Ben Mclemore to Blazers

[PDXKnight]

I'll be shocked if he plays a significant role. My hope would be he takes some of Anfernee Simons minutes, but even that seems like a stretch. It's infuriating that they'd pick up another shooting guard that doesn't play defence. This team needs a defensive point guard is the worst way.

Seems like olshey plans his personnel precisely in a manner that forces a coach’s hand aka he doesn’t sign bigs so billups is doomed before he begins, forced to play small ball lineups with limited big lineups. Having big lineup options may not be as essential in today’s nba but it can still be a major difference in 5-10 games a season and those 5-10 games can sometimes be a huge difference in the final standings and the post season.

Really i can’t say for sure what olsheys true motives are but it’s crazy olshey makes moves at least 27 other gms would be rolling their eyes at. Yes having talented guards is nice but usually a gm stops at half their roster in 2 positions and at least has some depth in the front court. As for the blazers it feels like 3 guys with height and maybe 1 backup in zeller and yet again 1 injury away from a sub 6’4” guy playing major minutes at sf or pf

[GEE]

Still very curious about the contract he got; Never did see the years and dollars.

[Wizenheimer]

I'll be shocked if he plays a significant role. My hope would be he takes some of Anfernee Simons minutes, but even that seems like a stretch. It's infuriating that they'd pick up another shooting guard that doesn't play defence. This team needs a defensive point guard is the worst way.

from what I've seen I'd say McLemore probably plays better defense than either CJ or Simons. But he's sure not a defensive all-star. he's not a PG either or a SF. If he's higher than 9th or10th in the rotation, the Blazers are likely headed for the lottery

[Wizenheimer]

Still very curious about the contract he got; Never did see the years and dollars.

Spotrac says it's a vet minimum deal; 1 year

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/contracts/

what is curious is that they don't list Snell as having signed, and they are usually on top of things

another curious thing is that they list Zach as having signed with Portland which could suggest there might be a non-simultaneous trade in the works

probably both are just incomplete items by Spotrac, but at least offer a remote hope of something bigger

[JasonStern]

As for the blazers it feels like 3 guys with height and maybe 1 backup in zeller and yet again 1 injury away from a sub 6’4” guy playing major minutes at sf or pf

We don't need an injury for that. Our starting SF is 6'3".

Still have no idea why Olshey let Kanter sign with Boston for the minimum.

Still very curious about the contract he got; Never did see the years and dollars.

Spotrac says it's a vet minimum deal; 1 year

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/contracts/

what is curious is that they don't list Snell as having signed, and they are usually on top of things

Snell couldn't get meaningful minutes on a young Atlanta Hawks team. I can't see it being anything more than a minimum contract.

[Wizenheimer]

Still very curious about the contract he got; Never did see the years and dollars.

Spotrac says it's a vet minimum deal; 1 year

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/contracts/

what is curious is that they don't list Snell as having signed, and they are usually on top of things

Snell couldn't get meaningful minutes on a young Atlanta Hawks team. I can't see it being anything more than a minimum contract.

never mind....they just updated their numbers 5 minutes ago....I was looking at the page when it refreshed. Zach isn't listed any more

and Snell is listed as "incoming". And no, I was not thinking he'd be more than a minimum

[JasonStern]

and Snell is listed as "incoming". And no, I was not thinking he'd be more than a minimum

And with Dame, CJ, and Powell taking up most of the cap, get used to a lot more of these Mario Hezonja/Anthony Tolliver minimum contracts to fill out the roster.

[Wizenheimer]

and Snell is listed as "incoming". And no, I was not thinking he'd be more than a minimum

And with Dame, CJ, and Powell taking up most of the cap, get used to a lot more of these Mario Hezonja/Anthony Tolliver minimum contracts to fill out the roster.

Dame will be taking up lots of cap but if that's the kind of players filling out the bench, it won't be Portland's cap Dame is hogging

[PDXKnight]

and Snell is listed as "incoming". And no, I was not thinking he'd be more than a minimum

And with Dame, CJ, and Powell taking up most of the cap, get used to a lot more of these Mario Hezonja/Anthony Tolliver minimum contracts to fill out the roster.

Dame will be taking up lots of cap but if that's the kind of players filling out the bench, it won't be Portland's cap Dame is hogging

Olshey is either unwilling or unable to get good help around Dame so yes probably won’t be portland’s cap he’s using up before long. It’s a crying shame too, teams have seemingly done more with less all around us why hasn’t olshey taken more gambles, or is he perhaps hoping dame requests a trade to give him yet another excuse as to why he couldn’t build a championship team?

[Village Idiot]

And with Dame, CJ, and Powell taking up most of the cap, get used to a lot more of these Mario Hezonja/Anthony Tolliver minimum contracts to fill out the roster.

Dame will be taking up lots of cap but if that's the kind of players filling out the bench, it won't be Portland's cap Dame is hogging

Olshey is either unwilling or unable to get good help around Dame so yes probably won’t be portland’s cap he’s using up before long. It’s a crying shame too, teams have seemingly done more with less all around us why hasn’t olshey taken more gambles, or is he perhaps hoping dame requests a trade to give him yet another excuse as to why he couldn’t build a championship team?

I believe a roadblock is Dame's friendship with CJ. I despise Neil Olshey but feel like he's operating within impossible constraints if he's trying to upgrade the team without trading CJ.

[Dame Lizard]

Dame will be taking up lots of cap but if that's the kind of players filling out the bench, it won't be Portland's cap Dame is hogging

Olshey is either unwilling or unable to get good help around Dame so yes probably won’t be portland’s cap he’s using up before long. It’s a crying shame too, teams have seemingly done more with less all around us why hasn’t olshey taken more gambles, or is he perhaps hoping dame requests a trade to give him yet another excuse as to why he couldn’t build a championship team?

I believe a roadblock is Dame's friendship with CJ. I despise Neil Olshey but feel like he's operating within impossible constraints if he's trying to upgrade the team without trading CJ.

I agree that this factor could be instrumental and is probably under-discused.

I love to hate on Olshey for not trading CJ, but Dame could very well be opposed to it. I'd hope not, as his friendship with CJ can last forever, meanwhile his Champion window clearly can't. It's hard to tell.

Perhaps Dame wants Portland to mortgage their future by trading multiple future firsts for a star (i.e. what Brooklyn did with Harden), which I am very strongly against.

[PDXKnight]

Olshey is either unwilling or unable to get good help around Dame so yes probably won’t be portland’s cap he’s using up before long. It’s a crying shame too, teams have seemingly done more with less all around us why hasn’t olshey taken more gambles, or is he perhaps hoping dame requests a trade to give him yet another excuse as to why he couldn’t build a championship team?

I believe a roadblock is Dame's friendship with CJ. I despise Neil Olshey but feel like he's operating within impossible constraints if he's trying to upgrade the team without trading CJ.

I agree that this factor could be instrumental and is probably under-discused.

I love to hate on Olshey for not trading CJ, but Dame could very well be opposed to it. I'd hope not, as his friendship with CJ can last forever, meanwhile his Champion window clearly can't. It's hard to tell.

Perhaps Dame wants Portland to mortgage their future by trading multiple future firsts for a star (i.e. what Brooklyn did with Harden), which I am very strongly against.

Players like dame come around once in a decade on a small market team if you’re lucky. My contention is not taking a risk like giving up a bunch of firsts for a top 10 player (if one of those becomes available because usually teams hold onto them) is just as costly if not more than mortgaging the future if you indeed think a trade can give you a real/ high enough probability chance to win a title. I wanted a cj + boatload of picks for harden deal and i stand by that, that’s a gamble i take any day as even with hardens reputation he is big time and wasn’t a 1 year rental

As for CJ who knows where dame stands but his recent comments about player personnel not being championship caliber and not working seem like they might’ve been directed towards cj as much as anyone. But if dame is unwilling to stay here without cj and if we can’t get a superstar or at least an all star next to dame without Dame wanting out i suppose at that point we have no choice but to deal Dame. I don’t think Dame would care if we had a package of cj + whatever for a big time player though, it’s a business and Dame wants to win a title. Him and cj can always keep in communication from different cities but i seriously doubt dame is gonna day “you know, i know we got better but you dealt away my bff so duces to Portland.” I think the bigger issue may be that cj is quite possibly worth far less than some think and as a result we aren’t able to get a paul george or maybe even a ben simmons without adding significant value on top of cj. My belief from the reports out there is itd take cj + cov + 5 firsts to acquire simmons & at that point might as well just chance it on a cj for KAT swap or some other avenue as that’d show dame we are trying to mix it up without a significant overpay. Or bare minimum at least it’d be a call of moreys bluff & a negotiating tactic

[Wizenheimer]

[rant mode on] I think the narrative that it's Dame keeping CJ around is as bogus as that he kept Stotts around. Not only is it bogus in my view, but it underrates Dame's intelligence and gives him little credit for a grasp of reality.

the sheer volume of excuses for Olshey's incompetence over his 9+ year tenure is mind-numbing

* "Portland isn't a free agent destination"....this is one of those things based in reality. BUT, look at the list of free agents Olshey made max-contract offers to: Roy Hibbert; Enes Kanter; Greg Monroe; Chandler Parsons; Hassan Whiteside. That doesn't include giving Evan Turner 70 million or making a max-MLE offer to Spenser Hawes. How many opportunities did Portland lose because they had those guys as priority #1? It doesn't matter if Portland is a free agent destination or not when their GM is so freaking bad at evaluating free agent value.

* "Paul Allen made him do it"....yeah, this one is pure BS. Maybe, PA had something to do with matching Crabbe's offer sheet; but maybe that was all Olshey. But every other contract handed out in 2016 has Olshey's fingerprints all over them. Turner-Meyers-Harkless. Not to mention wasting a roster slot and 10M on Ezeli. And of course, CJ's 1st bloated contract. Olshey gave out 340M in contracts that summer and not an all-star in sight. In fact, only one player of that group is a legitimate starter. 340 million for that should have gotten Olshey fired

* "Dame made him do it (or not do it)"...LOL. Same type of lame excuse as above, only worse because Dame isn't the owner. He's not the GM either. And if Olshey was so prone to do Dame's bidding, why does the current off-season look like a rinse/repeat of past failed off-seasons? And yeah, I know..."blah blah blah the off-season is only a week old"....no, it isn't. Portland's off-season started the moment the buzzer sounded ending game 6, at the Moda, against Denver. And Dame started making noises about discontent almost immediately. That was over 2 months ago and in that time Olshey has bought a 43rd pick and signed 3 vet minimum contracts. So much for matching Dame's urgency

* "Olshey is good at drafting". At least we haven't heard this much after the 2017 disaster. Dame was already the target in 2012 when Olshey arrived. Olshey picked CJ, but of course, Giannis was still available. CJ was drafted in 2013. So, 8 drafts have passed by since CJ and what exactly do the Blazers have to show for it? Simons, Little, and now Brown. That is not the resume of somebody good at managing the draft. Yes, he has done well at identifying NBA talent in the 2nd round of the draft, but the follow-up has not been good at all. There was the trrible matched offer sheet to Crabbe; and that resulted in Portland spending 40M for 1 year of Crabbe and have a 7-year stain of 2.85M on the cap. Traded Barton and a first for Afflalo. Let Layman walk. He did use Trent to get Powell so kudos for that. But Olshey is so bad at his job Portland is stuck playing Powell out of position at SF

* "he doesn't have enough assets to make a good trade"....funny how we hear that every year. And exactly who is responsible for insuring the Blazers have a good asset base?

the 2016 spending spree was terrible and it echoed ahead damaging Portland's flexibility for 5 seasons. But it's a legitimate question if 2017 was worse. First, Olshey held CJ untouchable in a trade for Paul George. He offered the 3 non-lottery 1st's and something like Meyers and Harkless. Indiana likely laughed. Then, came the draft. Remember now, Olshey spent millions securing the 26th pick in that draft from Cleveland in the Varejao trade. Then, Blazers could have had Donavan Mitchell and Thomas Bryant; or Bam Adebayo and Dillon Brooks; or John Collins, OG Anunoby, and Dillon Brooks. Instead of any of those guys, Portland ended up with Zach and Swanigan....LOL

and just a footnote: Zach signed with the Spurs. A good GM would have talked Zach and the Spurs into signing with Portland and executing a S&T securing a 5.4M TPE (base-year-contract).

Olshey is great at dumpster diving and decent in the 2nd round of the draft. Those are the highlights of his resume. And that is the worst kind of GM to have when the franchise player is threatening a trade demand

He's the king of mediocrity. But he has two crowns because he's also the king of excuses [/rant mode off]

[JasonStern]

why hasn’t olshey taken more gambles?

Oh, Olshey gambles. The man has gambled his professional career on making a team with six shooting guards and three 6'3" or shorter starters work. What you mean to ask is why is .500 basketball/first round playoff outs acceptable? And the answer there is that ownership has been making money and, in the past, Dame has been complacent.

Perhaps Dame wants Portland to mortgage their future by trading multiple future firsts for a star (i.e. what Brooklyn did with Harden), which I am very strongly against.

If you can land another top ten player in his prime like Harden, then sure - mortgage the future. My big fear is Olshey being more Billy King than Jerry West when it comes to making a big move, leaving the franchise crippled for years.

* "Paul Allen made him do it"

Paul Allen definitely had his hands in some of the moves. I strongly suspect he had some knowledge that his health was deteriorating, which is why Rich Cho was fired for his "blow it up" plan and why the 2016 spending spree was okayed.

Where the blame falls on Olshey is you have a rich owner willing to spend and the best you can come up with is Evan Turner and Festus Ezeli after striking out on Chandler Parsons.

Likewise, after the Jermaine O'Neal trade, Allen has been willing to spend to retain his players - the same "Olshey overvalues his guys" narrative was present when Pritchard was the GM. So matching Crabbe was likely Allen's call, with the contract being a forced hand by Brooklyn. Retaining Leonard was likely Allen's call, but paying well above market value to retain Meyers Leonard when he had no known interest in restricted free agency falls on Olshey.

No disrespect intended to Paul. We were fortunate to have him as an owner. But I'll never understand why owners are willing to spend so much on player rosters and then pay fair value for GMs and coaching staff.

[Epicurus]

Stotts will never dump publicly on Olshey. That simply is not his style. Yet, I've been told that several of his assistants were perplexed and even disappointed that Stotts never did, especially after Olshey's presser. Their complaints seem related to much of what Wiz above attributes to Olshey' choices. I think solid basketball guys are fully aware when the roster is not as augmented as it should be and could be. Lots of head scratching in the coaching offices, I suppose.

[zzaj]

I wish I could give Wiz' post 1000 likes. It's exactly how I feel...