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

Location. Location. Location.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

I mentioned a hypothetical lineup earlier:

Dame
Simons
Top-7 pick (32% chance of top-4 pick)
Grant
Nurkic

with a bench of Hart-Winslow-Little-MLE-Eubanks-Watford-Dunn-Johnson

(first thing is it's pretty hilarious that I'm being essentially called a sunshine-pumper)

my thinking is that is a playoff team with a good shot of not being in the playin. But apparently some are convinced that's a lottery team

anyway, my thinking is that if

Dame
CJ
Harkless
Aminu
Nurkic (Kanter)

with a bench of Turner, Curry, Zach, Meyers. Layman can win 53 games, be the 3rd seed, and make it to the WCF then the team I hypothesized has a good shot at the playoffs

 

Ranking current teams are somewhat accurate. Ranking future teams have never been accurate.
Things can change quickly in the NBA. Good and bad

 

I've never understood how someone thinking that CJ (with Dame) wasn't a good fit offensively because they could never both be at their full potential, and that defensively as a pair, they were at a deficit almost every game......how that is construed as "CJ hate".

He is a tremendous offensive player that needed to be a lead guard for his own team and would likely flourish there....which has absolutely happened. But that doesn't change that it was never going to be optimal here due to the duplication and lack of defense. That does not make it "CJ hate".

 

I literally did not compare them to those players in terms of talent, just propensity for injuries. Injuries happen to all NBA players, but Blazers fans tend to hone in on injuries to Blazers players. LeBron James has only played all 82 games in a regular season one time in his career. And, no, I’m not saying Nurk is as good a player as James.

 

i dont think we bottom 3, but that's based on hoping for a healthy roster which we really havent had for any good length of time and we always struggle with quality FA signings.

LA has an aging roster but they at least have LA.

Looking at how teams like the Grizz, Suns n Timberwolves have evolved does give some hope - but its a longish shot. I think we'll be muddling around in the lower middle for a while yet.

 

It's just so freakin Easy!
Lebron James is considered by many to be the best player ever to play the game. Nurk is a center that might be starting quality if he could stay healthy.
James played 74 or more games in 13 of his first 15 seasons. The two he didn't he played 62 and 69 games.
Nurkic has played over 70 games twice in his career. 72 and 79. In 10 seasons. He has had two broken legs a broken wrist and multiple other boo boo's.
His average to this point in the other 8 seasons is 40 games. That is being generous.

And yes you continue to try to compare them? It's probably best that you just stop.

 

Exactly. Lakers have worst future by a mile.

 

Who would trade for Russ? No one. AD won’t get back anything close to what they gave up for him.

 

Even when I specifically say I’m not comparing players' talents you seem to want to push the discussion that direction. I’m a pretty easy to discuss things with. You seem to love to argue for no particular reason and to personalize it when you do.

If you want to say Nurk gets hurt a lot and the Blazers should move on from him, that’s a fair point since his injuries have been significant. I have a harder time with your characterization of Little the same way. Except for the shoulder injury, most of his lost time has been to Covid, a concussion from a fall, and ankle and knee sprains. Covid hit a lot of players and the fall and sprains were from playing hard. I want that in a young player.

 

Regarding Russ, maybe a team thats not wanting to win next year and would like to dump some salary and the end of next year? A team like maybe Indiana?
Davis,They may not get equal value but what if they could get a pick and a couple solid players that stay healthy, and can give James one more shot while getting younger?