The better team won

[wizenheimer]

You think Olshey hasn't been trying to land another star?

NO...I absolutely don't think he's been trying because I don't think he ever makes serious offers....mainly because he has believed CJ is already the 2nd star

 

[wizenheimer]

1. I'm sick of hearing things like this quoted as gospel. Give me cast iron proof of ANY of those and I'll tell you...
2. ...that Olshey is the one and only cause of all of our problems.

But I bet you if we were offered ANY of those players, the team asked for Dame.

c'mon...it was widely reported that Olshey offered the three 2017 firsts for PG13 and the Pacer's choice of any combo of Blazers EXCEPT, Dame, CJ, and Nurkic. Olshey even confirmed it when he said something to the effect of "why would I trade CJ for PG....I want CJ to play with PG" in a press conference...I saw it

if he wasn't willing to include CJ for PG13, what makes anyone think he'd turn around and offer CJ for Butler, Kawhi, or Harden?

 

[B-Roy]

c'mon...it was widely reported that Olshey offered the three 2017 firsts for PG13 and the Pacer's choice of any combo of Blazers EXCEPT, Dame, CJ, and Nurkic. Olshey even confirmed it when he said something to the effect of "why would I trade CJ for PG....I want CJ to play with PG" in a press conference...I saw it

if he wasn't willing to include CJ for PG13, what makes anyone think he'd turn around and offer CJ for Butler, Kawhi, or Harden?

Also, just look at the fucking deals that went down. Butler was traded for Covington and Saric and NO PICKS, to a Philly front office that was (at the time) absolutely batshit stupid and inexperienced. Harden went for Oladipo and picks. It was widely reported that Houston wanted an actual player, so they chose the shitty deal with Oladipo (which ended up being an AWFUL deal). We definitely could have matched that if we pushed hard enough.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Cappazzo and Rivers had it easy.

Two vet minimum guys, one being a waiver wire guy, played huge roles in this series.

All while CJ was scoring 21 pts on 21 shots with some of the worst defensive I’ve ever seen.

 

[TBpup]

Agreed, the better 'team' won. The more talented group lost.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Well-known geniuses all.

Certainly more credible than some random on a message board saying otherwise.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

That's because they had a healthy squad. Most people picked us to win this series.

They kept winning without Murray in regular season.

 

[Natebishop3]

Cappazzo and Rivers had it easy.

Two vet minimum guys, one being a waiver wire guy, played huge roles in this series.

All while CJ was scoring 21 pts on 21 shots with some of the worst defensive I’ve ever seen.

I was embarrassed for him with how bad campazzo was torching him.

 

[AldoTrapani]

It is funny, though. Everyone thought all the first round series in the West would be upsets - except maybe Clippers-Mavs. Now that's looking like the only upset. The team we tried so hard to avoid...

Lol very true. @Natebishop3 and me been saying this all year. Blazers have sucked since the start. It’s not a good team at all

 

[Phatguysrule]

When you have a top 10 player, you don't rebuild unless that player asks out. Go check NBA history. It's never happened.

Because the chance you hit on another player like that is almost nil. So unless you get Zion back or something, you retool each year around Dame and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. There have been PLENTY of situations in the past to actually pair Dame with a true all-star. But our FO never pulled the trigger on moving CJ or any of the other pieces they were in love with.

Chicago Bulls. Micheal Jordan. Broke up by front office in their prime.

Results not good.

 

[Terry Stawts]

What are you talking about? We have a far better team. Besides Jokic their roster was crap. We lost because we played with no effort at all, for quarters at a time at some points...in a *playoff game*.

Whether that’s bad coaching or the players being lazy is debatable. But it wasn’t lack of talent.

 

[MickZagger]

Just look at the coaching in this series. Malone comes off as tough and intense. Players feed off that.

Stotts comes off like Shaggy from Scooby Doo

 

[MickZagger]

1. I'm sick of hearing things like this quoted as gospel. Give me cast iron proof of ANY of those and I'll tell you...
2. ...that Olshey is the one and only cause of all of our problems.

But I bet you if we were offered ANY of those players, the team asked for Dame.

Who are you pointing blame at?

Norman Powell? because he doesn’t rebound enough?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

congratulations to their MVP: Flint's own Monte' Morris!

SEE OLSHEY? THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD BACKUP PG????

 

[Rastapopoulos]

It is funny, though. Everyone thought all the first round series in the West would be upsets - except maybe Clippers-Mavs. Now that's looking like the only upset. The team we tried so hard to avoid...

...and not even that. So, for all the talk of the parity in the West, and Phoenix, Utah et. al. being pretenders, seeds 1-4 all went through.

 

[TBpup]

View attachment 38888
SEE OLSHEY? THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD BACKUP PG????

... and why Nurk feels the way he does. Jokic was a total of -10 for the series. Since Nurk guarded him the whole time (when he wasn't coming out), it's even a bigger issue of their back up guards making CJ look silly.

 

[Mediocre Man]

The better coached team won

 

[brooklynballer]

... and why Nurk feels the way he does. Jokic was a total of -10 for the series. Since Nurk guarded him the whole time (when he wasn't coming out), it's even a bigger issue of their back up guards making CJ look silly.

Agree, and look at Jamychal Green as well. Clearly Denver’s second unit outplayed Portland’s by A WIDE MARGIN. In addition to getting a new coach, and trading CJ for a comparably talented wing, the other biggest change the team needs to make is to upgrade its bench or find a coach that can better utilize/develop the talent that’s already there.

 

[Ripcity4life77]

Better team is debatable cause if you compare the ACTIVE roster i would say the Blazers had more TALENT but and this next point is where the NeO and Stotts factors came into effect -- Better BUILT team won -- Denver had a team BUILT to win in the playoffs while the Blazers did not.

Also i LOVE Dame and i think he is a top 5 player in the league BUT i think the rest of the team and i think Stotts might have been the person who cultivated this next attitude is keep it close and Dame will go into Super Dame and bail us out and win it for us.

 

[Minstrel]

I"m curious--if the Blazers are again mediocre next year with, say, Billups as coach, will people readjust their priors on how talented this team is? Or will Billups just be the latest "worst coach ever?"

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I"m curious--if the Blazers are again mediocre next year with, say, Billups as coach, will people readjust their priors on how talented this team is? Or will Billups just be the latest "worst coach ever?"

There is not a coach around that can make this current roster a championship contender. So blaming the coach for the team being mediocre would be a mistake and not fix the real problem which is the GM.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

IMO the problems with the team are GM, Coach, CJ.

We fixed one of them.

Trading Lillard doesn't fix the other two.

 

[Natebishop3]

I"m curious--if the Blazers are again mediocre next year with, say, Billups as coach, will people readjust their priors on how talented this team is? Or will Billups just be the latest "worst coach ever?"

I really don't think the coach will be the lighting rod next season. It will be Olshey.

 

[e_blazer]

The better coached team won

Dunno about that. That strategy of single coverage and not fouling to deny Dame’s 3-pt shots that sent the game to two overtimes didn’t seem brilliant to me.