I keep posting that the first half of the season has been brutal beyond compare and that if they are playing .500 ball at the halfway mark i will be ecstatic with how they have performed. The group is only going to get better. Chauncey will only become a better coach. Their schedule will even out with the rest of the entire league. Role players eventually start to play better at home. The offense will click better. the home crowd will ignite defensive energy. The team as a whole will start to believe in themselves a little more. Here's a big one- The Refs Will Make Calls At Home For Lillard. From what i see this team can go 26-15 or maybe even 27-14 in the second half of the season.
I love the optimism. I 100% agree that the early schedule was brutal and we have a real opportunity to finish strong. I'm probably closer to 23-18 range than 27-14, going outside either of those records (better or worse) is certainly possible. I'm not in love with Dame spending a ton of time off the ball, as defenses gameplan to get the ball out of his hands, so we're basically giving them what they want. However, mixing it up with a smaller off-the-ball package isn't the worst idea. Our assist to turnover ratio needs to get cleaned up. I know many here think more ball movement is better, but our assist to turnover ratio is 1.56 (25th in the league). Last year we were 29th in that category. Before Billups, we were at 1.91 A:T which was 7th in the league in 20-21, despite having less assists.
Long scoring droughts are shooting ourselves in the foot. Going to be hard to get a win when you go 5+ mins without a field goal at some point in every game you play. That may be an exaggeration, but it feels like it's happening often as of late.
This is the team I expected. We're small, we're injury-prone, and we have almost no depth. When our guys hit their shots, we'll win. Of course that's the case for every team in the NBA. What can we do? Take our mediocre medicine and let time pass until the paint that Cronin used to trap us into a corner dries
I would say let time pass ….until Lillard retires. This is it. Portland will never trade him. So this is the way it’ll keep being.
You mean GPII, Little, and Winslow? That is a solid 6,7,8 of the bench. Unfortunately, haven't seen much of it.
Maybe. It has nothing to do with how good he is. We’ve beaten that to death. He’s awesome. But this team will never win a championship with him as the centerpiece. Most teams don’t win championships with the best player being a PG. Curry, Magic and Isiah Thomas. 30+ years. He eats up a ton of money. I love him. But this is what it is. New coaches new GMs new players, he’s the only constant. On one hand the only reason they are competitive is Lillard over the past decade. And yet he’s the main guy and they can’t get out of Blazer land of bottom of the playoffs and first/second round at best. (Except once).
If the team can never win with the best player they've ever had, that means we need to obtain a better player than him? That's a huge ask. Obviously, I disagree with your theory that the Blazers can't win with him as our best player. It's about who we surround him with that I believe is the issue.
apparently, the plan is to just dump the best player the team has had, and hope for the best. But considering there were about 30 years between Clyde and Dame, the wait for the plan to materialize would likely be measured in decades rather than years
We have one PG on the team. I believe having a true backup PG would give the second unit clearer roles. I think we miss Winslow quite a bit because he is the only vocal leader in the second unit. When you have 3 or 4 guys that alternately bring the ball up the floor, there won't be any consistency or fluidity. And there's that big old elephant in the room. Dame and Ant won't work. Ant cannot run a unit! He is not vocal, doesn't get the team in any offensive sets and there's that defense. As far as their shooting woes go, I think the biggest problem is Dame and/or Ant taking too many long, difficult shots early in the shot clock. Those shots that they (especially Dame) take with 18 or 19 seconds left on the shot clock are killers. They'll make them occasionally but most of the time it's just like a turnover except the defense doesn't have to do anything but grab the rebound.
I feel like having a true backup PG is like a decade long void of this franchise. Who was the last true PG we had coming off the bench. A facilitator. Eric Maynor?
Why can’t we have a Boston GM and trade a guy like Aaron Nesmith and Daniel Theis for Malcolm Brogdon? Instead of the other way around type of moves
