This is the most excited I have been about this team since we traded for Scottie

I'm all excited until I remember that for the 10th straight year, we will have a small backcourt. At least we have more size up front, but a small backcourt that doesn't play much D kind of rings a bell to be honest.....and the bell is cracked.

 

and it's not a symbol of liberty.

 

Interesting...I've not yet seen Scoot play enough to put that label on him. The reality is, that this team can't be judged on the past, as they are all young and the leader of the team did not set the tone for aggressive defense. We'll find out over the next few months.

 

I'm merely projecting that Ant isn't going to make a 180 degree flip for horrible to very good, and the rookies that come into the league are rarely good defensively, especially at that size. Add in the 19 year old part and it's probably more rare. That doesn't mean they (especially Scoot) can't get better over time, but for this coming 10th straight year, I'm not expecting a huge improvement.

Ant grew up watching Dame/CJ jack up unlimited shots and not play defense....and not be held accountable for that. Scoot seems to have the attitude and strength/quickness to at least hope to improve.

 

1) Lol have you looked at the prediction thread? There are people who think we will be fighting for the playoffs/playin/be a .500 team.

2) Yes, I know it’s not about this year, so why would I be excited about this year? We’re most likely going to suck and we have a bunch of unknowns that we will probably get answers too. So I might start to get excited for the future depending on how this season goes.

3) I did address the future. I specifically stated I might start to get excited in 2 years depending on how Scoot and Shaedon play.

4) Comparing us to OKC is interesting. They don’t have a bunch of short guards. They’re the opposite of us. But anyway, as mentioned previously, if either Scoot or Shaedon turn into Shai, I’ll get excited.

5) There are a bunch of really, really shitty teams that constantly LIVE on the “it’s not about this year, we are adding talent… just wait for [x] player to develop!” train. So once again, I’ll reserve my excitement for when one of our players looks even remotely as good as SGA.

6) As OP eluded to earlier, with this team I KNOW I’m going home with blue balls. Why would I be excited for this season? So we can lay the foundation for next season? Just like the Pistons, Magic, Hornets, Wizards do every year?

I’ll get excited when I see something worth getting excited about.

 

That hit home tonight. No matter how good he is, Scoot is small. I didn’t know how small he was.

 

Magic and Hornets will make a jump this year. They play D and Banchero and Ball may be All Stars soon. Just what we’re expecting with Scoot and Shaedon next season.

 

Scoot isn't playing center.
He's not smaller than Lillard or Steph Curry.

 

What about Indiana? They're expecting to make a jump too. And Detroit.

 

100% agree!

For me, it reminds me of when I lived in Sac. In one summer, Geoff Petrie traded for Chris Webber, signed Vlade, and drafted Jason "White Chocolate" Williams. Then came Peja. Man, that team was so unexpected, so out of nowhere, and so damn fun to watch.

Bring. It. On!

 

Well your level of excitement once again correlates with expectations of this roster and its level of talent. If you think they are going to win 40 games…..compared to 20….. should be fun regardless.

 

I wonder if him being bulky give the optical illusion making him appear shorter

 

I honestly think that the difference on defense compared to offense of starting two small guards as opposed to a small guard and bigger guard will become apparent really quickly. The one thing that we never had to counter the Dame/CJ pairing was an ultra talented SG with size like Shaedon seems to be. I think Chauncey and the rest will realize fairly quickly that we need to develop our players that bring more size and length to the court and even the back court than what we've been doing for the last eight fucking seasons.

 

The fact that the team is taller than usual too. No CJ, no Dame.

 

Everyone wishes the end of the defensive-liability shooting guard.

 

Yeah it's honestly been fucking apparent to the rest of the league for the last 8 seasons and more but maybe just maybe Shaedon's talent along with our depth of young wings will help these idiots to move on from the super small back courts that they've been trying to make work for almost a decade. That shit don't play unless you have two monster defensive small guards like Zeke and Dumars and even then it was short lived success.

 

Warriors won a title with Steph and Poole. Mavs won a title with JJ Barea and Jason Terry. Dame and CJ had the 8th ranked defense one year, and made the conference finals with a one armed horrible defensive Kanter the other.

We have no idea how great or poor Scoot is now defensively or ultimately will be in his prime. Not saying the guard defense wont eventually be an issue, or need schemes, but its not a death sentence so many fans here seem to endlessly harp on.

Additionally we don't really know if Scoot or Sharpe will ever be a long term starter in the NBA. Lets enjoy these young Blazers showing us all the growth and what positives they can bring on the court. This is not the year to find a solution for every shortcoming the team has. There is going to be a lot more problems this year than only the defense of the starting SG. Enjoy the growth, improvements, and all the positives we do see.

If we have good growth this year in a few years we might be able to begin those final steps to try and build a contender. If this youth doesn't develop then the SG defense will be totally irrelevant for much more than a few years.

 

I don't care about shooting guard defensive liability more than any other liability on the court. Would I prefer its a strength instead? Of course, but NBA players all have positives and negatives.

Thybulle has major offensive liabilities.

Ayton is a moody reclamation project with a very concerning motivational liability.

TimeLord has major injury history and health liabilities.

Grant has a huge rebounding liability.

Yes Ant's defense is a potential issue as well - but its one of many imperfect attributes of players on this roster. I'd love for one of our guards to improve defensively, but if Ant doesn't - its not a death sentence any more than any other liability could potentially be.

 

I find it funny that the small guard issue weighs so heavily on some of you. When is the last time that the Blazers have the option of bringing a quality 6’5” PG and 6’5” SG who is crazy athletic off the bench if the starters’ defense is causing problems? When is the last time the Blazers had not one, but two, quality defensive big men available to help cover defensive issues?

 

Off the bench? I find that funny.
Who cares about having a starting shooting-guard-sized shooting guard when you can have one off the bench. Problem solved.