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That was my point......exactly!I don't think Dame will get fed up if he believes the organization is doing everything it can (this includes good decision making) to contend with him, but if he starts to think they are not doing everything they can or not making smart decisions, his Loyalty will more than likely decrease to the point he will sign somewhere else to contend.
He already has a great NBA and Addidas contract. Does anyone think his next contract will be for money? IT will be to win. IF he sees Portland as not being able to get it doner even if he signs for less? He may well sign for less elsewhere..
he wont leave as long as we give max contract to Nurk
It just sucks because Minnesota was able to accomplish exactly what I would have wanted to do a few years ago. They traded their star before he could leave for a young stud. They tanked and drafted a franchise player. They traded for an established star. They brought in a defensive minded coach to bring it all together.
As recently as this summer, most here were adamant that Minny's rebuild was a terribly flawed approach. It just goes to show how quickly things can change, and how badly people who are sure they know how things fit together can get it wrong.
I'm not sure what that has to do with Dame and the article, other than we may not know until it's over if we got it right. That said, I'd like to think things are much more predictable (and preparable) than that...I felt Minny would be pretty good this year, and I've been predicting our mess the past two years. I can't really come up with a scenario that lets Olshey off the hook for letting us continue down this path.

There's nothing wrong with duplicating talent, so long as they can really play. If they're great, you can always move one in a trade and get value where you need it. If they suck or are "just okay" it's a lot muddier.Man, if we fell into a #1 pick in '15-16 with a big man (KAT) penciled in, that would have made a few people here pucker up... I don't think Porzingis was on many people's radar, was he? I feel like most NY fans felt he was a major reach and were calling for Phil Jackson's head early on as a result.
As for Olshey, I agree with the gist of what you wrote, but here's why I've never felt his "plan" was anything more than a game of pin the tail on the donkey: He acquired duplication at every position (Dame/CJ, Moe/Aminu, Plumlee/Davis), all on the cheap and all pretty much at the same time, creating major roster issues going forward. I don't think he had any idea which players would pan out. He just went for value where he could find it. Hell, he did the same thing with this year's draft, bringing in two guys competing for backup minutes at the same spot.
Olshey's entire philosophy was flawed because it was based on the idea that people would want to come here if we had money. Pritchard made the same mistake with RLEC. It was silly that he hadn't looked at our past and adjusted accordingly.
The only GM we've had who had a successful strategy in Portland was Trader Bob. His strategy was to accumulate assets, no matter what their history was and then use those assets to trade up for better assets (no matter their past). Portland isn't a destination. The only thing that will change that is either winning a championship or adding a generational star like LeBron. I love Dame but he's not a generational talent.
Looking back at the summer of the 2015-2016 season, I think Olshey's plan was to tank. LMA left so he let Rolo, Wes, and Afflalo leave for nothing. He traded Batum for a 19 year old project big man. I don't think in Neil's wildest dreams that we were going to make the playoffs, let alone make it to the second round. CJ played above what I think we were expecting. If that team had actually played as badly as many people thought they would, we would have been in the running for the #1 pick and guess what.... Karl Anthony Towns. It doesn't really solve the problem of free agency that summer, but maybe this team would have been more appealing if we had Dame/CJ/KAT for a guy like Horford? Or maybe we move CJ to add a wing like Paul George?
I think Neil's plan when LMA left was to
#1 tank
#2 develop young talent (Vonleh/CJ/Meyers/Harkless)
#3 get a high draft pick
#4 bring in another star through free agency
I think that entire plan blew up when the team over performed. We lost our pick to Denver. We weren't really good enough to convince a star to come here. Everyone knew we realistically only got past LAC because of the injuries to Griffin and Paul. Still, I think that plan was flawed. Let's say we finished as badly as people thought we would, but only got the 4th pick because we had bad luck in the lottery. I guess we would have probably drafted Porzingis? So that's not a bad scenario. I think we still don't convince a tier 1 free agent to come here though. Almost all of the top free agents stayed home, with the exception of Durant and Horford.
So if we want someone to blame for our current predicament, blame Dame. Fucker wouldn't let us tank.![]()
There's nothing wrong with duplicating talent, so long as they can really play. If they're great, you can always move one in a trade and get value where you need it. If they suck or are "just okay" it's a lot muddier.
