Thrift Shopping
The Blazers love to hit the bargain bin. But they need something more expensive.
Neil Olshey loves to talk about being from New York and his days driving on the 405. He’s a Glamour Market Guy. But as he as continued to prove during his tenure, nobody loves thrift shopping quite like him. He might hate Portland, but I’ll be damned if he isn’t the most Portland GM this team has ever had. Cheap, repurposed, and reclaimed is his style. And sometimes, it has paid off.
Al-Farouq Aminu, Ed Davis, Jusuf Nurkic and Carmelo Anthony all became fan favorites as bargain bin moves from Olshey, allowing Lillard’s greatness and McCollum’s competence to buoy their value around the league. But the seas have risen. The price of maintenance goes up when the seas rise. Or when the virus keeps infecting. Or as we say in online parlance, the price of the brick going up.
Neil Olshey has established a way of doing business that has kept him in power for a long time. It goes a little something like this, for those who are not as immersed in the dealings of this franchise: risk nothing of your core group, only risk your excesses, and pray that a second-rounder or late first-round pick becomes a starter who you will have the privilege to overpay. And then Olshey can aggregate that salary to his next slide show to show Jody Allen and Bert Kolde, who clearly don’t have a clue, and don’t forget his pals at ESPN, as proof of his draft prowess and not just the bi-product of playing in a salary capped league where middling players get monstrous contracts. And would you look at that, another bargain-basement storyline has miraculously appeared!
The act has clearly grown tired with Lillard, as evidenced most recently by his cousin’s explicit displeasure with the Blazers Front Office, calling the team out by name. He even replied to my pal Sean Highkin that he has more on his mind than what he would like to share.
Where’s the guy who traded for Chris Paul? Does he even exist? Is Neil Olshey without David Stern running the Hornets some other dude most fans have never heard of? Is he just on NBA TV? Is he where Ryan McDonough is, talking about betting lines like the rest of us? Olshey was brought to Portland under the auspices of being a “big deal” guy who was tight with agents, knew players from his old days as a player development guy, and could build a contender.
And it’s not to say that the Blazers haven’t gambled under Olshey, but their gambles have been to combine mystery boxes like draft picks, never anything truly franchise-changing. Even when those picks that were traded become ever more useful than the ones that were used. Let’s not even mention not offering CJ McCollum for Paul George, perhaps the most easily influenced superstar in the league, who willingly chose to stay in Oklahoma City as a free agent because he didn’t wanna anger Westbrook! I mean, come on!
I’ve been resistant to trading CJ McCollum for years like Olshey, because I’ve had a hard time seeing anything that makes them better. George notwithstanding, the only return I’ve ever wanted for him, Ben Simmons, is now seemingly available. A real high roller franchise would make the move. They wouldn’t be whining about pick swaps and other things that are nothing more than projections to help executives keep their job and sell hope to their bosses. That’s some small market podunk basketball executive shit. I thought this guy was from New York.
But since Paul Allen’s death, there’s been nothing to suggest this group —Olshey, Jody Allen, and Bert Kolde—want anything other than a seasonal trip to the thrift store rather than a necessary role of the dice. I’m tired of seeing the team struggle on defense and would like someone who helps Dame on that end, while also having a young player who can help Dame as he ages. It would be fun to have a team that can actually score in transition. But I’m not holding my breath. They don’t sell champagne at the thrift store.