During his end-of-season press conference with reporters on Tuesday, Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey confirmed that injured center Festus Ezeli won’t be back on the roster next season, as we noted yesterday. However, that wasn’t the only topic of interest that Olshey touched on during his session with local media.
Mike Richman of The Oregonian has the transcript of several noteworthy comments from the Trail Blazers GM, who provided lengthy and thoughtful answers to many questions about the state of the roster and specific players. The whole piece is worth checking out, particularly for Blazers fans, but here are some of the highlights from Olshey:
On the Blazers’ offseason outlook:
“I think this is the first summer where we haven’t had cap room since I’ve been here. … I think a lot of the growth of the roster is going to come internally. We had the youngest team in the league this year. We had the youngest team in the playoffs for the second year in a row. So I think we have to grow internally too.
“But the three (first-round) draft picks — we moved the Cleveland pick into this year and that was done strategically knowing we weren’t going to have as many resources in terms of cap room or exceptions. So, the three draft picks give us a lot of flexibility. Not just in acquiring players through the draft, but as tools to get deals done. It’s why we were so aggressive in trying to add an additional pick.”
On the possibility of trading either Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum:
“The odds of anything ever coming up of commensurate value is so hard to even fathom. I could give you the trite answer that nobody is untradable, but clearly they are.”
On Jusuf Nurkic‘s emergence after being traded to Portland:
“Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you Nurk was going to do what he did and they were going to have folk songs written about him in Bosnia or anything else. But we also know when you look at his advanced numbers, this was a guy capable of averaging a double-double if given the opportunity. (Nuggets GM) Tim Connelly and his staff did an unbelievable job. They not only found Jusuf Nurkic. They found a guy who beat out Jusuf Nurkic through the draft, middle of the first and late second. They did their part. But we’ve seen it on our roster. There are times you’ve got to give guys up. We all knew how talented Will Barton was, but we were trying to make an upgrade at the time and we had Allen Crabbe, we had Wes (Matthews), we had C.J. I think that’s the situation [Denver] ended up in.”
On how Nurkic’s breakout second half affects the Blazers’ summer plans:
“We’re not looking for a center. Quite honestly, when we got here five years ago we thought we were 60% of the way to a starting lineup. But I think we’ve all talked about that in the past. We drafted Dame, we experimented the first year, then we found RoLo (Robin Lopez). And I think this past year I think we felt like we were closer to the 60% than we really were in a year where the West was, quite honestly, much more competitive than it had been the year prior. But I think getting Jusuf solidifies that position.”
On whether the Blazers will look to extend Nurkic’s contract this offseason:
“I haven’t even thought about it, honestly. Everybody’s a little raw. It was a weird ride, right? He kinda came in out of nowhere. He blew up and then got hurt. We gotta get guys healthy first and then get them all back in the gym and again see what we have. But I don’t talk about contract negotiations. Even when you saw some of the guys last year whether it was Moe (Harkless) or Meyers (Leonard), when we had deals done, we had deals done. But it didn’t play out in the media and it really wasn’t public.”
On whether the Blazers considered tanking instead of making a run for the No. 8 seed:
“Never. You can’t build a winning culture by losing. … I think we’re one of only six teams to make the playoffs in the last four years. And that’s not to tout it, because finishing eighth and getting beat in the first round in a sweep to Golden (State) isn’t something to beat your breast about when you’re comparing yourself to Golden and the Spurs, the upper echelon. But when you look at the reverse of that, when you look at some teams that have wallowed in the lottery … when you fall back into that and you accept that it becomes easier to stay there.”
I don’t care what anyone says I really respect the job Neil has done and think he is one of the best GM’s in the league.