What would it take to get us to WCF's on a semi-annual basis?

A huge media market.

Better weather.

Beach-babe-lovin entitled superstar free agents.

The help from the referees that comes with the above.

 

For the most part this seems true except when you talk about my example of the Spurs. They at most fit 1 of the profiles you stated.

 

Acquire, not trade away, all stars.

 

A better front office.

 

I'm surprised that you're the only poster to have mentioned Lillard to this point. I'm sure fans in Cleveland are optimistic about their future with Kyrie, and they have less pieces around him than the Blazers do. Lacking a bench should be an easy problem to fix with cap room and a lottery pick. Having a young core should be a problem that time will fix. At least you have a superstar talent in the wings. Looking forward to the future, I'd rather be a fan of the Blazers than most teams.

 

Two words....

Greg oden!

 

Andrew Bynum

 

It takes a bundle of money, the willingness to spend the bundle of money, and a good GM with total authority to outvote the owner.

We've got only 1 out of 3.

 

The biggest thing that will make us a WCF team is simply one word. Defense. We have to become a better defensive team, that just doesn't mean getting a good defensive center it also means having Wes/Batum improve on their perimeter D or getting other players that will play good Perimeter D. The Pacers have a great scheme were they make you take contested shots near the basket and defend the 3 ball very well but they let you take LA's favorite shot all day long because its a very inefficient shot. I think with a scorer or two off the bench we will have enough scoring but our defense is nowhere near were it needs to be.

We aren't going to fix our lack of D with Stotts as a head coach, his stints in Atlanta/Milwuakie showed that he is an offensive coach and not a defensive coach. With that in mind i'd like to get a defensive specialist in as an assistant that will then later take the reigns from Stotts and then try and force our team to defend and spend 48m hustling there asses off on both sides of the court.

 

1) health, especially for lillard, Aldridge and Batum.
2) a defensive center thAt will work well with LMA, someone like Chandler.
3) a microwave off the bench.
4) solid but possible progress from Meyers and Barton so they become very trustworthy off the bench.
5) a solid backup PG that can spell Lillard for 10 minutes every night competently


I don't think that is too much, everything is very plausible. Basically, things just need to come together with a bit of luck and health.

 

Great questions, repped.
First off, I am happy with Maynor, so if we can keep him that's great for #5. To me, the hardest task will be #2, getting a good C, so I really would throw every possible trick we had at solving this first and that means I would be open to draft or free agency, but honestly I think it's real hard to draft a C and expect high output within the first couple of seasons, so I would lean towards trade or better yet, free agency. I don't have the answer since most of the centers that are available have huge issues, either health, ability or both. Delambert would not fit the bill if we are looking to have our C be the main C of the future, but if we look towards Dieng or some other C in the draft, then Delambert can be a decent place filler till either Meyers or ???drafted center??? Pans out.

I almost wrote Nate Rob, I think he could be a perfect microwave. But, for him to work, the center position needs to be taken care of because the C will need to compensate on D for Nates inabilities. I'm not a big fan of CJ, but honestly I am not a big follower of NCAA ball, so my opinion here is sketchy.

Overall, I like your thoughts, but I don't think Delambert is a big enough upgrade.

 

Dalembert would be a good find if we got a great wing with most out cap space.