Imo the roster is good enough to be in NBA purgatory. 7-8 seed or just missing playoffs and no pick in loaded draft
On paper Sa Gs Okc Hou Lac Mem All way better than us. Den Uta Min Lal Equal to us at worst. Its an honest outlook
Yeah, you could say that. Utah? Are you kidding me? Lal with Kobe out half the year? Denver while losing iggy, koufos, changing coaches and Gallo out for half the year? These teams are equal to us at worst? Are you serious?
If you asked the 30 NBA GMs which player they would rather have, Aldridge would likely be selected by all 30. There's a reason when Lee went down, GS didn't miss him so much and when LA sat for the year we tanked.
Well that and golden state, who has first hand knowledge of lee, wanted to trade lee and klay for Aldridge. Seems they believe Aldridge is much more valuable than lee as well
I'm not convinced the Spurs can put together a season like they just did. They caught lightning in a bottle, but are they really defying father time two years in a row? I find that highly doubtful. OKC Memphis LAC Houston Those are the top four teams. I think the Blazers could easily be the 5th best team if a few things fall into place.
I totally agree with you on the Spurs. I think this is the year they are around 6-8 seed, just like us. Also like to add that I wouldn't put Memphis is the Thunder, Clippers, and Rockets category. They are alright but they are aging fast. Tony Allen will be turning 32 in January, ZBo turns 32 this month, and Prince is old as dirt. Gasol and Conley are in their respective primes however. I think they take a step back this year though as a team.
Pops doesn't really care about the regular season. He cares about keeping his guys healthy for the playoffs; he just wants to make it in regardless of the seed. The Spurs have shown they can win anywhere, so home court isn't as big a deal with that veteran core.
I will happily admit to being a Blazers Homer. That being said, we beat all 4 teams that made it to the conference finals. We did that with marginally third string players as our bench and basically no starting center. With those significant issues solved, there is reason to believe there will be substantial improvement to the team that was 33-36 pre-tank.
That isn't the issue. Health is the issue. If the Spurs stay healthy, they seem to always be in the mix..... but if Duncan isn't healthy, if Manu isn't healthy, or Parker, they are pretty much chum for the other playoff teams.
Agreed. My point is that Pops doesn't care about playoff seeding like other coaches. If he has to ration Manu's or TD's minutes during the regular season and lose some games, it doesn't bother him. He just wants them 100% for the playoffs.
At this point, I don't even know if rationing will make a huge difference. It's really a luck of the draw with guys as old as Duncan, Manu, and Parker.
Oh, gotcha. Your eye test says Iggy is better than Batum, despite the stats. Yet despite the fact that LaMarcus has twice the versatility of Lee, and is the much better defender, and is healthier and younger, the stats rule the eye test in this case? I don't think so. Lee plays a very specific role, and he does it very, very well. But he's not LaMarcus Aldridge. Lee is closer to the White Hickson.
Lee also had the advantage of not being the focus of every defense in the league. Obviously it lightened a bit as Lillard got more attention, but Aldridge is doubled constantly and carries most of the scoring load.
