Are we headed toward the mediocre middle?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Freshtown, Jan 17, 2022.

  1. 1 Eye Jack

    1 Eye Jack Well-Known Member

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    Sad part is believe we had good leads in almost every game against GS, then GS turned on the defense and we folded
     
  2. 1 Eye Jack

    1 Eye Jack Well-Known Member

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    To late to be tanking these last 8 games threw that out the window. Might as well see what we trade for and see what happens. Only team I truly fear is GS, every other team is beatable with healthy Dame
     
  3. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

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    It does in my book. Any team that plays 82 games and comes out with the number 1 seed is a contender as far as i'm concerned.
     
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  4. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    i don't think it's too late to tank at all.
     
  5. riverman

    riverman Writing Team

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    I'm in the never tank...try to win and if you lose you get the pick you deserve camp.....I think intentionally tanking is terrible for the sport...even tanking for playoff seedings is cowardly...go out and play the teams in front of you full force and let it end how it ends. Winning makes me happy...tanking is a gamblers rope a dope ....personally I don't trust that to produce a golden parachute but you're right....we could tank and get a 5 pick...we're not getting the top 3 more than likely over the Rockets or Magic or Pelicans.etc....I also want to win more now that I've seen Nas and Ant rise to the occassion. Playoff experience helps those guys more than having a rookie next season will.
     
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  6. 1 Eye Jack

    1 Eye Jack Well-Known Member

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    problem is we now have 18 wins and 6 teams below that are going to struggle to get wins. Meanwhile if we were tanking it would have happened over last couple of weeks but we keep winning with our top players out. Guys are buying into Billups system and playing much better. Might as well trade and see what happens in playoffs
     
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  7. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    Anyone thats played sports at a competitive level knows how hard it is to win a championship, at any level.
    And you know who's tanking right now, Morey.
     
  8. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    i think it's gonna be really hard for us to climb 5.5 games to catch DEN for a top 6 seed. That leaves us in the play-in, the prize for which is first round matchup against either Phoenix or GS. All the while, we lose our pick altogether if we get through the play-in.

    I really don't see the upside.

    OTOH, we can drop pretty easily to a top 7 pick which would be a valuable piece to have to make moves in the summer.

    I'd rather forcefeed Ant/Nas minutes and let them make mistakes and develop. Trade Roco, trade CJ, trade Powell, figure out what to do with Nurk and tank simply by not having talent. The 13 game losing streak to finish Dame's rookie year while we stealth tanked (benched Wes/Batum/Aldridge for large stretches) net us a #10 pick. But the biggest benefit was allowing Dame to make every mistake possible while he learned how to navigate defenses. He led the league in minutes that season largely due to that stretch to finish.

    Hard to mentally root for a loss and I don't think I can ever do that, but there is a very clear ceiling for THIS iteration of the team. A one year reset is not the worst thing in the world.
     
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  9. 1 Eye Jack

    1 Eye Jack Well-Known Member

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    i was in same boat two weeks ago I wanted draft pick. But with the way we are playing I can’t see it happening even dumping some of our best players we will win to many to full on tank. I would prefer we upgrade and start building chemistry for next year. Also gives us chance to have more time learn Billups system which is starting to look good.

    unlike most I don’t feel to bad with our core and seeing Ant and Nas playing like borderline starters we have some youth to build with. If GS has any injuries then door opens for an upset assuming Dame comes back
     
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  10. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    i don't necessarily think a stretch where we win 4 of 5 games removes the fact that we lost 24 of 38 prior to this stretch. The only good team we beat in this stretch was BK which was coming off a b2b having flown 6 hrs the night prior. We just got trounced by DEN by 32 last week (yes, without Ant, but he wouldn't have changed the result).

    Nice to see our guys play well and Nurk/Roco build trade value, but there's a far greater sample size that suggests we're a bottom 5 team in the conference instead of top 8 one.
     
  11. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

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    The 1994 Sonics appreciate that belief.
     
  12. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    lol! Well dont hold back! :)

    i dont really dissagree. Do you think Ant and Nas are a good starting point?
    If so i think i have a suggestion on what to do.
     
  13. 1 Eye Jack

    1 Eye Jack Well-Known Member

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    A lot of people aren’t going to like hearing this but I don’t think we should trade Nurk (unless you get a great deal). To me the way the game is being played you should counter by playing inside out. Nurk is showing positive signs and starting to get us the easy baskets you need come playoff time. He’s good in pick and roll, rebounds great, good passer and is decent on defense. He fits what Billups wants to do and is showing signs of being capable of taking on more. For the right price I keep him and for that matter for right price id trade him lol, I’m talking in circles but you get the point
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2022
  14. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    I personally do not. I like both of them, and they’d be nice pieces, but neither are building blocks for a championship team. I get torn apart every time I say this, but a scoring pg is not the ideal person to be your best player. It CAN work, but a wing player is easier to surround with championship talent

    purely hypothetically, had we moved Dame at the beginning of the year for Simmons and Thybulle, and then CJ, RoCo etc for younger pieces we’d be sitting pretty on a refurbish.
     
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  15. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    Could still happen.
     
  16. Hoopguru

    Hoopguru Well-Known Member

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    With the way Simmons has reacted Im not sure he’s the guy we want to rebuilt around? A but indifferent.
     
  17. AmirIcon

    AmirIcon Well-Known Member

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    He's a top 10 center. Top 5 if he's engaged. You'll get the best out of him if you run the ball through him. If you don't plan to, move him.

    It's like having Ben Simmons and having him play off the ball. Don't make no sense.
     
  18. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    So my suggestion is we still do it. Dame for Simmons and Maxey & thybulle. Then trade Nurk, Roco and CJ and whatever picks to nail down the top pick and draft Banchero. Likely a three way or multiple trades to get this done. IF possible.

    Ant/Smith jr
    Powell/Maxey
    Nas/Nance
    Banchero/Thybulle
    Simmons/?

    Is that a championship core to mold around? I think it has a great combination of O and D and has good size except Simmons at Center, but we get a big guy as a backup. Kanter or something.

    The ball movement on that starting five seems extremely intriguing to me. And the D should be top 10.
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2022
  19. Fairly-Hard

    Fairly-Hard Former Member Gone New!

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    Did you really just go back 28 years? You could have just gone to 2012 and went with the Sixers and Bulls of course that was because Derrick Rose got injured.
    It's happened 6 times in the 75 years of the league.

    It does kind of make a different point though. You never know what can happen in the playoffs.
     
  20. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    I think we should try to win every game as well. I just wish we were doing with different players that might be able to compete for a title one day
     
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