Clippers GM Olshey talks trade deadline

[mkwest]

Olshey, currently on the road scouting college games, said he’s had to adjust this season because the team has enough talent to make the playoffs and maybe make a run, and that changes things at the deadline.

“This year, our approach to the trade deadline is two-fold,” Olshey said. “One, we’re looking for immediate help that can affect our win total and make us more of a factor in the playoffs this year. But we’re also looking for another long-term piece to continue building the roster.

“This roster, as is, isn’t the final product.”

The Clippers most tradable asset, Eric Bledose, isn’t someone the team is eager to move, though.

“Eric Bledsoe is going to play an intricate role as he gets healthier as he continued to get back in the flow,” Olshey said. “He’s a young, dynamic, athletic guard that’s had big games for us in the past and gives us a great look with (Chris Paul).

“We’re not looking to make any changes there.”

If the Clippers are unwilling to part ways with Bledsoe, they probably don’t have a whole lot to offer at the deadline. The team is without a first-round pick this year, doesn’t have rookies with a lot of value and doesn’t have any big expiring contracts.

And the Clippers are committed to not making a panic move that sets back to the team in the future.

“What we’re not going to do is give up long-term flexibility for a player where we have any question mark whether he’s the fit now and in the future, not just a minor upgrade in the present,” Olshey said. “You need to think he’s the missing piece going forward.”

Dan Woike, OC Register

[apet8945]

So we don't want to give up too much this year in order to be lock and loaded for next year. Cause there pretty much is no future after next year if CP3 doesn't have an incentive to stay here. Olshey better have plans of hiring a championship caliber coach and signing players with championship pedigree in the offseason. This current roster has enough talent to win, just doesn't have the coach that can get it done consistently enough on both sides of the floor. Its a shame really.

[Det the Threat]

Pretty much what I expect him to say and most likely do.

We don't have much to offer and shouldn't take on contracts like Stephen Jackson's etc.

So I expect us to look if there's a chance at Crawford and if not, then we'll most likely go for a guy with a short term contract(if Morrow isn't available) for one of our TPE's and maybe a 2nd rounder.
If not, then expect us not do anything and sign one or two of those guys being bought out of their contracts after the deadline.

[og15]

This is what the smart GM's do. The panicky GM's are the ones that trade for a big contract of a player that can possibly / maybe help, even though the player isn't a great fit or game changer, and then handicap themselves in the future.

[Cracka2Hi]

Yea it's very painful because we seem so close and we're suffering such tough losses but we really shouldn't panick and give up Bledsoe unless it's for the right guy. There may not be the right guy out there. Although I think Morrow, Mayo and Nick Young would probably be worth Bledsoe. Crawford probably isn't...unless they are willing to take Gomes with him.

[illastrate]

I like Bledsoe, but why the reluctance to trade him? We have a legitimate shot of coming out of the West with one right move and we're balking? We get Ray Allen and I like our chances. Now is the time to show CP3 we're serious about contending. We're on the clock.

[og15]

Bledsoe can't get Ray Allen. Ray Allen would require trading a combination of something like Bledsoe, Foye, and Gomes, and the Celtics already have two PG's, and probably wouldn't want Gomes extra year.

There isn't much in terms of resources to use to trade for Ray Allen. Crawford is a different story, but I can understand the concern. He's too poor defensively to take the team any further than one could project right now, and the Clippers wouldn't be willing to give him that "last big contract" in the summer.

So if you think the Clippers can make it to the second round right now, Crawford is maybe the difference between losing in 6 games and 7 games. So you'd trade Bledsoe for that better feeling that the series was closer, then loose Crawford in the summer for nothing. Bledsoe is still possibly a piece that can be used to make a trade during draft time, and through the summer if need be.

[apet8945]

I know Olshey said its not time to panic, but I can't help myself about this trade I cooked up just by playing around with the trade machine.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=89mgcon

I think all teams get what they want now without screwing their futures up in the process. Of course, there's probably better trades out there for the Blazers and Hawks that I'm not taking into account which would involve them not trading with us; I just think this one would be a pretty interesting trade.

[JZV]

Yea it's very painful because we seem so close and we're suffering such tough losses but we really shouldn't panick and give up Bledsoe unless it's for the right guy. There may not be the right guy out there. Although I think Morrow, Mayo and Nick Young would probably be worth Bledsoe. Crawford probably isn't...unless they are willing to take Gomes with him.

hey guys, I long-time reader of this board, never really had the guts to give any input. just seemed like you guys knew more about basketball more than i did. anyway, i'm in agreement with bledsoe for a guy like morrow/young. i just think that with either guy, it would help the clippers fill their need for another shooter. i would prefer nick young because although he may be erratic at times, i think he is a guys that is athletic enough to defend some of the other teams better wings. i read somewhere that he wasn't really feeling his place or his worth in d.c. what makes this team more appealing besides playing with CP, BG and co. is he's an l.a. guy coming back home (granted it didn't turn out so well with the last guy coming home).

[Angel strike1]

I know Olshey said its not time to panic, but I can't help myself about this trade I cooked up just by playing around with the trade machine.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=89mgcon

I think all teams get what they want now without screwing their futures up in the process. Of course, there's probably better trades out there for the Blazers and Hawks that I'm not taking into account which would involve them not trading with us; I just think this one would be a pretty interesting trade.

doesnt really help us much. we need a 3 point shooter...
ray/crawford.

and guess what with crawford i can see us comeing out of the west or making the west finals at least.

with current roster+idiot coach will be happy to win 1 round

[apet8945]

I know Olshey said its not time to panic, but I can't help myself about this trade I cooked up just by playing around with the trade machine.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=89mgcon

I think all teams get what they want now without screwing their futures up in the process. Of course, there's probably better trades out there for the Blazers and Hawks that I'm not taking into account which would involve them not trading with us; I just think this one would be a pretty interesting trade.

doesnt really help us much. we need a 3 point shooter...
ray/crawford.

and guess what with crawford i can see us comeing out of the west or making the west finals at least.

with current roster+idiot coach will be happy to win 1 round

Marvin Williams is shooting 40% from deep, and Willie Green is shooting 43% from deep, so we're getting a lot of help there. Plus Green is like Marcus Thornton, just not as good, so he'll find ways to score. Even J-smoove can shoot the 3 from time to time.

Crawford isn't going to get us anywhere in the playoffs. And Ray Allen isn't likely to be traded to us.

Now I'm not saying this trade will happen cause trades like this never usually occur, but it sure as hell beats getting Crawford only.

[Sofia]

Yea it's very painful because we seem so close and we're suffering such tough losses but we really shouldn't panick and give up Bledsoe unless it's for the right guy. There may not be the right guy out there. Although I think Morrow, Mayo and Nick Young would probably be worth Bledsoe. Crawford probably isn't...unless they are willing to take Gomes with him.

hey guys, I long-time reader of this board, never really had the guts to give any input. just seemed like you guys knew more about basketball more than i did. anyway, i'm in agreement with bledsoe for a guy like morrow/young. i just think that with either guy, it would help the clippers fill their need for another shooter. i would prefer nick young because although he may be erratic at times, i think he is a guys that is athletic enough to defend some of the other teams better wings. i read somewhere that he wasn't really feeling his place or his worth in d.c. what makes this team more appealing besides playing with CP, BG and co. is he's an l.a. guy coming back home (granted it didn't turn out so well with the last guy coming home).

Welcome. Good post. Be confident and post more!

[Cracka2Hi]

Yea it's very painful because we seem so close and we're suffering such tough losses but we really shouldn't panick and give up Bledsoe unless it's for the right guy. There may not be the right guy out there. Although I think Morrow, Mayo and Nick Young would probably be worth Bledsoe. Crawford probably isn't...unless they are willing to take Gomes with him.

hey guys, I long-time reader of this board, never really had the guts to give any input. just seemed like you guys knew more about basketball more than i did. anyway, i'm in agreement with bledsoe for a guy like morrow/young. i just think that with either guy, it would help the clippers fill their need for another shooter. i would prefer nick young because although he may be erratic at times, i think he is a guys that is athletic enough to defend some of the other teams better wings. i read somewhere that he wasn't really feeling his place or his worth in d.c. what makes this team more appealing besides playing with CP, BG and co. is he's an l.a. guy coming back home (granted it didn't turn out so well with the last guy coming home).

Welcome! I'd like to grab Young the most too. If he fit in he could be part of our long term future. Most the other guys we've been talking about are quick fixes. I'd take Ray Allen first and maybe Nick Young second. I might prefer Carlos Delfino if we could get him for a TPE.

[mkwest]

Welcome to the board JZV

I know Olshey said its not time to panic, but I can't help myself about this trade I cooked up just by playing around with the trade machine.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=89mgcon

I think all teams get what they want now without screwing their futures up in the process. Of course, there's probably better trades out there for the Blazers and Hawks that I'm not taking into account which would involve them not trading with us; I just think this one would be a pretty interesting trade.

Fit: Smith is better than DJ, but they serve different purposes on the court. This trade would make us even smaller than we currently are. Who would play center? Smith and Blake both play the same position and really don't need to be playing SF or C.

Financially: He does have a 15% trade kicker btw. What happens in the summer of 2013? Blake and Paul will both be up for new max contracts (Blake may have already been extended). Josh Smith is then a free-agent, but you don't really have any cap room when taking into account cap holds and roster charges. If Smith is re-signed, then you are looking at paying the luxury tax.

[apet8945]

Fit: Smith is better than DJ, but they serve different purposes on the court. This trade would make us even smaller than we currently are. Who would play center? Smith and Blake both play the same position and really don't need to be playing SF or C.

Financially: He does have a 15% trade kicker btw. What happens in the summer of 2013? Blake and Paul will both be up for new max contracts (Blake may have already been extended). Josh Smith is then a free-agent, but you don't really have any cap room when taking into account cap holds and roster charges. If Smith is re-signed, then you are looking at paying the luxury tax.

Yes, Smith is much better than DJ, in pretty much every facet of the game. DJ isn't playing well enough to finish games anymore, having been replaced by hot-headed K-mart. And with Butler's recent disappearance, we have 18 million dollars sitting on the bench in crunch time. Seems a bit of a waste doesn't it?

Regardless, if DJ isn't playing at the end of games, and we're finishing games with a small lineup out there, why not just trade DJ and play small throughout the entire game? Look at Miami. They're one of the best defensive teams out there and their Center is freakin' 6'9" Joel Anthony.

It's hard to think that replacing DJ with Smith and essentially replacing K-mart with Smith at the end of games, that we won't become a better team, especially defensively. J-smoove can block his share of shots too.

I didn't know of that 15% increase, but that shouldn't really matter. I'm pretty sure we would extend Griffin to a max contract before Paul and Smoove need a new contract, which is good cause then we can convince them to sign for a bit less to play for us so we can continue to put good pieces around them. It's not like Smoove is making that much more than DJ anyway. It's only a couple of million dollars of difference. And we could convince Marvin Williams to turn his player option to a team option and we can let him go if we need the cap space for 2013.

[Cracka2Hi]

There is no way we are trading DJ IMO. Smoove is better but I doubt he has as much trade value or is as valueable to us because he's a PF. I'm against anything where we trade DJ. We don't need to make a big trade, I'm really hoping we can someone good for Bledsoe or one our TPE's. If the report that we we're offered Crawford for Bledsoe and we turned it down is true then I am hopeful. I don't think we can Ray Allen but I can see us getting Crawford, Morrow, Mayo, Delfino, Miles, Bell or Young. Maybe someone none of us can even think of. Blowing the thing at this point makes no sense. We have enough small pieces to add a SG.

[apet8945]

Again this trade would never happen, but its fun to talk about it. I'm all for keeping DJ too but I've seen minimal improvement from last year and even regression in some areas. I just don't want his contract to end up tying our hands together in the future.

I don't see why we couldn't have Smith play Center. The only team we'd have trouble against in the West is the Lakers with their twin towers but we could quite possibly just avoid them in the playoffs.

Paul/Bledsoe
Foye/Green
Williams/Butler/Simmons
Griffin/Martin/Thompkins
Smith/Evans/Cook

That's a pretty beastly defensive starting 5, and what I think could be an explosive bench especially if Butler can get back on track playing against 2nd unit players.

[og15]

You mean Josh Smith? The same reason Blake doesn't start at C is why Josh Smith doesn't. Josh Smith is a hybrid PF/SF. He just lost weight so he could be quicker on the floor, he's 6'9 and weighs in the 230 range. The Hawks are already complaining about lack of size because they have Al Horford (a natural PF) at C.

Having a legitimate C is more beneficial than having a player like Smith on this team. It's not just the skill level, it's the size, ability to keep teams off the offensive glass, not having to double team on average players because they always have a mis-match against your C, all those things.

These are the teams one would have trouble with:
Lakers: Bynum/Gasol
Timberwolves: Love/Pekovic (already have trouble against them)
Memphis: Marc Gasol
Dallas: Haywood / Mahinmi

I'm actually finding it hard to figure out the teams one wouldn't struggle against with Josh Smith at C, Golden State. Even Phoenix with Gortat and Frye would have an advantage inside. One might even struggle against OKC in keeping Perkins off the glass. Then offensively, there's no advantage because Josh Smith doesn't have great blow by ability or a great shot. Teams will guard Blake with the C's and just put their PF's on Josh Smith, so he'll be getting the same defenders he is now that equal his .487 TS% (to his credit he was better the past two seasons, and playing on this team would help him improve that efficiency).

Remember that Emeka Okafor a guy who has played C all his career and is bigger and a little taller than Josh Smith is undersized at C.

In the end the main issue becomes that you want to build a championship team. Investing so much into a player that plays the same position as your best player totally negates the reality of accomplishing that.

[apet8945]

You mean Josh Smith? The same reason Blake doesn't start at C is why Josh Smith doesn't. Josh Smith is a hybrid PF/SF. He just lost weight so he could be quicker on the floor, he's 6'9 and weighs in the 230 range. The Hawks are already complaining about lack of size because they have Al Horford (a natural PF) at C.

Having a legitimate C is more beneficial than having a player like Smith on this team. It's not just the skill level, it's the size, ability to keep teams off the offensive glass, not having to double team on average players because they always have a mis-match against your C, all those things.

DJ has lost his role to play in crunch time because of his inability to keep guys off the offensive glass. I remember one game in particular, forgot who it was against, but he gave up 2 or 3 absurd offensive rebounds. I think we ended up winning anyway, but barely.

These are the teams one would have trouble with:
Lakers: Bynum/Gasol
Timberwolves: Love/Pekovic (already have trouble against them)
Memphis: Marc Gasol
Dallas: Haywood / Mahinmi

We have trouble against these guys you just mentioned already, and we have a legitimate center. How many times has DJ been schooled this year, especially by a bunch of scrub centers? Darko twice, Dalembert, Udoh, Haywood, and there's more that I can't remember off the top of my head. Not to mention Bynum and Howard always have his number.

I'm actually finding it hard to figure out the teams one wouldn't struggle against with Josh Smith at C, Golden State. Even Phoenix with Gortat and Frye would have an advantage inside. One might even struggle against OKC in keeping Perkins off the glass. Then offensively, there's no advantage because Josh Smith doesn't have great blow by ability or a great shot. Teams will guard Blake with the C's and just put their PF's on Josh Smith, so he'll be getting the same defenders he is now that equal his .487 TS% (to his credit he was better the past two seasons, and playing on this team would help him improve that efficiency).

DJ has no ability on offense whatsoever, so I don't see why having a guy who is sound on offense can be a bad thing. Blake is going to draw double teams regardless, Smith will just provide another option on the offensive end.

Remember that Emeka Okafor a guy who has played C all his career and is bigger and a little taller than Josh Smith is undersized at C.

In the end the main issue becomes that you want to build a championship team. Investing so much into a player that plays the same position as your best player totally negates the reality of accomplishing that.

All very valid points and I agree that Smith isn't the best option. I'm just curios to know, for myself, if the team could do well with that lineup. I believe they can. Josh Smith is a better one on one defender, gets more rebounds than DJ(which would probably go down if he played here), probably boxes out better than DJ, and still has the threat to block shots. And then, he can create his own shot and make plays for others much like Blake. He can ease the burden on Blake's shoulders on the offensive end and allow Blake to conserve more energy for the end of games. Not to mention, in this particular trade we'd be getting a great defender and an amazing year for him shooting from deep in Marvin Williams.

Regardless of all that, DJ has a hard time doing many of the things mentioned, at least consistently anyway, which is a direct result of him sitting on the bench at the end of games. This is more about his inability to do his job than it is trading for Smith. And from what I've seen and observed, he prefers it that way. I don't see see him working harder as a result of his diminished playing time. He still makes the same mistakes many times a game, every game.

I want DJ to be a part of this team moving forward, but he's shown me no improvements from last year, and it is starting to concern me, especially with his double digit salary.

[TheNewEra]

It's the perimeter defense if DJ doesn't go to help we leave someone wide open and get hit with the 3 ball because no one rotates over. Its not a huge difference its giving up one poison for another and its easier to fix player rotations with DJ helping on the perimeter than it is to stop the other team from getting open buckets from the 3pt line with Martin because we are trying to protect the inside.