Science Ant is legit and we need to really wrap our minds around what that means

Ant not only CAN pass, he's borderline elite at it at 22. He will be top 10 in the Blazers All-Time 3pt shots made by the end of the season.

I'd much rather trade CJ and Norm and try and sign him for $20ish this summer. Let's stack the 3-5 with defensive beasts. Let's try and get Simmons with CJ, Norm, Roco picks etc. With Simmons having Dame and Simons to pass to especially if Nas is kept and can get better at 3 we are good to go especially with McLemore coming off bench. We can also trade for other veterans who can hit the 3 at the 3-5.

 

Hope Ant can keep up his consistent play over next half of season, even though it may not be with us. His demeanor reminds me of Nic Batum, the silent assassin.

 

I don’t think being in the playoffs all the time, winning exciting games, going to WCF is “squandering.” Only thing they didn’t do was go to the Finals. They’ve had a great career together nonetheless and I, as a fan, have enjoyed. Only 1 team wins the title every year.

 

I know you know this but they didn't win a conference finals game. They haven't won a game past the second round and during this league leading playoff streak, 5 out of the 8 playoffs we've made have resulted in just 4 wins. Getting our asses handed to us in the first round is not fun and that has been the result 4 out of the 6 seasons of the Dame/CJ era.

Watching basketball is great. Watching Blazers basketball for me is a lot better than just great because even in a game like tonight I get to pay attention to little things like where every individual player's game is compared to where it's been. That being said I want a team really in the mix for the title or I want a young team that has a lot to pay attention to when it comes to individual and team progress. Right now we have a guy (he's injured) that can be a big part of the reason we're a title team, we also have a bunch of guys that do not fit together but are players that can be meaningful role playing contributors on a championship team most of them need to be traded. We have two other guys who could be a big part of a championship team but they're fucking redundant not just when paired together but also with Dame, three redundant stars. That's what we've got.

I can't think of one title team that had redundancy in their big two or three main stars. There are some that had redundancy in role playing positions but not the stars. We have too much redundancy and people want to try to move forward exchanging one redundant piece for another. People have actually watched us not come close to a championship (and no being swept out of the conference finals after squeaking into them is not close) for six years because our two best players are so incredibly redundant. Two small guards who are big time outside shooters and can score inside, who are best with the ball in their hands and can make great passes and are shitty defenders. Tell me that Ant doesn't fit that description to a tee.

Anyway I don't want a repeat of the last six seasons even if others do. Dame and Ant can't be part of our big two or three if we want to win it all, they're too damn redundant. If you think Ant is only good enough to be a role player then keep him and pay him like a role player but I think he's a star and a potential superstar, so we should trade him for a star with superstar potential that isn't so fucking redundant with our sole superstar... and for the love of god we have to trade CJ.

 

How long were lowry and derozen together before being split?

curry and elie?

how long before wall and beal were split up?

most teams realize within a few years a duo isn't working…

 

Ant isn’t CJ. Of course, we MUST trade CJ. I hope Dame, Cronin, and the Vulcans all understand that. If we don’t trade CJ nothing else will matter. Ant is better than CJ already IMO simply because of his passing. His trajectory is much, MUCH higher and his contract won’t be even close to CJ’s albatross. If we have the right personnel 3-5 we can absolutely roll with two elite assassins in the backcourt. I would only trade Ant as a centerpiece for a true star and even then I would hesitate. Ant has a kobe-esque vibe to him. He needs to take it to the rack and he needs to defend. I believe he will do both in the future especially under Billups. CJ and Norm are who they are and Ant will be better than either and can be on a reasonable contract. It's a pity Olshey didn't lock him down.

 

I disagree that Ant has Kobe-esque vibe to him. He;s super talented but to me he has more of a Batum-esque vibe to him. Kobe after 4 years in the league would have dominated last night and Ant was more Batum last night.

 

I have to say @Idog1976 i just love that you made this a science thread!

i can literally picture half a dozen posters up at a chalk board working up calculus formulas as to what all of this means. .
Haven't gotten that picture out of my head since you made this thread and it cracks me up every time!

 

Still considering a boat to enjoy your backyard river? Are there any good boat landings in the Canby area?

 

aww man. There is one just down the street at mollala state park, but i pulled out of the boat i was going to buy.
Im concerned i wont use it. Ever since i got covid i have not had any energy beyond working and music. Maybe things will change this year but until i can get back to 40 hour work weeks instead of 50. Im just soo drained.

i feel like a total puss ass typing that out, but my fatigue is for real with this covid shit.

 

just so you know, if the cap is 112M next year, A 4-year max deal for Simons would be over 30M a year, assuming some other team made a max offer (unlikely)

 

I don't remember Ant starting and being given the greenlight before the most dominant center since Wilt played in the front court next to him. Kobe had wayyyyy more playing time by Ant's age and also had Shaq I believe by Ant's age. Kobe was awful quite often during his first couple of years when he had more time than Ant has total. I remember him having the greenest of green lights before Shaq came throwing up 3+ airballs in a row vs. Portland in Nevada during that weird game that was in Las Vegas.

 

I feel we can get him for around $20 million, I'd definitely balk at $30 million, but I'd consider it before probably saying no, but we will see what happens. Still cheaper than CJ and Ant is already better in the sense of being more well-rounded.

 

Sorry man, hope you get your energy back soon. Im 71 am on my third boat and went years in between while raising kids and playing ball. We like to play close to home and it only takes 20 minutes to a boat a ramp.

 

I dont dispute that, I just dont see him having the Kobe vibe. More like Batum vibe.

 

You seem to be confused. Blazers only ever played in Vegas vs Lakers in 1992 playoffs during Rodney King riots when Kobe wasn’t yet in the league. Kobe’s consecutive air balls were in a playoff series vs Utah in his first playoffs in 1997.

 

Wow that's really weird I remembered it being against us in Las Vegas. Was the game in Vegas maybe? I swear it wasn't at a normal NBA arena.

 

In the Vegas games, I remember Drexler throwing down a crazy dunk off a pass that looked way out his reach. Is my memory correct?

Edit: Yes my memory was correct. It was the game 4 in Las Vegas.
The dunk is at the 21:50 mark in this video. with slow motion replay at 23:00.

"That's what it's all about. When you're Clyde the Glide, you can get into a flight pattern."

 

Anfernee has explosiveness in spades.

 

Agreed. At this point, I'd say he isn't as strong as Dame was at a similar age and hasn't learned how to use it as effectively. For someone who is a Dunk Champ, he rarely throws down in the manner that he certainly can. Whether is it strength, mentality, or a combination of both, he needs to develop that. It will help him get to the FT line, especially on nights when he isn't shooting as well.