Portland Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey noted the organization will “stay disciplined” as the trade deadline approaches.
The Blazers are 10-15 with less than two months before the final cutout date, but Olshey insists he's not going to do anything rash:
“We are going to stay disciplined,” Olshey said, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. “That doesn’t mean we are not going to stay opportunistic, OK? But the bar for how big of an impact somebody has to make to really make an outcome-related impact is higher.”
Even after signing Carmelo Anthony last month to fill in at forward, the Blazers have remained linked to Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love, a Lake Oswego native who listed them atop his potential options. Portland has also had Danilo Gallinari in the crosshairs, another stretch 4 with elite perimeter skills.
So what does “disciplined” mean, exactly? Olshey explains:
“The discipline comes in that the starting lineup next year is Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Rodney Hood, Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic,” Olshey said. “And we are going to get there. Now, some of those guys will be back this year, and some won’t. But what we are not going to do is give away long-term assets that can help get this team to where we really want to be — and where we thought we were back in September — for some incremental upgrade today.”
Hood is out for the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL, while Collins and Nurkic are expected to return from their respective injuries. Trading for either Love or Gallo would relegate Anthony to the bench, though if the Blazers re-plug Collins into the starting lineup, Melo could still see plenty of playing time at small or power forward.
The premise is that Olshey won't go balls to the wall to acquire win-now pieces, considering the Blazers have key cogs in developmental positions — something they don't want to squander because of a struggling start to the season.
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