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

The Pelican's version of CJ has been playing SIGNIFICANTLY better than he ever has in Portland. All of those metrics you presented are significantly better than his prior career bests. They are almost in line with Dame's career averages (although Dame's best years are another step above this).

Which leads to two questions:
1) Will CJ revert to his normal self with a larger sample size? (it's only been 22 games thus far)
2) How much of the performance issues were due to the Dame/CJ pairing? We've seen small stretches when CJ played extremely well when Dame was out injured.

 

Or Maybe CJ was never the problem. Maybe CJ was never selfish. Maybe Dame and CJ could have worked better over the years in a different offense and with a different coach. Maybe the MeJ so many of you liked to reference was due to Stotts.

 

I can't tell if your trying to say Little isn't injury prone or are you being sarcastic?

"Except for the shoulder injury, most of his lost time has been to Covid, a concussion from a fall, and ankle and knee sprains."

Thats 5 major injuries for a player in less than 3 seasons. Unable to complete 2 of 3 years. Zack Collins was much more healthy.

 

I don't know. I specifically posted actual games played and missed for both players. I guess if you say that is arguing then so be it.

That was my original post. It was about the team next year depending on them to actually be available to compete.

We don't even want to start doing numbers on Little. Believe me it isn't much better but it is a little better. Thing is he is actually hurt right now and out for the season.

 

he had 36 games under Billups and performed 'poorly'. That's a bigger sample size than New Orleans

 

Sixers should’ve traded for CJ instead of Harden.

 

I wonder if they wanted to but CJ didn't want to go there so the Blazers decided to go another route?

 

I'm saying that a player falling and hitting his head in practice, spraining an ankle, and spraining a knee over a three year career doesn't seem to me to be particularly unusual or worrisome. Those were all, fortunately, minor injuries that kept him out a week or two each. That's considerably different that Nurk's history of multiple broken bones that have kept him out large portions of several seasons. Little's shoulder injury, obviously, is a significant injury, but it was his first such major injury and isn't something that's likely to bother him again after his rehab.

 

Because they have the number one market in the league and a TON of money.

 

It’s simple really. Not seeing this is just Laker blind hate

 

But can all time greats talking nonsense about the team count against them?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...l-jabbar-criticizes-some-lebron-james-actions

https://uproxx.com/dimemag/magic-johnson-lakers-westbrook-return-davis-advice-video/

 

If the Lakers were in a normal city, they would absolutely be in the worst situation of any team currently. But, it is L.A. and they have a way of turning things around pretty quickly. They can just tread water for a year or 2, and then wait for the next super star who wants to relocate to L.A. Easy Peasy

 

Bingo....LA is the place where 99% of super stars want to go. Entertainment, Sun, Beaches & Hollywood, Diversity.

 

And cultural status.

 

I do dislike the Lakers no denying that. I think the run of the Lakers being the destination isn’t what it use to be. Prior to Lebron they struggled so I don’t see why they won’t struggle with no draft picks and aging Lebron. Their best hope is to trade AD or Lebron and start over.

 

Long term though is the topic. Once AD and LJ move on they’ll have all the money they need and every young player wanting to be there. They’ll reload.

 

I get what you are saying. They have a built-in advantage in rebuilding. That being said 9 of the last 10 years they have sucked. In 2012-13 they were 7th in the west and were swept in the first round. They then missed the playoffs for 6 straight years before winning it all in the Bubble. Last year they were 7th again and lost in the first round and this year they are most likely out again. Yes, many young players will want to go there, but will they get the right ones? This is not the NCAA where there is no salary cap.

 

It's actually not too long term. The first line of the article is "How will your team perform over the next three NBA seasons?" So I do think the Lakers being in the middle of the pack might be a little generous but at the same time they're the Lakers so I wouldn't be too shocked if they pulled off something that made them relevant again as soon as next season... who knows?

 

not if LA team sucks. Super stars don’t like going to teams that aren’t good. You’re living in the past players aren’t jumping to teams like LA like they use to.