Yeah, without reading the article I’m having a hard time figuring out the hell Lowe could be getting at here. But hey, gotta get them clicks, right!
EvanTurningTheCorner
Haven’t read it, but Lowe is IMO generally one of the better national writers when it comes to Blazers basketball.
TYWALK3R
Good teams, bad trades, lost good players to free agency, good drafts, bad drafts, retained but over paid our own free agents, held onto CJ too long.
That’s about it.
referee-superfan
Number 4 will shock you!!!
allaboutthatpace
I just read it. It’s a good summary of all our moves made from 2015-2023 and how most were defendable/praised at the time but weren’t ever the all-in move we needed to make.
Also just a general reminder that writers don’t usually write their headlines.
MagicFlea
There was a lot going on around those times, but 2016 off-season was when we made the reallllly large Evan Turner contract. In the 2017 draft we traded 15 and 20 to get Zach Collins at 10. Neither decision lived up to the price paid.
JayOliver81
I read through it. Lowe gave a detailed breakdown of how we got from 2016 with LMA still on the team to where are at now. It’s a pretty objective take on the situation as he cites combined GM moves that haven’t worked out for the Blazers but also cites that other teams and players have not always been willing to deal with us.
Nothing new here for smart Blazer fans but probably good info for fans of other teams that rarely watched the Blazers or don’t know anything about the team beyond Dame being on it.
No-Particular8597
Cliff notes edition. Mismanagement combined with some bad luck RE: Aldridge FA departure, Afflalo trade, Collins bust, and inability to balance the roster by trading CJ got us here today.
Academic-Donkey-420
Blazers capped themself with the terrible 2016 offseason, then decided to not draft bam because “Zach was sexier” -paraphrased quote from Bam, then spinning their wheels before lucking into the WCF, and then doubling down on a bad team. The dominoes for Dame being traded today started with a string of poor decisions in off seasons starting in 2016.
JayChucksFrank
It’s a well written article outlining the early wins and later failures of Olshey, and how that’s shaped where they are today. Worth a read for sure. It’s spot on.
jakish3209
“THE BLAZERS WERE 36-17, tied for third in the West, merging into the kind of improbable maybe-contender Portland’s current brass probably dreamed of building around Lillard now. They were constructed around a tentpole star in LaMarcus Aldridge; a home-run draft pick (Lillard) swiped in a laughable heist of a trade with Brooklyn; and savvy under-the-radar acquisitions from the back of the first round (Nicolas Batum), restricted free agency (Wesley Matthews) and minor trades (Robin Lopez.) Aldridge was set to enter unrestricted free agency after the season. The Blazers had to go for it. They needed depth, and so then-GM Neil Olshey, dipped into the team’s future to add Afflalo. The pick they gave up was lottery-protected in 2016, meaning that if Aldridge left and the Blazers bottomed out, they would keep it. It was the sort of small trade that would come to define the next eight years — smart (not all were smart), but not enough to catch the big boys or in later years address the structural limitations of a team constructed around two small guards: Lillard and CJ McCollum. Two weeks later, Matthews tore his Achilles. The team faded and lost 4-1 in the first round.”
“The 2015-16 Blazers won 44 games and a playoff series despite Aldridge’s defection. Instead of picking at the top of the 2016 draft, they lost their pick outright via the Afflalo trade. That summer, they faced a fork in the road: maintain flexibility, or use their cap room while retaining several key players. Olshey concluded that opening meaningful room in future summers would require letting too many players walk for nothing and delaying McCollum’s extension. He knew Portland had no history of luring major free agents. So, the Blazers spent. They retained Harkless, Leonard and Allen Crabbe on contracts totaling almost $160 million. (They matched a Nets offer sheet on Crabbe.) After striking out on higher-profile targets — including Hassan Whiteside, sources said then — Portland used room on a four-year, $70 million deal for Evan Turner. EVERY DEAL WENT bust.”
” It’s not a great sign when your head coach (Terry Stotts then) predicts mere weeks after free agency, “We are probably not going to make the quantum leap the salaries might indicate.” Portland back-slid to .500 in 2016-17, and got smashed in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. No matter: Portland had three first-round picks in the coming draft. They traded two — Nos. 15 and 20 — to move up five spots for Zach Collins. Donovan Mitchell and Adebayo were selected at Nos. 13 and 14. With their own pick — No. 26 — the Blazers selected Caleb Swanigan; Josh Hart, Derrick White, and Kyle Kuzma comprised three of the next four picks.”
Lowe is absolutely right—the LMA departure (and getting nothing back) was the original domino that kept Portland out of contention for the next several years, but the Arron Afflalo was a big miss that—combined with the Matthews injury—hastened that LMA departure.
ohiathere
I enjoyed the article. It’s no surprise that ownership and management weren’t able to build a complete team around Dame. They just cite the misses in the draft the the massive overpays for mediocre free agents.
Proper_Hurry_362
Not getting anything for LMA crippled this franchise for the better part of a decade in some ways
[deleted]
[deleted]
[deleted]
[removed]
ThaMac
Does anyone have a clear read on what happened with Aldridge? Did FO genuinely think he was gonna re-sign with us?
palmquac
Read it. It’s good. A very long and detailed account of the paths not taken.
ConcentrateLess9712
I heard this take on the bill Simmons podcast. Basically when they got swept in the western conference finals and olshey just brought the same team back. It was the start of the end. I tend to agree to an extent, personally I think dame was asking out no matter what Cronin did except for a embiid, jokic level player. Maybe not this off season but he would soon. That was the time to build around dame, and since we didn’t we should have traded him then. As a 33 year old it’s a terrible love to trade all our young folks for a lateral or slight improvement… who knows if dame wouldn’t still ask out?
infinite-valise
Post-hoc rationalization: the laziest form of jerking off. Lowe is usually way better than this.
Market_Taoist
Blazers had several poor drafts and ran back teams that were good but not contenders. They were content to field winning teams that didn’t have a legitimate shot to win it all. Not willing to pull the trigger on a big trade. Filled gaps with good but not great free agents. Took flyers on too many bad free agents. Should have traded CJ several years sooner.
DanDan85
$160m spent in 2016 for what limited to essentially no retainable asset. What a joke of a GM. Fuck Neil Olshey.
shoddykarati
If you’re Canadian/your VPN is ;), you can access + content free
honestqbe
Content creators gotta create content. It’s just a bunch of bullshit out there and we’re going to be hearing about it till the trade happens, then again for a while. It’s the off season and they got to write something
rackemrackbar
Might as well take it all the way back to when he was drafted:
“From the moment Lillard was drafted in 2012, the seeds were planted for him not to be an active Blazer for the rest of time”
25 Comments
Yeah, without reading the article I’m having a hard time figuring out the hell Lowe could be getting at here. But hey, gotta get them clicks, right!
Haven’t read it, but Lowe is IMO generally one of the better national writers when it comes to Blazers basketball.
Good teams, bad trades, lost good players to free agency, good drafts, bad drafts, retained but over paid our own free agents, held onto CJ too long.
That’s about it.
Number 4 will shock you!!!
I just read it. It’s a good summary of all our moves made from 2015-2023 and how most were defendable/praised at the time but weren’t ever the all-in move we needed to make.
Also just a general reminder that writers don’t usually write their headlines.
There was a lot going on around those times, but 2016 off-season was when we made the reallllly large Evan Turner contract. In the 2017 draft we traded 15 and 20 to get Zach Collins at 10. Neither decision lived up to the price paid.
I read through it. Lowe gave a detailed breakdown of how we got from 2016 with LMA still on the team to where are at now. It’s a pretty objective take on the situation as he cites combined GM moves that haven’t worked out for the Blazers but also cites that other teams and players have not always been willing to deal with us.
Nothing new here for smart Blazer fans but probably good info for fans of other teams that rarely watched the Blazers or don’t know anything about the team beyond Dame being on it.
Cliff notes edition. Mismanagement combined with some bad luck RE: Aldridge FA departure, Afflalo trade, Collins bust, and inability to balance the roster by trading CJ got us here today.
Blazers capped themself with the terrible 2016 offseason, then decided to not draft bam because “Zach was sexier” -paraphrased quote from Bam, then spinning their wheels before lucking into the WCF, and then doubling down on a bad team. The dominoes for Dame being traded today started with a string of poor decisions in off seasons starting in 2016.
It’s a well written article outlining the early wins and later failures of Olshey, and how that’s shaped where they are today. Worth a read for sure. It’s spot on.
“THE BLAZERS WERE 36-17, tied for third in the West, merging into the kind of improbable maybe-contender Portland’s current brass probably dreamed of building around Lillard now. They were constructed around a tentpole star in LaMarcus Aldridge; a home-run draft pick (Lillard) swiped in a laughable heist of a trade with Brooklyn; and savvy under-the-radar acquisitions from the back of the first round (Nicolas Batum), restricted free agency (Wesley Matthews) and minor trades (Robin Lopez.)
Aldridge was set to enter unrestricted free agency after the season. The Blazers had to go for it. They needed depth, and so then-GM Neil Olshey, dipped into the team’s future to add Afflalo. The pick they gave up was lottery-protected in 2016, meaning that if Aldridge left and the Blazers bottomed out, they would keep it.
It was the sort of small trade that would come to define the next eight years — smart (not all were smart), but not enough to catch the big boys or in later years address the structural limitations of a team constructed around two small guards: Lillard and CJ McCollum.
Two weeks later, Matthews tore his Achilles. The team faded and lost 4-1 in the first round.”
“The 2015-16 Blazers won 44 games and a playoff series despite Aldridge’s defection. Instead of picking at the top of the 2016 draft, they lost their pick outright via the Afflalo trade.
That summer, they faced a fork in the road: maintain flexibility, or use their cap room while retaining several key players. Olshey concluded that opening meaningful room in future summers would require letting too many players walk for nothing and delaying McCollum’s extension. He knew Portland had no history of luring major free agents.
So, the Blazers spent. They retained Harkless, Leonard and Allen Crabbe on contracts totaling almost $160 million. (They matched a Nets offer sheet on Crabbe.) After striking out on higher-profile targets — including Hassan Whiteside, sources said then — Portland used room on a four-year, $70 million deal for Evan Turner.
EVERY DEAL WENT bust.”
” It’s not a great sign when your head coach (Terry Stotts then) predicts mere weeks after free agency, “We are probably not going to make the quantum leap the salaries might indicate.”
Portland back-slid to .500 in 2016-17, and got smashed in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. No matter: Portland had three first-round picks in the coming draft.
They traded two — Nos. 15 and 20 — to move up five spots for Zach Collins. Donovan Mitchell and Adebayo were selected at Nos. 13 and 14. With their own pick — No. 26 — the Blazers selected Caleb Swanigan; Josh Hart, Derrick White, and Kyle Kuzma comprised three of the next four picks.”
Editors write headlines. Reporters write articles.
Lowe is absolutely right—the LMA departure (and getting nothing back) was the original domino that kept Portland out of contention for the next several years, but the Arron Afflalo was a big miss that—combined with the Matthews injury—hastened that LMA departure.
I enjoyed the article. It’s no surprise that ownership and management weren’t able to build a complete team around Dame. They just cite the misses in the draft the the massive overpays for mediocre free agents.
Not getting anything for LMA crippled this franchise for the better part of a decade in some ways
[deleted]
[removed]
Does anyone have a clear read on what happened with Aldridge? Did FO genuinely think he was gonna re-sign with us?
Read it. It’s good. A very long and detailed account of the paths not taken.
I heard this take on the bill Simmons podcast. Basically when they got swept in the western conference finals and olshey just brought the same team back. It was the start of the end. I tend to agree to an extent, personally I think dame was asking out no matter what Cronin did except for a embiid, jokic level player. Maybe not this off season but he would soon. That was the time to build around dame, and since we didn’t we should have traded him then. As a 33 year old it’s a terrible love to trade all our young folks for a lateral or slight improvement… who knows if dame wouldn’t still ask out?
Post-hoc rationalization: the laziest form of jerking off. Lowe is usually way better than this.
Blazers had several poor drafts and ran back teams that were good but not contenders. They were content to field winning teams that didn’t have a legitimate shot to win it all. Not willing to pull the trigger on a big trade. Filled gaps with good but not great free agents. Took flyers on too many bad free agents. Should have traded CJ several years sooner.
$160m spent in 2016 for what limited to essentially no retainable asset. What a joke of a GM. Fuck Neil Olshey.
If you’re Canadian/your VPN is ;), you can access + content free
Content creators gotta create content. It’s just a bunch of bullshit out there and we’re going to be hearing about it till the trade happens, then again for a while. It’s the off season and they got to write something
Might as well take it all the way back to when he was drafted:
“From the moment Lillard was drafted in 2012, the seeds were planted for him not to be an active Blazer for the rest of time”