The truth about Olshey and Free Agency

[SlyPokerDog]

I've read ton of complaints and even made a few myself during this current free agent period but a lot of the complaints about Olshey have been about players that fans thought he should get and didn't. That doesn't seem fair or more importantly, accurate.

So I decided to take a quick review of the 2016 free agency by looking only at Wojo's tweets or things that he has retweeted. While he doesn't get everything right he is by far better than most.

So lets take a look...

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

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[Rastapopoulos]

My complaint is about the kind of players he TARGETS. All too often I've been relieved that players we've targeted have signed elsewhere.
Viz:
Enes Kanter
Greg Monroe
Chandler Bling

Also that he has shown NO INTEREST IN BOBAN!!!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[SlyPokerDog]

https://twitter.com/WojVerticalNBA

 

[SlyPokerDog]

So a couple of things...

We never went after Whiteside or Howard. Now it's fair to complain about Olshey not targeting them you can't say he failed because we didn't sign them. It appears we were never interested.

Complaints about Olshey not doing anything are not accurate. Moments after it was announced that Parsons signed with the Grizz it was announced that we had signed Turner. Clearly he had a plan A and a plan B and when plan A didn't work he immediately executed plan B.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

After plan B he looked at Gasol. Now like the Marks tweet said we would have had to renounce our RFAs to sign Gasol. We didn't. We haven't. While we didn't land Gasol no harm was done.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Like @Rastapopoulos I'm far less concerned with who he got or didn't get in free agency, it's the guys he likes that worry me.

 

[Schilly]

We have a better center tandem than the Warriors

 

[SlyPokerDog]

All these other players Quick and others said we're going after has not been reported by Woj. I wouldn't trust a Quick tweet, some of you seem to hate everything he writes but suddenly believe everything he tweets.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Like @Rastapopoulos I'm far less concerned with who he got or didn't get in free agency, it's the guys he likes that worry me.

Isn't that pretty subjective? "Olshey didn't go after the players I think he should have so therefore he sucks!"

 

[Schilly]

Like @Rastapopoulos I'm far less concerned with who he got or didn't get in free agency, it's the guys he likes that worry me.

What he likes is guys who fit Terry Stotts' system.

 

[Nikolokolus]

We have a better center tandem than the Warriors

This is not very reassuring.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Isn't that pretty subjective? "Olshey didn't go after the players I think he should have so therefore he sucks!"

I didn't say he sucks. I just don't share his vision.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

My complaint is about the kind of players he TARGETS. All too often I've been relieved that players we've targeted have signed elsewhere.
Viz:
Enes Kanter
Greg Monroe
Chandler Bling

Also that he has shown NO INTEREST IN BOBAN!!!

And the players he targeted last year, Plums, Aminu and Davis helped get us to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

 

[blue9]

My complaint is about the kind of players he TARGETS. All too often I've been relieved that players we've targeted have signed elsewhere.
Viz:
Enes Kanter
Greg Monroe
Chandler Bling

Also that he has shown NO INTEREST IN BOBAN!!!

Exactly. And let's not forget Spencer Hawes. And even Hibbert.

I have no problem with Olshey failing at bringing in certain players - those players are free to make their own decisions. But Olshey's targets leave a lot to be desired. And at this point, it seems like attempting a trade for a past FA target (Monroe or Kanter) would have better addressed our needs than the directions Neil went in (Turner / Pau).

But if Turner somehow turns into a trade that brings back someone like DMC by the trade deadline, then perhaps Olshey's moves will have worked out for the best. But maybe trading for future unprotected picks would be a wiser direction to go at this point.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

It is possible that he knows more about NBA player strength/weakness, potential, personality and ability to mesh with the current team than we do.

WHAT!!?

 

[Sinobas]

I think the mistake that we as a fanbase made, is that we went to those websites that show available free agents, and we started at the top of the list and worked our way down, trying to find players that could help the team that we felt we had a realistic chance to sign. But what we should have actually done is start at the bottom of those lists and work our way up. While we were thinking about Horfords, Howards and Whitesides, we should have been looking at guys like Nazr Mohammad and Steve Blake.

 

[LuckyShot]

The only guy I really wanted was Horford, but we didn't even seem to be interested. So that's maybe the only way that I feel disappointed by our actions. My guess is Horford was flat out not interested in us, and Olshey knew that, so he didn't waste any time on it.

 

[OneLifeToLive]

Like @Rastapopoulos I'm far less concerned with who he got or didn't get in free agency, it's the guys he likes that worry me.

I've made a couple comments in the past that perhaps he has limited beliefs on this very market and those beliefs is holding the team hostage during free agency. The players mentioned by Rasta could be guys he feels like he has a chance in signing. And guys like Durant, Horford, Noah he doesn't make a play for because he doesn't feel we have a shot.

When watching him speak you get the feeling he is a matter of fact certain about many things. And that the position he is coming from is one of reality from his own perspective. Doesn't mean it is but from his own sense, it could be. If that is the case. It's killed and cost this team in the last five years.

Like I said, I don't feel it's the market the city, team or anything to do with Portland. I think it's the man in the position. Guys in the past have been able to recruit players to this town.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Only closers get coffee.

Neil, you don't get any coffee.

 

[noknobs]

The truth is that the Blazers have been pointing to this free agency for over a year and had almost 23m in cap space (and possibly much more) and have so far turned than into Evan Turner. You can talk about who was available, who was interested, who we tried to get, etc, as much as you want, but so far that's what's happened. I've been a big Olshey fan, and I suppose I still am, but this offseason has been exceedingly unimpressive.

 

[Schilly]

Like I said, I don't feel it's the market the city, team or anything to do with Portland. I think it's the man in the position. Guys in the past have been able to recruit players to this town.

Huh?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I think Mr. Dog may be onto something. I think that agents and teams have always dropped Portland's name in rumors as they know that Portland doesn't comment on rumors and they also know that Portland is perceived around the league as very active. I think almost for sure that Portland was never interested in Pachulia. And i think there is a good chance they never pursued Whiteside, probably because Olshey got word there was no interest from Whiteside.
I personally think that he wanted to get Parsons and Howard, even if Woj never mentioned it; this just makes sense to me.
I have no idea if he wanted Mahimni as rumored. I personally think he would have been a valuable addition but valuable enough to renounce a RFA that Olshey had drafted or acquired?
I suspect that Olshey allowed the Gasol rumor to be put out there, to help an agent and hurt SA. I can't imagine that he really would have renounced RFA's (would have had to be two) in order to sign an aging Gasol. So I think even the great Woj can be sucked in.