NBA Playoffs Thread - Play-in and 1st round edition

Norman Powell 27 pts.. I still can’t believe we just dumped him

 

Both teams played hard

 

and the game-losing turnover

 

Yeah, he had a good 4th quarter. His +/- was a whopping -23 through the first 3.

 

Or not.

 

I’ll take his 27 points and 1 turnover on our team.

 

B-Roy knees

 

We’ll see what happens tonight. 3 teams can be eliminated.

 

Why? as Portland's starting SF? to expand the Blazer collection of poor, short, defenders? So the Blazers can spend 100M/year and 80% of the salary cap on three no-defense guards under 6'4? So the Blazers can have a worse lottery pick or lose 4 straight games in the playoffs like Powell and the Clips just did? So the Blazers can go back in time and keep Olshey in place so he can keep rebooting the same stupid fucking dead end rosters year after year just so you can watch another fucking pointless 1st round exit?

since the Clippers added Powell they have won 1 playoff game in 2 years. Powell was 3rd on the Clippers in scoring but he was 10th in offensive rating, 13th in defensive rating, 8th in winshares, and 7th in BPM. Everything about him indicates an average player, with significant flaws, who has a bigger impact on paper than he does on the floor. The term 'hollow stats' rings a bell especially considering that Powell was Portland's starting SF last season when the Blazers raced out to record of 11 games under .500

he's a 19M/year backup SG and significantly undersized backup wing. He's a 3&D guy without the D. He's not good enough to alter any team's trajectory. But apparently good enough to stir up a heady mixture of nostalgia mixed with overrating among some Blazer fans

would he be better than Ant as Portland's starting SG? maybe. But at the same time he's 30 years old firmly lodged in that 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' space. He has no upside in his game, on the floor, or in the trade market. Ant does

 

I like Norm, but yeah, I am pretty sure Ant can give us 27 points and 2 rebounds. Sure we can make an argument that we did not get value in the trade, but I would much rather of kept Hart than NP. (and we know Hart would not have re-signed unless we overpaid as usual)

How pissed and embarrassed were we on the last day of the season giving up 50+ points in the first quarter.....with a team trying to tank. The Clips gave up 50 in the 3rd in a playoff game. Booker killed Norm (and others) in that quarter.

 

Kawhi with meniscus tear. This is like Brandon Roy career. Man can’t get healthy

 

Meyers was signaling “33” for a 2-for-1 to end the quarter.

 

Jimmy Butler, the most disrespected player in NBA history.

Why did team after team give up on Jimmy in his career?
It all started with the Bulls, who didn’t believe he was good enough to build around.
The Bulls let go of a 2-way All Star in his prime. Since when do teams do that?
Jimmy Butler snapped the 13-year drought of the Timberwolves, got the Sixers within a Kawhi shot of a title run, drug a young Heat team to the finals, was one shot away from another finals last year.

The Bulls???
Have one playoff win that entire time.
Why did they make such a dumb decision?

After the Intro, skip ahead in video to 2:30 to bypass the advertisement.

 

This is going to be a classic.

 

Norman Powell is such a disappointment, as possibly the best player on the injury riddled Clippers team he couldn't beat a stacked Phoenix squad that is the favorite to make the finals with Durant/Booker/Ayton/CP3.

It good the Blazers traded him for Eric Bledsoe, Keon and Didi. We've won so many more games since....

 

Teams gave up on him for attitude reasons, not because of his talent. Everyone tried to build around him until getting fed up with the drama. For whatever reason, he's a perfect fit for "Heat culture."

 

It was a bad trade because trading Powell for nothing lowered the talent on the Blazers, and his salary savings didn't give the Blazers any means to add additional talent. If they had Norm on the roster they could trade him and the lottery pick for an upgraded front court player last season or this summer. Instead the Blazers will have to include a rotational player in Ant/Nurk to trades because Jody and Cronin cut costs instead of having flexibility to add talent to the roster.

 

yeah sure, because the Vulcans would have agreed to pay Norm 30M to be trade bait this summer....get serious

do you really think Cronin was the only one driving the bus 16 months ago? it was still 3 months before the Blazers removed the interim GM tag

and I wasn't talking about the trade...I was talking about the misplaced nostalgia for Powell's talents