Blazers ranked 3rd worst future of NBA teams ahead of only Wizards and Kings

ESPN put out their NBA franchises future power rankings. https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/in...wer-rankings-predicting-best-worst-franchises

The Blazers dropped from no 18 last year to now no 28. This is how they ranked in the five components;
Players 27
Management 29
Money 7
Market T17
Draft 3

Here is their explanation;

Blazers star Damian Lillard recently told Yahoo! Sports he's confident the team can translate flexibility into a team capable of contending next season. We're clearly not as optimistic. Lillard and promising youngsters Nassir Little and Anfernee Simons don't yet look like a contending core. We're also understandably uncertain about Portland's management after a season of upheaval. That won't be resolved until the Blazers decide whether to make interim GM Joe Cronin's role permanent or bring in a more experienced executive. -- Pelton

(Previous rank: No. 18)

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Only teams worse were the Wizards at 29 and Kings at 30.

Painful to see this, and more painful that I totally agree with it.

The franchise trusted the most critical aspect of a rebuild to an interim GM that has shown and explained how he is in way over his head. Plus whatever stupid middling cost cutting moves from ownership. The problem is now even if the franchise gets an amazing GM, its too late. It will be a long time to improve this shit roster to be even a handful of moves away from contending.

Kind of surprising that our market is actually ranked in the middle of the league. Goes against Olshey's excuse of how he could never get free agents or players here.

IIRC there was already a thread on this a week or so ago. I remember saying 'fuck espn' in it

Well someone can merge if they want. I don't follow the team or board like I used to. I can handle the team losing or rebuilding. Heck rebuilding is often more exciting than rooting for a flawed playoff team.

But what we are seeing now is far more disappointing; with the incompetence, lack of vision, sabotaging of long term future, prioritizing dollars ahead of talent, rumors of offering lottery assets for overrated players, and inexcusable poor management decisions that have all gotten much worse since Olshey left.

Now I primarily blame Cronin... but its hard for me to know exactly how much of that blame should be focused on Jody/Vulcan.

Although many league experts actually say managing an owner is a critical part of being a great GM. Thus perhaps Jody and Vulcans faults are the faults of Cronin.

SharpesTriumph said:

Well someone can merge if they want. I don't follow the team or board like I used to. I can handle the team losing or rebuilding. Heck rebuilding is often more exciting than rooting for a flawed playoff team.

But what we are seeing now is far more disappointing; with the incompetence, lack of vision, sabotaging of long term future, prioritizing dollars ahead of talent, rumors of offering lottery assets for overrated players, and inexcusable poor management decisions that have all gotten much worse since Olshey left.

Now I primarily blame Cronin... but its hard for me to know exactly how much of that blame should be focused on Jody/Vulcan.

Although many league experts actually say managing an owner is a part of being a great GM. So again perhaps Jody and Vulcans faults are also the faults of Cronin.

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I'm not going to spend much time defending Cronin. But it's clear to me his mandate was based upon a decade of Olshey mismanagement and the foundation of that mandate was to dismantle olshey's roster and dig out of olshey's salary-cap hole

personally, I think the Blazers are in a much better place right now than they were when Olshey was fired. Portland was going nowhere, stuck on a treadmill at the end of a dead end street in purgatory. Getting out of that predicament was not going to be damage-free or pain-free

and again: FUCK espn and that idiotic ranking. Portland's talent is not 27th in the league

We're in a better place

Moving on.

wizenheimer said:

I'm not going to spend much time defending Cronin. But it's clear to me his mandate was based upon a decade of Olshey mismanagement and the foundation of that mandate was to dismantle olshey's roster and dig out of olshey's salary-cap hole

personally, I think the Blazers are in a much better place right now than they were when Olshey was fired. Portland was going nowhere, stuck on a treadmill at the end of a dead end street in purgatory. Getting out of that predicament was not going to be damage-free or pain-free

and again: FUCK espn and that idiotic ranking. Portland's talent is not 27th in the league

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Totally agree, we can debate about the returns we got in each of the major trades that were completed. But lack of vision is something I strong disagree with. Cronin didn’t have years to rebuild and is having to make a splash to keep his new title, other GMs know this and are going to use that for leverage in any negotiation he enters into right now. I think he’s done a pretty decent job considering the hand he’s been dealt.

ESPN is worried about whats shiny this week.

The team still (potentially) has a core of Dame, Simons, Little, Nurk and 2 potential lotto picks + Hart and a decent amount of cap space.

Throw in any potential trades and who knows. Not saying the team is a title contender next year, but the team as it is now is not what will be the team next year. To think otherwise is lazy.

julius said:

ESPN is worried about whats shiny this week.

The team still (potentially) has a core of Dame, Simons, Little, Nurk and 2 potential lotto picks + Hart and a decent amount of cap space.

Throw in any potential trades and who knows. Not saying the team is a title contender next year, but the team as it is now is not what will be the team next year. To think otherwise is lazy.

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I totally agree that what we're seeing now has nothing to do with the future of the team... I can't imagine more than one or two of these guys will have a spot next year, and it's not like our team next year is a world-beater.

And that's the problem. We have Dame (amazing), Nurk (quality starter), Hart (starting-level guy who's on a friendly contract), Simons (lots of potential, but also going to be paid a lot, undercutting the value that many rookie deals provide) and... hope. Little? So little track record that while I'm glad he's a Blazer it's not like he's proven that he's a difference-maker. The lottery pick(s)? Until we know where we're drafting, I'm unconvinced we'll get a starting-level guy in the first couple of years with him. Salary cap space? Which free agent is going to come to this team without being overpaid to do so?

In other words: this roster is lousy, even when everyone's healthy. If we went down, team by team as ESPN did, I think it's entirely reasonable to say we're in one of the worst conditions in the NBA, even if any team we're running out should not lose by 20 points a night like this one is.

Ed O said:

I totally agree that what we're seeing now has nothing to do with the future of the team... I can't imagine more than one or two of these guys will have a spot next year, and it's not like our team next year is a world-beater.

And that's the problem. We have Dame (amazing), Nurk (quality starter), Hart (starting-level guy who's on a friendly contract), Simons (lots of potential, but also going to be paid a lot, undercutting the value that many rookie deals provide) and... hope. Little? So little track record that while I'm glad he's a Blazer it's not like he's proven that he's a difference-maker. The lottery pick(s)? Until we know where we're drafting, I'm unconvinced we'll get a starting-level guy in the first couple of years with him. Salary cap space? Which free agent is going to come to this team without being overpaid to do so?

In other words: this roster is lousy, even when everyone's healthy. If we went down, team by team as ESPN did, I think it's entirely reasonable to say we're in one of the worst conditions in the NBA, even if any team we're running out should not lose by 20 points a night like this one is.

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oh, totally agree. But I think the difference is, Little and Simons (and imho, Simons might be more likely to be a very solid starter for the team) is a decent starting point.

I would put the team at 35th if they didn't have Dame + Simons and Nurk.

Next years team *should* be better than this years team even if it was healthy all year. BUT that depends on where they land in the lotto, if they get 2 of them, if they *keep* both of them, and if they make a trade or two.

One lucky bounce of the lotto balls could change things a lot though, but I'm thinking they'll probably be picking around 6-9 and whatever the Pelicans pick might be.

I guess the Blazers will be a surprise to rest of the league next season. Or maybe just to those idiots.

just remember the same morons had the lakers and nets as the top teams last september. power rankings are click bait and mean shit.

julius said:

ESPN is worried about whats shiny this week.

The team still (potentially) has a core of Dame, Simons, Little, Nurk and 2 potential lotto picks + Hart and a decent amount of cap space.

Throw in any potential trades and who knows. Not saying the team is a title contender next year, but the team as it is now is not what will be the team next year. To think otherwise is lazy.

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I don't think our future is bleak. I actually think if our goal is to build a contender around Dame, that can be accomplished this off season with the right moves and/or picks. That being said we are not going to have any cap space. Right now if we opt out on Bledsoe and opt in on Hart which seems like the right thing to do, we will have ~78M in salary. Then you add in ~40M so we do still have Ant and Nurk and that puts us at ~118M then if our picks stay about where they're supposed to that's another ~6M and at least one second rounder that costs ~1M. That's ~125M when the cap is going to be ~122. That's also 13 roster spots taken up. If we want to keep the option of going way over the tax so we can use our TPEs then we would only be able to use the TPMLE for that last roster spot or we can sign Ingles to any amount we want. A lot of different moves could be made besides just standing pat with what we have and adding two lotto picks (if we get that second one) but almost every likely scenario in which we are trying to build a contender around Dame leaves us with no cap space.

I did start the thread that this is a duplicate of and I don't know if I just delivered the info or gave an opinion but I think our future is bright. If Dame and Ant can be more than the sum of their parts on offense and not be a huge liability on D then we are in a really great place and if they're not a fit let's just hope whoever is running the team is smart enough not to have this team making the same mistake two times in a row and we move one of them for the considerable value they should have. We have a lot of good talent Dame, Ant, Hart and Keon are a really fucking good back court, Nas, Justise, Trendon and Greg are pretty good forwards and Nurk is one of the best space eating bigs in the game. Then we have our pick which will land somewhere in the early to mid lotto... so that should be another really good player. We have the possibility that I still see as highly probable of having a late lotto pick too. We have an early second rounder and one of the last second rounders. We have an almost 21M and a 6M TPE. We have the opportunity to take the protections off of our pick we owe Chicago for a small thing like cash or a second rounder, thus giving us access to our future picks starting in 2025 to move. We do also have the opportunity until some time in July when we'll either have to guarantee it or opt out to use Bledsoe's salary to combine with others if we're trying to land a player in a trade with a bigger salary than we can fit into the TPE.

We'll know better who is for sure running the team and what exactly we have on May 17th but the future looks bright. Go Blazers!

Only teams worse were the Wizards at 29 and Kings at 30.

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But we’re tanking! That’s the ticket to future success, or haven’t you heard?

Bingo Bango said:

But we’re tanking! That’s the ticket to future success, or haven’t you heard?

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You believed in an ESPN article about teams future. First mistake. Lmao.

No Wonder LOOK>Trail Blazers vs. Spurs - Box Score - April 3, 2022 - ESPN

Bingo Bango said:

But we’re tanking! That’s the ticket to future success, or haven’t you heard?

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When your team is being described in the same sentence with the Kings and Wizards it should give you some pause.

SharpesTriumph said:

Only teams worse were the Wizards at 29 and Kings at 30.

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Not going to pay to read the rest but I'm betting numbers 25-27 are not really great examples of teams we want to mimic.

How can the Lakers not be the worst, aging brittle superstars and no draft picks

1 Eye Jack said:

How can the Lakers not be the worst, aging brittle superstars and no draft picks

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They will move off of Davis this off season is my guess. Russ too if they can find a taker?

After the trades, the Blazers beat the Bucks and the Grizz on the road. It was obvious that they would not get a good Draft pick with those players and the new coaching emphasis, so nagging, little injuries that players might play through, became cause to sit out.

Bring those players back (Nurk, Ant, Hart, Winslow) and add Dame who was out before the trades with his injury. Add in a Lottery pick (fingers crossed for a Top-3) and then the possible asset from a 2nd Lottery pick, and the Blazers will be well above #27 barring injuries.

If you could find win totals for next year that were made based on the ESPN projection being so low, I would make a wager.

1 Eye Jack said:

How can the Lakers not be the worst, aging brittle superstars and no draft picks

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Location. Location. Location.

Ed O said:

In other words: this roster is lousy, even when everyone's healthy. If we went down, team by team as ESPN did, I think it's entirely reasonable to say we're in one of the worst conditions in the NBA, even if any team we're running out should not lose by 20 points a night like this one is.

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sorry, but I'm going to register my disdain for that perspective

for example:

Dame
Simons
Jabari/Banchero/Maturin/Keegan Murray/AJ Griffin
Grant
Nurkic

Hart
Winslow
Little
MLE signing (tax)
Vet Minimum
Eubanks
Watford
Johnson
Dunn

that is not a lousy team. May not be a contender, yet, but it's a playoff team in my view with a shot at HCA. People have already forgotten what Dame means for Portland

wizenheimer said:

sorry, but I'm going to register my disdain for that perspective

for example:

Dame
Simons
Jabari/Banchero/Maturin/Keegan Murray/AJ Griffin
Grant
Nurkic

Hart
Winslow
Little
MLE signing (tax)
Vet Minimum
Eubanks
Watford
Johnson
Dunn

that is not a lousy team. May not be a contender, yet, but it's a playoff team in my view with a shot at HCA. People have already forgotten what Dame means for Portland

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Simons or Nurk or Grant as the second best player? This looks like a lottery team to me. Maybe they squeak into the playoffs as first round fodder. That's not a roster with any chance to contend, nor the assets to make moves to contend.

Some fans hate for Olshey and CJ seems to have them praise any moves the team makes regardless how good or bad they are.

SharpesTriumph said:

Simons or Nurk or Grant as the second best player? This looks like a lottery team to me. Maybe they squeak into the playoffs as first round fodder. That's not a roster with any chance to contend, nor the assets to make moves to contend.

Some fans hate for Olshey and CJ seems to have them praise any moves the team makes regardless how good or bad they are.

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Seriously
We have yet to see Nurk play more than half a season without getting hurt? Little can’t stay on a court to save his life. I honestly don’t see Ant being any better than CJ? A rookie is 2-3 years from making a difference.
Next year looks pretty bleak to me. Sorry.

SharpesTriumph said:

Simons or Nurk or Grant as the second best player? This looks like a lottery team to me. Maybe they squeak into the playoffs as first round fodder. That's not a roster with any chance to contend, nor the assets to make moves to contend.

Some fans hate for Olshey and CJ seems to have them praise any moves the team makes regardless how good or bad they are.

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c'mon man...that's insulting.

it's also kind of funny....so, if people don't share your perspective it must be because their judgement is clouded by hate. It couldn't be because they just have a different view of the situation

the only praise I've directed to Cronin is that I think he's done a decent job of backing Portland out of the cul-de-sac they were parked in for 7 years. I've said many times I'm unimpressed with the return he got from the trades, but I don't think it was as bad as some claim. In fact, I think the basis of a lot of those claims is an overvaluing of the players traded

as for the 2nd best player, it wouldn't be Grant...he'd be a 3rd of 4th option assuming the Blazers land him. But CJ vs Simons or Nurk? That's a lot closer and I'd like to see what they can do first before making any judgement. I've already seen 7 years of nowheresville that CJ as 2nd best creates

what I'm hoping for is somehow the Blazers land a 2nd best that's better than any of CJ-Ant-Nurkic and there was no fucking way that was possible with Olshey as GM and CJ on the payroll

CJ this season:

PER: in Portland 15.9....in New Orleans 22.4
TS%: in Portland .532....in New Orleans .590
FTRate: in Portland .102....in New Orleans .206
Assist Rate: in Portland 22.3%....in New Orleans 31.4%
winshare/48: in Portland .044....in New Orleans .150
BPM: in Portland 0.1....in New Orleans 5.1

I won't buy, for a millisecond any blahblah bullshit about "it was Dame" or "it was Stotts" or "he needed to be #1". Those 'in-Portland' numbers there are really similar to what he did for 7 years. There was no damn reason he couldn't have played as a Blazer like he has as a Pelican. But instead he spent way too much time being MeJ while playing bad defense. That really isn't a high standard, at all, for a 2nd best player

Fairly-Hard said:

Seriously
We have yet to see Nurk play more than half a season without getting hurt? Little can’t stay on a court to save his life. I honestly don’t see Ant being any better than CJ? A rookie is 2-3 years from making a difference.
Next year looks pretty bleak to me. Sorry.

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Injuries happen to all teams, even the so-called contenders. How many times have injuries to Durant, Curry, Thompson, Davis, James, Murray, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, CP3, etc. derailed "contenders" ambitions? Frankly, injuries are the biggest determinant of who wins a title.

e_blazer said:

Injuries happen to all teams, even the so-called contenders. How many times have injuries to Durant, Curry, Thompson, Davis, James, Murray, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, CP3, etc. derailed "contenders" ambitions? Frankly, injuries are the biggest determinant of who wins a title.

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Please.
6 of the players on your list have won titles. Some multiple titles.
All of them are way better than Nurk. Let’s get back to reality.

Fairly-Hard said:

Please.
6 of the players on your list have won titles. Some multiple titles.
All of them are way better than Nurk. Let’s get back to reality.

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Good grief. I intentionally picked top players for my list. The point is that playing in the NBA tends to result in injuries. Downgrading Nurk’s and Little’s value to the Blazers because of injury history doesn’t make much sense.

e_blazer said:

Good grief. I intentionally picked top players for my list. The point is that playing in the NBA tends to result in injuries. Downgrading Nurk’s and Little’s value to the Blazers because of injury history doesn’t make much sense.

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Sugar coat it all you want. Nurk has never played a full season in a Blazer uniform and we all have watched what Little has brought thus far. You literally compared them to players like James, Curry and Durant.

1 Eye Jack said:

How can the Lakers not be the worst, aging brittle superstars and no draft picks

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Because within the next two years guys like Zion, Lamelo, and Anthony Edwards will make it known that’s where they want to go. And they will.