Stagnant Summer: What it means for the Blazers in the West
By Minh Dao
The stakes have been raised once again by the reinforcing of the West as the dominant conference. This has caused a wave of concern regarding the quiet summer in Portland.
Chris Paul to Houston. Paul George to Oklahoma City. Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. Paul Millsap to Denver. Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry return to Golden State.
All Portland’s done is ship Allen Crabbe off to Brooklyn, and delay a contract decision on Pat Connaughton.
Every other team in the West has seemingly improved while the Blazers have stood pat. That means bad news right? Not necessarily.
We will look at the the key factors that will make the fan base rest easy about this uneventful summer.
Front office poise
This all starts with Neil Olshey. The President of Basketball Operations and General Manager has been with the organization since June 2012 and cemented the position as his.
Between 2000 and 2012, the Blazers had seven different executives. One could say the position was the NBA equivalent of a carousel.
There is a reason why he has held the gig longer than most and made it clear he is the man for the job using precedent. Before we jump into his work with the Blazers, do you remember the Chris Paul trade?
Olshey was the guy behind that.
How about when the Clippers traded a future first rounder (Fab Melo) for the rights to Eric Bledsoe? Still him!
And who nabbed the Clippers a meeting with LeBron James? You guessed it. Olshey did.
Since his arrival, he has made intelligent moves via the draft, trade and free agency.