The Portland Trail Blazers had an outstanding regular season, surprising many en route to a 49-33 record and the three seed in the loaded Western Conference. But once the postseason rolled around, the Blazers weren’t able to get the job done, as Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and the New Orleans Pelicans swept them.
It led to some questions being asked in Portland, with some calling for a shake up within the organization. It could be with the roster, or perhaps someone like head coach Terry Stotts or GM Neil Olshey gets replaced.
Nothing has happened so far, which has given Olshey some time to reflect on this past season. While appearing on ESPN2’s coverage of the NBA Draft Combine, the Blazers’ GM said that he fell victim to being “a little too conservative” with some of the pieces he had in his war chest of assets.
"Probably one of the things we were a little too conservative with this offseason and at the trade deadline was, we were probably far too protective of our draft pick and our trade exceptions and the tools we had to continue to build the roster long term." — Neil Olshey
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) May 17, 2018
Portland is slated to pick 24th in the 2018 NBA Draft, and while getting a young, inexpensive player could be a decent long-term investment, the Blazers could have conceivably used that to get a piece that helped during the 2017-18 campaign. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum openly recruited Carmelo Anthony in the summer, while the team was viewed as a potential landing spot for DeAndre Jordan at the deadline.
Who knows if either player — or anyone else who would have been acquired with the assets the team possessed — would have helped Portland get beyond the Pelicans and make a run, but Olshey seems to think he missed an opportunity.
