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PMOTT3's Review:

Losses:

LaMarcus Aldridge
Nic Batum
Wes Matthews
Robin Lopez
Aaron Afflalo
Steve Blake
Joel Freeland
Alonzo Gee

A TON of talent lost here. Obviously LMA is the big one but losing 4 out of your 5 starters is just crazy.

Draft:

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

I loved the RHJ pick and wish they had kept him instead of flipping him for Plumlee & Connaughton. His offensive game is obviously a work in progress but I think his defense is going to translate from the get-go.

Trades:

.Batum for Vonleh & Henderson
.Steve Blake/Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for Mason Plumlee/Pat Connaughton
.Cap space for Haywood/Miller & 19', 20' 2nd round picks
.protected future 2nd for Maurice Harkless

Im not sure how i feel about the Batum trade. Vonleh is definitely an intriguing prospect to say the least but hasn't really done anything yet. Batum was young enough to keep as part of this rebuild-on-the-fly plan since LMA left. Unless Batum was showing signs that he wanted out; why not keep him as part of the rebuild?

I didnt like the RHJ at all. Yea they cleared Blake's salary (it was only like 2 mil anyways) but i would much rather have 4 years of control with Hollis-Jefferson than have 1 year of Plumlee before he hits RFA. Plumlee is an energy kind of big who is also a FT liability. Don't know anything about Connaughton.

I believe the plan is to waive Mike Miller as well but they are basically getting two future 2nds for free. Basically a win-win all the way around.

Nothing wrong with taking a look at Harkless; especially when its basically for free.

Free Agency:

Lillard (5 year max extension)
Al-farouq Aminu
Ed Davis
Enes Kanter (matched by OKC)
Phil Pressey
Cliff Alexander
Tim Frazier
Allen Crabbe

I dont think Lillard deserves this chunk of money now but i think he's capable of earning it given a couple years. He's an exciting young player who has a nack for hitting big shots. I just hope he can improve on the defensive side of the ball.

I am a big Aminu fan. Hes an excellent rebounding wing with some pretty good defense as well. I think 7.5 mil per year for a guy who has zero offensive game is a little rich but hopefully he can develop.

I dont like the Ed Davis contract and feel its an overpay (although small one.)

I think they dodged a bullet with OKC matching Kanter.

Pressey, Alexander, Crabbe, and Frazier are all just guys. Although signing Cliff could have its rewards. He was considered a top 5 pick in the draft before the NCAA season began.


Current Depth Chart (pretty rough):

PG: Lillard/Frazier/Pressey
SG: Henderson/McCollum/Crabbe
SF: Aminu/Harkless/Miller?
PF: Davis/Vonleh/Alexander/Connaughton
C: Plumlee/Leonard/Kaman

Needs:

They have plenty of young pieces but need more young talent for the rebuild. I don't see any other young piece on this roster with all-star upside other than Vonleh. McCollum & Leonard would be my dark horse picks but i think those are some serious stretches. Time is another need as well. Its going to be rough transitioning from a WCF contender to high lottery pick contender.

Additional Thoughts:

Will Lillard blossom into a leader? Can he take another leap? I think Lillard is going to have a down year this season. He was surrounded by one of the best starting 5 units in the league last season and now his help is suppose to be Hendo, Aminu, Davis, and Plumlee? Thats a serious drop off from Matthews, Batum, LMA, and Lopez. I think its safe to say that this team isn't going to be in playoff contention at any point this season.

Win/Loss Prediction: 27-55

Off-Season Grade: F

Im trying not to base this grade on the loss of Aldridge and company (although its hard to ignore when a team loses 4 of their 5 starters). Its also based on how well they were able to collect assets and kick off the re-build as well. They collected some 2nds but those are the ultimate crap-shoot draft picks. I thought they should have kept Batum as part of the rebuild. They added plenty of young pieces but none with all star upside (Vonleh could be the exception). I really thought they should have kept Hollis-Jefferson. Its going to be a long 2-3 years for Portland fans.

Chuck Texas' Review:

Losses

LMA
Nic Batum
Wes Matthews
Robin Lopez
Aaron Afflalo
Steve Blake
Joel Freeland
Alonzo Gee

Single biggest talent loss in the Association ainec. Just a serious exodus of quality veteran talent.

Draft:

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson


I'm not a huge fan and liked the deal they made.

Trades:

Batum for Vonleh & Henderson
Steve Blake/Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for Mason Plumlee/Pat Connaughton
Cap space for Haywood/Miller & 19', 20' 2nd round picks
protected future 2nd for Maurice Harkless

Lots here to work with. As mentioned above, I liked the deal for Plumlee/Connaughton. I'm just not sure how RHJ is really going to translate--feel like he is a massive project. Plumlee is a pretty good young big and I think Connaughton might make a better pro than RHJ. I feel like they didn't really get great value on the Haywood/Miller deal, but without knowing what else is out there in terms of salary dumps, I don't mind picking up a couple assets here. I like the flier on Harkless. Again he's not hurting them cap space wise so why not?

And the Batum deal--I'm not nearly as high on Vonleh as most here are. But it made no sense to keep Batum and getting a young 4 with some skills is a good return, plus they might be able to flip Hendo at the deadline for a little something more.

Free Agency:

Lillard (5 year max extension)
Enes Kanter Offer Sheet
Al-Farouq Aminu
Ed Davis
Phil Pressey
Cliff Alexander
Tim Frazier
Allen Crabbe


Lillard is clearly a max player in light of the other contracts so locking him up was a smart move. Either he is a cornerstone of the rebuild or a very attractive trade chip down the road. I really like Aminu, but was a little stunned at the money--but again they have tons of space and overpaying to get a guy you identify early makes sense. I think this guy is going to be a really good player. Still very young. The rest of this is kinda whatever.

I'm curious about the Kanter offer. Feels like a favor to his reps more than a player they really wanted--especially at that money. Maybe some Blazer guys can share with us how they saw this offer.

Current Depth Chart (pretty rough):

PG: Lillard/Frazier/Pressey
SG: McCollum/Hendo/Crabbe
SF: Aminu/Harkless/Miller
PF: Vonleh/Davis/Alexander/Connaughton
C: Plumlee/Leonard/Kaman

Really no idea who starts other than Lillard. Feel pretty good that Aminu is the SF and that Plumlee is the 5, but....

Needs:

Obviously they need to keep acquiring young talent and assets. This is a rebuild that isn't going to be done in a year. Just play the heck out of the kids and see who looks like a keeper.

Additional Thoughts:

This off-season was all about them knowing LMA was leaving. And its clear they had a plan in mind if that happened. Going to be a tough year for the Blazers after several years of having a really solid team and last year looking like they had a fringe contender before all the injuries on the wing just torpedoed them.

Win-Loss Prediction: 20-62

Lillard is good enough to win them some games, but this is going to be a really long year in the West. Should be in the running for a top 5 pick.

Off-Season Grade: B

They get a solid B from me. Yeah their off-season was a disaster. No denying that. But, once they knew LMA was gone--and it appears LMA let them know right away he was leaving--they acted quickly towards the only thing that made any sense and that was a complete and total rebuild. Obviously they couldn't come close to the offers Matthews was getting, and why keep Lopez at that point either? If Batum had longer on his contract you could have kept him, but with a year left and lots of teams would clearly be pursuing him next year--why not get something for him? They added a few pieces to build with and kept flexibility open to help facilitate deals at the deadline. I felt like they handled their heartbreak way smarter than Dallas did for instance.

Some variance!

I went in between with a C, and a C+ I think is fine too based on losing so many guys. I think they did a pretty decent job to kickstart the rebuild though. I like Vonleh, Harkless was worth a flier, and they extended Lillard all as good moves. If they can manage to make a move here or there for an extra first it would be ideal, but we'll see.

I think this is the first time Chuck and I have had almost complete polar opposite takes on a teams off-season. Looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts on this one.

OK. A take from a Blazer fan:

(first, a disclaimer: I'm not nearly as high on the job GM Neil Olshey has done as most Blazer fans are. There are several posters in the Blazer forum actually giving him high marks for this off-season because they are also quite high on the 'young talent' Olshey has assembled already. I'm pretty skeptical about the level of the talent (other then Lillard). Anyway, I can't look at losing 4 starters off a 51 win team as anything but a large failure. I think Olshey has spent 3 years straddling the fence between win-now and rebuild and that indecision caught up to him in July)

Aldridge was the pivot point. Once he decided to leave, there was little reason for Portland to keep Matthews & Lopez. And trading Batum was a fairly strong signal Blazer brass knew Aldridge was gone weeks in advance of when he signed with SA. Assistant coach Kim Hughes let the cat out of the back on June 27 when he said in an interview that Aldridge was leaving. Blazer management knew. Hughes was fired for saying that by the way

So, with Aldridge leaving and Portland pivoting to a rebuild, it made lots of brutal sense to shed as much salary as possible and Portland free agent contract situation made that a fairly simple path that most any GM would have followed

* Batum for Henderson + Vonleh: this was a move taking a flyer on a 19 year old PF with a high ceiling while adding 3 million in cap-space this summer. There was reason to believe Batum would have been difficult to re-sign. And Henderson is a solid player who might fit long-term in Portland. If nothing else, he might be trade bait as the deadline approaches

* RHJ + Blake for Plumlee + Connaughton: RHJ probably has the highest ceiling of any of these three young players. He also might have the far more difficult time getting there. I think this was a fairly solid move for Portland. Every player involved has major flaws, but mobile bigs are usually good bets

* basically nothing for Harkless: kind of meh on this one. I don't think much of Harkless but the Blazers essentially traded nothing for him and will have available minutes to test if Harkless is a hidden gem or a lump of coal

* Signed Aminu & Davis. Failed to sign Monroe and Kanter: I think a prism needs to be applied to Portland's free agent moves, and that prism is that the Blazer have always had a difficult time attracting quality free agents. A very difficult time, and that only has become a worse problem as the CBA's have evolved. This means the Blazers will likely have to overpay to sign any player with decent talent. In that light, the Aminu and Davis signings were good ones. Both players are still relatively young and can do some good things on court. They are versatile and good defenders. Davis is a strong rebounder. Obviously, they are both offensively challenged and saying that may be kind. They are excellent role players....now all Portland needs are the stars...

* Signed Pressley and Alexander: these are no-risk moves designed fill out the training camp roster while taking flyers on other young players. Neither may make the cut next October

Portland sure looks like it has a roster built for tanking without looking like it. They have a bunch of players who will play hard but probably will not fit well together. It's open auditions in Portland for the next 2-3 seasons and the first casting call is underway

Grade: how can you not pay attention to what was lost? Portland could have a 30 game decrease in wins in one season. I'm tempted to give Portland an F, but because the Blazers shed so much salary in such a short time, an F is uncalled for. And of course, if any of the young guys on the roster establish themselves quickly, the grade could climb. And honestly, what has happened in July is welded to what the Blazers do in the next couple of drafts. So practically, the grade right now is an Incomplete

Wizenheimer wrote:OK. A take from a Blazer fan:

(first, a disclaimer: I'm not nearly as high on the job GM Neil Olshey has done as most Blazer fans are. There are several posters in the Blazer forum actually giving him high marks for this off-season because they are also quite high on the 'young talent' Olshey has assembled already. I'm pretty skeptical about the level of the talent (other then Lillard). Anyway, I can't look at losing 4 starters off a 51 win team as anything but a large failure. I think Olshey has spent 3 years straddling the fence between win-now and rebuild and that indecision caught up to him in July)

Aldridge was the pivot point. Once he decided to leave, there was little reason for Portland to keep Matthews & Lopez. And trading Batum was a fairly strong signal Blazer brass knew Aldridge was gone weeks in advance of when he signed with SA. Assistant coach Kim Hughes let the cat out of the back on June 27 when he said in an interview that Aldridge was leaving. Blazer management knew. Hughes was fired for saying that by the way

So, with Aldridge leaving and Portland pivoting to a rebuild, it made lots of brutal sense to shed as much salary as possible and Portland free agent contract situation made that a fairly simple path that most any GM would have followed

* Batum for Henderson + Vonleh: this was a move taking a flyer on a 19 year old PF with a high ceiling while adding 3 million in cap-space this summer. There was reason to believe Batum would have been difficult to re-sign. And Henderson is a solid player who might fit long-term in Portland. If nothing else, he might be trade bait as the deadline approaches

* RHJ + Blake for Plumlee + Connaughton: RHJ probably has the highest ceiling of any of these three young players. He also might have the far more difficult time getting there. I think this was a fairly solid move for Portland. Every player involved has major flaws, but mobile bigs are usually good bets

* basically nothing for Harkless: kind of meh on this one. I don't think much of Harkless but the Blazers essentially traded nothing for him and will have available minutes to test if Harkless is a hidden gem or a lump of coal

* Signed Aminu & Davis. Failed to sign Monroe and Kanter: I think a prism needs to be applied to Portland's free agent moves, and that prism is that the Blazer have always had a difficult time attracting quality free agents. A very difficult time, and that only has become a worse problem as the CBA's have evolved. This means the Blazers will likely have to overpay to sign any player with decent talent. In that light, the Aminu and Davis signings were good ones. Both players are still relatively young and can do some good things on court. They are versatile and good defenders. Davis is a strong rebounder. Obviously, they are both offensively challenged and saying that may be kind. They are excellent role players....now all Portland needs are the stars...

* Signed Pressley and Alexander: these are no-risk moves designed fill out the training camp roster while taking flyers on other young players. Neither may make the cut next October

Portland sure looks like it has a roster built for tanking without looking like it. They have a bunch of players who will play hard but probably will not fit well together. It's open auditions in Portland for the next 2-3 seasons and the first casting call is underway

Grade: how can you not pay attention to what was lost? Portland could have a 30 game decrease in wins in one season. I'm tempted to give Portland an F, but because the Blazers shed so much salary in such a short time, an F is uncalled for. And of course, if any of the young guys on the roster establish themselves quickly, the grade could climb. And honestly, what has happened in July is welded to what the Blazers do in the next couple of drafts. So practically, the grade right now is an Incomplete

An F seems rather harsh considering they really had no control of LMA, Matthews (not that anyone should have signed him at that price), RoLo and AA who were all unrestricted FAs. And considering you seemed to have liked their trades and signings, the notion you were tempted to give them an F seems more confusing.

Personally, I think they pretty much did what they could to salvage their off-season and still have cap space to continue to do more moves. It was an overnight rebuild.

My favorite move of theirs was the Batum trade. I think Vonleh is exactly the gamble they needed to take, while Henderson is young enough and good enough to either grow with the team or trade near the deadline.

I don't really have a least favorite move as I think most their moves made some sense. The one move I probably would have lowered their grade for was something that never came to fruition.. and that was the max offer to Kanter.

My most thoughts are regarding the Plumlee/RHJ trade..of course.

RHJ has fairly high upside because of his defense, rebounding and point forward skills. I think he could have been a cheap, long term solution at SF. His jumper is awkward, but he shot it often and with confidence in SL looking good at times even from 3 and is certainly something that can be worked on at age 20. He's a stat stuffer in every sense and has quite the personality which could have helped with fan interest.

Plumlee on the other hand has several flaws on offense, defense and rebounding. He does do best in an up-tempo system, but with Vonleh and Leonard there, not to mention several bigs on the market (like Davis), I didn't really get it. Personally I think he's near his peak as he comes from a basketball pedigree, played 4 years at Duke and two years in the league. His game is 100% athleticism based and he regressed in nearly every aspect from year 1 to 2, which was odd considering his Team USA experience. He has no offensive game outside of point blank range (he was poor when asked to post up and showed an inability to play PF), is a horrendous FT shooter, has T-Rex arms, gets bullied on the inside on D and even his finishing ability deteriorated year 1 to 2. But.. he did show the ability to be a spot starter both years or 20-25 minute back up. I do like that they got rid of Blake in the deal and picked up Connaughton who has great athletic ability and 3 point shooting. His inclusion and the Blake dump balances out the trade IMO.

I'm more in the middle than either of you but lean more towards bad offseason so I'll give it a C-. I liked the Vonleh trade but I just question the overall direction. You could argue that the Blazers would have been better served by doing a full rebuild even before LMA signed elsewhere. It just seems like they are stuck in the middle and I think its a tough spot to build from.

Any time a team implodes the way Portland did this summer it is a product of seasons of mismanagement and not just a single decision of a player to leave.

Olshey failed for years to strengthen the bench in a significant way that might have allowed the team to really contend for a championship. No group of starters were forced to lay more minutes than the Blazers. Each year LMA had to give absolutely everything he had just to be a solid playoff team. There was never a signal to him that Olshey had the ability to improve the situation, so LMA believed he had to find a better situation when he was able.

When Miami lost Lebron they didn't demolish most of the team to rebuild from scratch. If OKC losses Durant in FA next summer I don't expect them to rebuild from scratch. Another failure of Olshey was having the 4 of 5 of the best players on the team reaching FA the same year. The team lost Aldridge, Lopez, Mathews and Afflalo with no return. Even sign and trading these players and receiving a TPE would have represented value and Olshey got nothing except the ability to sign role players to over-priced contracts.

If Portland had resigned everyone but Aldridge or nearly everyone they would still have a chance at the playoffs and with the rising salary cap a chance to be the team that lures the next disgruntled star player with a team already to surround such a player. Instead they chose they traded the signed player with the most value in Batum for questionable value, got no value for their free agents, signed role players to over-priced contracts and resigned Lillard to what affect? Stealth tanking or to trade him and tank further? By the time Portland is ready to compete again, Lillard will be be deemed too old to be a part of it.

Lillard/Blake
Mathews/ McCollum
Aflalo/ RHJ (draft)
Batum/ Davis (FA)
Lopez/ Leonard

This team would still be imminently watchable and contend for the playoffs and be in a position to draw a star in FA or you trade the pieces for greater value over the next year or so.

Olshey still has his job.

Has any one individual destroyed teams faster and better than Portland GM's Kevin Pritchard and Neil Olshey?

Portland fans deserve better.

sonictecture wrote:Any time a team implodes the way Portland did this summer it is a product of seasons of mismanagement and not just a single decision of a player to leave.

Olshey failed for years to strengthen the bench in a significant way that might have allowed the team to really contend for a championship. No group of starters were forced to lay more minutes than the Blazers. Each year LMA had to give absolutely everything he had just to be a solid playoff team. There was never a signal to him that Olshey had the ability to improve the situation, so LMA believed he had to find a better situation when he was able.

When Miami lost Lebron they didn't demolish most of the team to rebuild from scratch. If OKC losses Durant in FA next summer I don't expect them to rebuild from scratch. Another failure of Olshey was having the 4 of 5 of the best players on the team reaching FA the same year. The team lost Aldridge, Lopez, Mathews and Afflalo with no return. Even sign and trading these players and receiving a TPE would have represented value and Olshey got nothing except the ability to sign role players to over-priced contracts.

If Portland had resigned everyone but Aldridge or nearly everyone they would still have a chance at the playoffs and with the rising salary cap a chance to be the team that lures the next disgruntled star player with a team already to surround such a player. Instead they chose they traded the signed player with the most value in Batum for questionable value, got no value for their free agents, signed role players to over-priced contracts and resigned Lillard to what affect? Stealth tanking or to trade him and tank further? By the time Portland is ready to compete again, Lillard will be be deemed too old to be a part of it.

Lillard/Blake
Mathews/ McCollum
Aflalo/ RHJ (draft)
Batum/ Davis (FA)
Lopez/ Leonard

This team would still be imminently watchable and contend for the playoffs and be in a position to draw a star in FA or you trade the pieces for greater value over the next year or so.

Olshey still has his job.

Has any one individual destroyed teams faster and better than Portland GM's Kevin Pritchard and Neil Olshey?

Portland fans deserve better.

Billy King?

Once LMA was leaving, it made sense to let everyone else go. Keeping them would have required contracts that were questionable to bad (at least for a rebuilding team) anyway.

The Vonleh trade was great. Vonleh did enough as a young rookie to look like he'll be quite good in a few years. Portland successfully took advantage of a floundering Charlotte offseason.

I like Aminu better as a PF than SF, which would leave Portland overly deep at PF and questionable at SF - but playing him at SF leaves very little shooting. The value with Davis and especially Aminu was good but IMO the fit is poor, though Portland has time to fix that.

They got lucky with the Kanter deal. Plumlee and Leonard are both better, and you offer $16M/yr to Kanter? They had to be sure OKC would panic match for that to make sense.

In terms of what was under their control the Vonleh deal was very good and the rest was neither that good or bad. I'd go a solid B+.

They get an F for loosing 4/5 starter but I liked some of their moves.

Vonleh was meh, I guess they felt they wanted to tank and Batum would be as good as gone in 16' if so decent return.

Aminu and Davis where okay moves, but I'd like them more if the team where trying to compete

Again, Plumlee would of been a very good move if they where trying to compete, but for a tank RHJ is a much better fit.

I liked Harkless.

Kinda strange, all their moves point "contend" except for the fact they lost Batum, Matthews, Aldridge and Lopez. They should and I think will tank but their moves kinda puzzled me. I like them, just not for this team.

Yes, King deserves to be put into this category as well. Nets fans also deserve better.

giberish wrote:Once LMA was leaving, it made sense to let everyone else go. Keeping them would have required contracts that were questionable to bad (at least for a rebuilding team) anyway.

The Vonleh trade was great. Vonleh did enough as a young rookie to look like he'll be quite good in a few years. Portland successfully took advantage of a floundering Charlotte offseason.

I like Aminu better as a PF than SF, which would leave Portland overly deep at PF and questionable at SF - but playing him at SF leaves very little shooting. The value with Davis and especially Aminu was good but IMO the fit is poor, though Portland has time to fix that.

They got lucky with the Kanter deal. Plumlee and Leonard are both better, and you offer $16M/yr to Kanter? They had to be sure OKC would panic match for that to make sense.

In terms of what was under their control the Vonleh deal was very good and the rest was neither that good or bad. I'd go a solid B+.

If they had kept everyone else they wouldn't be a rebuilding team. The contracts they would have given out would have been market contracts and traceable in the future for value.

Vonleh did enough last season? Are you thinking of someone else?
Vonleh played in 25 games, shot .395% on 3.3ppg and 3.4rpg. If anything he gave the impression he came out too early and Charlotte reached for him.

OKC went into FA expecting to match a max contract for Kanter. There was no panic in their process. Kanter would have been a good player for Portland and would have increased the time of the rebuild.

Aldridge completely screwed Portland over. Once he did that really only Batum had any value. Vonleh seems like a decent salvage job in return for a guy who only had a year left on his deal.


Portland has a ton of cap space though and this rebuild will take a few years. Its a tough bullet to swallow for fan's of a team that was dominant until the injuries started to rack up. Without being privy to what went on between LaMarcus and Olshey its pretty hard to fault Neil for getting dealt a **** hand. I don't care for seller types like Olshey but really don't feel like I can judge anything but the end result. Obviously the result is an F but I at least like the band-aid approach and at least he had the foresight to protect the pick and seems to be off to a good start on a rebuild. Having Lillard in the fold also gives a very solid centerpiece to build around.

Village Idiot wrote:Aldridge completely screwed Portland over. Once he did that really only Batum had any value. Vonleh seems like a decent salvage job in return for a guy who only had a year left on his deal.


Portland has a ton of cap space though and this rebuild will take a few years. Its a tough bullet to swallow for fan's of a team that was dominant until the injuries started to rack up. Without being privy to what went on between LaMarcus and Olshey its pretty hard to fault Neil for getting dealt a **** hand. I don't care for seller types like Olshey but really don't feel like I can judge anything but the end result. Obviously the result is an F but I at least like the band-aid approach and at least he had the foresight to protect the pick and seems to be off to a good start on a rebuild. Having Lillard in the fold also gives a very solid centerpiece to build around.

If the rebuild takes 3-4 years that puts Lillard at 28-29 years old respectively. Considering the average lottery draft pick is 19 years old, Lillard will be 9-10 years older than the younger core. Isn't that too old?

Interesting that you blame Aldridge and not Olshey for the current situation.

sonictecture wrote: Even sign and trading these players and receiving a TPE would have represented value and Olshey got nothing except the ability to sign role players to over-priced contracts.

I

Simply not true. Pure cap space is more valuable than those TPE's would be. And typically the team gaining the TPE has to compensate the other team for playing along which means Portland would have sacrificed assets for less flexibiltiy.

sonictecture wrote:

Village Idiot wrote:Aldridge completely screwed Portland over. Once he did that really only Batum had any value. Vonleh seems like a decent salvage job in return for a guy who only had a year left on his deal.


Portland has a ton of cap space though and this rebuild will take a few years. Its a tough bullet to swallow for fan's of a team that was dominant until the injuries started to rack up. Without being privy to what went on between LaMarcus and Olshey its pretty hard to fault Neil for getting dealt a **** hand. I don't care for seller types like Olshey but really don't feel like I can judge anything but the end result. Obviously the result is an F but I at least like the band-aid approach and at least he had the foresight to protect the pick and seems to be off to a good start on a rebuild. Having Lillard in the fold also gives a very solid centerpiece to build around.

If the rebuild takes 3-4 years that puts Lillard at 28-29 years old respectively. Considering the average lottery draft pick is 19 years old, Lillard will be 9-10 years older than the younger core. Isn't that too old?

Interesting that you blame Aldridge and not Olshey for the current situation.

Two things..
If the rebuild is over in 3-4 years doesn't that mean the team is ready to compete and hopefully contend for something significant? If so wouldn't a PG in his prime make sense?

Secondly, I think the logic behind blaming LMA for the current situation is that everything LMA said led the team (and fans) to believe that LMA wanted to retire as the best Blazer of all time. I'm not sure when he had the change of heart exactly, but if it was prior to the trade deadline he could have given them a chance to get something for him.

sonictecture wrote:

giberish wrote:Once LMA was leaving, it made sense to let everyone else go. Keeping them would have required contracts that were questionable to bad (at least for a rebuilding team) anyway.

The Vonleh trade was great. Vonleh did enough as a young rookie to look like he'll be quite good in a few years. Portland successfully took advantage of a floundering Charlotte offseason.

I like Aminu better as a PF than SF, which would leave Portland overly deep at PF and questionable at SF - but playing him at SF leaves very little shooting. The value with Davis and especially Aminu was good but IMO the fit is poor, though Portland has time to fix that.

They got lucky with the Kanter deal. Plumlee and Leonard are both better, and you offer $16M/yr to Kanter? They had to be sure OKC would panic match for that to make sense.

In terms of what was under their control the Vonleh deal was very good and the rest was neither that good or bad. I'd go a solid B+.

If they had kept everyone else they wouldn't be a rebuilding team. The contracts they would have given out would have been market contracts and traceable in the future for value.

Vonleh did enough last season? Are you thinking of someone else?
Vonleh played in 25 games, shot .395% on 3.3ppg and 3.4rpg. If anything he gave the impression he came out too early and Charlotte reached for him.

OKC went into FA expecting to match a max contract for Kanter. There was no panic in their process. Kanter would have been a good player for Portland and would have increased the time of the rebuild.

Keeping Afflalo/Matthews/Lopez leaves Portland as a 40-win meh team with no upside. They'd be more watchable next year but in a worse position going forward. I didn't see any of them signing good contracts. Afflalo is a bad defender where any offensive decline leaves him with very limited on-court value. Matthews is coming off an Achillies injury (and not remotely cheap). Lopez was the only average conctact but hardly a bargain for a decent but limited center.

And no matter how fast the cap rises, the worst defensive player in the league on a $16M+/yr deal isn't an asset.

yeah I'm not buying the LMA screwed them over angle. Sorry. He was an UFA and they knew that was upcoming. He certainly made it clear prior any of the moves this off-season. Yeah it sucks he decided he wanted to play elsewhere, but other teams lose significant players every summer and Portland certainly didn't sit around hoping he would come back and making win-now moves that would make no sense without him.

It was catastrophic, but to me the Matthews injury is the key domino. With Matthews still there, I could see LMA sticking around and hoping the team could make one more key addition, but with so much uncertainty around Matthews and Lillard's contract about to explode I think he saw it would be very difficult for the Blazers to contend.

Yeah, I'm not buying LMA screwed them, and think they were completely right to go full rebuild. I'd expect similar from OKC but that's another topic entirely. Once they knew he was out it made no sense to build around Lillard and a bunch of older role player to slightly above average guys, and Lillard is still young enough to build around if you put a young core with him.

Funny how these guys are at each end of the spectrum, but i suppose thats fair. You can consider the offseason a major failure if you look at them losing Wes, LMA, Lopez and Batum. On the other hand, if you believe (like i do) that LMA was gone anyway, then getting upsidey guys like Vonleh and Plumlee as well as productive cap friendly vets like Davis and Aminu is quite good.

They'll get a top draft pick next summer and have enough for a max deal, so if Vonleh and/or Plumlee takes a leap forward then they'll be looking a good as early as next season.