What are you hoping for when you watch a game? What are you watching for? What I care about: I want to see Scoot do well. I am most excited about watching Scoot this year. I'd love to see him win ROY. Not sure if that's remotely possible because of how insane Wemby looks. I want to see Shaedon continue to improve. I still have relatively low expectations for him because he's playing with Scoot/Simons/Brogdon. I think he does his best when he's given the ball. I want to see if Ayton can be consistent. Not sure what kinds of numbers he's going to put up, but I don't want to see him pout and I want to see consistent effort. I want to see if Thybulle can continue to be a 3&D threat. His value goes up immensely if he can keep hitting those threes. I want to see Jabari/Murray/Camara battle it out and push for a spot in the rotation. Hoping Williams and Brogdon can stay healthy. Hoping we move Brogdon for a decent pick. Hoping Chauncey proves us all wrong and is actually a decent coach. What I don't care about: Wins. I don't care about wins. I'm not rooting for us to lose, but this season is not about winning games. This season is about developing Scoot/Sharpe/Ayton. It is a bigger priority to get those guys reps and help them develop chemistry. Simons and Grant. I think Simons is what he is. I don't think he's going to become a good defender. I don't think he's going to grow 2-3 more inches. I think he's going to take the ball out of Scoot's hands and I'm not a fan of that. Grant is fine if he spots up and plays defense, but I don't see him as a long term piece here. I'm hoping we can flip him at the deadline and recoup some of the value we spent to get him. Beyond all that, I just want to watch our young guys grow and hopefully enjoy some exciting basketball. I want to see some more insane athletic plays.
I want the kids to get minutes; specifically I want Ant, Scoot, and Shaedon to learn from Brogdon. If I could have him on the floor 48 minutes as a player coach trotting up and down the court with one or two of the kids at a time, I would. I want Ayton to expand his skill set and learn to enjoy basketball a little more. I don’t mind if he takes it easy but I’d like him to learn how to relax while being checked in. I’d love if we could get an old big man Brogdon type to play for us and coach up our tall trees on the court. I want to have fun, which mean enjoying individual plays or runs but knowing we will probably lose anyway. This is the journey part of the journey.
I care about if they're going to solve the homeless problem in downtown so it doesn't interfere with the championship parade.
low expectations, mostly don't really want to watch Ant dominate usage and shots. I expect Ayton to be...mercurial. Hoping one of the corps of young forwards takes a major step forward but not expecting it at all. Want to see Scoot and Sharpe get lots of burn but I worry about Sharpe I expect we'll all be looking at the 2024 draft class by February while calculating lottery odds
Can someone point me to the pocket of the fan base that thinks this team is making the playoffs or is super high on this team? Because some in the local media seem to be doing a lap wagging their fingers about this team not being good, to buckle up, that ‘fans aren’t ready for this’, and it feels like a patronizing straw man exercise. Is there a corner of the internet I’m not aware of?
Oh man. Listen to the people who call into radio shows. There is a caliber of fans who are blissfully unaware of reality.
Fair, but idk—the fan base by and large seems to be pretty levelheaded about the fact that this will be a team measured almost exclusively in vibes-per-36.
We have just enough talent on this team that it can get peoples hopes up. We dropped 40 points against the Suns starters in the first quarter. We can ball. That will frustrate people.
I hope it isn’t. I want them to focus on defense, developing talent, and building chemistry. Wins will come naturally if they do that.
Palpable growth from Scoot, Ayton, Shaedon, and Billups. Mid-tier in defense stats. No more bottom of the barrel defense shit. Grant dealt at the deadline or sooner if that is possible. Other trade deadline deals, perhaps. Grant would be enough. Don't care about wins. I want the players to buy in 110% and be excited to be in POR.
I think one can have low expectations but still beleive/hope for more. I am in the category that I expect them to lose alot of games, but i believe/hope we can do better and win more games than most think. However, if i wrong, i wont be disappointed because hope is different than expectations. Hope is a good thing as long as expectations maintain a semblance of reality. If we win 23 games my only disappointment would come from not seeing growth in our two draftees. However i think we are more like a 36-40 win team. I think we struggle more in the first half and gel more in the second half. I jaut hope the brutal schedule out the gate doesn't stagnate mental growth of our youngsters. Losing alot can have a dampering effect on one’s positive attitude and effort output.
Have some fun with it is usually what I am thinking about this time every year. This year is no exception.
For me I want to see an exciting brand of round ball played. Im wanting to see guys improve at defense. I sure hope Chauncey actually follows through with how he wants his team to play, fast pace, navigating screens correctly on defense and improve rebounding. If they can develop good chemistry and roles by all star break that would be a plus. My priority hope is that he unleashes Shae and plays him at 2 guard and not just send him to the corners. He needs to get enough minutes to establish his presence and confidence. Not to worried about Scoot's development but I would like to see him create chemistry with Ayton. This being the third year of a rebuild we should expect to see development of the youngsters and be ready to strive for playoffs next year. As an old Blazermaniac from day one, dont want to go through 3-5 more years of, well, if we could just trade this guy and tank we will be elite in due time.
I selfishly just want to be entertained. The blazers were not consistently fun to watch the last couple of seasons. If the blazers are fun to watch, I will be happy. I suspect they will simply because there is so much growth to anticipate.
The habits of the young team by the end of the year will show me whether Chauncey is the guy for this team.
