Player exit interviews and statements - 10 am

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KingSpeed said:
I'm almost in on everything you're saying except that we lost in the Finals, losing 3 straight at home. We didn't exactly celebrate that year. I'm glad we're not going to overreact. Some people want to fire Stotts without a better coach in mind. And lots of people want big trades for the sake of big trades. Lots of people would be happy reading CJ regardless of the return. Just change for the sake of change. He tried to get us Paul George. They said no. They tried to get Melo and I maintain he would've played well for us. Trading CJ for Barnes would be awful. Would the difference between Barnes and Aminu be so great that we'd be fine with Pat or Wade at starting SG? Besides, if Dame/CJ doesn't work, why would Dallas want Dennis/CJ?
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Some people? YOU were one of them! And saying fitzdale is a better coach is an opinion, as much as everyone else who said it with or without a better coach.
 
hoopsjock said:
So what exactly is that? It wasn't that long ago that this team missed the playoffs 6 straight seasons. It also wasn't that long ago that this franchise had two top 6 picks have career ending injuries. There is no excuse for getting swept as the 3 seed in the playoffs, it sucks. At the same time there a lot of teams that would kill to have a GM with the resume that Olshey has.

After drafting Drexler, this team only made it out of the 1st round (lost in the 2nd round that one time) once until going to the Finals in 1990. In fact in 1989, Drexler's 6th season like this one for Dame, the Blazers got swept out of the playoffs in the 1st round. It was their 4th straight 1st round exit and at that time their record was 4-16 in their last 20 playoff games. Does this sound familiar? Do you wish they would've traded Drexler and Porter and Kersey then? They did change from coaches during the 88-89 season. Maybe that is what needs to happen here.

I'm not saying this team is destined to make the Finals next year, just that teams usually take time to come together and each year you continue to build. I'm sure if this site existed back then we would have all been in here questioning if Drexler would ever have playoff success. The playoffs pissed me off this year but I like what Olshey has tried to do to add the missing pieces so far (almost impossible to do in one year) and will only change that stance if he fails to improve the team this summer.
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Let me explain what I meant by the one year thing before someone jumps on me about him having 6 years.
Year one: Adds Lillard
Year two: Adds CJ, RoLo, Mo Williams
Year three: Bad summer with no 1st round draft pick due to a trade before he got here and bad signings in Blake and Kaman
Year four: Aldridge leaves changing the course of the team so Olshey decides to basically blow it up with the exception of Dame and CJ while choosing/forced to save cap space for the following summer. Adds Aminu, Davis, and Plumlee as positives.
Year five: Bad summer with the biggest culprit making a massive mistake signing Evan Turner to a big contract. No 1st rounder that year due to the Afflalo trade. Adds Nurkic during the season to avoid this being a complete disaster.
Year six: Adds Collins (along with others that could potentially have an impact but I'm only including potential starters as good adds)

Obviously others can think differently but in my opinion this is what that all means:

He's added definite starter level talent in Dame, CJ, and Nurk. He's added hopefully a fourth member of that group in Collins. This summer he has to find a way to add another starter level talent. Then you still have guys like Aminu and Harkless as well and the team is really starting to take shape.

For the Blazers in the 80's it was like this (We all know about the Bowie/Jordan thing but outside of that the Blazers had some incredible draft picks):
Year one: Add Drexler
Year two: Add Kersey
Year three: Add Porter
Year four: Add Duckworth
Year five: No one that really helped them in 1990
Year six: No one that really helped them in 1990 either
Year seven: Added Buck, Uncle Cliffy, and Drazen Petrovic

Now the year seven summer is here for this team. That team was able to add talent while keeping the core of a team that had underperformed in the playoffs while only trading away an oft injured Bowie and through the draft. This is what I'm talking about when I say I want to see the team build on the good players they already have.
 
KingSpeed said:
I'm almost in on everything you're saying except that we lost in the Finals, losing 3 straight at home. We didn't exactly celebrate that year. I'm glad we're not going to overreact. Some people want to fire Stotts without a better coach in mind. And lots of people want big trades for the sake of big trades. Lots of people would be happy reading CJ regardless of the return. Just change for the sake of change. He tried to get us Paul George. They said no. They tried to get Melo and I maintain he would've played well for us. Trading CJ for Barnes would be awful. Would the difference between Barnes and Aminu be so great that we'd be fine with Pat or Wade at starting SG? Besides, if Dame/CJ doesn't work, why would Dallas want Dennis/CJ?
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Many people that want Stotts gone and have a better replacement in mind.
 
KingSpeed said:
I'm almost in on everything you're saying except that we lost in the Finals, losing 3 straight at home. We didn't exactly celebrate that year. I'm glad we're not going to overreact. Some people want to fire Stotts without a better coach in mind. And lots of people want big trades for the sake of big trades. Lots of people would be happy reading CJ regardless of the return. Just change for the sake of change. He tried to get us Paul George. They said no. They tried to get Melo and I maintain he would've played well for us. Trading CJ for Barnes would be awful. Would the difference between Barnes and Aminu be so great that we'd be fine with Pat or Wade at starting SG? Besides, if Dame/CJ doesn't work, why would Dallas want Dennis/CJ?
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I'm not saying that losing in the Finals was great or anything. I'm just pointing out that team couldn't do shit in the playoffs either and then were in the Finals two out of three years.
 
Strenuus said:
10 straight playoff losses.

It's clear we arent moving forward. He's made us move backwards. Great regular season team with no clue how to win in the playoffs in the last several years without help.

Forgive me if I don't exactly trust a guy who sells me a car that craps out when I really need it.
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You have a picture of Kersey as your avatar. His teams lost 16 out of 20 playoff games too. How is that different?
 
hoopsjock said:
I'm not saying that losing in the Finals was great or anything. I'm just pointing out that team couldn't do shit in the playoffs either and then were in the Finals two out of three years.
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lol. Because it works like that, we just get the same type of talent and since the years line up, it just happens.

Coincidence is just that. Doesn't mean history repeats itself.
 
hoopsjock said:
You have a picture of Kersey as your avatar. His teams lost 16 out of 20 playoff games too. How is that different?
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Because we don't have players as good as back then? Crazy thought, I know. Sucks we don't live in a vaccuum!
 
blue9 said:
I don't care to go back and find the tweet, but I find it interesting that both Evan and Moe - pretty much the only players who have played under someone besides Terry - mentioned that our offense relies almost entirely on Dame/CJ. Harkless expressed this sentiment at the beginning of the season, and Turner expressed it in his exit interview.
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IIRC Harkless made that comment right before being benched.
 
hoopsjock said:
I'm not saying that losing in the Finals was great or anything. I'm just pointing out that team couldn't do shit in the playoffs either and then were in the Finals two out of three years.
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Def. Similar to Golden State. Lost in 2014 first round. Won championship in 2015.
 
KingSpeed said:
No. We have our pieces. Every championship team is different. I think we are very close to championship quality.
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Getting swept by a 6 seed isn't close to championship quality.

But what I don't understand, is the people that defend Stotts and say he's done a lot with a flawed roster also say we're "one or two pieces away"... if the roster is that flawed, then we're not that close to being a contender..
 
KingSpeed said:
No. We have our pieces. Every championship team is different. I think we are very close to championship quality.
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King, you know I love you and enjoy your positive attitude, but to compare a sub par, first round sweep team, to a fluke team that had the players, coach and peaked at the right time, to what we have is silly
 
Chris Craig said:
We can't beat playoff teams with Ian Clark on them
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We may never have to again. Matchups are everything in playoffs. Rockets won titles because they avoided Seattle both years. Seattle owned Rockets over those years and once the Rockets DID face the Sonics in 1996, they got swept. Jordan never lost in Finals because he never played Rockets or Spurs, teams he struggled against.
 
KingSpeed said:
We may never have to again. Matchups are everything in playoffs. Rockets won titles because they avoided Seattle both years. Seattle owned Rockets over those years and once the Rockets DID face the Sonics in 1996, they got swept. Jordan never lost in Finals because he never played Rockets or Spurs, teams he struggled against.
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With the best teams, it doesn't matter who they face. They beat everyone, because they're the best.

"Such and such team was a bad matchup" is an excuse for mediocre teams.
 
BonesJones said:
With the best teams, it doesn't matter who they face. They beat everyone, because they're the best.

"Such and such team was a bad matchup" is an excuse for mediocre teams.
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It's not true. Sonics owned Rockets back then. Rockets got lucky they never faced them. Same with Bulls and the 2 Texas teams.
 
KingSpeed said:
It's not true. Sonics owned Rockets back then. Rockets got lucky they never faced them. Same with Bulls and the 2 Texas teams.
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It is true. Just because you can pick outliers doesnt mean it represents an entire sample or sets a trend.
 
KingSpeed said:
We may never have to again. Matchups are everything in playoffs. Rockets won titles because they avoided Seattle both years. Seattle owned Rockets over those years and once the Rockets DID face the Sonics in 1996, they got swept. Jordan never lost in Finals because he never played Rockets or Spurs, teams he struggled against.
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Okay bud, but we got stomped by the weakest team in the western PO side. Who should we have avoided? The WNBA might be a close match up..
 
If Championship Rockets can beat anyone, why did they get swept by Sonics in 1996?
 
Cavs were without Kyrie and Love in 2015. Warriors were lucky and still needed 6 games to win the series. Last year, they were getting crushed by a team that had crushed them in the regular season (Spurs) and Kawhi got hurt. Winning a championship isn't always about beating the best.
 
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