is ridiculous. You can spend your savings on all sorts of things. It can accrue interest if unused. Cap space can only be used to acquire players. If it isn't doing that, it's wasted. Surely, you can come up with better than that?

As for #2, you said, "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." On the contrary, it's nothing like that. We gave up nothing but cap space. They gave up components of their team.
 
Last year's cap space had no measurable value because it was unused. If anything, it was a negative. The cap space was cashed in this year and suddenly has value. Sure, Olshey could have pushed it off another year, but do you really believe he would have landed a marquee free agent? In Portland?

Your car buying example is ridiculous. You can spend your savings on all sorts of things. It can accrue interest if unused. Cap space can only be used to acquire players. If it isn't doing that, it's wasted. Surely, you can come up with better than that?

As for #2, you said, "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." On the contrary, it's nothing like that. We gave up nothing but cap space. They gave up components of their team.

It seems like you're just looking at the value of the team based on the roster alone, and I'm looking at the roster and including cap space. If you look at it from a roster standpoint only, I agree with what you're saying. But if you have two teams with the exact same amount of talent, and one has 12M in cap space while the other has none, which one has more potential in the future? The one with cap space. So while our roster has improved, it was not free - it came at a cost....the cap space. We seem to be going around in circles on this point.
 
It seems like you're just looking at the value of the team based on the roster alone, and I'm looking at the roster and including cap space. If you look at it from a roster standpoint only, I agree with what you're saying. But if you have two teams with the exact same amount of talent, and one has 12M in cap space while the other has none, which one has more potential in the future? The one with cap space. So while our roster has improved, it was not free - it came at a cost....the cap space. We seem to be going around in circles on this point.

Definitely, that's what I'm looking at. And your hypothetical falls flat because we wouldn't have the same talent level as another team if we didn't use the cap space. Just look at last year. We had cap space but one of the worst benches in NBA history.

We wouldn't be going in circles if you would come up with an analogy that holds water. ;)
 
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.

You think Utah will win more games than we will? Even if we trade Aldridge for nothing we're better than the Jazz.
 
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.

Exactly right. Repped.
 
To get good players in a trade, you have to trade good players. Who could we have given last year in a trade or a sign and trade? Now we have better assets. We don't know just how good they'll be, but we know they're certainly valued more highly than what we had last year.

Olshey is building this roster from the ground up, rather than taking the shortcuts PA's money allowed Whitsitt to take. KP I thought was great, but McMillan wasn't the right coach to execute his plan. Also, KP's ego got the best of him. He started to believe his own hype. He's learned his lesson and I think is doing a much better job for Indy.
 
Definitely, that's what I'm looking at. And your hypothetical falls flat because we wouldn't have the same talent level as another team if we didn't use the cap space. Just look at last year. We had cap space but one of the worst benches in NBA history.

We wouldn't be going in circles if you would come up with an analogy that holds water. ;)

I give up. You're right - we got these players thanks to Olshey's magic!!
 
I give up. You're right - we got these players thanks to Olshey's magic!!

Well we did. How come other teams had significant cap space that didn't go after t rob or Lopez? And how come wright choose us instead of okc?
 
Here's Dave from Blazers Edge arguing the point that I couldn't get across (this is before Dorell Wright, but it still holds true):

Make no mistake...despite the assertion in the question above, these signings did cost the Blazers something. Forget all the second-round picks traded away to get Lopez and Robinson. Those are as close to nothing as you can give in trade without invoking a trade exception, so you're right about that; they cost the Blazers nothing in that sense. But Portland started this free agency period with roughly $11.8 million in cap space. They will wake up on July 10th having spent $8.5 million of that space--72% of it--on two players that other teams saw fit to give away for free. Unless there's a revolutionary imbalanced trade possible with the remaining $3+ million it's hard to imagine the Blazers coming away with much else for their money either.

Have you ever picked up a paper, saw some radical 90% off deal on some stuff, got all excited and ran to the store, only to discover you just blew most of your monthly budget on 30 cubic feet of generic dish soap and an accordion cover? Sure they were really good buys, but now what? The money you spent on two cheap things could have bought one quality item even if that item wasn't so deeply discounted.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/7/5/4495160/portland-trail-blazers-robin-lopez-trade
 
well, here's another example of Dave's inability to think with his head instead of his heart.

Quoting another thread: Which "quality item" do you want, Dave?
We didn't have enough for Splitter. We didn't have enough for Jefferson. We may have had enough for Millsap (ended up at @9.5M). We didn't have enough for Tyreke, and though we had enough for JJ Redick, who's to say he would've chosen us over playing with CP3 and Griffin? We could've taken Biedrins with our cap space, but had no other upgrades. Asik may still be a pipe dream, and Horford never was even that. There was a potential to take on dead salary from other teams (and maybe get a future first in the deal), but we still wouldn't have a bench.

Instead, we now have a really, REALLY solid 9-man rotation of Lillard/Watson, Matthews/CJ/Crabbe, Batum/Wright, LMA/Claver/Freeland, Lopez/Leonard. Everyone has a role, and everyone is a legitimate NBA player at their position (not like, for instance, saying that Ronnie Price or Nolan Smith should ever have been the first guard off the bench for an NBA team). What was Dave looking for?
 
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.

No Pritchard dramatics, no self-congratulatory gloating in the Oregonian. No leaving large gaps in the roster, telling us to let it bake a few more years. Olshey did it like Whitsitt, too busy to hang around Quick each time he added another piece.

On the other hand, 2 years ago we added a lot of veterans, got great depth, and the coach was fired because he couldn't fit his system around veterans with fixed talents. It might turn out badly.
 
Here's Dave from Blazers Edge arguing the point that I couldn't get across (this is before Dorell Wright, but it still holds true):

They will wake up on July 10th having spent $8.5 million of that space--72% of it--on two players that other teams saw fit to give away for free.

So...to support your argument you're citing some painfully circular logic? The other two teams gave away those players basically for free, sure. But not because they had no value. They did so to clear cap space! Which we already had! Had it not been for the need for cap space to make other trades, those players (Lopez and Robinson) would not have been given away for nothing. So, our using cap space on them in no way reflects paying more than their value.
 
No Pritchard dramatics, no self-congratulatory gloating in the Oregonian. No leaving large gaps in the roster, telling us to let it bake a few more years. Olshey did it like Whitsitt, too busy to hang around Quick each time he added another piece.

On the other hand, 2 years ago we added a lot of veterans, got great depth, and the coach was fired because he couldn't fit his system around veterans with fixed talents. It might turn out badly.

That's what I'm seeing too. Olshey is acting much like whitsett. That's a good thing. Now let's make some noise next season so Olshey can open Allen's pocket book again.
 
Dude Houston got Dwight Howard. I would give away hickson for that and he's a better producer!

Pelicans got a stud too!

Those are terrible examples

Ben Golliver catches all the shit for that place going downhill, but Dave has been really responsible for it too.
 
Ben Golliver catches all the shit for that place going downhill, but Dave has been really responsible for it too.

They are no different than any of us here. Some of their takes are actually worse in many cases. I used to really respect them years ago.

Never mind, let's see how the season goes. I'm sure olshey will get the last laugh.
 
But isn't the point of cap space to use it to sign players? It's like, you put money in a savings account, not just to look at your bank balance going up, but because there is something you want to buy with it. When you go out and buy what you want, your savings aren't wasted, they're used.

The Blazers had one of the worst, if not the worst, benches in the league last year. They have improved it significantly. The starting lineup was good but center was a big hole, literally and figuratively. Brook Lopez is no superstar but he's competent and having him takes pressure of Leonard. There is still cap room to sign someone else. When a team is good, it makes sense to shoot for the moon and try to get that one star to take them up to championship level. Portland was not good last year. They needed to fill a lot of needs and have basically done so. Getting four or five good players makes far more sense for them than getting one superstar (exept maybe if LeBron James was available and he's not. No one available is a game changer.) And they did not give up any core players to do so. I think some folks just want to kvetch, frankly.
 
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Some people are never happy, simple as that. When you find out their agendas, you can see it coming before they even write it.
 
72% of it--on two players that other teams saw fit to give away for free

This is just an outright dumb thing to say. The Pels didn't give away Robin Lopez for free... they gave him up as part of a deal to acquire Tyreke Evans. The Houston Rockets didn't give up Thomas Robinson for free... they gave him up so they could acquire Dwight freaking Howard. Dave is making it sound like these two players were cast off by their teams without compensation. That's a complete fallacy. Does he really think that Lopez and Robinson would be gone if Howard and Evans didn't come into the picture?

The last player that we acquired for "nothing" was JJ Hickson. The Kings placed him on waivers and we claimed him. He was given away for free. The Kings received no compensation, other than removing his contract from their salary cap. That's it.

Dave and Ben need to stop thinking so one-dimensional and start seeing the big picture.
 
This is just an outright dumb thing to say. The Pels didn't give away Robin Lopez for free... they gave him up as part of a deal to acquire Tyreke Evans. The Houston Rockets didn't give up Thomas Robinson for free... they gave him up so they could acquire Dwight freaking Howard. Dave is making it sound like these two players were cast off by their teams without compensation. That's a complete fallacy. Does he really think that Lopez and Robinson would be gone if Howard and Evans didn't come into the picture?

The last player that we acquired for "nothing" was JJ Hickson. The Kings placed him on waivers and we claimed him. He was given away for free. The Kings received no compensation, other than removing his contract from their salary cap. That's it.

Dave and Ben need to stop thinking so one-dimensional and start seeing the big picture.

THAT was an excellent post. Repped.
 
This is just an outright dumb thing to say. The Pels didn't give away Robin Lopez for free... they gave him up as part of a deal to acquire Tyreke Evans. The Houston Rockets didn't give up Thomas Robinson for free... they gave him up so they could acquire Dwight freaking Howard. Dave is making it sound like these two players were cast off by their teams without compensation. That's a complete fallacy. Does he really think that Lopez and Robinson would be gone if Howard and Evans didn't come into the picture?

The last player that we acquired for "nothing" was JJ Hickson. The Kings placed him on waivers and we claimed him. He was given away for free. The Kings received no compensation, other than removing his contract from their salary cap. That's it.

Dave and Ben need to stop thinking so one-dimensional and start seeing the big picture.

Couldn't of said it better myself
 
They are no different than any of us here. Some of their takes are actually worse in many cases. I used to really respect them years ago.

Never mind, let's see how the season goes. I'm sure olshey will get the last laugh.
Agree. They are just internet posters with their own web site. Their opinion is no more valuable than most of the posters here. I don't know why anyone 'cites' either of them.
 
But isn't the point of cap space to use it to sign players? It's like, you put money in a savings account, not just to look at your bank balance going up, but because there is something you want to buy with it. When you go out and buy what you want, you're savings aren't wasted, they're used.

The Blazers had one of the worst, if not the worst, benches in the league last year. They have improved it significantly. The starting lineup was good but center was a big hole, literally and figuratively. Brook Lopez is no superstar but he's competent and having him takes pressure of Leonard. There is still cap room to sign someone else. When a team is good, it makes sense to shoot for the moon and try to get that one star to take them up to championship level. Portland was not good last year. They needed to fill a lot of needs and have basically done so. Getting four or five good players makes far more sense for them than getting one superstar (exept maybe if LeBron James was available and he's not. No one available is a game changer.) And they did not give up any core players to do so. I think some folks just want to kvetch, frankly.

She shoots, she scores!!


This is just an outright dumb thing to say. The Pels didn't give away Robin Lopez for free... they gave him up as part of a deal to acquire Tyreke Evans. The Houston Rockets didn't give up Thomas Robinson for free... they gave him up so they could acquire Dwight freaking Howard. Dave is making it sound like these two players were cast off by their teams without compensation. That's a complete fallacy. Does he really think that Lopez and Robinson would be gone if Howard and Evans didn't come into the picture?

The last player that we acquired for "nothing" was JJ Hickson. The Kings placed him on waivers and we claimed him. He was given away for free. The Kings received no compensation, other than removing his contract from their salary cap. That's it.

Dave and Ben need to stop thinking so one-dimensional and start seeing the big picture.

Nate takes the pass, skies over Dave and throws down the monster dunk!! Ooh, that was nasty!

:)
 
I love the vitriol explosions when we take a deep breath, pause our attacks on each others' opinions, and destroy other sites' opinions.

And no, 3ra1n1ac, "Vitriol Explosions" aren't what you think they are.
 
BUUMP, Portland's media seems to be killing Neil for not making the impossible happen (see Blazers Edge), but what do ya know, Canzano actually has something nice to say.

7. Neil Olshey (5): The Blazers general manager, 48, drafted the NBA Rookie of the Year (Damian Lillard) in his first month on the job, but slips here with a lottery finish. He had a sneaky-good summer in trading a pile of spare parts for much-needed roster depth. Olshey gives the Blazers a strong voice at the top of the organization. Olshey now faces an even deeper Western Conference while trying to rebuild and hang onto star LaMarcus Aldridge.
He might be higher on this list if ... the Blazers snap the NBA's longest playoff victory drought next season.

John Canzano's 25 most influential people in Oregon sports: Nos. 4 to 10
 
HUGE BUMP.

This guy hit a damn home run this last summer.

Lopez? Huge addition.

Wright? Great addition.

Mo? Starting to look much better.

Robinson? Could turn out to be a huge steal.

CJ hasn't even played yet, so I guess we'll see, but we don't even need him right now.

Really happy with what Neil has done during his time here.
 

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