It's true that Olshey paints himself into corners by saying things like "this team projects to be a 54 win team" in 2016 or that he needs to "shift from asset acquisition to adding playoff proven vets" but haven't all his comments since the draft been pretty honest? He needs to deliver on things he says, I get that. However, since the draft he seems to not be setting high expectations and that bothers people too. He's been pretty honest with his answers during summer league.
I said this before the draft, cap space was going to be a premium for not only this summer but for teams setting up for 2019 as well. That is why not using the Crabbe TPE would be extremely frustrating to me. That was a tool to really add either a future asset or a quality rotation player. I really thought after the meeting with Lillard that Allen would authorize Olshey to use it. Maybe they haven't had any offers worth using it for. Personally I would have taken Lin, since they got a 2nd round pick too even if it is for 2025, but I understand that another combo guard is literally the last thing this team needs right now so that isn't the greatest example.
Replacing Ed Davis is the issue right now in my opinion. The starters were fine last year, especially if Harkless plays like he did towards the end of the season and Nurk plays like he did from about January on. The bench should be much better with Baldwin hopefully getting a bigger role, the addition of Curry, and some young guys with great shooting strokes. Collins should continue to get better as well, so really all we are missing is one more big man. With 16 players on the roster, having to decide to let Davis go before making a trade was probably necessary. If he had to do it all over I'm sure he'd probably keep Davis instead of signing Stauskas with the poor play of both PapaG and Swanigan in summer league but he had to make a decision before getting to see their development in an actual game. It's not meant as an excuse but he still has time to fix it. Several people complaining about him love Baldwin, Simons, and Trent.
This is why a Turner and Swanigan for Thompson trade makes sense. Maybe we can even get them to throw in Korver with the TPE. Thompson can do what Davis did and opens up Turner's minutes for better players. There has to be another move still because right now we have either Swanigan or Leonard as the backup PF/C.