Not expecting much. Pretty much, “find out what we have”. I’m also “hoping” Simons is gone sooner rather than later.
Agree with everybody, but I hope they can win some. I am tired of losing. Tired of rooting for losses at the end of the season.
Looking forward to Scoot being a passing PG always looking for the other guy, expect to see more running and passing which will be very enjoyable. Want to watch these youngsters develop and so glad to see the end of "hero ball" I hope!
Defense, grit, and connectedness … Ball movement on O. Timelord (with good health) and his effect on Ayton. Young guys getting better. Seeing what they have. Shaedon taking growth leap #1. Grant, Simons, Brogdon in trade? Best quality play from all 3 and see what happens.
- things I wanna see: • young guys getting minutes • more action towards the hoop • less dependence on outside shooting • better weakside help on defence • no more terrible zone, put it in recycling can • #1 in my book... rest the starters during B2B's, and on long road trips. Coach ran the starting unit too hard last year. It wasn't fun watching tired players after 40 games. Don't care if the Blazers want to be 20-20. The quest for .500 ball doesn't help a rebuilding team all that much.
Compete every night. Wins are important to keep their spirits up. Constant losing takes a toll. You don't want players to get into the mindset that losing is OK, but if they do lose every night it stops being fun and players will want to get the fuck out of here. I don't expect them to be above 500 but I want them to be close to 500 at home.....then win around 12 or so on the road. Every team gets blown out on occasion but if you want the young players to develop the team needs to be competitive. Having said that I won't be upset when they lose this year...although I guarantee that some of you who say you are ok with it, will still have a meltdown during the game threads.
Here’s what I want to see - buy in on getting better on defense - unselfish play - each player to find a role - Sharpe to become more aggressive - Scoot to make the game easier for his teammates - Ant more free throws and unselfish play although I understand he’s going to have times where it is needed
I’d just like to see us play defense. We can score but the defense hasn’t improved at all. Defense is more important to me than what individual players are doing. Also- Scoot has zero chance at rookie of the year. Wemby and Chet are ridiculous.
He’s been in Portland two years and you’re still not sure if he can coach? I think you’ve answered your own question.
The team hasn't clicked into an identity yet but last night gave me some hope. The Blazers need to sell me on a team to really cheer for and I'm not invested yet but if they gel over 25 games, I'll probably get back to my die hard fandom. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic. Theye gave up 138 pts in a loss in their best game so far.
Some of the people in the game threads seem to equate being frustrated with certain things that the team is doing with being unhappy that the team is bad. That's not the case. I don't care that much if we lose. It's not about wins or losses. I want to see some semblance of an offense. Ball movement. Player movement. I'm not seeing that yet, and I don't understand why they sat our veterans during the preseason. That's when we SHOULD have been working out the kinks. I don't expect perfection. I just want to see effort. I cannot stand watching Simons dribble the air out of the ball and wait for a pick while the other three players stand like statues around the three point line. It's fucking awful. We had a full training camp. We had preseason. We had 10 days between the preseason and today. They should at least understand how to get set up in an offense. It can't possibly be that hard. I don't expect us to be good on defense. I expect turnovers. I expect missed shots. I expect miscommunications. I just want to see effort and growth. I also don't understand drafting a point guard with the third pick and then having him play shooting guard. Billups has him running down the court and posting up on the three point line. He's not a shooter. He needs the ball in his hands. It's asinine. I want to see Scoot play point guard. I want to see Shae play shooting guard. I want to see Ayton get touches in a good position to score. Billups has shown zero capability to draw up X's and O's as far as I can tell.
I see this mentioned as nauseum. I too feel it a bit. But what tangibly are you hoping to glean from him this season? This team might have the worst point differential in the league this yr. With a roster so young, even if Chauncey is a terrific teacher, it might not actually manifest into anything meaningful on the court.
- A pecking order. Our young guys should all get plenty of minutes to either sink or swim. We should have more clarity if guys will either become bench players or future stars who will be part of the core moving forward. - building habits that prioritizes winning. The famed accountability that Chauncey talks about but never actually enforces needs to be at the forefront. - culture. The last two years have been disastrous from this standpoint. We lost all the guys who made this a stong point for almost a decade. Do we have any players that can lead and be professional? Now for player stuff: - Ant to get to the line more. His defense does seem improved a bit. - Scoot needs to get a legit shot at ROY. Whether that's minutes or role, him winning that award or at least getting close makes our moves the past two yrs forgiveable. - Shaedon improves on his handle and playmaking. - Ayton gets out of his funk and starts to hoop. - Do we have something in Toumani? - draft picks for Grant/Thybulle/Brogdon
This team is sorely missing a pecking order. You can just tell that nobody knows who is The Man and it’s a problem.
It takes years to identify. Hopefully the usage fed down their throats this year will elucidate that quicker for us.
