Norm or Gary Trent

[Case2012]

You're telling me that it's YOUR fault for your car underperforming?

No it isn't. But it is your fault if you retain an advisor in a position that is giving poor advise.

True... But he died. He should've fired him before, but it's easy to see how olshey has gone basically unchecked for the last 3 years with his Bs.

[GEE]

You're telling me that it's YOUR fault for your car underperforming?

No it isn't. But it is your fault if you retain an advisor in a position that is giving poor advise.

True... But he died. He should've fired him before, but it's easy to see how olshey has gone basically unchecked for the last 3 years with his Bs.

That was a weird analogy and difficult to understand, but I get it. I say Yes, because as owner of the team, or car, you ultimately decide who to hire and fire, at ALL levels. Point well taken that it's the GMs job to present possible paths for the business to the owner, but PA cut the checks and often had heavy involvement in roster decisions and was always a student of the game. Because of this, I also agree Olshey may have went largely unchecked, and a bit nuts after our loss of PA.

But again... History, right? I'm just glad he's gone. Stotts too... GTJ, not so much.

[zzaj]

No it isn't. But it is your fault if you retain an advisor in a position that is giving poor advise.

True... But he died. He should've fired him before, but it's easy to see how olshey has gone basically unchecked for the last 3 years with his Bs.

That was a weird analogy and difficult to understand, but I get it. I say Yes, because as owner of the team, or car, you ultimately decide who to hire and fire, at ALL levels. Point well taken that it's the GMs job to present possible paths for the business to the owner, but PA cut the checks and often had heavy involvement in roster decisions and was always a student of the game. Because of this, I also agree Olshey may have went largely unchecked, and a bit nuts after our loss of PA.

But again... History, right? I'm just glad he's gone. Stotts too... GTJ, not so much.

I’m great at questionable analogies! Now…can I come work for you?!

In all seriousness though. I look at Olshey pre and post PA, and I don’t see a huge difference. He was a train wreck the whole time…which leads me to think PA’s hand in team decision making might be largely overstated—but who knows. We’ll likely never know how active PA was in Olshey’s decisions…2016 being an example.

[DusterBuster]

This can now officially be considered a bad trade.

[Norm2953]

Norm has got to happy he's escaping the train wreck that is the Portland Trailblazers

[HoopsFanAZ]

This can now officially be considered a bad trade.

I agree.
Prior to today, and despite the craptastic season so far and CJ and ... I've been a fan of the trade and Powell.
Now, the original trade sucks boulders. I wasn't a big GTJ fan though I liked his effort. His contract was sizable but understandable.

Now ... it sucks. Happy for Norm even though I'm no Clippers fan.
CJ and Nurkic -- should be traded (for different reasons). REBUILD in a heartbeat around Lillard for next season. Tank mode. If not, hire a new GM.

[Blazers98]

I read about this trade in utter disbelief. Then I read it again only to realize that it was somehow true. Speechless. For the life of me I can't understand how we did not get at least one 1st rounder in this deal or a good prospect.

Is Little the SF of the future and we acquire a decent PF for a retool?
Or are we going to let Dame go for a mediocre starter and a lottery protected first rounder in the coming days?

[JasonStern]

Thread should seriously be renamed "Norm or Gary Trent or 2025 2nd".

[DusterBuster]

Something I only recently heard about, but GTjr's dad just did an interview about his son and said that Gary was extremely depressed and unhappy in Portland. So Trent definitely wanted out when he was with Portland... that definitely could have been a background thing for why Olshey traded him for Powell in the first place.

Still no excuse for the awful followup of Powell to Clippers.

[valleyman33]

Something I only recently heard about, but GTjr's dad just did an interview about his son and said that Gary was extremely depressed and unhappy in Portland. So Trent definitely wanted out when he was with Portland... that definitely could have been a background thing for why Olshey traded him for Powell in the first place.

Still no excuse for the awful followup of Powell to Clippers.

Interesting Article, here is a link. https://news.yahoo.com/raptors-gary-trent-jrs-father-says-son-was-depressed-playing-in-portland-trail-blazers-215645742.html

One of the reasons the father gave for his unhappiness was front office pressure! “I knew my son wasn’t feeling himself, wasn’t playing his game, he was under a lot of negative pressure [from] negative statements from front-office people.” Sounds like NO!

[AreBe]

We loved Norm Powell here in Toronto -saved us in the playoffs many times!

Is there something in the water there in Portland, sort of like there is in Detroit screwing up the Detroit Lions?

Are players looking to bust out?

Are free agents leaving?

OK I get it that there are only so many New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, LA, and San Francisco type destinations in the NBA (where the wives and girlfriends, etc want to go) and that Toronto certainly is not one of them, and maybe Portland too has to pay the Milwaukee tax to get anyone to stay, (as Toronto does) but something else might be up.

I ask honestly- is the word on the street that players want out?

Is it a trainwreck of an organization? Things spiral downward, as all GMs know you have a dumpster fire and they are just robbing you blind, you need to trade players so all GMs offer you less than market value and the downward spiral accelerates etc.

Is there too much media coverage? The Trailblazers are the only game in town, so if a player screws up is it the talk of the town until the next game etc? (Too much media coverage is a known and excellent reason for hockey players in their prime to never sign in Toronto and they only come here on their broken down, torn ACL victory lap years, when they are old and no good)

This does not look good:

Trent Sr. did not hold back on Portland’s mismanagement.

“They don’t really have a plan, and I don’t think they’ve made the right decisions over there,” the 47-year-old said. “My son is five, six years younger than Norm, which means he’s got a lot more time and a lot more upside, so to me, the Raptors won that deal, and God bless that my son won on that deal to get in a better opportunity.”

In December, the Trail Blazers fired president of basketball operations and general manager Neil Olshey after an investigation into allegations that he created a toxic workplace. According to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, multiple employees said they had grievances with his treatment of staff, which included verbal abuse.

They also faced backlash last summer over the hiring of head coach Chauncey Billups, who was accused of rape in 1997, and their inability to build around superstar Damian Lillard, who underwent abdominal surgery on Jan. 13 and has no timetable for a return. Portland is currently 11th place in the Eastern Conference with a 21-33 record.

Trent Jr. has been a true revelation for a resurgent Raptor team, averaging career highs in points (18.1), rebounds (2.7) and assists (2.0), while also sitting among the league-leaders in steals and deflections.

https://news.yahoo.com/raptors-gary-trent-jrs-father-says-son-was-depressed-playing-in-portland-trail-blazers-215645742.html

[mojomarc]

Something I only recently heard about, but GTjr's dad just did an interview about his son and said that Gary was extremely depressed and unhappy in Portland. So Trent definitely wanted out when he was with Portland... that definitely could have been a background thing for why Olshey traded him for Powell in the first place.

Still no excuse for the awful followup of Powell to Clippers.

Interesting Article, here is a link. https://news.yahoo.com/raptors-gary-trent-jrs-father-says-son-was-depressed-playing-in-portland-trail-blazers-215645742.html

One of the reasons the father gave for his unhappiness was front office pressure! “I knew my son wasn’t feeling himself, wasn’t playing his game, he was under a lot of negative pressure [from] negative statements from front-office people.” Sounds like NO!

Sounds like NO pushed him out. Now I kind of hope that this 2nd rounder gets traded for something just so we can cut the ties to the NO era completely

[Sinobas]

Norm is better overall. He and Trent on on similar contracts, so why would we have not traded Trent as well? They just decided they didn't want to pay norm the money.

[wjun15]

Norm is better overall. He and Trent on on similar contracts, so why would we have not traded Trent as well? They just decided they didn't want to pay norm the money.

no he's not. Trent actually plays d, is taller, has more potential and is younger. and he plays with that fierceness.

it was a horrible trade. norm just slashes better and that's it.

[wjun15]

by the way the thought that norm is a great defender is not true. he's mediocre.