Last year when the team was humming early on both CJ & Nurks play offset many of the weakness,s. Stotts always screws around with various combinations till at least first 30 games. I think CJ’s sluggish play has had a huge impact.
We’re not off to a slow start. We suck. We let very good to good to average players go. We got back below averfage to way way below average players. That’s how you turn a 53 win team into a 40 win team. Then injure Nurk and you’re a 34 win team. Collins and you’re a 32 win team. Here we are. Set back 4 years from where we were. Olshey.
not a surprising development considering he was a 39 year old big man who had recently had surgery for a broken foot
clearly the answer was “we didn’t have Melo” and now that we do have Melo we’re going to start winning.
Stotts. Sure, to an extent you can blame injuries. BUT.....it's the same ol' boring, predictable play calling as ever. He refuses to call timeouts, he looks routinely terrified with zero confidence and doesn't express himself, he is incapable of instilling discipline on the sidelines, and he has no answers for Dame getting double-teamed. As usual. This time, we're actually SLOWER with this outdated ISO crap because of all the new faces and injuries, but his play calling isn't helping the situation. We will never win a championship with him at the helm. And that's the problem here. He is a good coach for coaching a young team that is rebuilding, or coaching in the G-league. He is NOT the type of coach that a team of veterans NEEDS to take the next step and win a chip.
Olshey. We really should have traded CJ a few years ago for someone who fits better with Dame. He tried picking through the NBA scrap heap and came up with Tolliver and Hezonja.
It must be surprising to the Blazers since they and Pau indicated he would be ready by the start of the season.
I'd put some practical reasons up higher then any of your listed reasons for the Blazers inability to lure FAs of note. #1 Smaller market = far less endorsement dollars & no star treatment from officials. #2 Most traveling miles of any team in the league. #3 cold & wet STOMP
Remind me of some of the great FAs either of those teams have landed as I can't think of any. Drafting, trading for & resigning, sure. STOMP
I'm not totally sure the OKC one is all that fair they've only been around a decade and had some really highly paid players that have kept them from having a ton of salary cap space. Besides that the Jazz signed Boozer, and maybe Joe Johnson but I'm not sure if that was a signing or a trade, off the top of my head? So not a great track record either.
Aminu isn't good though... This is his averages through 11 games with Orlando. 4.1 ppg, 4.6trb, 0.9 assists, 30.4% fg%, 30.0% 3point fg%, 37% efg. This has been his first year being an elite defender though his DPBM is 3.2. People talked like he was a great defender, was never above a 2 in his years in portland.