Yes, I don't think we're so bad that we'll lose under 20 games....unless Damian gets injured. I think we'll win between 35-42.
Nice rah-rah piece from the company man. I guess we know which guys made the cut. I know Casey's a solid dude and all but he'd look a lot smarter if he got a better editor.
Our 2012-13 team won 33 games with a rookie Lillard, pre-Lamonster, Batum, Matthews and JJ Hickson at center, and an epic bad bench. Does our current roster look more formidable than that? Yeah, I think so. Maybe not by a lot, but better. I think this can be a .500 team in a brutal Western Conference is a conservative number. If Leonard or Vonleh emerge as something special this year, well, there's always potential for them to do more than that.
I would take the 2012/13 LMA, Batum, and Wes over any three players on this roster other than Dame. At that time, Batum was one of the most asked about players GMs wanted to trade for. It was rumored we could have made the trade for CP3, but PA would not include Batum in the trade. To be fair, compare this Blazers roster to last season TWolves. The TWolvers were a 40 win team before trading their all star PF KLove. The next season, they only won 16 games, and that was with Wiggins, a healthy #1 draft pick. The Blazers were a 51 win team last season. However, after losing 4 of their 5 starters, including their all star PF LMA, and several veteran bench players, predicting more than 20 Blazer wins this season is very optimistic. The only advantage this Blazers roster has over last seasons TWolves is all-star Dame. Other than Dame, a side by side comparison of the two rosters shows a talent level advantage to the TWolves. Both teams are stacked with “potential”. However, the TWolves are ahead of the Blazers developing their potential. So much undeveloped potential is the real problem for this Blazers roster. Eventually, some of their players will be able to make a positive impact. And eventually, some of them will develop chemistry playing with each other. Eventually, but not this season.
Couple things you missed out on. How many games we lose when we didn't have dame but had LA, Matthews and Batum? Wiggins was only a rookie and he was playing like shit until the midway point of the season. Dame now is way better than the wiggins of last year. Then you must account for all Minny's injuries to boot. Then add that their coach is stuck in the 90's and you got a recipe for disaster. We will easily win over 30 games.
Pay attention sir... I'm talking about the year before Dame came to Portland. But if you are feeling froggy , you can take up the $100 bet with me
I think we'll beat 30. But to get to 40, Lillard will have to return to his rookie clutch shooting, and I don't think he can. Success has made him mentally fat. Also, for these personnel, Stotts would have to change his system from offense to defense, and I don't think he can.
