The biggest disappointment so far has been Meyers Leonard's haircut. If we can correct that I think we're good to go.
Dame will shoot above 40% from 3 on high volume this season. By midseason, we will have a top 3 bench in the league. We are winning at least 50 games if healthy. We will have at least 2 players ask to be traded by the deadline (one wing, one big).
We will break Golden State's spirit and though they wont be knocked out of the playoffs by us, it will be because of us stealing their moxy away when we crush them in the regular season.
I hope Golden State's record for regular season wins never gets broken. It's a beautiful thing seeing that in the record books with the asterisks next to it, *choked in playoffs, did not win championship.
Coach Stotts is a genius, and I am very excited for what is to come this season, because win or lose right now, he is trying all sorts of wacky lineups and plays that will help us down the road. Example: In game 1, Dame and CJ ran a no look backdoor/bootleg type play two times. Dame tossed the ball over all of the defenders, and CJ comes roaring around everyone just in time to have it plop right into his hands. It worked perfectly, and they haven't run the play again since. Someone is gonna get BURNED on that play, and I hope it's at a critical point in the playoffs.
Okay, I get that this is a snap judgment thread, but the comments on Meyers seem way over the top considering he's played exactly two games of basketball in seven months. My snap judgment: The Blazers look very good/deep in the backcourt, but still lack low post scoring and defensive presence.
Vonleh has looked the best as far as low post scoring, which is why I think he needs to start instead of Aminu.
Preseason is just training camp dress rehearsal so you're only as good as your last two mistakes this time of year
I haven't been able to watch much of pre-season so I don't know the answer to this question: How many of Vonleh's minutes so far have come against starting players vs. bench guys? He really struggled last year against established players.
Stotts is toying with roster combinations so he can make the right cuts at the deadline...these games are not meaningful beyond being a chance to experiment and teach after the fact....we're going to be a very competitive team this season even if a 3-1 preseason record with the loss being a 1pt loss spells doom for so many fans
We still have three more preseason games before the season starts 10/25. I'm hoping that Stotts can set his rotation and start giving our guys some stability in the last two games.
The Blazers don't yet have an answer for interior defense. AFA, Plumlee, and Davis are too small to defend big physical 4's and 5's, and Meyers is content with just watching. Looking forward to adding Ezeli into the mix
CJ is our best option at creating his own shot. I actually trust the ball in CJ's hands more so than Dame's on isolation and broken plays.
Stock up: Dame, CJ, Plumlee, Harkless, Vonleh, Napier, Layman No change: Ed, Aminu, Stock down (for now): Turner, Crabbe, Leonard, Pat, Montero
