Offseason

[HoopsFanAZ]

Aron Baynes waived by Toronto. His contract becomes unguaranteed. Sign him to a minimum vets contract. The Taxpayer MLE should go to a forward, but get Baynes. Physical guy with size who had a 3 point shot prior to Toronto (34% with Boston a couple years ago on few 3 pointers, 35% a year ago with Phoenix on 4 attempts per game). Can't have enough New Zealanders and Aussies who mix it up.

[soobias]

so it looks like we're trying to run it back with almost the same team that lost in the 1st round with 3 small no defensive playing guards ?
it almost looks like our summer league team would give the real team a run for their money llol.

as long as N.O. is here i see the treadmill spinning slowly with 1st round exits, its like ground hog day every year with him lmao.
i need a tpup "hold on to your shorts thread rofl

[PDXKnight]

so it looks like we're trying to run it back with almost the same team that lost in the 1st round with 3 small no defensive playing guards ?
it almost looks like our summer league team would give the real team a run for their money llol.

as long as N.O. is here i see the treadmill spinning slowly with 1st round exits, its like ground hog day every year with him lmao.
i need a tpup "hold on to your shorts thread rofl

This team is the definition of failure. They keep trying to repeat the same mistakes it’s a complete joke

[mighty_duck]

so it looks like we're trying to run it back with almost the same team that lost in the 1st round with 3 small no defensive playing guards ?

That's not fair.
We're worse.

We downgraded our bench.
* Kanter did a good job holding the fort last season when Nurk was down.
* Melo was a reliable scorer off the bench.
Dame is a year older, and is about to start a slow slide from his prime two years ago.

Our second unit is looking like it will bleed points. If Nurk misses time, it'll be even uglier.

Our roster is woefully unbalanced. It only makes sense if CJ is traded for a PF.

[soobias]

if we dont make any other changes, we will be towards the bottom of every defensive and rebounding category next year, along that we suck at fast break opportunities.
it will be hard for me to watch 3 players do iso ball all game
i sure hope the coaching staff has some kind of triangle or variation of the Princeton offense.

[whatchaknow]

Can we just nuke this roster and get us ready for a rebuild already. I’m sure we will suffer through mediocrity this year but this roster has no chance to do anything special. We got 4 or 5 guys that could get us pick(s) back in return. It’ll be ugly for a bit but I’d much rather be in the situation okc is in than the one we are in. The hawks rebuilt their treadmill team in a handful of years and now have a solid young core, all without a top 3 pick if I remember right. I want to see dame win and I want to see olshey gone so this organization can move forward. Just seems like we’re stuck and aren’t even trying to get out

[JasonStern]

This better be a precursor to a cj trade or this will be one of the most underwhelming off-season in recent memory!!

Oh come on don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the Mario hezonja and Kent bazemore off season. Or the nik stauskas and Seth curry off season fresh off a 1st round sweep. This is literally Neil Olshey. This is what he does, absolutely underwhelms even when the expectations are low. Of course there are things preventing us from being extremely aggressive and active (much caused by him as well)but the stuff he adds to the team are basically rinse and repeat of prior off seasons.

We talk about it with players after so many seasons, “you are what you are”. This guy is what he is, he knows no other way to do it. It’s embarrassing the amount of job security he has. Obviously there’s still lots of time in the offseason so I’m not gonna go on a complete rant about how much he sucks at his job, but he sucks at his job . At this point I don’t think there’s a way to appease dame and keep him happy, at least it’s hard for me to see it. At the very least can we get some big man depth? I don’t wanna see covington having to defend centers ever again, it’s not fair to him or the fans

Everyone craps on Olshey, but he:

* Managed to fix the mess he inherited from 2016 without giving up picks and paying minimum luxury tax

* Was smart enough to not retain the flawed young players (Collins, Swanigan) he inherited from the 2017 draft

[Norm2953]

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop for Dame will be returning from the Olympics and he
will be seeing other than Powell returning, nothing of substance will have been done.

Philly seems to have done the calculus that they can wait out Portland for Dame and don't need to
settle for CJ. Portland thinks Dame will not press for a trade and Philly won't dare to bring back
Simmons and will have to settle for CJ + type of trade.

[MGB8]

Lauri Markannen for RoCo?

[DusterBuster]

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop for Dame will be returning from the Olympics and he
will be seeing other than Powell returning, nothing of substance will have been done.

Philly seems to have done the calculus that they can wait out Portland for Dame and don't need to
settle for CJ. Portland thinks Dame will not press for a trade and Philly won't dare to bring back
Simmons and will have to settle for CJ + type of trade.

Yep, basically what I’m waiting for too.

Also, it’s not just Philly who’s done the math I suspect. It’s not hard to put one and one together that if you want Lillard, just blackball doing any trades with Portland/Olshey. That knocks out what… a quarter to half the league? The the teams that know they aren’t in the running for Dame even if he demands a trade knows that Olshey is desperate, so they’re gonna try and milk Portland for all they can in non-Lillard trades.

Not trying to make excuses for Olshey’s mediocre summer and the fact that he did this largely to himself, but it stands to reason this is a big roadblock for the team making any trades this summer.

[DusterBuster]

Lauri Markannen for RoCo?

Nah.

[mighty_duck]

Everyone craps on Olshey, but he:

* Managed to fix the mess he inherited from 2016 without giving up picks and paying minimum luxury tax

* Was smart enough to not retain the flawed young players (Collins, Swanigan) he inherited from the 2017 draft

Inherited?? Really?

[Jsun947]

For whoever needs to hear it

BEN SIMMONS IS NOT A GOOD NBA PLAYER
*Unless you have no intent of winning in the playoffs

[PDXKnight]

For whoever needs to hear it

BEN SIMMONS IS NOT A GOOD NBA PLAYER
*Unless you have no intent of winning in the playoffs

Yes and therefore neither is cj

[soobias]

i hope im wrong but to me it might be other GM's wont mess with N.O. for he might be telling them that most of his players are off the market.
look at the haul DC got for westbrook. its not top notch but a team can work with that roster and they got rid of a team killer.

[Wizenheimer]

Chris Haynes with an interview:

Read on Twitter

Here is a direct quote from Haynes:

"Damian Lillard said, the roster as is, he doesn't see how the team that can really contend for a title, and that's what he wants. Management thinks otherwise."

wrap your heads around that. Remember when Olshey had the press conference firing Stotts and he threw Stotts under the bus saying the roster wasn't the problem. Don't blame Olshey...it was a contending roster that Stotts messed up. Yeah, that notion was pretty loopy then

but it sure looks like that is what Olshey believes. Olshey's stubborn ego-driven myopia is going to drive Dame out of town.

Haynes said Blazers might try and land either Kelly Oubre or Paul Milsap. LOL

say it's Millsap. Dame thinks the roster is the problem so Olshey is exchanging Kanter, Melo, RHJ, and Giles for Zeller, McLemore, Snell, and 36 year old Millsap. That sure as hell doesn't move any needle except in Olshey's fever brain

[soobias]

i really wish volcans would pay attention to whats going on.
if we wait 1 year i fear dame and cj's trade value will lower and we wont get back nearly as much as we can possibly get

[monopoman]

so it looks like we're trying to run it back with almost the same team that lost in the 1st round with 3 small no defensive playing guards ?

That's not fair.
We're worse.

We downgraded our bench.
* Kanter did a good job holding the fort last season when Nurk was down.
* Melo was a reliable scorer off the bench.
Dame is a year older, and is about to start a slow slide from his prime two years ago.

Our second unit is looking like it will bleed points. If Nurk misses time, it'll be even uglier.

Our roster is woefully unbalanced. It only makes sense if CJ is traded for a PF.

The biggest problem with the bench was defense and two of the biggest offenders were Melo+Kanter.

[monopoman]

i hope im wrong but to me it might be other GM's wont mess with N.O. for he might be telling them that most of his players are off the market.
look at the haul DC got for westbrook. its not top notch but a team can work with that roster and they got rid of a team killer.

The haul was probably amplified because Lakers are desperate to win now and are grasping at straws trying to make LBJ+AD happy. If they have a similar season to the last one I have a feeling both AD and LBJ will start talking about wanting out.

People think Portland had a rough playoff, the Lakers looked like trash against the Suns.

[Jsun947]

so it looks like we're trying to run it back with almost the same team that lost in the 1st round with 3 small no defensive playing guards ?

That's not fair.
We're worse.

We downgraded our bench.
* Kanter did a good job holding the fort last season when Nurk was down.
* Melo was a reliable scorer off the bench.
Dame is a year older, and is about to start a slow slide from his prime two years ago.

Our second unit is looking like it will bleed points. If Nurk misses time, it'll be even uglier.

Our roster is woefully unbalanced. It only makes sense if CJ is traded for a PF.

The biggest problem with the bench was defense and two of the biggest offenders were Melo+Kanter.

Ya, one of the problems with Kanter & Melo is they are a total disaster on defense and pairing either with Dame or CJ on the court isn’t particularly manageable. Giles & RHJ either weren’t or shouldn’t have been in the rotation at all.

Going from that to Zeller, Snell, and Millsap would be a meaningful upgrade, but let’s be real, none of those guys should be in a closing 5 of a playoff game.

It’s the starting 5 that needs to fit better together