OFFICIAL Around The NBA Thread- December 2020

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Rastapopoulos, Dec 1, 2020.

  1. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

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    "Shooting into contention" is very, very difficult when you're hamstrung by 2 humongous contracts for players who aren't quite good enough.
     
  2. Buffalo Custard

    Buffalo Custard Well-Known Member

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    This salary escalation is nuts! At this rate, teams will be unable to put more than 8 guys in uniform without breaking the lux tax barrier.
     
  3. DDolla

    DDolla Well-Known Member

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    WOW... MVP for Dame lol
     
  4. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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  5. BlazerBeav

    BlazerBeav Well-Known Member

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  6. KSF-ERIC

    KSF-ERIC Well-Known Member

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  7. SharpesTriumph

    SharpesTriumph Well-Known Member

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    The contracts given out dont change the total money players receive as its 50/50 split of revenue.
     
  8. SharpesTriumph

    SharpesTriumph Well-Known Member

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    kjironman1 likes this.
  9. UKRAINEFAN

    UKRAINEFAN Well-Known Member

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    Latest ESPN power rankings:
    9. Portland Trail Blazers
    When we last saw them ...
    The Blazers were one of the darlings of the bubble, with Damian Lillard taking on all comers with 40-foot bombs. They took Game 1 from the Lakers and looked dangerous as a true playoff Cinderella, until Lillard injured his knee and thereby ended Portland's season. The Lakers won four straight and the Blazers left the bubble looking toward this season, where they will hopefully be healthy, deeper and built to compete at the upper level of the West.

    Win-loss projections

    • ESPN Forecast: 41-31

    • BPI: 40-32

    • FiveThirtyEight: 39-33

    • Caesars: 40.5 wins | Title odds: +3500
    Trail Blazers in NBArank

    Breakout candidate: Gary Trent Jr.

    Trent had a breakout bubble, and with soaring confidence and teammates looking to get him shots, he could be poised for a big season as a 3-and-D wing. The Blazers are deeper at his position with the additions of Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr., but Trent could play a significant role off the bench for Portland.

    play
    1:31
    How the Blazers are looking to improve their defense
    The Trail Blazers are hoping they will be better on the defensive end with the additions of Derrick Jones Jr. and Robert Covington.

    Pivot point for 2020-21: How long will Portland run it back?

    The Trail Blazers have been a picture of stability in the West over the past decade, with the same GM, same coach and same star player. In the modern NBA, that's weirdly rare. And while the Blazers take immense pride in their sustained success (they're second behind the Rockets for the longest active playoff streak), there's always the pressure to push forward.

    Lillard has been one of the most reasonable stars in the league when it comes to loyalty and collaboration with his organization, and the Blazers took steps this offseason to improve. They cashed in some draft capital to add Covington, Jones and Enes Kanter and returned Rodney Hood from injury. They have their core of Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, a trio that has one of the best net ratings in the league together.

    Their bubble run established momentum and belief this team could return to the elite levels of the 2018-19 season, when it went to the Western Conference finals, but there are never any guarantees. The West is deep, and the Blazers fell in a hole last season because of a rash of injuries. If they start slow and start getting lost in the bottom half of the West again, does patience begin to run thin? Is there a major lever GM Neil Olshey would be willing to pull?

    -- Young
    https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ew-rankings-projections-2020-21-opening-night
     
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  10. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Depends. If he keeps playing the way he has, I doubt the Blazers will have much competition for him.
     
  11. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    I take that as he is playing pretty well and the Blazers can keep him if they choose to.
    If Trent plays that well the Blazers would be stupid to let him go.
     
  12. STOMP

    STOMP mere fan

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    Negatively impacted? Put into perspective, Paul could have heated his mansion by fueling his fireplace with the then 100Mil-ish yearly Blazer salary every night for years. For him it was couch change. Without fans in the stands, the 2020-21 Warriors are paying 1.5x more in just the Luxury tax and theres barely a collective peep about it.

    STOMP
     
  13. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    He isn't.
    Playoffs:
    upload_2020-12-22_11-42-6.png
    upload_2020-12-22_11-42-27.png

    Preseason:
    upload_2020-12-22_11-43-13.png
    upload_2020-12-22_11-43-31.png

    He is what he is: a gunner who is intermittently effective on D but does pretty much nothing else.
     
  14. handiman

    handiman Well-Known Member

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    It wasn't even couch change, though. He was turning a healthy profit in the early to mid-Whitsitt days. It was only the tail end of that era where he had to pinch couch pennies.

    It also coincided with his net worth dropping some 75%. Sure, $10B is still nice, but how many people in the history of the world can say they lost $30B?

    I almost brought up the Warriors as a similar example to the late-'90s early-'00s Blazers. Their championship run made them so profitable, they'll spend whatever it takes to keep things rolling. It's all about franchise profit, not owner wealth. Pro sports owners (or ownership groups) are no different than the average person, in that they never want to see their savings go down, regardless of how large or small they are.
     
  15. SharpesTriumph

    SharpesTriumph Well-Known Member

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    Paul could have, but it doesn't mean he would decide that's the best use of his wealth. He said he decided he wouldn't go back to doing that because there is cancer research and more worthwhile uses of wealth.

    Warren Buffet drove a couple thousand grand car and lives in a house worth less than a million. Obviously he could afford anything.

    Many billionaires live a lifestyle the same as if they had a fraction of their wealth, such as NBA players earning millions. Obviously its still a super luxurious life. But billionaires don't always throw around huge sums of money, even if they could.
     
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  16. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    He's a 3 and D player which is all he will be asked to do so i would expect him to end up as a favorite around here.
    Not exactly sure how that will translate into a contract next year but i would suspect he will get paid well.
     
  17. BigGameDamian

    BigGameDamian Well-Known Member

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    Seriously, if the NBA's going to have 2K crowd noise they need to turn it up. Kind of sounds like your on a golf course almost.
     
  18. tlongII

    tlongII Legendary Poster

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    Golden State looks like shit.
     
  19. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Wow, it's almost a pity nobody's ever been a fan of the Brooklyn Nets, because those fans might be pretty happy right now.
     
  20. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

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    Although Curry looks his old self (in flashes) - albeit not so much as Durant. Kyrie looks good as he always does in the small windows when he's not injured.
     

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