Roots of Arron Afflalo trade: Neil Olshey building legacy
By David MacKay
When you consider that the Portland Trail Blazers flipped three players that they were not using to the fullest (Thomas Robinson, Will Barton, Victor Claver) and a mid-late future first rounder for Arron Afflalo and Alonzo Gee at the 2015 NBA trade deadline, it is reasonable to conclude that President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey is steering this franchise in the right direction. When you consider the year-to-year roots of this trade, it becomes clear just how long, and how well, he has been doing so.
The Trail Blazers hired Olshey as their new General Manager on June 4th, 2012. During his time in the Portland front office, he has helped the Trail Blazers make a seeming myriad of beneficial moves. These include drafting Damian Lillard and trading for Robin Lopez, among others, but today we are going to look specifically at each move that led to acquiring Afflalo — from present day all the way back to 2012; Olshey’s first year in Portland. It is some impressive orchestration.
February 19th, 2015
Portland parted ways with some fan favorites, but the team will get undeniably more use out of Afflalo than anyone that was traded. Afflalo was a borderline All-Star last season and will come off the bench behind both Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum. Time will tell if he was indeed the missing piece to Portland’s post-season puzzle. On paper, this move may be Olshey’s magnum opus, but the previous moves that made it possible were impressive as well.
July 10th, 2013
Portland sent the freshly drafted Marko Todorovic (45th) and the draft rights to Kostas Papanikolau along with a 2017 second round pick to Houston. In return, they receive Robinson, who was a selected fifth in the 2012 NBA draft — one spot ahead of Lillard. Although Portland may not have been the ideal place for Robinson to grow, he was a serviceable backup. Meanwhile Todorovic remains in Spain and Papanikolaou has underwhelmed with the Rockets. Yet, the Trail Blazers’ initial acquisition of Papanikolaou allowed the unloading of a great burden.
July 16th, 2012
The first trade Olshey conducted in Portland sent Raymond Felton back to the New York dumpster fire from whence he came. The Trail Blazers got minimal returns on the deal, but half the point of it was to send Felton packing. The other half was to acquire Jared Jeffries, who many will recall kept Portland’s historically bad bench afloat during the start of a rough restructuring.
With the addition of Afflalo to the second unit, now, in 2015, said restructuring is complete. Every move along the way was important, and in none of them did the Trail Blazers get the short end of the stick. The entire way to Afflalo, Olshey dealt only draft picks, in-house draftees, products of his own trades, filler, and one cancerous lump — all without losing a single starter (cancerous lump not withstanding).
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This may be the most cunning series of trades I have seen in recent years. Olshey has brought this franchise from the dregs of the NBA to the upper echelon with his shrewd business sense, and it is only his third year here. Although dealing a few well-liked players has portions of the fanbase reeling, sometimes you just have to stop and marvel at where the Trail Blazers were and where the Trail Blazers are. I trust Olshey’s judgement in acquiring Afflalo, and I trust his judgement moving forward.