Yeah, with McCollum sitting on the bench. Passing the ball to McCollum usually means not burning the other team at the hoop.
Fucking 'A' absolutely. But it's not going to happen until next year and we've got to keep Whiteside, Anthony and Ariza as vital backups on a team very shallow in depth.
No. -Lillard can't average 50 PPG in the playoffs. -Our guards get ZERO respect from the refs, you can beat them down in the paint and get away with it. -We don't have a big Forward who can impose his will in the playoffs like Kawai,Lebron,AD,Giannis etc. -We don't rebound the ball and allow too many threes. -Terry Stotts.
Abit excited with how Dame is playing but let’s be realistic - we have to make the finals before being a contender. We have to beat teams below us and around us. We have to win more than we lose. Let’s take 1 thing at a time, get above the line with a gap, win more than we lose and then talk finals contenders.
sure, and Nurkic returned in December like you predicted over and over meanwhile, we're all just predicting the near future of a team that got swept in the WCF, went thru a major roster rebuild, and has major injuries with no certainty at all that the injured players will return to anywhere near what they were by the time the playoffs are here. They weren't a contender last season, it's not irrational at all to think they aren't this season given the circumstances
ok...maybe the difference comes down to the definition of contender. I think it means one of the 2 or 3 favorites for the championship. 4 at most and that's only in wide open years (which we haven't had in a long time). The Bucks are contenders. Toronto and Boston might be contenders...and might not be. The Lakers and Clippers are contenders. I don't think Denver, Utah or Houston are contenders. I don't think getting Nurkic and Collins back at 70-80% of what they were will have the Blazers leap frog those other 5 teams and put them in the class of Milwaukee, LAL, and LAC sure, you can come up with a perfect storm of a ton of different circumstances and project a pretender making it to the finals. That doesn't make them a contender though in my view.
I think this year is one of the more open years then past years. For one, we have a year with a lot of “new” teams, AD has been out of the first round once. GS has fell off from injuries, Milwaukee is the favorite but they havent proven it either and I would contend that Budenholzer has been here before, he’s a great regular season coach. PG13 sure wasnt the difference in the OKC series last year. My argument if I were to make one that Portland is a contender would be around outside of Denver all the teams in the west had either a lot of new pieces or will be incorporating new major pieces in the playoffs. I think LAL and Milwaukee are the favorites but absolutely think 7-8 teams have an argument they could make, and honestly most years it is like 2-3 teams.
Ariza has been Our Buck Williams glue guy who gives you a certain toughness. Thought he’d be to old to help but I was wrong he’s exactly type of player we needed to mix with our young guys and vets. Going to be interesting to see how Stotts mixes the injured players back in. If everyone excepts a told this team could be scary good. Only matchup I wouldn’t want is Clippers
Most contending teams have 2-3 all-stars, a couple elite defenders, and are surrounded with shooters. When healthy, I don't think our roster checks any of those boxes unforunately.
If this is your roster then its very very good. But how do you make that work money-wise. Perhaps someone can enlighten us how regarding how you can pay all those bills? Hassan will want 12-15M a year. Ariza? Melo? Did getting rid of Bazemore make this more feasible?? Dame CJ Ariza Melo Nurk Whiteside Collins Trent Nas/Simons/the others
Isn't this thread somewhat moot? One of our primary pieces--Hood--won't be back at all this season. Perhaps not even at the beginning of the next. He had both a significant and unique role we haven't been able to replace on this team.
If the objective is to have that same roster next year, then it’s not hard at all: Dame - Under contract CJ - Under contract Ariza - Team option on final year of contract Melo - Free Agent who wants to stay - Tax payer MLE Nurk - Under contract Whiteside - Bird rights to match any offer Collins - Under contract Trent - Under contract Little - Under contract Simons - Under contract Skal - Bird rights Hood - Player option which he’ll take while making comeback Hezonja - Player option which he’ll take due to excessive suckitude
The Utah Jazz! Oh, wait... A good example of having 2 or 3 top-tier players but never getting there. Clyde and Company is another great example from the same era.
