The prediction of Ant being the new scape-goat only took one preseason game to begin. Grant will clearly be the other one. Once they're both gone, Sharpe will be the next target.
I'm going to blame Jabari Walker's 5 minute shift why the Blazers lose. Even if he hits all 3 of his shots and grabs 4 rebounds.
I'm calling BS. Sharpe and Scoot are better players today than anybody we could have traded anything but Dame for. Except in extremely lopsided trades that would hurt more than they helped. Shutting good players down when they can't get to the playoffs is the norm. Now with the new rule they will just play very lite minutes.
the league went after the Mavs hard for playing Luka "light" minutes. It's a point of emphasis. No tanking with All-stars.
I'm not disagreeing with the Blazers tank. I simply listed "fake injury" missed games. The Blazers gave themselves an open-minded opportunity for a 3rd straight "end of season" Blazer tank with 0 All-Star players on this roster.
That's just a part of the process. Having an old All Star on this team wouldn't be good for anybody. They don't want this situation, they want titles. And they'd just take minutes that our younger players need.
I've been on the Trade Ant bandwagon for over 2 years now but I just don't think he garners much interest around the league. Blew it by not trading him at the deadline the first year Chauncey coached the tank. His value has never been higher. I'd rather keep Brogdan for the money and use Skylar Mays as a backup pt guard. I don't think this will happen but who knows? Nobody looked great on offense against the Kiwis yesterday in my view.
From the game thread of the game nobody could really watch it seemed to me like it was clearly Grant that will be the guy S2 turns on but you may be right now that I have been reading more. Simons is taking some heavy abuse.
HUGE fines now. Not slap on the wrist 150k. We're talking multi-million dollar stacks for tanking All-stars. "supposedly". Major warning shots by the NBA
maybe I'm not paying close enough attention but I don't see anybody saying things about Simons that haven't been said, repeatedly for 2-3 years, by lots of posters
pre-draft portland would only take back a two-way wing for Ant that can help Dame win. In this new context, we can take back different types of packages that may not look like that. for example, my current POV is NOT to try to get an OG-type asset back, but rather more flier wings with upside in the hopes that one of them hits through development. (in the same vein as camara, rupert and murray) or, a negative-value contract and some juicy picks. the latter two ideas would have been non-starters in the dame era.
I think you'll notice that is's louder this year. As I see it, this board, in general, overvalues the potential of 19 year olds and undervalues the production of players in their 2nd and 3rd contract on the team. So predicting the whipping boy is pretty easy.
It’s cute that you think it just begun. I have been unhappy with Simons as the starting shooting guard for at least a year.
in that context sure but another context is the 'familiarity-breeds-contempt' context. The longer people have to watch obvious flaws in players that aren't ever corrected while the players keep being rebooted as Blazers, year after year, the more intense will be the contempt