I think it’s the first step in retaining Dame. Aside from hitting on a few draft picks, Olshey hasnt done dick to surround Dame with complimentary players. Here’s a link that shows all his moves https://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/olshene99x.html You should take a gander, it’s rather awful. Bottom line is Olshey makes minimal moves and acts like he’s a genius. He got 1 first place vote for GM of the year and that’s because he voted for himself. Combine that with the fact he hates little ol podunk Portland and wants to be back in LA or NY or some other large market
right. and i thought we kept that core because dame wanted to lead that team. i had thought olshey was a pretty good drafter and a fine GM given the limitations of Portland as a FA destination. but the coaching hiring process fiasco has really opened my eyes to him being a bad person as far as the face of the franchise goes + someone who needs to go.
Collins constantly being hurt really fucked up the trajectory of the team, even if he just ended up being an average NBA starter
Neil has made 1 really good draft pick, that’s CJ and he fucked over the team by holding onto that. Sure, he ‘drafted’ Dame but the scouting and entire thing was basically done for him right before he was hired & he had to just make the pick. He is a complete and utter fuck that was afraid of the big move & most of the reason the Blazers are right here with a top 6-7 nba player and the 2nd scariest shooter in the history of the nba when he crosses half-court. Regardless of the how or why, I’m going to blame his shit-ass on Aldridge as well. He doubled down on him wanting to stay and was stuck holding the bag & parlayed that into, ‘give me a chance to rebuild it.’ He didn’t build shit. This was a Dame being a special leader/player thing that even got them to this point year-after-year.
his draft history is undeniably good 2012 Dame (1) - elite Leonard (1) - carved out a role in the league; never elite but not bad Barton (2) - we traded him (bad, but not drafting) but he's been a valuable role player 2013 CJ (1) - i shit on CJ but he's undeniably a valuable player Crabbe (2) - career went to hell but was at one point a good enough prospect to get a big contract 2015 Collins (1) - injured Swanigan (1) - bad 2018 Simons (1) - one of the best shooters in the league and would have a bigger role on a team without dame/cj Trent Jr (2) - similar to crabbe but better 2019 Little (1).. TBD but I like his skillset Even assuming he gets no credit for Dame (which is silly because as GM i have to assume he could make a different pick there so he at least came over with similar scouting from LAC), he also drafted Leonard and Barton in the same draft. Those guys aren't elite players but they're still in the league (if they hadn't made racist comments) 9 years later and earned big money contracts. Swanigan was a horrible pick and Collins was the same in hindsight (though I think he'd have been pretty good if he stayed healthy). But there's a lot of hits here considering all of these are outside the lottery. If a GM's job was solely to draft, Olshey would be one of the best in the league.
people make fun of the crabbe deal, but at least crabbe had a legit nba skill. evan turner fucking sucked for the entirety of his time here and that deal was obviously terrible from day 1
Evan Turner had a solid but unspectacular year for Boston prior to signing that deal, so it wasn't the worst idea at the time, but then they paid him 16-19 million a year, like what on earth?
i refuse to believe that there were earlier rumors about portland turning down a "high lottery pick" for cj and people speculated that it was toronto, too. i think they're just leaking shit to try and force our hands.
What’s up guys. I couldn’t find one from a thread title search, but is there a Portland thread? I’m going to be there Dec 28-31 and am looking for must see/do things as well as maybe some downtown hotel recs
Memphis; yes but that’s not really my focus this trip; I’m an amateur foodie but not a full blown cunt yet; I like both but am not a huge craft beer guy, however my business partner who will be traveling with me loves craft beer The only solid plans we have so far are seeing the blazers play the jazz on the 29th
not a lot of activity but there may be some recs in here https://www.the-mainboard.com/index.php?threads/portland-or-your-city.70729/page-7
Ok, helps that I know the trip is mostly in town. it’s the winter, so I’m guessing you will get rain. - Blazers game, the Mississippi region is a load of fun. Several craft breweries and bars not far away. Also several other neighborhoods close by that are great. Bar Bar in Mississippi does a really good burger and fries for $10-12 - Portland has a lot of really good food. Depends what you want. Canard is great (James Beard award best chef of PNW owns it), next to it (literally) is Le Pigeon that is the restaurant that got the start. Both are really good. Canard is cheaper and does weird things like a burger based on White Castle (good lord, good) and Le Pigeon is more upscale. Both id look to call and book. - places you don’t want reservations? I got a bunch and links, several are food carts. Best bang for the buck is here. I’d send you out to my neighborhood (Beaverton) if it was a little less suburbia for that (but if you do, I can send you to wine country in 5 minutes) - keep you to the streets on the east side. By that, the main east and west spots are north/south main spots. Good bars, best food. - downtown hotels, since I live here, I’m not positive on, but me and the wife have stayed twice at hotel deLuxe in west downtownish twice for anniversary to get out of the house. It’s amazing. But the cool ass bar on main level wasn’t open a few months ago with covid. Buyer aware. - do you like books? If you do, go to Powell’s books downtown. The best damn independent bookstore in the country - you like history? Historical society museum is great, but I’m not sure that’s something it sounds like is ‘on the cards.’ I’d 100% research the neighborhoods in the area (send me a DM I can help) . When you take away the outdoors it becomes more centralized.
The best bet is to always find a dive bar and ask opinions from them. I’ll throw in the dive bars I know too, depending where you are at. They know best. It also depends if you are planning to just drink and eat or just eat and want to see places. if that’s the case, plenty of cool places to site see (Pittock mansion, it will mind blow you in terms of views on a clear day). But it sounds like this is a drink and social trip?
OZ2 has some great recs. I will say though that I have been to ale Pigeon twice and both times it was extremely underwhelming. With so many good spots to eat, I wouldn’t waste a meal there. Current favorite non-fancy spot is PDX Sliders. Regarding places to stay, The Nines is awesome around Christmas time with it being across from pioneer square. Having departure in the same building is a plus.
I was JUST reading this. dude is easily my least favorite sports thing since I moved to this area 10 years ago. (Oregonian is basically dead tho, fucking big corporations buying papers and shredding them…fuck)
Planning a trip to Portland at the end of September. I'm bringing my fiance out for 3 days before I go to Bandon Dunes. Would you recommend just hanging in Portland or is it worth it to go to coast? We have never been to the PNW before. I wouldn't say we are huge hikers or outdoorsy people but I don't think she will be content sitting on a barstool for 3 days like I would.
Lol @ this in any way, shape, or form having Jody Allen's hands on it Bring back the Idaho Stampede! I vividly remember watching a game in like 2012 with Antoine Walker playing for them. He had to be at least 300lbs and didnt go below either free throw line the entire game, but he damn sure shot it every time he touched the ball
1. maybe now jody will sell the team 2. #3 is fine. guessing we package the pick for a star (siakam, bridges or someone of that level) but there's also the chance we sell on Dame and end up with Scoot
had a small bar, while me and my wife are getting dinner, looking at me like I’m a crazy man as I made audibly loud fist bumps and sounds after every one was turned over not blazers. heaviest ‘ughhhhh’ ever as we got 2
i started freaking out when we were top 4 but called it out loud after houston that we were going to be #3. and I'm thrilled. #3 is great in this draft as there's Wemby and then a top 2 (as of now... hollinger had a different ranking so we'll see how things develop). it's going to be a really fun offseason because we're at such a pivotal inflection point for the franchise. there are three options and i think in order of likeliest to least likely: 1. Trade the pick + young assets (add'l picks, Simons, Little, possibly Sharpe, etc.) for another star player. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty around a lot of star-level players in the league but I think the franchise explores a wide range of trade possibilities including Embiid. My preference would be something like Brown > Embiid > Bridges > Siakam though my order of confidence that these guys are traded is basically that list in reverse. I sort of see a trade involving Brooklyn being made because of Dame's relationship with Bridges and his fit next to Dame and Grant on the team. But Brooklyn loves Bridges and I would really not want to give up Sharpe and the #3 pick and a bunch of other picks. 2. Trade Dame I love Dame but it's unlikely that anything short of a fire-sale in Philly and a Simons/picks-for-Embiid trade moves the need for Portland contending-wise. Even a lineup like Dame/Sharpe/Bridges/Grant/Claxton might not be contender-level unless Sharpe really makes the leap that Paul George did in year 3. And Brooklyn throwing in Claxton (and taking that Nurkic contract) almost certainly wouldn't happen. The biggest challenge with trading Dame (even beyond what he means to the city and the organization) is that there isn't an obvious trade candidate! Most of the contending-type teams that could use him (Philly, Denver, Miami, Phoenix, LAC) don't have the assets in a return trade and the teams that would have assets (Orlando, OKC, Utah, etc.) aren't close enough to contending or don't want an older PG. The closest would be someone like Toronto (needs a scoring PG and has OG and/or Barnes and picks) but they are more likely to blow it up than invest in their current core. 3. Use the pick and keep building with Dame While it's fun to imagine pairing Sharpe with Miller as 20-year-old versatile wings (the kinds of players who Dame wanted his entire career!), it doesn't seem like Dame has the patience for that and will force either #1 or #2. I'm sort of intrigued by trading #3 to Orlando for some combination of #6 + #11 + Wendell Carter Jr (so maybe just #6 and WCJ) to upgrade at Center and still end up with Whitmore or a Thompson twin but I don't think Dame would be happy if our only offseason upgrade is at Center. We definitely need that SF/3. what are y'alls mock offseason plans?
assume the worst. for me it's all about managing expectations. Obviously landing #1 would've changed things but all things considered, getting #3 helped out quite a bit as far as trade value goes. I'm not interested in Scoot or Miller like...at all. My fear is I've fallen victim to over-valuing our assets and any trade package that involves Simons, #3, future 1sts, etc. won't yield us the return we're hoping for. Don't think I'll be like the Powell and CJ trades but still. In a perfect universe I'd like to see us Resign Grant Trade #3, Simons, Little, whatever (I'd really like to hold on to Sharpe and hope Portland holds onto him unless we get a superstar in return) try one more time and if it's not working....sigh....trade Dame around the deadline and collect as many assets possible