Interesting Ringer article on Blazers and Powell

The Blazers Believe Their Best Defense Is More Offense


A small Excerpt:
Tell us, Sensei Stotts:



Since trading Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood for Powell, the Blazers are 3-0, scoring a blistering 120.1 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions with him on the court heading into a tasty matchup against Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks on Friday night. And while they haven’t exactly poured in buckets against the most daunting slate of opponents—they’ve beaten the hollowed-out, post-deadline Magic; the free-falling Raptors without Kyle Lowry; and the cellar-dwelling Pistons—what they have accomplished both underscores the rationale behind importing Powell and offers optimism about how much more dangerous his arrival could make the Blazers, currently sitting sixth in the West, come the postseason.

 

HEY! Those "hollowed out" Magic are playing better than the pre-trade Magic! Also the Pistons just won by 30 against a team with a backcourt that most people would probably say is the equal of ours.

 

I'm getting crazy de ja vu vibes with Powell and the Arron Afflalo trade season. Afflalo was supposed to be the missing thing to push us over the top into the playoffs. Obviously Wes getting hurt ruined any of those chances. Hope this season ends differently. Fingers crossed.

 

I don't get those vibes at all, but I understand it.

From the Princess Bride:
"Being a Blazer Fan is pain, highness. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something."

 

That second sentence in the quote is about Neil Olshey.

 

Powell isn't close to the missing piece... we need another legit all-star, over 6'6".

 

for what? Scoring isn’t the issue. If we had another Roco, or another Nurkic type, I think we’d be a legitimate contender. (And maybe another coach but there are other threads for that)

If Nas keeps developing, he could solve one of those. As for another Nurk type (I mainly mean plus defender) I wish Collins would get healthy.

 

It sounds like you think we could be the first team in my lifetime to win a title with one all-star who is not above 6'6"?

I've given a much more lengthy explination to why I think having multiple all-stars, including one who is over 6'6" has made up a large majority of NBA champs and why zero have won with an all-star under 6'6". In general, it's much harder for opponents to neutralize someone who has greater length in a playoff series than someone who is smaller. Being able to see over the top of doubles changes the timing of everything.

I'm not saying it's impossible for the Blazer to win a title with Dame and no other all-stars, but we would be the first to do something like that in a long long time. I prefer attempting to take the path that has been proven to be successful than try to be the first to defy the odds.

Give me a team with 3 all-stars (or a generational talent + 1 all-star) and a marginal coach over a team with 1 short all-star and a good coach any day of the week.

 

If we take the already trodden road we wouldn’t be............Trailblazers!

 

this is a new era, where shooting guards are starting at small forward and power forwards are starting at center. Would Bam Adebayo be an elite starting center in 1994? History is just that, history.

 

Ok. Let's make a wager. I get the teams who have at least one all-star who is over 6'6" and you get all the other teams. I bet my teams are a lock to win 3 of the next 5 and more likely than not to win all 5. What do you think?

Championship teams have two-way players with length

And yes, Bam would've been a very good player in 1994... maybe at PF, but he'd very good.

 

That's not actually how it works. If we win a title, the talking heads will make another one of our players an allstar.

It's really kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy thing.

 

Yes I agree. When I said missing piece I meant to make some noise in the playoffs. I didn't necessarily mean to win a ring.

 

You’re making it seem like Portland doesn’t have any good players over 6’6. Is Nurk not a good player? Does he not impact both ends of the court? Does Roco not impact both ends of the court?

If we swapped out CJ for Brandon Ingram, we wouldn’t be any closer to a championship imo. So as I said, we don’t need an all star, we need more guys like RoCo and Nurk. Plus defenders that can either shoot, score inside, or make plays for others. Essentially, super role players.

 

The all-stars are selected in January and they don't know who will win the title until June, right?

 

I didn't say we don't have good players over 6'6", I said we don't have an all-star over 6'6". There are A TON of good players in the league, and we have or share. 3 All-NBA players and 9 below average players > 1 All-NBA players and 11 good players in my opinion.

Just because I say someone isn't an all-star, it doesn't mean I think they're garbage. RoCo on a team like the 2017 GSW in the Iggy role would be fantastic. The difference between Nurk & Roco and all-stars is still significant.

 

name five centers today with the all around game of Nurkic.

 

In my opinion, here are 5 better centers that Nurk isn't close to:

Jokic
Embiid
Gobert
Towns
Bam

Most important ability is availability.

 

you didnt answer my question. And talking about availability after listing some of those names is *chefs kiss*

 

What's your question and what's your point?

I named you 5 better centers. Define all-around if better isn't good enough.

Why isn't Nurk a 5 time all-star if he's such a good all-around player?