That wasn't a rebuild. We never "rebuilt" in the termz that "rebuilding" teams do. That narrative is silly to me.
pure buzzkill.....I find it significant. not feelin' the doubt myself...I have never seen the media and the league show Lillard as much love as he's gotten this post season.
This is incorrect. They had the talent of a 49 win team, which they achieved last year. The growth and additions pushed them to 53 in an even tougher conference than last year. Just because you and several others thought they'd regress instead of continuing on the same path or improving doesn't mean you get to claim the talent wasn't there.
So now replacing four of five starters and going with the second year player isn't a rebuild and the narrative is silly? They essentially wiped the slate clean but that isn't a rebuild? Oh yeah... They kept Meyers. Retool then.
They have. When he hit the game winner against houston they havent stopped. Good or bad. BUT, they are sure not to give him too much. I mean, after all the nba does stand for nothing but agendas.
Exactly how is the conference tougher this year? Lebron was a non factor so you can't be talking about that? Davis destroyed his team? Dallas will be better but didn't make the playoffs? GS is by most accounts vulnerable? Houston did not get better? Portland got better and accomplished much but there is no way i say this year is tougher than last. Just my opinion.
Is GS vulnerable or is the rest of the west closing ground? I'm not convinced the regular season was nothing more than them being bored and feeling the effects of deep playoff runs 4 years in a row. Denver shot up from the 9th seed to the 2nd best team. Houston had a very similar team to last year they just got off to a poor start. Utah also struggled a bit at the beginning of the year but turned out about the same as last year. OKC was considered better than last year until the All-Star break. SA added DeRozan and Kawhi didn't really play last year so they were overall a little better. LAC was definitely better. Sacramento was remarkable better. LAL were one of the top seeds when LeBron went down. They still finished better than the year before. Minnesota was way worse and of course traded Butler back to the East but the rest of their roster still had similar talent. Dallas won 9 more games. Memphis won 11 more games. New Orleans had pretty much the same roster back too, there's no excuse for them being so bad. Phoenix sucked like always (even though there were a couple morons in here actually arguing that they would rather be them than us).
Rebuilding teams trade away good players for draft picks and strip down their core for young pieces and picks. Theyre also non-playoff teams. We didnt do and werent any of those things. We definitely retooled.
It's interesting to me that by your own quote "Denver shot up!" but Houston went from 65 wins to 53 and they didn't shoot way down???? Golden State has Been talked about endlessly. Even you cannot deny that though you apparently have? "Chinks in the Armor" "No bench" Please don't turn a blind eye to reality. Utah won two less games while not dealing with an injury to Gobert. Last year a Donovan Mitchell was a ROY candidate. This year he was scouted. The Jazz were no better this year. Their own fan base says worse off. OKC was considered better by who? Are these the same people who are considering the Warriors as "Vulnerable". You cannot give credit to a narrative that fits your point but not give it to the other point? Again a blind eye to reality? The Spurs won one less game than last year. Are you really going to tell me that losing Tony Parker and Manu Ginobilli did not disrupt that team? Derozan played well but there is no way he makes up for Parker and Ginobilli. Sorry. Minny went Down the Clippers went up. This is a wash. LAL were never a "Top Seed" Get your head on straight. With Lebron they still would have not got HCA. With prefect health they would have been good but never a "TOP SEED" . But exactly what team has had "Perfect Health" this year? You mean to tell me you actually brought up Dallas and Memphis? The two teams COMBINED for 46 wins last year???? Where in the actual fuck were they gonna go? Seriously Hoop. Stick to contracts. You got that shit down.
There are many ways of rebuilding. Replacing 4 starters in one season is one of those ways. The team also had 10 new faces on the roster that year which included 4 new starters.
. In addition with the Spurs, they lost Leonard, but he really didn't play last year and gained a healthy Derozan and yet only won one more game.
Dude??? Aldridge left so they didn't have a chance to trade him. But it seems you Forgot about Batum, Lopez, Mathews. How many "GOOD PLAYERS" does a team have to trade? I also was not aware that the only thing you could trade for was "DRAFT PICKS"? You don't call Tim Frazier, Allen Crabbe, Pat Con, Cliff Alexander, Meyers Leonard, Louis Montero, Noah Vonleh, Brian Roberts, Mason Plumlee, Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in 2015 "YOUNG PIECES" The only players with more than 4 years experience were Harkless with 4 years, Aminu with 5 years, Kaman had about 30 or 40 i guess? Ed davis was in his 5th. To this i say you gotta be kidding me? Terry Stotts pulls off what might be one of the greatest coaching seasons in recent history and Lillard wills them into the playoffs. And you use that as a notion that this team was not completely different from the year before? When you only have 5 players from the previous season and 2 of those are end of bench players you are rebuilding no matter what Olshey wants to call it.
First of all, when talking about the conference as a whole being tougher you can't just ignore that bad teams were better than the year before which makes it so there are less easy games. This is basic stuff man. Second of all, my point was that teams like Houston and New Orleans having worse records wasn't necessarily because they were a less talented team than the year before. Those teams shouldn't have dropped off the way they did. Third of all, regarding the Lakers, they were just 2.5 games out of 1st place after beating the Warriors on Christmas and had moved into one of the top 4 seeds in the West (which is what I was shying, not "top seed"). In that game LeBron got hurt. So it is a fact that they were actually a good team until that happened. Fourth of all, after all your posts about "this is not the time for this thread/post/comment" you're really choosing this moment to be a "redacted" about this? Go Blazers. "Redacted" with your stupid posts until after the season.
