Exclusive 2022-23 Portland Trail Blazers Roster

IDK?
Dame, Hart, Nas, Grant. Nurk with Ant coming off the bench sounds good to me?

 

Once you let money decide playing time you are through competing.
Doesn’t matter what they make or if they start?
What matters is who plays what minutes and who wins games.

 

Probably.
All I’m saying is it would be good for the team with him off the bench covering 30+mins a game and being called upon during crunch time.

 

I feel they would be a better team with both units. I feel Dame and Ant together will not create the offense that Dame Hart and Grant will.
I know it will not be the defense we are looking for.
I feel Simons will get better touches on the second unit against those players.
I feel end game is all about matchups.

 

Nas and Hart are both plus rebounders who can defend. That alone makes them better fits at the three than Powell, who couldn't move laterally and was a shit rebounder. Their size isnt really an issue either. Hart's official height is over 6'5." He's also strong to the point he was playing the four at times for New Orleans. Little has great length and strength. I keep mentioning this, but it doesn't seem to be registering; Billups views the SF and the SG position as the same in his system.

Also this idea that the Blazers need to add another wing depends entirely on how you view Sharpe. If you think he's good enough and should play as a rookie, you cannot also be asking for them to acquire another wing, because guess whose minutes that would effect the most?

At lead guard they have Dame and Ant who will almost assuredly run the second unit as well as starting at the two. Williams is a nice developmental point guard to have as a third stringer.

Payton and Keon can both play in the backcourt and on the wing. I think Keon is being slept on. Guys that can handle the ball and guard multiple positions are valuable. His shot also looked improved, specifically his three. And he doesn't turn 21 until next year.

At the four they have Jerami, Winslow, Watford, Brown, and Walker. Sounds like a deep unit to me, and I'm not even counting on Brown and Walker to contribute.

At center they have Nurk, Eubanks, and Watford when teams go small. Health is a concern, but its a concern with pretty much every big man in the league. You can probably count on one hand the starting centers that dont miss games.

I hope they sign Walker to a two way, which would leave a spot open which they could use on another center or something.

 

They wouldnt be paying Simons 25M a year if they didn't think he was one of their best players. He's going to start. You dont have to like it.

 

My doubts are about Dame/Simons being able to be on the court at the end of games together. Defensively, I'm skeptical that we're going to be able to play both of them and not get torched. It's going to be hard to keep much better defenders like Hart or GP2 off the court while Dame/Ant are getting torched by opposing guards.

This could obviously change if Simons takes a leap defensively.

 

This is literally what they did with CJ for years lol

 

Didn’t say anything about liking or not liking.
I just feel they would be better served is all.
I simply know the Blazers are entertainment. I don’t get all wound up about this stuff or how much they make.

 

Maybe? Guess they could work on it that way.

 

Ant is only 23 years old and just got a new contract for 100 million. Whether he starts or comes off the bench he is going to play the same minutes. I doubt he cares right now.

 

Actually the second unit is an interesting topic, probably more so than the starting one which seems pretty set

Ant
Payton
Hart or Nas depending on which one starts
Winslow or Watford
Eubanks or Watford

Seems very good defensively, but really only one scorer. This is where Sharpe can enter the convo. But Im a big Watford guy, would be interesting to see the offense run through him and Ant here. Or maybe this is where Grant gets featured?

 

Yes and no. In 2019-2020 CJ and Dame played 30 minutes per game on average, they each played on average 36-37 minutes, A better way to do it, would have been to have them play 24 minutes together and 12 minutes without each other - this way one of them is always on the floor and there is less time with defensive issues.

 

or if both Hart and Nas start (Dame, Hart, Nas, Grant, Nurk) then the 2nd unit would be Ant, Gp2, Winslow, Watford, Eubanks which still lacks scoring. So maybe you are right, bring in Winslow early to replace Grant and bring Grant back to start the 2nd.

Hopefully, at some point, we will see a 2nd unit of Ant, Gp2, SS, Watford/Winslow and Eubanks. SS can be that 2nd scorer, but it may take a few months.

 

If you look at all the players the Lakers drafted over that half decade its a ton of talent. Would possibly be a top team in the league; Randle, Clarkson, Nance, Ball, Russell, Caruso, Zubac, Ingram, Kuzma.... I think theres a couple more.

If Blazers could add those types of players in the draft to the Simons/Sharpe backcourt; even with a veteran Dame hanging around doing nothing for a few years the Blazers would leave that phase certainly not in purgatory.

 

All is well and the team is making changes to contend much better than the DameCJ era.

Last February the Blazers were looking at having two guards who duplicated the strengths and weaknesses of each other and were earning a combined $70.2 million.

Rest assured we are much better; as now in two years the Blazers will have two guards duplicating the strengths and weaknesses of each other earning $74.7 million.

Step 1 Problem solved! - Done
Step 2 ?
Step 3 Contend!

 

I don't disagree that may be his best fit. Hard to have a great defensive duo with Dame, and the skills he brings are somewhat duplicated in the starting lineup with Dame.

Its good we gave him a $100 million contract, so we have plenty of salary available for the other 4 starters.