WTF?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
MARIS61

MARIS61

Real American
Joined
Sep 12, 2008
Messages
28,007
Likes
5,012
Points
113
The Choad blew it:

Note: The deadline expired Thursday for the Blazers to use the $3.38 million disabled player exception the NBA awarded them earlier this month because of the season-ending injury to center Greg Oden. The Blazers could have used the money to sign a free agent or in a trade for another player.

Inexcusable.:tsktsk:
 
The financial model is broken.
 
This certifies that Sean Marks is better than every player in the D-League.
 
Damn. There were lots and lots of available players making $3.38 million or less that could have either really helped this team this season or significantly upgraded their future.

Somehow, Cho misses out on ALL of them? Sounds like he lost all the meniscus in his head.
 
Minstrel said:
Damn. There were lots and lots of available players making $3.38 million or less that could have either really helped this team this season or significantly upgraded their future.
Click to expand...

Really? Who?

I'm not disagreeing, I just have no idea who's out there, that's worth a damn, that hasn't already been picked up. I reserve the right to be upset, but I want to know if it's worth the effort first. The last two guys we picked up (Oberto and Marks) aren't exactly world beaters, and neither "really helped this team this season or significantly upgraded their future". So, who'd we miss out on?

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
Really? Who?

I'm not disagreeing, I just have no idea who's out there, that's worth a damn, that hasn't already been picked up. I reserve the right to be upset, but I want to know if it's worth the effort first. The last two guys we picked up (Oberto and Marks) aren't exactly world beaters, and neither "really helped this team this season or significantly upgraded their future". So, who'd we miss out on?

BNM
Click to expand...

I was joking, which I thought my last line would make clear, and the "lots and lots." Oh well. It amused me to write it, which is good enough for me.

IMO, this is a non-issue.
 
I'm not certain Cho is an actual GM. I think he's a puppet for Miller & Allen. They're the ones we should be pointing the finger at if we're unhappy.
 
You've hit upon something that will be increasingly discussed. Which GM duties does Cho do alone and which does he share with Miller or Vulcans?

At the end of the Pritchard era, I was saying that Pritchard was very good at marketing (smiling to Quick and feeding him rumors a little at a time), decent at scouting (his picks were looking worse at they got lower in the 1st round), incapable of trading (so he baked the cake and said, calm waters), mediocre at trades even with the Paul Allen advantage (taking on bad contracts + paying $3M in cash), and a total bust at negotiating (either with other GMs who found him arrogant as he demanded uncompromising Pritchslaps, or with players like failing to avoid Roy's max contract).

It will take a year or maybe even two, but eventually we'll have a detailed analysis of Cho's talents.
 
Minstrel said:
Damn. There were lots and lots of available players making $3.38 million or less that could have either really helped this team this season or significantly upgraded their future.

Somehow, Cho misses out on ALL of them? Sounds like he lost all the meniscus in his head.
Click to expand...



Sure, because there has never been another guy like Matthews, and never will be again.

What's that you say? Nobody like that can be out there because *I* can't name them for you? Right....because Cho and the professionals that work for him should be held to the same standard as fans on a message board.
 
oldmangrouch said:
Sure, because there has never been another guy like Matthews, and never will be again.
Click to expand...

You scoff at the odds of Greg Oden playing an extended period but pin your hopes to the Blazers having an undrafted free agent with a lot of talent available right when they have an injury exception?

If you consider low probability things to be silly to factor in, you should be consistent. "Guys like Wes Matthews" (that is, players with better than average NBA talent that every other team missed) come along, but extremely rarely.

What's that you say? Nobody like that can be out there because *I* can't name them for you? Right....because Cho and the professionals that work for him should be held to the same standard as fans on a message board.
Click to expand...

No, that's not what I say. I'm sure there are things that exist that you and I are unaware of. I just see that teams almost never find impact players with these types of exceptions and, from that empirical observation, fail to find this development to be worth great disappointment.

Also, I have no particular reason to believe Cho and his front office are extraordinary and therefore able to identify that one guy that every other team missed. I certainly hope he is, but chances are that he isn't. In fact, I'm not sure anyone is. I don't really recall any GM/coach making a pattern of finding significant NBA players that every other team missed. Generally, guys like Matthews are discovered as lucky strikes. In my opinion, anyway.

I'd have been fine with Cho taking a random gamble on some NBADL guy. That guy could be better or worse than Marks...but the chances of that player significantly affecting the team's present or future is beyond slim, as far as I'm concerned. That Cho didn't bother is not a big deal to me. Your mileage may vary.
 
It also could have also been used in a trade . . . I guess there are no trades out there to be done.
 
jlprk said:
You've hit upon something that will be increasingly discussed. Which GM duties does Cho do alone and which does he share with Miller or Vulcans?

At the end of the Pritchard era, I was saying that Pritchard was very good at marketing (smiling to Quick and feeding him rumors a little at a time), decent at scouting (his picks were looking worse at they got lower in the 1st round), incapable of trading (so he baked the cake and said, calm waters), mediocre at trades even with the Paul Allen advantage (taking on bad contracts + paying $3M in cash), and a total bust at negotiating (either with other GMs who found him arrogant as he demanded uncompromising Pritchslaps, or with players like failing to avoid Roy's max contract).

It will take a year or maybe even two, but eventually we'll have a detailed analysis of Cho's talents.
Click to expand...

I think you're spot on with this post.

I can also understand there not being a free agent out there who could make the slightest difference, but we might have used that money in a trade, There are supposedly a lot of cash strapped teams. That's where we might have found someone who could contribute.
 
Our sweet smelling GM hopefully realized that a player of with that salary isn't going to make a difference. We are average at best, and the sooner the front office gets that, the better
 
Minstrel said:
You scoff at the odds of Greg Oden playing an extended period but pin your hopes to the Blazers having an undrafted free agent with a lot of talent available right when they have an injury exception?

If you consider low probability things to be silly to factor in, you should be consistent. "Guys like Wes Matthews" (that is, players with better than average NBA talent that every other team missed) come along, but extremely rarely.



No, that's not what I say. I'm sure there are things that exist that you and I are unaware of. I just see that teams almost never find impact players with these types of exceptions and, from that empirical observation, fail to find this development to be worth great disappointment.

Also, I have no particular reason to believe Cho and his front office are extraordinary and therefore able to identify that one guy that every other team missed. I certainly hope he is, but chances are that he isn't. In fact, I'm not sure anyone is. I don't really recall any GM/coach making a pattern of finding significant NBA players that every other team missed. Generally, guys like Matthews are discovered as lucky strikes. In my opinion, anyway.

I'd have been fine with Cho taking a random gamble on some NBADL guy. That guy could be better or worse than Marks...but the chances of that player significantly affecting the team's present or future is beyond slim, as far as I'm concerned. That Cho didn't bother is not a big deal to me. Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

I will concede I used an extreme example in Matthews.

I will also concede that simply finding an upgrade over Marks, or Mills/Johnson wouldn't "save the season."

OTOH, Cho and company were handed a risk-free way to make at least a slight upgrade to the bench - whether through a direct signing or by using it as a trade chip - and they just couldn't be bothered. I find that telling - and troubling.

You can always find an excuse to do nothing.
 
Treaty_of_Batum said:
It also could have also been used in a trade . . . I guess there are no trades out there to be done.
Click to expand...

But not in combination with other things to raise the salary of the player coming back. It could have been used in trade for someone making $3.3 million or less. While there are plenty of players on rookie contracts in that window, it's not a given that you can make such a deal make sense for the other team. Very few teams want to dump players making that little to save salary...and anyone who's actually worth the salary, either in terms of potential or current value, that team would probably prefer to keep.
 
oldmangrouch said:
OTOH, Cho and company were handed a risk-free way to make at least a slight upgrade to the bench - whether through a direct signing or by using it as a trade chip - and they just couldn't be bothered. I find that telling - and troubling.
Click to expand...

You always frame a trade/signing/drafting not going the way you wanted as lack of interest/effort/caring. I find that to be a pretty silly stance. I think Cho cares more than any of us, it being his livelihood while it is just our entertainment/hobby. I don't have any reason to believe that he's not putting effort in. This is your version of fans claiming that Rasheed Wallace or LaMarcus Aldridge must be slackers because they aren't/weren't as good as people wanted them to be. Sometimes people aren't as great as we'd like, or the opportunities aren't as great as we'd like...it doesn't mean the people in question are mailing it in, as you generally suggest when it comes to front office people.

You can always find an excuse to do nothing.
Click to expand...

True. And with no information, you can always claim perfidy where none exists. Maybe there really isn't anyone useful. What then?
 
I think Minstrel is right on target here. It's unfortunate that more of you weren't able to attend the meet and greet at the Blazers practice facility last fall. If you'd met Cho, seen his office and how detailed he is about tracking every player in the league, and heard him talk, you'd know this cat is dedicated to making the Blazers better. I have absolutely no doubt that it's not a matter of him not trying to make deals happen, but rather a case of being patient enough to wait for the right deal.
 
It's absurd to posit that there is no player in the league available for trade that an average GM could not have used this nearly $4mil + some scrubs to get, while noticeably improving our team.

Other GM's are flabbergasted that The Choad never called.
 
e_blazer said:
I think Minstrel is right on target here. It's unfortunate that more of you weren't able to attend the meet and greet at the Blazers practice facility last fall. If you'd met Cho, seen his office and how detailed he is about tracking every player in the league, and heard him talk, you'd know this cat is dedicated to making the Blazers better. I have absolutely no doubt that it's not a matter of him not trying to make deals happen, but rather a case of being patient enough to wait for the right deal.
Click to expand...

I think he's just really inept at evaluating basketball talent. I've never read anything to suggest he has even personally spoken to an actual NBA player before, other than the ones on his team. Nice that he does the usual nerd-tracking of stats, but that leaves him a step behind most of us in the GM qualifications department. Nothing in his bio or his few statements to the press indicates any past accomplishments of note or even a deep knowledge of the game.

He appears to be nothing more than an affirmative action hire.
 
The exception could have been used to 1) pick up a D-Leaguer and waive a player already here, 2) combine the exception into a player trade, or 3) trade it straight up for a mere pick.

I think Cho isn't a powerful independent operator like a Whitsitt. He's doing what he's told. He solicits opinions from Larry Miller, McMillan, Vulcans, and Paul Allen and makes it a group decision. I think the organization likes the attitudes of Marks and Mills, and doesn't want to chance replacing either.

I think that last year's 10 days with Anthony Tolliver turned Nate against D-League recruits. Tolliver can score and rebound, but Nate wanted a defender first. Tolliver then caught on with Golden State and Minnesota. Picky Nate fits players to his system, not vica versa.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's truly this hard to use the exception, given the 3 weeks Cho had. If so, the league's policy of granting the exception to replace a missing player is a sham, since that exception will usually turn out worthless. Have most teams who have gotten this exception succeeded in using it, or failed like us?
 
Houston just got one with Yao (or about to get one). Will be interesting to see if they use it.
 
I remember that another team got one the same day we did, about 3 weeks ago. I posted at the time that we'd have to hurry. Did the other team use theirs? If not, that backs up the theory that this league "gift" is a sham. If they did, that backs up the theory that our management was either incompetent or (my theory stated above) just didn't want to use it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top