If every team was injury free, including Portland I think we win 45. If we have major injuries we will be in the lottery. If other teams that are projected to be ahead of us have major injuries and we don't....... we could win 50+. There might not be an I in team, but there is an I in winning. It almost always comes down to injuries, especially if the injury is to the team's star. The Clippers are pretty deep, but what about: Dallas without Luka? Denver without the Joker? Phoenix without Booker? GS without Steph? Lakers without LBJ? I am not scared of any of those teams without their star player, and newsflash, every year a couple of them go down. Not saying all these teams would suck without them, but they would definitely fall off. So if we are somewhat healthy, we will win more than 37.
Not going to disagree at all. Just been one healthy year for the Blazers out of the entire time Lillard has been here. If you look back through the years with Roy and Oden it gets worse.
We missed the playoffs one year because our all nba player was out. Now we've added a guy in Grant that's a better fit with Dame than CJ was and some defensive dogs who will bring it. We may not have the size off of the bench that we need but this team will be right back in the playoffs this upcoming season.
We made the playoffs in 2021 https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/por/season/2021 We acquired Jerami Grant (the fact that he's a much better defender and still a pretty damn good scorer makes me think he'll be a better fit than CJ) https://www.nba.com/blazers/news/trail-blazers-acquire-jerami-grant-in-trade-with-detroit I think Hart, Justise and GP2 are dogs on defense too and we acquired them since we last played in the playoffs No Link We are pretty small outside of Nurk https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/teams/Portland-Trail-Blazers/24/Rosters/Regular
H Man, it's funny cause you use "WE". But you do, actually work for team. I know you are a Lakers fan, and with Mr. Glass leading Darvin Ham's experiment now, 9th, or 10th does sound correct. I sense division growing in your heart, as far as basketball is concerned. I feel like you're beginning to fall for your adopted team more. I get it. In my youth, i was a devoted Dodgers fan. Steve Garvey was my guy. The guy i rooted for. Then they traded him. I was so mad. But Mike Piazza came along, and i forgave them. Then they did it again. They traded my favorite player, and i was done! I had just moved to Denver, and really liked Larry Walker. The Blake Street Bombers won me over and i became a Rockies fan. I can't stand the Dodgers now. I don't care how many championships they buy. But the Blazers were different because they are in my DNA being a Portland Native. Fan since '77. But if the Blazers traded Dame, my all time favorite Blazer, it would seriously break me. He's given me more great moments than i can count. And i look forward to more. It's harder to root for a hired hand team like the Lakers. It was easy for you , i'm sure, rooting for the showtimers. And your Magic Man. I liked the Trader Bob team that went to the WCF's, but i had no love for any one guy. They were hired hands. Maybe i'm wrong, but it's a feeling i get about you. But i think something special is in line for our Blazers.
And I’m also going to have myself a steak dinner when the Blazers finish ahead of Memphis. I’ve got crows for everyone who thinks the Nuggets finish ahead of us.
Everyone saying that the Blazers O 39.5 is easy money in the league next year… Where are those 13 games coming from? Don’t get me wrong, I agree on the Over. But do you think we are only going to have increased success against teams like the Rockets? We still may not sweep the season series against teams like the Kings, Rockets, Thunder. Those 13+ games are going to come against teams like the Wolves, 76ers, Heat, Celtics, Hornets, Hawks, Wizards, Nuggets, Grizzlies, etc… Don’t overlook our improvement upon last seasons impact on the division/conference/league. By improvement I don’t just mean adding players, and player development. I mean having our All-Star, Superstar, Jersey hanging in our rafters, coldest closer in the game whom actually holds the NBA record for playoff series winners actually playing.