The 10 Reasons the Blazers are not good enough this year.

The Trailblazers just aren't good enough for these reasons:

1. Zach got hurt. He was the defensive anchor and there are some major holes without him.
2. Individual defense is AWFUL (nothing to be done there, except maybe effort at times). Team defense has been AWFUL (although I expect that to get a little better as time goes on).
3. They miss David Vanderpool.
4. The flow offense doesn't work with a group of bad passers. Dame is good in the pick and roll, and Mario seems ok at times, particularly in the open court but overall, this team is full of bad passers!
5. WAY too much 1 on 1 in the half court.
6. Terrible transition defense.
7. Spotty effort from everyone.
8. Dame time needs to stop! Is he trying to pad his 4th quarter stats for a MVP run? I hate all the individual awards discussions all season long. I get it, Dame is amazing, but find the open guy damnit. Team ball is the only way these guys have a shot this year.
9. The second unit needs a primary ball handler. Ant is a GREAT 2guard, but a point guard he is not... (yet) It looks like they're confused out there to who is going to initiate and run the offense.
10. Have I mentioned bad defense?

I don't expect this team to do anything this year, HOWEVER I do see good things happening next season. Nurk and Collins will be back, We'll either trade Whiteside by the deadline to pickup a serviceable 4, or have cap space to maybe get an impact player. Fully healthy and a few tweaks in personnel (maybe bring in a defensive minded assistant coach!) this team will be a contender next season in my mind.

 

Seems fair. I especially agree with #9 - what does Olshey have against decent backup PGs?
(Ntilikina would fix this, IMO.)

 

I'd say many of those things are true of the Blazers' play so far this season, but I don't think that they are necessarily things that won't be fixed as the season goes along. First, the Blazers have had to deal with a significant number of injuries to players in their starting rotation. That messes up any team, especially one with as many new faces as the Blazers are currently trying to incorporate into their rotation. Second, let's get real. Other than last night's horrible loss, the Blazers are a couple of plays from being 6-1 instead of 3-4. Third, getting Gasol and, eventually, Nurk into the lineup will have major impacts upon the quality of play.

 

Calm... lets see next cames, to early to call. But last night was terrible

 

#8 is not the problem with this team, it's the reason this team isn't going to be competing for the top picks in the lottery.

The rest of your list is good.

 

Were not 20 games in.

Hell, were not even 10 games in.

Then I'll evaluate.

 

At the end of the Philly game he literally found Simons in the corner, for a 3.

 

Dame's shooting 49.3% from the field and 40.3% from 3 while being the focus of other team's defenses. Dame Time is definitely not the problem.

 

CJ playing so damned much hero ball makes my head hurt. Pass it once, get it back, then go 1 on 1.

 

1. We can make due without him. Skal's looked great.
2. Only way to go is up.
3. TBD
4. Flow offense isnt that good, period.
5. A product of flow offense.
6. Only way to go is up.
7. Again, fixable. Only way to go is up. 2 and 6 are pretty much the same as 7.
8. Horrible take. He's getting over 7 assists per game and his scoring is the only thing keeping us afloat.
9. Stotts needs to stagger the guards.
10. The same as 2, 6, 7.

 

1. Injuries
2. We gave up good players for crappy players, but that won’t become fully evident until we recover from #1 and are still worse than before when should be much better, given the addition of Simons, development of Zach & Nurk, and general improvement of the rest.

 

It would really nice to have a guy like Tim Frazier out there playing PG for the 2nd unit. Ideally, someone bigger, but just having a real PG backing up Damian. I also would like to see more ball pressure out on the perimeter. I am warming to the idea of a Kenneth Faried who can just get dirty in the paint cleaning up the boards, and with the team's track record of reclamation projects, who knows he might flourish.

 

It appears that Simons may be the only guy he trusts in a crucial situation.

 

As Platy pointed out Hood got a corner 3 in the OKC game.

 

I'm leaning this way also. I realize it may be too early but Blazer brass should be thinking about it. Zach out, Nurk probably not full strength any time this year. Let Anf, Skal, Hezonja and Little play a lot. (and yes, the best way to let Anf play a lot is trade CJ; add a couple draft picks to him and maybe Chicago would trade Porter, they don't seem to really have a top shooting guard. ) Focus on teaching fundamentals for the rest of the year rather than game prep. Fundamentals of passing, defense and screen setting for starters. Try to develop a more varied offense that can involve more players. What would I estimate as the chance of any of this happening? Zero.

 

Was that a last minute shot?

 

30 seconds left on the clock.

I actually commented in that game that Hood was putting together a few clutch 3's for the Blazers with that one and the one from the Denver 4ot game.

 

Some upside? Either we learn to play defense without Collins and Nurkic (which would help the team be better defensively when they both get back), or we get a lottery pick.