Are we the WORST team in the Northwest Division?

Have you seen the rosters they've "built" around Anthony Davis. There has been zero continuity year to year. They are constantly looking for band-aid, quick fix answers and always seem to end up with a horribly imbalanced roster full of glaring holes. It's like they've been in panic mode about losing Davis ever since they drafted him (probably gun shy after losing Chris Paul, they only other superstar they'eve had since moving to NOLA). Rather than surrounding him with other young talent that can grow together, they installed a revolving door on the locker room for guys like Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Robin Lopez, etc, passing through on their way to someplace else.

By panicking, they are doing exactly what they feared the most - pissing away Anthony Davis' career. They need to do a compete reset, tell Davis to be patient (they have him locked up for 5 years) and go with a youth movement. It's not like he's old and it's not like they are winning with their current approach.

Picking up Archie Goodwin was a good step, but signing and hanging onto career retreads in their late 20s, like Lance Stevenson, E'Twuan Moore, Quincy Pondexter and Dante Cunningham aren't doing them any good. As soon as they can, they should try to move Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans for younger players and future draft picks. Those guys don't totally suck, which means they have some value. By the time Davis enters his prime, those guys will be well into their 30s. Move them now, while you can get something of value in return.

BNM

 

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn Rasta!

 

Are we NOT winning a championship this season!?

Title of my next thread.

 

And the one after that:

Season OVER!!!

BNM

 

Denver fans are really hard on Mudaiy. They're not thrilled with him. Reminds me of how we were with CJ a few years ago.

 

He's boring that's why

 

You're boring, but we're not hard on you. Oh wait.
Jokes, jokes!

 

You're right. He's not inconsistent enough to generate excitement. He's just famine.

BNM

 

#30 in Team Rebounding Difference, a deep canyon away from #29.

 

We're the best team in the NW Division. Best record and we have a 3-0 record vs NW division teams.

 

Wow, that was fast. It does seem a little premature, especially as a lot of PGs are slow starters (not Lillard, obviously, but certainly Deron Williams, and notoriously Chauncey Billups) and Thibs is not known to be fond of rookies. But one thing sets Dunn apart and that is his reputation as an excellent defender.

Again, have to disagree with you. LaVine strikes me as all flash-no substance. But that said, he's certainly put up very good numbers so far and is actually shooting way better from 3 than I would've guessed (46.7%). So okay, they have KAT, Wiggins, LaVine, Dunn (who, at the very least still has pretty great trade value on potential alone right now) as well as Dieng, whom I would trade any of our big men for. And my fondness for Rubio (still top 3 most talented passer in the NBA and an excellent defender who is currently shooting 40% from 3) and the newly impressive Bjelica is well-known.

Not a huge task. Thibs has made useful players out of such scrapheap guards as Aaron Brooks and DJ Augustin. And they have a very similar guy sitting on their bench in Tyus Jones. I would KILL to have Tyus Jones on our bench:



So. They need a PG who can shoot? But they HAVE a possible future MVP at power forward and better players at C and SF than we have and Zach Lavine and Shabazz Muhammad at SG? Ooh, they're hurting.

I'm going to assume the "no" is to the comparison between Gobert and Mutombo rather than the comparison between Mutombo and Lillard

So you're saying that blocked shots are the only measure here? That's not exactly an "advanced stat". By that stat Mark Eaton is a fucking hall-of-famer. Care to compare some more advanced defensive stats?

Good for Dame. And if every player was able to do that with Gobert he wouldn't be as valuable as he is. Michael Jordan dunked on Mutombo and wagged his finger in his face - so much for Mutombo!

It would only be wishful thinking if we had Gobert. I don't wish for the Jazz to have a good player.

Oh so NOW advanced stats matter. But how are his blocks?

Yes, Mudiay is a bit of a reach. However, he is a big solid PG who defends well and can bully a lot of guards. He may turn out only to be a journeyman PG, for sure, but he never played college ball so has a lot of growing to do. I will certainly concede that Denver is the worst of the rest of the NW, and we may be better than them. But we fucking well better be given the gulf in salaries.

 

Yes, absolutely. My point is simply this: having a star, even a player like Anthony Davis who as been touted as a "lock" for league MVP for a couple of years now, is not sufficient to have a winning team. You have to do a good job building round him.
Davis is far better than Lillard in everything except possibly durability (which is a pretty major factor, admittedly). MOST (non-Blazer-fans) would probably put Dame as a top 5 PG, which is pretty damn good but not "superstar". So we're starting behind New Orleans in "foundation stones".

Last year everyone was willing to crown Olshey Lord God Almighty because we overachieved. Well, that is less so this year with a team that was supposed to be better and certainly costs a shitload more. Suddenly it looks a lot more like a slightly better New Orleans than a slightly worse Golden State. I would probably agree that our second best player is better than their second best player, but he remains an undersized and underathletic SG who can't defend and is forced to play out of position at PG a fair bunch. God bless 'im.

 

Id also like to add that we are 3-0 in our division....

 

The one thing that pisses me off is rebound differential. We've been such a good rebounding team in previous years that it's frustrating to see us bottom in the league right now.

 

You would think its ALL about lack of effort, but I don't think that's the case. It looks like they are trying for the most part. We just don't look as fast or fleet of foot, or as quick to make decisions. We look so confused at times compared to last year where everyone just keyed in on the ball it seems.

 

There's been so many times where they just didn't jump, even when being in good rebounding positioning.

 

Did you just say that you "probably agree" that CJ is better than E'twawn Moore?

Smh.

 

I don't think Rasta is actually a Blazer fan. He loved the team when we had Rudy and Sergio and Nic, but now that those players are all gone, he has no reason to actually like the team anymore. Maybe if we pick up a few international players, he'll start to leave the Blazers again.

 

1. At least spell his name right.
2. I was thinking of Jrue Holiday, I guess. (Yeah, he hasn't played yet, I know.)

 

Still to small a sample size but Stotts teams usually get better as the season goes on.....I don't think we're the worst team in our division...we're ahead of the curve...after the trade deadline, we might be really improved