Game Thread 2022-23 Game #44 - BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - JANUARY 17, 2023 - TUESDAY - 6:00 PM (PDT) ROOT

Why the hell can't Billups just have Simons come off the bench???
He already fucked that up last season with Norman Powell and Nassir Little.

 

Blazer Twitter and instagram - Nurk is clearly the new most unliked person in Portland

 

so, a road loss in Denver, against a team that is 20-3 at home and had won 13 in a row at home, and is historically one of the most difficult arena's to get wins, means more that two straight wins against a team that came in as the 4th seed. geeeeezuz

 

Absolutely. I feel the same, because when they play well, they look really, really good.

I don't know how much of this is Chauncey finding his way as coach and how much of it is players not fully buying into what he wants/fighting it and how much of it is this length-challenged roster.

And there's the other thing: Everyone wants a trade that's going to fix it. Trading for a longer guy doesn't make the Blazers a better team, necessarily. Sometimes it might help, but is it a fix more times than it might be a detriment? I've seen the Blazers of the past too many times trade starters for other team's subs because they just had to fill that niche, or give up valuable assets to acquire guys who weren't real different-makers, and I'd hate to see them panic because of Dame's window and do the same thing now and doom both the team's present and future at the same time.

 

What the fuck.
Billups says the team played well.

 

A lot of it is a talent issue. Other teams just have better players while some of our players are overvalued. Nurk, Simons..

 

Absolutely ... so long as you don't completely gloss over important nuance, like, you know, the way the team played, the way it lost.

Then again, it wouldn't be the Blazers' board if you weren't trying to misrepresent something I wrote in a feeble attempt to try to show me up. If only Ant's shot was as consistent as your MO.

 

Yeah, we don't know what we'd get in a trade for someone like Anfernee Simons. We don't think he's too great to keep, but somehow expect an upgrade in talent in return.

 

That's exactly the point. You know it's going to be a difficult place to play, so why not pull out all the stops. Try to exploit their weaknesses.
The Blazer should've tried to hammer the nuggets at the hoop.
The Blazers threw exactly one lob to Shaedon Sharpe and they were successful. And as expected that was it for the rest of the game. We saw one more lob, and no more, to Nassir Little.
There was no game plan, other than what we usually see.
I don't think too many people are disappointed at losing in Denver. It's the lack of being able to adjust at all.

 

yeah, except I think it's even simpler than that. Blazer have some talent, but they are just too fucking small. That has been painfully evident since Olshey decided to form the Dame/CJ team. BLAZERS NEED LENGTH. Portland has lost several games lately to teams that had length all over the floor. The basket isn't 7 feet off the floor, it's 10 feet off the floor. Lenght has high value

they aren't trading Dame (and couldn't now anyway). So I think Cronin has to go right thru the roster at every position and whenever a player is undersized for his position, he needs to be on the trade market with the goal being to add more length

Dame-Sharpe-Grant are about the only players that shouldn't be actively shopped

 

Meanwhile Denver was throwing full court outlet passes after our missed 3’s

 

BTW, funny thing about Denver's home-court advantage. The Nuggets have the 12th-best home record all-time in the NBA.

The Blazers are ninth.

Of the 30 best home records for a single-season in NBA history, the Nuggets are on the list all of once.

 

Anyway, the point stands that you can go there and lose, but you can't go there and lose your poise and lose badly, which is what we did.

 

I asked you a question about a post you made. I though your take was off base. But I didn't make it personal like you just did. If you want to go that direction I can certainly play in that field

 

I think Ant and Nurk have trade value. I think Josh Hart has trade value. I don't think that they would get us a superstar in return but guys that have a similar talent level but a better fit for us.

I don't think we can become a contender with trades. I do think we can get a lot closer to contending if we make trades that make the roster balanced and more complementary/cohesive/synergistic.

 

Clearly where the Dbags are - Got it

 

I'm with you 1000%. I just keep thinking about when Dame wasn't close to as good as he is now, how well he played in a back court with Wes and why the fuck we haven't put size and defense next to him since then. Baffles me.

I think Kyle Kuzma is someone we could get, it might take a third team but I wouldn't mind him and Jerami as our starting forwards. Myles Turner seems to have been available for a long time. Orlando might like all of the big men they have but they haven't been able to get them all minutes.

 

Yep. Portland can’t get stars, so they settle for second tier talent. Lillard is an obvious exception to that.

 

Or Billups could simply have Simons come off the bench.

 

I thought that was already understood

still, Nurkic and Ant had really bad games tonight. I don't expect Nurkic to match Jokic, but I do expect him to have a bigger impact than he did. 6 points on 9 shots; 2 assists & 4 turnovers. 5 fouls, a couple of which were really dumb. Blazers needed a good game from Nurkic, not one of his worst. Same is true for Ant

here's the thing though: whether it's an artful loss or an ugly loss, it's the same thing