Injury Excuse Propaganda

You think the Clippers roster minus Harrell and Harkless is equal to the Blazers current roster in terms of talent?!?

Edit: How much a player makes doesn't change their skill set. If you think Dame and CJ are overpaid, that's an Olshey issue. Also, they make a combined $57m not $80m if you are worried about being accurate. Detroit should be way better than us because they have two guys making $62m, is that how this game works?

 

So you're counting the players the Warriors traded or didn't sign this off-season on top of injuries as players lost?

So that means the Blazers lost: Nurk, Hood, Collins, Curry, Kanter, Meyers, Turner, Harkless, Aminu, Layman, Skal. That's using your logic.

How many available players does GS have in their prime or younger that have been all-stars? 2. How many does Portland have? 1.

 

So this is the no injury excuse thread, but it's acceptable to make excuses for why Golden State's two all-stars aren't getting it done?

To me it's obviously why Golden State isn't getting it done... it's the injuries! But this is the no injury excuse thread so I'm just following the rules.

 

You are really stretching it if you want to discount the loss of Steph and Klay to fit your narrative. The comparison would be valid if we lost Dame and CJ to injury.

The Warriors are a totally different team. The only player that played any meaningful minutes for them from last season is Draymond Green. That’s it. KD, Steph, Klay, Iggy, Livingston, Looney, Cook, Bell all injured or gone. Try to compare the level of players that they lost and see what you get.

Relative to Portland, the Warriors are actually overperforming being only 5 games behind with their roster.

 

The comparison between what Golden St lost since last year and what Portland lost is horrible comparison in the first place, that's my entire point. Golden State's starting point was 2 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, 5-6 all-star players. Portland's starting point was 1 all-star player.

I'm not discounting the loss of Steph and Klay, I'm just simply applying the logic people are using to discount the Blazers. I think the logic is crap for both teams.

 

Exactly, it wasn’t me that made that comparison. I was countering that poster’s point

 

Can we change the title of this thread to: Injury Excuse, Propagandist? And then I can be in charge of the injury excuses.

Here is my first excuse:

All these injuries are why we have less players available to play games.

 

I'm glad we agree on this... The reason GS/Kerr gets brought up is because SOME people on here say things like "Stotts has an all-star therefore we should have a better record." That logic is FAR too simplistic and the GS/Kerr situation does prove that point, you would agree, right?

 

Also, since this is/was the no injury excuse thread, I think this is a safe place to discuss how Stotts totally dominated Doc Rivers and the LA Clippers in the 2016 playoffs despite the team being picked to be 25-57 and the Clippers being predicted to finish with a 57-25.

Remember, injuries are just excuses!

 

Yes, that logic is far too simplistic. But if the thesis of your comparison is to highlight GSW or Kerr’s performance from last to this season, then you must account for the entire roster turnover, in addition to current injuries for a valid assessment.

Pretty much the only player that played any meaningful minutes for them from last season is Draymond Green. They are probably the only team that had a more drastic roster overhaul than the Blazers.

 

100% agree. And if the Warriors and Blazers are the two teams with the greatest roster overhaul, (you're factoring in injuries), then it should be no surprise that neither team is having success.

 

But as I said before, not all injuries are equal. The Clippers lost both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul to injury in that series. The Clippers were actually the ones dominating the first 2 games at home. They lost both Griffin and Paul to injury in Game 4. It was a wrap after that.

In a player dominated league like the NBA, it’s pretty much impossible to overcome when you lose your 2 best players.

 

I agree, injuries are a legit excuse/reason.

Can you think of a team who has lost 3 out of their 5 starters basically for the year and had stretches where they only had 1 big guy available who had success over an entire season? Maybe it's happened, but I'm guessing that team had an MVP on it or something, because it would take a lot.

 

This is where I tend to disagree with you and was my point from before. Although the Blazers lost 3 starters, they still have their 2 best players with some serviceable replacements in Whiteside, Melo and Hood (until he got injured). With the roster turnover and injuries, I don’t expect them to perform to last year’s level, but I feel that they are definitely underperforming with their 14-19 record.

 

We still have three top level starters in Dame, Cj and Whiteside, which is more than can be said for a lot of our opponents - yet look at our record.

Stotts coaching and brand of basketball, along with the supposed leadership of Dame/Stotts is absolutely putrid.
Can't wait for this team to be blown up and a new post Dame/Stotts era to begin.

 

Paging Third Billy Goat Gruff...

 

Injuries + Talent loss = Bad record. We’re right about where we should be on paper. We lost about 10 wins to injury and 9 wins to offseason. Here we are.