Who would you choose as GM if Olshey were fired

[Waynearchetype]

Why do people think Hinkie was this amazing GM? All he did was exploit an obvious flaw in the way the NBA lottery works and take advantage of poorly run franchises like the Kings. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you don't try, you'll get a really high pick and that the Kings make awful trades.

If you look beyond that, Hinkie wasn't a particularly skilled drafter. Look at the guys he picked while he was GM....

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/hinkisa99x.html

Literally the only thing he did was realize the obvious about the draft (don't try and lose a lot = high picks) and absorb salary from other teams for picks.

Besides, even if peoples Hinkie dreams came true, the NBA is changing the way the draft lottery worked (in large part because of him), so his style of "Don't try" basketball wouldn't work as well now.

I like Hinkie because he was willing to make major changes and not fall for sunk cost fallacies most GMs do. You drafted a ROY that can't shoot? Trade him while his value is still high. He had a clear vision that he stuck with, a long term goal, and made a ton of deals that he clearly *won*.

I wouldn't hire him in Portland to do what he did in Philly. I'd hire him in Portland because he seems smart and can follow through with a plan.

[jeffhardyfan52]

Let’s give trader bob another shot

[DusterBuster]

Why do people think Hinkie was this amazing GM? All he did was exploit an obvious flaw in the way the NBA lottery works and take advantage of poorly run franchises like the Kings. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you don't try, you'll get a really high pick and that the Kings make awful trades.

If you look beyond that, Hinkie wasn't a particularly skilled drafter. Look at the guys he picked while he was GM....

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/hinkisa99x.html

Literally the only thing he did was realize the obvious about the draft (don't try and lose a lot = high picks) and absorb salary from other teams for picks.

Besides, even if peoples Hinkie dreams came true, the NBA is changing the way the draft lottery worked (in large part because of him), so his style of "Don't try" basketball wouldn't work as well now.

I like Hinkie because he was willing to make major changes and not fall for sunk cost fallacies most GMs do. You drafted a ROY that can't shoot? Trade him while his value is still high. He had a clear vision that he stuck with, a long term goal, and made a ton of deals that he clearly *won*.

I wouldn't hire him in Portland to do what he did in Philly. I'd hire him in Portland because he seems smart and can follow through with a plan.

What was Hinkie's plan besides suck ass and get a lot of high lottery picks? We don't know how he would have been at any other aspect of being a GM. We never saw him handle contract negotiations or which FA's he even would have targeted. Of the picks he actually made, a majority of them were not impressive to say the least. We also never saw Hinkie make any trades that were actually bringing in core players.

Look, maybe Hinkie is a decent GM, I don't know, none of do.... that's my point. The Legend of Hinkie has gotten a bit out of hand, particularly here around RealGM. All of Hinkie we actually know is that he can put together a spectacularly awful roster.

[7-12-52]

Why do people think Hinkie was this amazing GM? All he did was exploit an obvious flaw in the way the NBA lottery works and take advantage of poorly run franchises like the Kings. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you don't try, you'll get a really high pick and that the Kings make awful trades.

If you look beyond that, Hinkie wasn't a particularly skilled drafter. Look at the guys he picked while he was GM....

https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/hinkisa99x.html

Literally the only thing he did was realize the obvious about the draft (don't try and lose a lot = high picks) and absorb salary from other teams for picks.

Besides, even if peoples Hinkie dreams came true, the NBA is changing the way the draft lottery worked (in large part because of him), so his style of "Don't try" basketball wouldn't work as well now.

I like Hinkie because he was willing to make major changes and not fall for sunk cost fallacies most GMs do. You drafted a ROY that can't shoot? Trade him while his value is still high. He had a clear vision that he stuck with, a long term goal, and made a ton of deals that he clearly *won*.

I wouldn't hire him in Portland to do what he did in Philly. I'd hire him in Portland because he seems smart and can follow through with a plan.

What was Hinkie's plan besides suck ass and get a lot of high lottery picks? We don't know how he would have been at any other aspect of being a GM. We never saw him handle contract negotiations or which FA's he even would have targeted. Of the picks he actually made, a majority of them were not impressive to say the least. We also never saw Hinkie make any trades that were actually bringing in core players.

Look, maybe Hinkie is a decent GM, I don't know, none of do.... that's my point. The Legend of Hinkie has gotten a bit out of hand, particularly here around RealGM. All of Hinkie we actually know is that he can put together a spectacularly awful roster.

You say that as if Olshey has proven something. All we know about Olshey is that he can build a spectacularly overpaid and stunningly average roster.

16 teams out of 30 make the playoffs. You can make the playoffs and actually be below league average as a team... we should know because Olshey has been spectacular at doing it.

[monopoman]

I really think most here would love Olshey if he was able to land someone like Whiteside I mean look at this team with Whiteside on it.

We still make the Nurkic trade to get a pick and have the option of picking up Nurkic, we use those picks to maybe take someone like Kuzma. I think this team would be really really good if we had Whiteside, he adds a lot of what this team needs. **** Nurkic brings just certain aspects of what Whiteside brings and he still makes us slightly better.

Obviously Whiteside signing that contract a few years ago would have massive ripples of effects on the current roster but I'm sure overall we would look much better.

[DusterBuster]

I like Hinkie because he was willing to make major changes and not fall for sunk cost fallacies most GMs do. You drafted a ROY that can't shoot? Trade him while his value is still high. He had a clear vision that he stuck with, a long term goal, and made a ton of deals that he clearly *won*.

I wouldn't hire him in Portland to do what he did in Philly. I'd hire him in Portland because he seems smart and can follow through with a plan.

What was Hinkie's plan besides suck ass and get a lot of high lottery picks? We don't know how he would have been at any other aspect of being a GM. We never saw him handle contract negotiations or which FA's he even would have targeted. Of the picks he actually made, a majority of them were not impressive to say the least. We also never saw Hinkie make any trades that were actually bringing in core players.

Look, maybe Hinkie is a decent GM, I don't know, none of do.... that's my point. The Legend of Hinkie has gotten a bit out of hand, particularly here around RealGM. All of Hinkie we actually know is that he can put together a spectacularly awful roster.

You say that as if Olshey has proven something. All we know about Olshey is that he can build a spectacularly overpaid and stunningly average roster.

16 teams out of 30 make the playoffs. You can make the playoffs and actually be below league average as a team... we should know because Olshey has been spectacular at doing it.

No, I say that as in people need to chill on the idea of Hinkie being this mastermind genius.

I think Olshey is a fairly average to above average GM. He's a far above average drafter and more often than not makes solid trades, the biggest criticism of him being that he seems to get too married to his own guys and that he got screwed over having all his FA's came available the year of the salary cap spike where he, and many other GM's, all believed the projections they were given for future NBA revenue and salary caps.

I just find people put way way WAY too much blame or hype into GM's when so much of their job relies on dumb luck. They're rarely as dumb as people make them out to be when things go wrong and they're rarely as genius as they seem to be when things go right.

My bottom line is, if you fire Olshey, you damn well better have a replacement in mind who's an upgrade. While a lot of it is luck, there are GM's and scouting departments that are legitimately terrible, and if you get stuck with that.... well just look at that team Portland beat tonight for what you can end up with.

[monopoman]

What was Hinkie's plan besides suck ass and get a lot of high lottery picks? We don't know how he would have been at any other aspect of being a GM. We never saw him handle contract negotiations or which FA's he even would have targeted. Of the picks he actually made, a majority of them were not impressive to say the least. We also never saw Hinkie make any trades that were actually bringing in core players.

Look, maybe Hinkie is a decent GM, I don't know, none of do.... that's my point. The Legend of Hinkie has gotten a bit out of hand, particularly here around RealGM. All of Hinkie we actually know is that he can put together a spectacularly awful roster.

You say that as if Olshey has proven something. All we know about Olshey is that he can build a spectacularly overpaid and stunningly average roster.

16 teams out of 30 make the playoffs. You can make the playoffs and actually be below league average as a team... we should know because Olshey has been spectacular at doing it.

No, I say that as in people need to chill on the idea of Hinkie being this mastermind genius.

I think Olshey is a fairly average to above average GM. He's a far above average drafter and more often than not makes solid trades, the biggest criticism of him being that he seems to get too married to his own guys and that he got screwed over having all his FA's came available the year of the salary cap spike where he, and many other GM's, all believed the projections they were given for future NBA revenue and salary caps.

I just find people put way way WAY too much blame or hype into GM's when so much of their job relies on dumb luck. They're rarely as dumb as people make them out to be when things go wrong and they're rarely as genius as they seem to be when things go right.

My bottom line is, if you fire Olshey, you damn well better have a replacement in mind who's an upgrade. While a lot of it is luck, there are GM's and scouting departments that are legitimately terrible, and if you get stuck with that.... well just look at that team Portland beat tonight for what you can end up with.

I think most GM's have a tendency to get married to their players, I mean they are picking them for a reason and they watch them blossom on the team. It's tough for most GM's to treat players like purely a commodity, I mean you can see a Gm that does that well and its the Rockets GM that guy seems like he could care less who is on the roster as long as he feels it's better overall.

Remember how bad most of our drafts were in the pre-Olshey days. We had like 4-5 years after we drafted Roy+Aldridge where nearly every pick seemed to be a complete bust for the team. Oden obviously was a special circumstance but we had a lot of other picks either be complete busts or at best mediocre role-players.

[PDXKnight]

First of all I don't think olsheys will be fired for another season or 2 whether we like it or not. The verdict is still out on this big 3 and I think pa likes olshey more than he did previous gm's so I think he gives him awhile to figure things out. I think if he goes it'll be the typical situation of a team going in a different direction i.e. A rebuild where you bring in new faces to mix things up.

If he's fired I think pa should first go all in and try to offer a huge contract to rc bufford or Sam presti. While I don't think we will get either you never know so it's worth seeing if money talks. If that fails I'd look at the brains behind the top gm's in the league. Figure out who's the brain trust behind Bob Meyers or bufford and go after them.

A few other names of interest to me:
David Griffin
Massai ujiri
Dennis Lindsey

[7-12-52]

What was Hinkie's plan besides suck ass and get a lot of high lottery picks? We don't know how he would have been at any other aspect of being a GM. We never saw him handle contract negotiations or which FA's he even would have targeted. Of the picks he actually made, a majority of them were not impressive to say the least. We also never saw Hinkie make any trades that were actually bringing in core players.

Look, maybe Hinkie is a decent GM, I don't know, none of do.... that's my point. The Legend of Hinkie has gotten a bit out of hand, particularly here around RealGM. All of Hinkie we actually know is that he can put together a spectacularly awful roster.

You say that as if Olshey has proven something. All we know about Olshey is that he can build a spectacularly overpaid and stunningly average roster.

16 teams out of 30 make the playoffs. You can make the playoffs and actually be below league average as a team... we should know because Olshey has been spectacular at doing it.

No, I say that as in people need to chill on the idea of Hinkie being this mastermind genius.

I think Olshey is a fairly average to above average GM. He's a far above average drafter and more often than not makes solid trades, the biggest criticism of him being that he seems to get too married to his own guys and that he got screwed over having all his FA's came available the year of the salary cap spike where he, and many other GM's, all believed the projections they were given for future NBA revenue and salary caps.

I just find people put way way WAY too much blame or hype into GM's when so much of their job relies on dumb luck. They're rarely as dumb as people make them out to be when things go wrong and they're rarely as genius as they seem to be when things go right.

My bottom line is, if you fire Olshey, you damn well better have a replacement in mind who's an upgrade. While a lot of it is luck, there are GM's and scouting departments that are legitimately terrible, and if you get stuck with that.... well just look at that team Portland beat tonight for what you can end up with.

The Blazers team salary is higher than Houston/Toronto/San Antonio/Boston/Minnesota. We have the same record as the Pacers who have a team costing 20 million less this year. We have a top 10 payroll and are paying Nurkic/Napier peanuts... we better beat the Kings.

Just look at the NBA standings and compare it to the rankings of team salaries. Stop trying to make it sound like Olshey has done something worth defending. Do you know how bad of a gm you would need to be to spend 117 million and not make the playoffs? New Orleans is the only team that will do it this year and it is because of injuries.

Our previous gm and coach have a team with no Damian Lillard and a bottom 5 payroll at an identical record to ours the same season they lost their "superstar." But no our guy is doing "above average."

[Epicurus]

Umm, two years ago they got into the playoffs with one of the lowest salaried teams.

[7-12-52]

Umm, two years ago they got into the playoffs with one of the lowest salaried teams.

So? Now we are one of the highest salaried teams and Neil is the one that did it. We weren't fully locked into the treadmill 2 years ago and people weren't calling for Neil to be fired. The timeline seems easy enough to follow.

[Epicurus]

Umm, two years ago they got into the playoffs with one of the lowest salaried teams.

So? Now we are one of the highest salaried teams and Neil is the one that did it. We weren't fully locked into the treadmill 2 years ago and people weren't calling for Neil to be fired. The timeline seems easy enough to follow.

Ok, I didn't get your point earlier. It seemed to be that salary level dictated performance outcomes, and that the gm has failed. My point was that two years ago the Blazers went counter to that theory.

[7-12-52]

I already explained you can make the playoffs while being a below league average team. We went 41-41 and were the 8 seed. The 8 & 9 spots in the East that year were also 41-41. So we were somewhere from 15-17th overall as a team... average to below average.

[Waynearchetype]

Sorry but lotto above 10 and playoff seeding 6 and above are like the dreaded Treadmill zone. Congratulations on doing better than a lot of teams that aren't really trying or got plagued by injury.

If Cousins/Roberson/Gallo/Milsap weren't injured we'd be in the lotto right now.

If CP3/Blake didn't get hurt in 2016 we wouldn't have given a bunch of stupid contracts out because we made the 2nd round of the playoffs.

That people can't take that context into account is what got us in this cap jam.

[Epicurus]

I already explained you can make the playoffs while being a below league average team. We went 41-41 and were the 8 seed. The 8 & 9 spots in the East that year were also 41-41. So we were somewhere from 15-17th overall as a team... average to below average.

I don't think sharing the mean win total is below average. Further in many situations, the mean is just the midpoint of average which allows for either a half or full deviation from the mean.

[Epicurus]

Sorry but lotto above 10 and playoff seeding 6 and above are like the dreaded Treadmill zone. Congratulations on doing better than a lot of teams that aren't really trying or got plagued by injury.

If Cousins/Roberson/Gallo/Milsap weren't injured we'd be in the lotto right now.

If CP3/Blake didn't get hurt in 2016 we wouldn't have given a bunch of stupid contracts out because we made the 2nd round of the playoffs.

That people can't take that context into account is what got us in this cap jam.

If Matthews would not have hurt his leg, Aldridge would have stayed, as would the others. My point is that counterfactuals can be employed to carry any narrative. Injuries are part of NBA performance. Indeed they may be a result of performing, or attempting to perform, at too high of level.

[Wizenheimer]

Sorry but lotto above 10 and playoff seeding 6 and above are like the dreaded Treadmill zone. Congratulations on doing better than a lot of teams that aren't really trying or got plagued by injury.

If Cousins/Roberson/Gallo/Milsap weren't injured we'd be in the lotto right now.

If CP3/Blake didn't get hurt in 2016 we wouldn't have given a bunch of stupid contracts out because we made the 2nd round of the playoffs.

That people can't take that context into account is what got us in this cap jam.

I think you meant playoff seeding 6 and below (not above)?

there's nothing wrong with being a 7 or 8 seed....just as long as there was some plausible or credible path to get significantly higher. Portland doesn't appear to have that; they are welded to how far the Dame/CJ back court can take them and neither of those guys have significantly higher ceiling then they are already at

[Masterfully]

Sorry but lotto above 10 and playoff seeding 6 and above are like the dreaded Treadmill zone. Congratulations on doing better than a lot of teams that aren't really trying or got plagued by injury.

If Cousins/Roberson/Gallo/Milsap weren't injured we'd be in the lotto right now.

If CP3/Blake didn't get hurt in 2016 we wouldn't have given a bunch of stupid contracts out because we made the 2nd round of the playoffs.

That people can't take that context into account is what got us in this cap jam.

I think you meant playoff seeding 6 and below (not above)?

there's nothing wrong with being a 7 or 8 seed....just as long as there was some plausible or credible path to get significantly higher. Portland doesn't appear to have that; they are welded to how far the Dame/CJ back court can take them and neither of those guys have significantly higher ceiling then they are already at

Yes. So that leaves Portland with tied hands. They have to hope that one (or more) of the young guys already on the team blows up to become as talented as Dame and CJ. Or they have to hope that they hit draft gold on a future late teens pick, and that guy quickly becomes an amazing talent. If I’m Lillard I’m politely asking out, because the future is not bright.

What’s happening now was my worst fear when LMA, Batum, Matthews and Lopez left. Everyone was thinking about how terrible Portland would be, but I was concerned about a worse scenario...

I know management would never do this, but I would trade Dame and CJ for the best picks I could get and start over. I wish it would have worked out differently, but it didn’t.

[Downtown]

I know where we currently sit isn’t what anyone is happy with. But let’s go back just a little in time.

We all knew the Warriors and Spurs were going to be at the top before the season began. When Houston signed Paul, OKC signed George and Melo, and the Timberwolves got Butler everyone said they would be dangerous teams.

So it’s all played out like most thought. And guess who’s next after those five teams? Yup, our Blazers. So we are both pigeonholed into the spot behind the teams a lot of people picked as the top ones and as most of us predicted unless Olshey made lemonade out of his team of lemons we wouldn’t, and couldn’t, be more than mediocre.

So it’s all as predictable as we said before the start of the season given that nothing’s been done other than Olshey getting under the tax. Surprise surprise. No one should be lighting their hair on fire because we’re in sixth position. Just enjoy it and support your team because as Wiz said this what it is for the next few years.

[Pattycakes]

Anyone who wouldn't sign Meyers Leonard to $10 mil per 4 years. That is one of the worst moves in league history stand-alone.