Man, vote is even. I think Pascal has proven, when healthy, to be a game changing talent. Simmons has the yips on offense, and has potential issues with his desire to be the best. That's scary. But i did have to really think about it. Most polls on S2 are decisive easy votes.
Potentially, with some additions to the bench. Veterens who can shoot and play defense. And bring tenacity like a Josh Hart.
I think Haliburton will be a stud. Already is, and super young. Better than CJ. Once Bagley gets healthy he also could* be a stud. Nurkic is who he is and so is CJ. Maybe they throw in a pick.
Well, it's a poll question and I gave an appropriate poll answer . It's only an answer to a poll question. Nothing more.
I'm only answering a poll question with a poll answer. I took it CC had them coming as a destination and the only way Siakom signs is as a free agent (IMO)
Nurk is still learning the game. He ain't that old. Billups has a chance to get more out of him. Bagley ain't no stud.
Simmons. He has elite title potential. I'm not as worried about his shooting as many. He and Lillard could be a 2022 version of Shaq and Kobe. One dominate inside,the other outside and the end of games. It might mean we need to trade Nurk. Go get Ben!
sorry to disappoint you, but dame & simmons wont get you anywhere, they would need another star, just like phila needs another star, but the difference is that they could probably win a chip with embiid & dame (without simmons), so they wouldnt need a third star, but they would need stacked team, role players who can deliver giannis & kawhi didnt have a star with them, they are freaks of nature, long, athletic and elite on both ends of the floor and they had elite supporting cast which proved to be enough and dame can have elite supporting cast, but he would still need another star, cause hes simply not that good... put dame on those raps & bucks team instead of kawhi & giannis and theyre not winning the chip
I mean even if I partly agree with you I am still unsure what would have been possible this year if you would have Ben in your team. We saw the Suns in the finals and to be honest I do not see Paul nor Booker near as good as those two (and I agree that they are better than Dame). I think this year just showed that more or less everything can happen in a season if you have a top 6 team in your conference (and that is maybe achiveable with Ben).
to be fair, this past season was anomaly as many teams lost star players due to injuries phoenix suns are well contructed and coached team, something blazers werent and even if we had simmons instead of cj mccollum, thats still not good constructed team as phoenix (except starting five) and not good coached team, so im not sure portland would be capable of doing what phoenix did, in fact, im pretty sure we wouldnt would phoenix go all the way to the finals had davis, murray, barton & dozier, kawhi & ibaka played, im not sure, as really good team as they are, those are likely even better teams... i dont believe phoenix will be back in the finals anytime soon, maybe in the future when booker & ayton develop further, but i think theyre done with cp3, but he can help their players grow, so its worth to re-sign him someone would need to score besides dame and our best bet would be nurk & powell (and thats far from a sure thing), cause sure as hell it aint simmons... i do believe simmons would makes us the better team than we are now and that would happen first and foremost thanks to the new head coach, but would portland become legit contender, im not sure, not unless nurk & powell take a big leap and we have reliable bench players by adding simmons/siakam, i believe portland becomes really good team like phoenix & utah jazz who with some luck can get into the finals (like phoenix did)
I think you're right with your last sentence that if Simmons is playing up to the best he has in the past or if we can get more out of him (which I think we can) that would be a huge upgrade. As far as your comment about where scoring comes from. Norm would probably be our second leading scorer and I think given more touches/shots he's capable of scoring over 20ppg. I think if you tell Simmons to be aggressive getting to the hoop and scoring a bunch, he is also more than capable of scoring more than 20ppg. The only problem is if your boy Nurk creates spacing problems when playing with Simmons... we'd have to see about that.
I just hope that we trade CJ, and end up with... 1) a non-guard. 2) the best player in the trade. Both fit the bill as a home run.
