How does Pop get more with less? When has he actually had less? For most of his career in SAS he had 3 guys who will be in the HoF, one guy who's amongst the "greatest ever" discussions. Now he has Two "All-star"-ish level guys and they're mostly a mediocre bottom of the playoffs type team. Nurk got hurt last year and they still managed to make it to the WCF's without him, the team that the Spurs had in the playoffs was basically in the same exact position against Denver that Stott's was, but CJ pulled out game 7, and LMA's head imploded. I get the complaints with Stotts, but acting like Pop's somehow take these high school teams to great NBA success is just not true. Stotts right now basically has one good player, a few guys who think they're good, and a young guy that will be good someday. Could they get more out of it? Probably some, but besides Dame the Blazers just aren't good as a roster right now.
The fact that I'm not even sure if that's true is the clearest indicator of how shitty our defense is.
That's true, but we've also played them when they've had multiple injuries and the ball still zips around and they usually beat us behind 30+ points from Patty.
https://www.landofbasketball.com/head_to_head_gl/trail_blazers_vs_spurs_game_log_season.htm Our record vs them the last few years is pretty mediocre (not bad) 7L's - 5W's.
Absolutely "Meltdown Thread" worthy. Because 10 games into the season always tells you what the team "Clearly" needs.
OK, I'll bite: what about the current roster are you expecting to dramatically change? Is Whiteside going to grow a new personality? Are Tolliver and Mario suddenly going to learn to play basketball? What is the mystery that is yet to be revealed? Nurk and Zach are hurt, Chief and Kanter are gone, and their replacements are woefully inadequate. It's not that hard to figure out.
Starting 4-7 and 11th in the West is hardly what any of us imagined. We also didn't forsee a spate of Blazer injuries to start the season. We have yet to see the whole team play. Jusuf was going to be out till spring anyway. Gasol was supposed to return earlier, but his foot has not complied. Collins dislocated his shoulder. Hood seems to get injured whenever he is playing. Skal got a scare. The Blazers are bare bones, they are relying on youth. Opponents are like sharks in the water. They smell blood. They know we are weakened from injuries and are forced to play inexperienced players and role players more minutes in our rotations. There is no easy answer here. Stotts is not going anywhere for those blaming him. There is no one better to replace him for one. For two no one could do much better with this team as it is. As for Trades, there aren't many that would fix our situation. Perhaps we could find a better fit than Bazemore or Whiteside. The same problem would persist. We would still be shorthanded. Too, many teams aren't going to be willing to make trades yet. Can the Blazers file for an injured player exception? How does that effect their cap situation? Maybe an IPE is the best answer at this point. All there is to really do is to ride it out at this point. See it as experience for our younger players. It's good development for guys like Simons and Labissiere. We've gotta hope the Blazers younger guys like little and GTjr can step up. Tolliver is frustrating, but he has never had to play such a big role. He is having a pretty bad start, but us better than he has played. Whiteside has been off and on. He needs to get angry more. Angry Whiteside is like the Hulk to calm Whitesides Bruce Banner, all chill and avoiding conflict. Dame has been playing his best basketball. He has also been playing more minutes than usual because of injuries. I feel bad for him that he often appears to have to do most of everything himself to get his team wins. CJ had a terrible start to the season shooting. MeJ seemed to return. His shot looks to be coming back though. Hopefully he will be continue to find his shot and get out of his slump. Dame could use the help. Simons has looked great. He still very young and he will only get better. It's exciting. Skal too. The Blazers lack of size due to injury is killing them inside. Teans are attacking the paint knowing there is no one there to stop them. Blazers are getting dominated game after game at tge basket. This might not change much until bigs return from injury. The Blazers can do a better job closing off the lane. The Blazers are also continuing to allow opponents to many three point attempts. Their perimeter defense continues to be lackadasical. They need to tighten it up if they are going to win games. It is a tough early season, but it is early still. I know there are concerns about getting in a hole with such a competitive west. I have those too. We have to be patient. Radical acceptance.
Well it's more than Nurk and Zach though that is a big bite. Hood being out has taken it's toll. Whiteside playing through injury has been tough to get over. Then Skal is just getting the first injury free games as well. Relying on Tolliver way too much. Skal being asked to play and Moses having to even be on the court should speak volumes. Who actually thought Mario was going to have to play starting minutes at PF when this season started? But sure lets assume this is all set in stone and the coach as well as the GM should have known.
about that strength of schedule and Portland's supposed brutal start: right now, bbref says Portland's SOS has only been the 22nd hardest. I believe that's just based upon win/loss records. PowerRankingGuru says it's the 18th most difficult and the remaining SOS is 12th. TeamRanking says it's the 8th most difficult but at this stage, their ranking is heavily influenced by pre-season rankings, and that skews their numbers a lot Portland has 4 wins and those came against teams with a 15-25 record (16-25 after last night) Portland has only played 4 teams with winning records
Funny though two games ago the Blazers SOS was way tougher. So in this case sample size does matter. Check again in like 6 games and they will be very close to the top again. By the way SOS also makes no rating allowance for B2B's and Road-Home-Road games or injury status. All of which the Blazers have been heavily impacted by.
