OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD - July 2021

It's pointless to play the "if only they/we were healthy" game. It is meaningless and a crutch. Facts are facts. Suns in the finals.

 

The narrative that the Suns are smart and we're dumb is, frankly, stupid shit used by some to justify their Neil hate. I get it, Neil hasn't been perfect. But, neither have the Suns.

3 hits in, what, 9 lotto picks? OK, but 1 of those was the #1 overall pick. That draft they took Ayton, but could also have taken Young or Doncic. Certainly not a lot of brain power required.

Chris Paul trade? Here's the trade:
In return for Paul and forward Abdel Nader, the Thunder received Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick from the Suns.

Can you name 3 people on these message boards who WOULDN'T make that trade - again, a no-brainer.

I'm not saying they're complete idiots, they hired a great coach! But, they mostly screwed up their drafts, but hit on booker, fortuitously bought low on Chris Paul, and ran into injured teams.

Here's the deal, the Suns fans have paid for this success by having a LOT of losses - that's the idea. Are you willing to have the Blazers lose for 10 years for a SHOT at the finals? Here are the Suns win totals for the last couple of years:
51
34
19
21
24
23

 

They have a wacko owner, fired the GM that drafted the youngsters, and haven't been the the playoffs in ten years. It cool this see them make the leap but as major sports town fans had options while they sucked for the last decade. We really dont, and no way would Blazer Fans put up with 10 years of not making the playoffs when more than half the teams do.
We couldn't hold onto triple A baseball.

 

I'm not entirely sure Young or Doncic would work with Booker. I'm also not sure they're in the finals right now if they have Young or Doncic instead of CP3 and Ayton.

 

They'd be just as good or better long term. Of course, it's impossible to know for this year.

 

What would you rather have, one championship now or Luka/Booker long term?

Personally? Knowing what I know about the NBA? I'd take the ring now.

 

I think you're missing the larger point. The Suns are a good team, but they've benefitted from a shit-ton of breaks. That's not throwing shade on them. It's been my position for years that the goal of small market teams isn't to try to build the super-teams that the major markets can assemble because of their competitive advantages; rather the goal is to put together a really strong team that can be in a position to make a run for a title when the super-teams suffer breakdowns. The Suns are in that enviable position this year. It's not a great stretch to see the Blazers putting themselves in that position by next year. Those kinds of teams need lucky breaks to win it all, but as we're seeing this year, lucky breaks do happen.

 

I'm sorry but that is a nonsense argument in my view

why? Well, how many of those Phoenix fuck-ups were committed by James Jones? The difference between Phoenix and Portland is that Phoenix ownership recognized they had mediocre management and corrected it instead of spending 9 fucking years in rinse/repeat mode....going on 10 now

before Jones took over (he handled the 2018 draft and was named GM in October of that year), Phoenix had one player on their roster that is till there today: Devin Booker. Jones built a contender around Booker in 3 years. Olshey hasn't built a contender around Dame in 9 years. That's comparing the results of great management vs mediocre management

 

I’m telling you the Suns haven’t been healthy either.

 

Ding ding ding!

 

Dame to the Lakers confirmed with Blevins lol

 

No, No, No, and you wouldn't either.
Your logic presupposes all of these current playoff team injuries.
The best strategy is to go for long term greatest if you have a young team.

 

TIL that Steve Balmer seems to be gay and a sexual predator? WTF?

Playing mind reader for a sec

Guy to right of Balmer (camera left) is like:

“Hey Steve, STEVE bro! Man, don’t grab my sack wtf bro?!”

 

It’s cool we have Raptors fans posting here in the Blazers forum.

 

LOL Pacers

 

If we can get Simmons for CJ straight up, that is the deal to make for us. He is far more valuable than Dray. I would take Paul George before Simmons but of all the people that I can think of that might be available this off season PG13 is the only one I would take ahead of Simmons for the same price.

Yes, if we trade Simmons then we would probably need to trade Nurk and get a stretch big in return but Simmons current game and ceiling are just too valuable to pass up on unless you can get someone of Paul George's level instead.

 

Fun yet irritating fact.

No Western Conference team outside of California or Texas has won the title since 1979 (Seattle)