The microscope is on the Portland Trail Blazers front office and coaching staff after an underwhelming season that has seen poor defense coupled with performance inconsistencies and a lower playoff seeding than anticipated.
Both Neil Olshey and Terry Stotts have come under fire in recent weeks as the Blazers playoff seeding slipped and their defense sunk to record lows. Coach Terry Stotts has recently taken a lot of heat for the defensive struggles, but has Stotts had the best personnel to work with?
It’s only fair that if Stotts is to receive the criticism around his systems, and a potential firing after the playoffs, that we look to Olshey and the personnel and moves he has put together over the years.
Ranking Neil Olshey’s best and worst moves as Portland Trail Blazers GM
We will start with his five worst moves and move to his five best afterward.
#5 Worst move – Drafting Caleb Swanigan in 2017
Though it was only the 25th pick in the 2017 Draft, the Blazers struggles with big man depth in the following four years highlighted a need for that four or five man that could either defend / score or both. Caleb Swanigan was dominant in two years at Purdue, earning 1st-team All-American honors, and even shooting the three well. But, as a Blazer, things didn’t pan out.
As a six-foot-nine big man, his tweener style game meant that he was undersized as a center and then too slow as a power forward on both ends in the NBA.
Swanigan never truly broke into the rotation in his first stint with the Blazers, but he did gain more minutes upon being traded back to Portland. Sadly, he likely ended his NBA career when he opted out of playing in the NBA Bubble, even when there was likely to be a spot in the rotation for him.
Considering the other options in that draft who were still on the board, this was a poor move by Olshey.