https://theathletic.com/3153936/202...e-then-find-talent/?source=emp_shared_article I'll cut/paste some quotes. Hart: Winslow: Ingles: Ant: On the draft:
"the number one thing is we have to get more talent." True enough. Unfortunately the trade deadline deals seemed to accomplish the opposite.
"Size-wise"? Isn't that the fucking problem? And that's ignoring the Dame-and-Ant-only-make-up-for-defensive-deficiencies-if-they-dominate-the-ball problem that we saw with Dame and CJ. I guess we're hoping we're going to get Evan Mobley Mk. II in the draft - a miraculous defensive cure-all who's as tall as a center and can guard guards.
Cronin at the very least will get Billups the type of players he wants. I don’t think Olshey ever granted Stotts that “favor.” Its funny to think about how much better suited guys like Harkless and Aminu would’ve been for Billups. Also more confirmation that they want Ingles on the team next season. The more I hear him talk the more convinced I am that guys like Nas and Ant, upside plays, were Cronin picks, or at least guys he endorsed. Makes the idea of keeping our picks more intriguing.
Is everyone OK with this premise of "Chauncey's guys " when the sample size is so small, and he has had very little meaningful success? I would hate to think that they're making long-term decisions by using the 4 game win streak before the break as validation of their methods. Both Nurk and Hart were playing unsustainably well against competition that had hardly scouted us and admittedly taking us lightly. I think it obviously makes sense in theory to bring in guys that play hard, care about winning, and defend, but we can't continually be in the business of giving up efficient ~20 ppg scorers for pennies on the dollar. And taking that one step further... on the court, is Dame a "Chauncey guy?"
I completely agree. I think Joe will get the off season to improve the team if the Pelicans gamble pays off with a top fourteen pick. I think if the Pelicans make it into the playoffs Joe will not be the GM on draft day. Maybe that's me miscalculating the Vulcan's interest in the team not being the laughing stock of the league. Oh and Dame, definitely isn't a "Chauncey guy".
billups and his staff has been great at teaching the basics to young guys and making them somewhat playable. I can see the makings of rotational talent from Brown/Watford which I had never expected after their performance in summer league. And Ant/Nas making tangible leaps this year after Chauncey has empowered them is terrific. Will any of this eventually translate to playoff success? Young guys take forever to climb to the level of winning playoff games/series, and none of this matches Dame's timeline. But we've also seen Chauncey fail at getting established vets to buy-in. Even Nurk, prior to his recent surge was checked out for all of December and visibly frustrated, partially due to having so many responsibilities on defense while not getting any touches on offense. An underappreciated skill for any coach is to mold the style of play to fit his players. We haven't seen Chauncey be able to do that, especially with the vets that Dame needs around him to win.
I'd start by having a little skepticism about stuff Cronin says. Talk is cheap. He hasn't been around long enough to gauge whether or not he's a 'straight-shooter'. I didn't find his excuse for the Clippers trade about 'team's blackmailing' the Blazers because they were 1.3M over the tax line credible at all as for "Chauncey guys", I'm not even sure what that means yet. I guess Hart is a good start, but if it's more guys like Winslow who will hustle on defense but lob streams of bricks outside of 10' it's a problem. Portland has holes at both starting forward positions and they don't really have time to wait for anybody on the roster to grow into either position. Little and Winslow are way too injury prone to count on; besides that they are career 32% shooters from three. With Dame/Ant as the starting guards, Portland needs some wings that can shoot a lot better than that and stretch the floor a lot more than those two would stretch it. And Hart himself is not a very good shooter from distance and starting Hart at SF would dive back into being an undersized team again while having a scrub as the 3rd guard. Powell 2.0
I don't think Hart should be playing 30 mpg at the three, but there are some difference between Dame/Ant/Hart and Dame/CJ/Powell. First, Hart is 10X the rebounder CJ is. Second, Hart is taller than Powell and Ant is taller than CJ (but weak ATM). Third, the latter is far superior at taking advantage of teams that are bigger by being able to outrun teams in the open court. I think we could get by with that lineup for 15 mpg, which is all we would need. Our closing lineup could vary between Hart and Little depending on matchups and who is feeling it that night.
notice that I said "starting Hart at SF". IMO there is a big difference between starting at a position and playing a position in certain situations. 15 minutes a game is too much though. Blazers need a 3 guard rotation with one being a 2-way player. Not a 5 guard rotation with 3 scrubs with none of the 5 being a 2-way player...like they had before Hart
If he thinks the elderly Ingles and multi-failure Winslow are part of the answer, he doesn't even know the right questions. I'm hoping this is just the typical GM pablum.
If you put Winslow in with scrubs he will look bad. You put him in with 4 scorers and he will look good. Evaluating players for the rest of the year will be tricky as they will be asked to do things they won't necessarily be asked to do next year. Kind of like watching a 1st or 2nd-year player in summer league.
i think justise is a fine bench player, and a consistently good defender from the wings who can switch. hart/ingles/winslow is a really good bench to start with. add someone like rubio (MLE?) and you've got one of the best benches in the league to fill out your 9 man rotation. Obviously a bit worrisome with two guys coming off ACL injuries. That said, our problem is finding top line talent to fill this mold. A solid bench can help you win regular season games, but we need stars to win bigger.
Do you think Hart & Dame make for better back court than Dame & Simons? Do you think the Blazers will be able to keep both Simons and Hart or will they need to couple one or both to picks to get that star front line guy?