Blazers 2023-2024 Thread

[squintsdd]

To be fair, Lillard was forced to sit a decent amount of the past 2 seasons due to injury, and intentional tanking. Tough to lead a team to even the play-in when your forced to sit.

Wait, you mean Lillard can't score 32ppg when he's not allowed to play?

Also, the Blazers got worse last season at the All-Star break by trading away Hart and making no other moves. Meanwhile a bunch of other west teams found ways to improve.

And Cronin told Lillard that tanking would help him find veteran help this offseason. Cronin also sold that BS to season ticket holders in their renewal emails. People aren't talking enough about the sheer incompetence of the Blazers as an organization. I want to be excited about Scoot/Sharpe but this organization is going to screw it up somehow.

Oh I agree about the incompetence. I made a comparison on another board to the movie "major league". It's like ownership is intentionally trying to ruin the franchise in an attempt to get them out of Portland. They don't want to sell to PK, so if they make the team so bad that it tanks the value they might be able to show there are plenty of buyers outside of Oregon, wanting to take the team. I'm saying this all in jest, but it's eerily similar.

[pezsez1]

Oh I agree about the incompetence. I made a comparison on another board to the movie "major league". It's like ownership is intentionally trying to ruin the franchise in an attempt to get them out of Portland. They don't want to sell to PK, so if they make the team so bad that it tanks the value they might be able to show there are plenty of buyers outside of Oregon, wanting to take the team. I'm saying this all in jest, but it's eerily similar.

I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but I've often wondered about this myself. I've recently wondered whether Jody really pushed out Olshey not because of "hostile workplace" complaints (which seemed valid) but because maybe he was still too competent for the job... Olshey was great at building better-than-average teams, and maybe she just wanted someone to really tank the organization? I mean, when Cronin was hired, there were other big names on the market yet she picked him.

Most likely, the real issue is simply that Jody is cheap and doesn't care -- so she went with a budget hire with zero experience and this is what happened -- but it does make you think. The incompetence of Cronin, the lying to season ticket holders, the refusal of Jody to sell to PK (and to basically taunt fans by saying she might stay for another 20 years) really makes you wonder whether something deliberate is going on.

[greenyellow]

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[pezsez1]

Love that footage! Excited to watch these first couple of summer league games.

[nogerO]

“Clearly not, hence the trade request. “

To whom?

[Duck07]

I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but I've often wondered about this myself. I've recently wondered whether Jody really pushed out Olshey not because of "hostile workplace" complaints (which seemed valid) but because maybe he was still too competent for the job... Olshey was great at building better-than-average teams, and maybe she just wanted someone to really tank the organization? I mean, when Cronin was hired, there were other big names on the market yet she picked him.

Most likely, the real issue is simply that Jody is cheap and doesn't care -- so she went with a budget hire with zero experience and this is what happened -- but it does make you think. The incompetence of Cronin, the lying to season ticket holders, the refusal of Jody to sell to PK (and to basically taunt fans by saying she might stay for another 20 years) really makes you wonder whether something deliberate is going on.

This is like one of the dumbest conspiracy theories on here that Neil wasn't fired for being an incompetent jackass but because he built a roster that was above average.


Neil was the guy who drafted CJ over Giannis and a trio of players that have combined to become a backup Center rather than Bam. This whole saga never occurs if the Blazers had paired Dame with Giannis and Bam. (I'll even grant that Bam might not have been possible with a Dame/Giannis pairing but that duo still would have had few issues).

As for Jody being cheap, that's absolutely a proven fact. They fired a bunch of long-time employees this year and off-season from Scouts to the Director of Broadcasting as well as discussions about not sending the broadcast crew on road-games but instead using the home teams cameras and calling the game from Portland. There are a bunch of first-time former WNBA players working in those positions now as scouts and team admins learning on the fly. They did finally added a G-League team after being one of the only franchises without one but every move the last 2-3 years has been to shed salary and get under the Tax and the repeater levels.

As for any complaints about Cronin, I think its unfair to castigate him in a bad light right now based on Lillard's actions this entire off-season and his stated desires to have left even sooner. Dame stated he wanted CJ traded sooner than he was, well that falls on Neil as Joe did in fact trade CJ for about the best package possible.

Yes, he traded Josh Hart away, because the Blazers would have been over the Luxury Tax line last year and that by extending him (and then Grant) that they would continue to be over the Tax line. Lillard-Hart-SF-Grant-Nurk isn't a title contender even if you move Scoot, Sharpe or Simons but it would be one hell of an expensive roster and if Joe knows that Jody doesn't want to be over the tax line, how can you call him incompetent? How can people criticize him for not trading away Sharpe and Scoot for a 1-year rental with a clearly disgrunted PG on the team?

Meanwhile, the team looks to have a legit bench unit and is a Simons+Assets for a SF move away from having a decent looking roster that can grow immensely over time. Dame had said he didn't need a team with 3 all-stars, just one that could compete. Joe starts building that kind of team and Dame says "I need to go to 1 team and be the 3rd All-Star."

He's officially running from the grind.

[StevensTechU]

I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but I've often wondered about this myself. I've recently wondered whether Jody really pushed out Olshey not because of "hostile workplace" complaints (which seemed valid) but because maybe he was still too competent for the job... Olshey was great at building better-than-average teams, and maybe she just wanted someone to really tank the organization? I mean, when Cronin was hired, there were other big names on the market yet she picked him.

Most likely, the real issue is simply that Jody is cheap and doesn't care -- so she went with a budget hire with zero experience and this is what happened -- but it does make you think. The incompetence of Cronin, the lying to season ticket holders, the refusal of Jody to sell to PK (and to basically taunt fans by saying she might stay for another 20 years) really makes you wonder whether something deliberate is going on.

There are a large, large number of us suspecting Jody's going to go full Seattlite and try to move the team up there. The claim that the Moda Center needs replacing is pure BS - it's average, at worst, in the league, despite the age. And then when they announced that they're putting the G League team in Portland, it felt like another indicator.

[Duck07]

There are a large, large number of us suspecting Jody's going to go full Seattlite and try to move the team up there. The claim that the Moda Center needs replacing is pure BS - it's average, at worst, in the league, despite the age. And then when they announced that they're putting the G League team in Portland, it felt like another indicator.

I believe the league would actually vote that down as you'd likely alienate both the SuperSonics fans AND the Blazers fans.

That to me is the NBA giving a major middle finger to the PNW.

[pezsez1]

This is like one of the dumbest conspiracy theories on here that Neil wasn't fired for being an incompetent jackass but because he built a roster that was above average.

I agree that it's a dumb conspiracy theory only because most conspiracy theories are dumb. And this is definitely not the dumbest one I've seen on these boards.

Also, I didn't mean to imply that Olshey was competent -- simply TOO competent for what Jody might be trying to accomplish. Maybe she wanted someone who'd run this whole organization straight off of a cliff. And, after just two years, it looks like she found her guy.

[dd10snoop28]

There is a big difference between conspiracy theories and conspiracy facts. The former used liberally to stigmatize the latter.



OK, back to arguing about Dame.

[pezsez1]

As I said, Jody pulling a "Major League" on the Blazers is definitely not the dumbest conspiracy theory I've seen on this board or even today.

[pezsez1]

Here's something to get this Blazers thread out of the weeds and back on track:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/bl ... 09bf6&ei=9

Torn on this. Feels like an overpay, and I don't see any reason to overpay for anything right now. But I do like his game and I can't really be mad about this.

[squintsdd]

Here's something to get this Blazers thread out of the weeds and back on track:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/bl ... 09bf6&ei=9

Torn on this. Feels like an overpay, and I don't see any reason to overpay for anything right now. But I do like his game and I can't really be mad about this.

He's one of the best defenders in the league, shot close to 40% from 3 while with Portland and the money is less than the MLE. Good deal if you ask me

[Duck07]

Here's something to get this Blazers thread out of the weeds and back on track:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/bl ... 09bf6&ei=9

Torn on this. Feels like an overpay, and I don't see any reason to overpay for anything right now. But I do like his game and I can't really be mad about this.

How you could be torn on that is silly. He's an ideal SG/SF for whatever backcourt rotation we use and is the closest thing to an All NBA defender at one of the toughest positions while shooting 38% from 3.

[pezsez1]

How you could be torn on that is silly.

Limited sample size for a guy who'd fallen out of the rotation at his previous team. Five years from now, I don't want another Mo Harkless who we continually overpay while he's just good enough to keep hanging around.

Bench rotation shooting guards are probably the easiest position to find among NBA free agents. Just don't want the Blazers to get too high on their only supply again anytime soon.

That said, he is an excellent defender and his shooting was better than expected during his limited time here, so -- like I said -- I can't be mad about this.