Olshey didn't screw up

[Schilly]

Ok I said it Neil Olshey did not screw up this past summer. I understand people are upset how the season is going and feel the need to blame someone, heck this season is not sitting well with me either. Let me explain why I don't believe Neil made a mistake.

#1 Better to use the space the salary than to waste it. We all know that having cap space isn't a benefit to Portland other than absorbing salary in a trade. On the surface that is a tasty asset, but in reality all you are doing is making yourself available to absorb a guy nobody else wants. Best case scenario the team get's compensated with a draft pick for doing the other team/teams a favor. E.G. taking Vaerjao and waiving him in exchange for a 1st round pick from a good team AKA, not a great pick.

#2 We couldn't punt on cap space no matter what. Regardless of how the Blazers spent or didn't spend in the Summer of 2017 our capo would have been eaten by CJ and Plumlee anyway. Yeah we might have been able to leave ourselves $20 mil to spend, but we wouldn't have Turner, Crabbe, Harkless and Leonard, the last 2 have very reasonable tradable contracts BTW... And we likely would have been scrambling to fill their roles with even lesser players who also would have dipped into our mythical cap space for next season.

#3 Crabbe and Turner are core pieces to what success we have actually had, and the stupid jump in cap still makes everything seem out of whack. I agree their contracts are a little larger than they should be but not in "Fire the GM" territory.

#4 we preserved tradable assets that we can look to move in more fulfilling trades. Crabbe is a little beefy in the contract territory, but he has a skill set that many teams desire right now. Again Harkless and Leonard have reasonable movable contracts as do Ed Davis and the Chief.... And even though most fans have given up on him there are teams that would gamble on Meyers. I think hanging on to assets has a whole lot more value than people are giving credit for.

Now with all this said, am I making excuses? No, I am simply calling it as I see it. Too often fans assume we could have done better in trades or free agency than we did. Fact still remains no Portland GM has ever really been able to land that awesome FA signing, so in my mind it's hard to pin that on just Olshey.

 

[riverman]

great thread Schilly!

 

[illmatic99]

I don't disagree with much of what you said (although the biggest mistake he made was when he bid against himself to sign ET to that contract), but there is always a tendency to find a scapegoat.

Given this shit season, whom do you place the blame on, if not Neil?

 

[riverman]

I don't disagree with much of what you said (although the biggest mistake he made was when he bid against himself to sign ET to that contract), but there is always a tendency to find a scapegoat.

Given this shit season, whom do you place the blame on, if not Neil?

I would much rather have ET than Parsons....I think we dodged a bullet in free agency and I think Turner is playing better and better....I like the guy

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I would much rather have ET than Parsons....I think we dodged a bullet in free agency and I think Turner is playing better and better....I like the guy

I like Turner as well, but I think we could easily have signed him for 3-4M/year less than we paid him

 

[Reep]

I actually agree the he didn't screw up. But my complaints are in other areas.

Pros: He did get as much as he could with what he had. He struck out several times, but got something.

Cons:
1) He was supposed to be this free agent magnet with all his connections and personality. He either doesn't really have that ability or his charm doesn't work when based out of Portland. Either way it isn't working.
2) He is too invested in making his decisions look right to be open minded about big change. I agree with most that he will likely never trade Dame or CJ. It would be nice for a fresh set of eyes to come in an evaluate what to do without having so much ownership regarding players they drafted or otherwise acquired. If he makes a big change OR he leaves under current circumstances, he will look like a failure either way. The only way he comes out of this looking good is to ride the current team and pray for a miracle. That is his priority.

 

[TBpup]

Given the 'Needle Mover' comment at the beginning of his time here, I think many people may be waiting for that and unimpressed with what he has delivered so far...which seems very fair.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

#4 we preserved tradable assets that we can look to move in more fulfilling trades. Crabbe is a little beefy in the contract territory, but he has a skill set that many teams desire right now. Again Harkless and Leonard have reasonable movable contracts as do Ed Davis and the Chief.... And even though most fans have given up on him there are teams that would gamble on Meyers. I think hanging on to assets has a whole lot more value than people are giving credit for.

This, I think, is the main point of contention. Crabbe and Leonard, specifically, are arguably dead weight. Personally, if a deal were struck sending them out for a couple expiring contracts (like the hypothesized Ibaka/Green deal), I wouldn't complain about that at all.

 

[Five Second Violation]

The Crabbe, Leonard, and Turner deals definitely weren't mistakes. Just happy little accidents.

 

[Schilly]

I don't disagree with much of what you said (although the biggest mistake he made was when he bid against himself to sign ET to that contract), but there is always a tendency to find a scapegoat.

Given this shit season, whom do you place the blame on, if not Neil?

I think it can be pinned on the play on the floor more than anything. Ed Davis has been MIA for the most part this season after being fairly valuable last season. Also the Aminu experiment that worked last year didn't translate to this season, to a large degree due to his health being very sporadic. Aminus deep shot also hasn't been as consistent this season. Not really GM issues IMO.

To answer someone else above. If we had t kept Crabbe as our backup SG we would be relying on Pat Connaghton instead, not sure that makes us better.

The only real backfire I see is the Ezeli signing, Neil gambled on that but the way he structured that deal all he did was a single pull on the nickle slot machine.

 

[Chris Craig]

I would much rather have ET than Parsons....I think we dodged a bullet in free agency and I think Turner is playing better and better....I like the guy

But, yuyuza has a point. We dodged one bullet to take another. We panicked and paid ET more than we should have.

 

[Nate]

Tater totts needs to go.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Given the 'Needle Mover' comment at the beginning of his time here, I think many people may be waiting for that and unimpressed with what he has delivered so far...which seems very fair.

To me the screw-up was angling for free agency in the first place. It tells me he overestimated his hand and his snake-oil charms.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

To answer someone else above. If we had t kept Crabbe as our backup SG we would be relying on Pat Connaghton instead, not sure that makes us better.

The only real backfire I see is the Ezeli signing, Neil gambled on that but the way he structured that deal all he did was a single pull on the nickle slot machine.

Pat playing in place of Crabbe? No, definitely doesn't make us better. But maybe Layman plays more minutes instead. Maybe we end up better in the long run. No way to know.

The Ezeli signing I actually have no issue with, as it's basically a 1 year deal, and is probably our most valuable trade asset at the moment given that his contract is being paid by insurance at this point.

 

[riverman]

I just think the Blazers plan was geared for this season to be completely about development and that has disappointed everyone, including the front office...I'm done worrying about ET though.....I think he's going to be a good fit as he gets comfortable...playing with CJ and Dame is different from playing with Isiah Thomas and Smart....it wasn't an instant click but I can see he's going to help our team. Playing AC and Turner together off the bench was not working

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

You are wise.

Everybody take a schill pill.

 

[riverman]

A good Schill pill makes me want to paint a happy stone!

 

[Sinobas]

blah blah blah bullshit

Fixed.

 

[illmatic99]

I like Turner as well, but I think we could easily have signed him for 3-4M/year less than we paid him

Hearing that even ET himself was baffled at how much he was offered is not a good thing

 

[Schilly]

Fixed.

Predictable

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

The Crabbe, Leonard, and Turner deals definitely weren't mistakes. Just happy little accidents.

I'm not sure what that means?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

The jury is still out. If within the next nine months some of those contracts are actually traded for good assets, then I guess he was a good GM.

 

[Chris Craig]

I don't disagree with much of what you said (although the biggest mistake he made was when he bid against himself to sign ET to that contract), but there is always a tendency to find a scapegoat.

Given this shit season, whom do you place the blame on, if not Neil?

I just think the Blazers plan was geared for this season to be completely about development and that has disappointed everyone, including the front office...I'm done worrying about ET though.....I think he's going to be a good fit as he gets comfortable...playing with CJ and Dame is different from playing with Isiah Thomas and Smart....it wasn't an instant click but I can see he's going to help our team. Playing AC and Turner together off the bench was not working

I think the blame rests solely on expectation. I agree with @riverman that Olshey didn't out last year's roster together to make the playoffs, but to start over with a new core, and develop players, to in several years become a contender. Last year though the team fought hard and overachrived, making the second round of the playoffs, so this year our expectations were up when maybe they shouldn't have been to begin with. Thinking they'd win 10 extra games this year and be a lock in for home court advantage come playoffs was naieve. And, I admit I fell for it being the die hard fan I am. But, how angry should we be that the Blazers aren't living up to those expectations, that are in a sense more bloated then the salary of our roster?

 

[Harry's Raincoat]

Frustrating, yes!
Offense great enough to fire someone? No.
Who's fault? Paul Allen (nothing gets done or not done without his approval)

We the fans of the Blazers must hope that somehow our assets other than Dame or CJ can be turned into another impactful player. I think its very possible.

 

[Schilly]

To be a little fair about the finish of last season, yes we pushed to make the playoffs, but a couple teams took serious nose dives to boost us.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Schilly go boom.

 

[Minstrel]

I don't agree with this perspective too much. For instance, it continues the narrative that the space was "use it or lose it," especially the space between the cap and the luxury tax, since you can't use that space for anything but re-signing your own free agents. However, last off-season didn't signal the permanent end of having free agents to re-sign. This coming off-season Plumlee will be expiring and unless Allen wants to go deep into the luxury tax to re-sign him (meaning he could end up effectively paying between $30-40 million per year for Plumlee), then signing Crabbe and Leonard to those deals effectively meant losing Plumlee. And Plumlee is a much better player than either of those two.

Also, I don't believe we preserved tradeable assets. Players stop being assets the moment you overpay them, especially when you overpay them massively as I believe Olshey did with Turner, Crabbe and Leonard. People are starting to fetishize shooting on this forum to unreasonable extents. Yes, we're playing in the pace-and-space era, but defense is still a big, big deal. Crabbe and Leonard can shoot (giving Leonard the benefit of the doubt on his weak numbers this year) but neither can play a lick of defense--they're not just below average, the numbers suggest that they're absolutely atrocious defenders. Shooting skill on a player with borderline-unplayable defense is not that valuable. What is gold these days are "three-and-D" players. Missing either the "three" (Turner) or the "D" (Crabbe, Leonard) deeply undermines the value.

Cap space doesn't become useless just because stars won't sign. Yes, Portland will never lure stars here, but a merely decent (at the time) Warriors team lured Andre Iguodala to Oakland (Oakland is not a glamorous city). In a past era, the Blazers signed Andre Miller, a legitimately good player at the time. You can still work in the middle class/upper middle class of free agency to find good players using cap space. Even this past off-season, Hassan Whiteside seriously considered Portland. Yes, close doesn't count, but it shows that free agents aren't completely allergic to Portland. Put together a young, lean, rising team and, with a good vision to present, you can find some solid players in free agency, even if not a franchise-changing star.

Instead, Portland has a young, middling and extremely expensive team with virtually no flexibility. Of course, this is obviously an issue of some contention: I see a lot of the players on this team as possessing little to no to negative trade value. From what I've seen, a lot of people disagree with me and see lots of valued trade assets scattered across the roster. We'll see. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

 

[Nikolokolus]

The Crabbe, Leonard, and Turner deals definitely weren't mistakes. Just happy little accidents.

"Happy accidents?" Who's happy?

 

[andalusian]

"Happy accidents?" Who's happy?

Crabbe, myle and et

 

[Schilly]

Clearly most of you guys need to watch more Bob Ross