We aren't that far away

Look at the other backup point guards in the league and tell me who's better.

 

Jennings, Joseph, Mills, Jack, Livingston, Smart, Rivers, Barrea, Dellavadova, Sessions, Collison, Williams, etc.

Not saying he sucks at all. Just that we need an upgrade there. Our starter scores. Maybe someone with a change of pace who plays defense?

 

We do tend to get a lot of "Dame Jr." backup point guards. Problem is, if you ain't "Dame Prime" on offense, you're not good enough to be playing NBA ball, but if you ARE "Dame Prime" on offense, you're too good to be a backup.

 

This is something the Blazers need to figure the fuck out. If they want to get out of this fucking purgatory they are stuck in, they need to pick a direction. If they think they are a couple players away, then trade all those picks. If not, keep those picks and trade some of the current rotation guys.

 

I think the Blazers are at the point of being able to contend for 50 win seasons as they are now. I think they're very far away from the Warriors. The Warriors looked pretty disinterested and in cruise control most of the game, only turning it on in the fourth quarter. In the end, the Blazers lost by 12 and the spread was 14.5, or so. So a historic night from McCollum and Lillard only kept the final score a bit under expectations.

It reminds me of the Webber/Howard Washington Wizards playing the Jordan/Pippen Bulls tough in a first round series (one game required a buzzer beater from Pippen to win) and Jordan remarked after the series was over that Washington was going to be one of the teams of the future. Playing a juggernaut tough is impressive, but doesn't necessarily mean you're on the verge of becoming a juggernaut yourself. I think Lillard/McCollum/Nurkic is a nice core, but they need to add a lot of talent to that. I'd be more optimistic about the situation if they weren't already capped out to the luxury tax line.

 

Welp. I don't have anything to add now. Thanks (I guess?)

 

Beat you to the Washington/Chicago reference!

 

Nah, just the "everything else" part.

 

I guess the big question is, which window will we try to climb through when it opens? Dame is 26, but Nurk is 22. That means, in theory, if we want to maximize our chances, we should operate as if our window opens all the way in 2018-2019 (when Dame is 28), and closes all the way in 2026-2027 (when Nurk is 32). That's a HUGE window.

Luckily, I think all of our needs (provided Nurkic is healthy and playing) are in shoring up our bench. So maybe you keep your picks this year, knowing you have two years to try and develop talent, but then start trading for vets during the 2018-19 offseason to tool up for the big run.

 

I don't follow NCAA, but it can't be that hard to find players who - even as rookies - would out-play these two jokers. I think, regardless of whether we draft or trade the picks, it's a given that our bench will be better next season. And that's all we need - a better bench. It would be nice to have a better PF, but we've already seen Noah play better as long as he has Nurkic to siphon confidence from.

 

I don't want 40 year old vets.....to me Tyson Chandler is way too old...Javale McGee I believe is a free agent and he'd be a great backup to Nurk. Shot blocking defender

 

I'd prefer to have a player who can win two out of three Tic-Tac-Toe games.

 

Close or not, here's what I'd like:
1) 3 & D SF
2) 3 & D PF (preferably one that can rebound and finish at the rim)
3) Sparkplug off the bench.

We don't need 5, or even 4 great offensive juggernauts. Add acouple of guys who play D and can hit the 3, and we become championship contenders imho. An interesting team example is the Raptors: 3 stars + Demarre Carroll + Serge Ibaka. If we had Carroll and Ibaka, we'd be absolutely set in terms of starting lineup.

Some of the offseason questions include: "to what extent are the guys we have 3 & D?"
Crabbe: Has 3. D is marginal. Makes too much $$$.
Vonleh: Currently scared to shoot, D is ok. rebounding is ok, finishing at rim is mediocre. Can he improve?
Aminu: Has D. If he had the 3, he'd be perfect - he doesn't.
ET: good enough D? Not quite good enough 3.
Harkless: not sure how to evaluate. If his 3 was a little better....

 

Oh C'mon...You don't think Meyers is an all world player?

 

Not saying that. Just not THIS world

 

New York, as bad as Noah's contract is 3 picks in the 15-25 range, Crabbe, an expiring contract, and a developing PF aren't enough to land Porzingod. He's just too young and has way too high of a ceiling to let go without an all star coming back.

 

I would trade CJ for Porzingis.

Dame
Crabbe
Harkless
Porzingis
Nurk

All young.

All versatile.

 

Olshey gets a lot of shit for moves he didn't even end up making...well, from everything I know, he was trying to trade Batum to get high enough into the lottery to take Porzingis.