You mean the team that only missed the playoffs by one game, despite being better than us in the second half of the season even thought they were without last season's MVP? Oh, I'm not worried about them. I'm talking about the GOOD teams in the West.
If The Blazers where healthy and had Wes I still think the Blazers would have lost the series to Memphis.
I didn't say they aren't good. In fact, I said the exact opposite. I'm saying that tearing down a very good team, like the Blazers, because there are other very good teams that may even be "better" at the start of the season is dumb because it's about 50-50 as to whether that team will be healthy come playoff time. If the Blazers can bring back the same core next season, they'd still have cap space in 2016 to sign another good FA. Seems to me like that's a better course of action than blowing things up and playing lottery roulette. Of course, LA and other players may make choices that force another direction, but I'd rather shoot for continuing to build from a very good team than from a lottery one.
RC Buford is not Morey. If he moves Splitter in a deal to free up cap space. He has a strong feeling about something, IMO.
Should have made a play for Conley a few years ago when I suggested it ;-) now we are in a difficult situation with a good roster that is not quite good enough to be a legit contender or blow things up and make significant changes.
I can't quite follow you here. Is the "that" team the Blazers or some other good team? If it's the Blazers, your statement doesn't really make sense. If it's some other team, well, that would be fine if we were top 3 in the West, but the Warriors, OKC, Memphis (clearly), Houston, the Clippers at least are better than us. Even more worryingly, teams like the Hornets and (gulp) Utah, who are younger and will obviously get better, were better than us in the second half. Are we banking on a massive slew of injuries? Hell, why not rebuild and hope for that too? If enough injuries happen to other teams, we could be shitty and still win the championship! I'm not advocating busting us up. I don't know that I could take it. But if I'm honest, I don't see us winning a championship, or even reaching the West finals in our current iteration. Now, if we could get Gasol, I'd change my tune in a hurry...
Nobody else will give you credit for sticking with this unpopular but defensible position, but I will. Conley is getting a lot of credit nationally for the Grizzlies' success, and finally getting his due as one of the more underrated players in the league. It's not beyond reason to think that we might have been more successful this postseason if Dame and Conley had switched places. Long term, I still expect Dame to be better, but it's not a slam dunk.
Pritchard tried for several years to get Conley from Memphis, under the rubric, "He'll help us keep Oden." I think the real reason was that he knew he'd become this good.
What are your ransom demands??!! Don't kill Barfo till we talk about it!! We may want to pay or we may not.
I think that you're letting the injured Blazers of the second half of the season blind you to just how good the team was when healthy. A healthy Blazers squad with the current roster is better than Houston by far and at least on the same level as Memphis and the Clippers. The Warriors and a healthy OKC are better, but. healthy, the Blazers are a very good team capable of getting hot and contending for a title. That's not just a homer me talking, that's what a lot of writers and commentators around the league were saying too. I agree with you that the addition of Gasol or one other equivalent top-tier player would help the Blazers go from dark-horse to top contender status. My main point is that we're a lot more likely to entice that type of player to come here, or to acquire him in trade, if the Blazers remain a very good team rather than breaking things up and starting over.
Well thank you, the only issue I ever had with the deal was including Matthews. His toughness and leadership made this team better, while that would have likely been offset by the addition of Conley and Allen who both possess the kind of leadership and grit it takes to succeed in the playoffs losing Matthews would have hurt. I hope Matthews comes back fully healthy next season even if it is not in Portland the dude is a class act. I also really hope twittter shames Lillard into really playing some defense. You saw some improvements early in the season but the sustained effort was not there and it needs to be there all year especially in the playoffs.
I say this cmeese..you were right about how good Conley was but I still wouldn't trade Lillard for him. Conley is thriving in the Memphis system. My question is where are you when we win a triple overtime game in San Antonio or Lillard gets 15 assists or 18 rebounds..you have been absent for successes in Portland but show up after failures.
I'm still rooting for the Grizz to win it all now that we're out of the picture! I really like that team and coach.
