I think Blazer fan can understand tanking; and they can understand rebuilding I think they are having trouble trying to figure out wtf Cronin is doing because quite a bit of it doesn't match a rebuild
Joe is talking like he isn't built for it but I think he's just trying to preserve the value of his vets. We'll see. I'm here for a total rebuild and I'm looking forward to watching a fun athletic young team that takes a few years after this one to figure out how to win games and then another year to figure out how to win games that matter. I wasn't one calling for the rebuild but after Dame demanded his trade I got excited for a real rebuild around Shae and whoever else can develop.
Agreed... Also, if we just throw out exclusively rookie contract players out there, not only are we just going to get thrashed every night, we're inevitability going to have a bunch of guys with inflated stats, that come contract time, will produce over-priced contracts. A little balance doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world.
This season has been so god awful for assessing and analyzing. We have had so many injuries. Simons has missed significant time. Sharpe has missed significant time. Scoot has missed a decent chunk of games. How are we even supposed to know what we have?
maybe....but having veterans around who take minutes away from the young guys could hurt development as well. Of course, it's been such a MASH unit this year who knows
Yeah that's been a real bummer. I don't like the way Ant's style meshes with what little we've seen from both Shae and Scoot but I really wish we would have had more time to figure that out. Figuring out that back court probably goes into next season.
Honestly I'm not even sure we need to see it. I just don't see how they could work together. The only way it works is if Simons comes off the bench. I don't see that happening.
Your happiness in life will generally be correlated to 'your expectations versus your reality.' If anyone expected this team to actually compete for a play-in spot (about the highest you could have reasonably expected) than I get why you are mad about this team, personally I figured the goal was always another top 5 lottery spot, so they are who I thought they were. I will agree that Cronin's presser saying he hopes to be the next Rockets was very concerning though, that franchise shouldn't be the model for anyone.
I'm not sure what drafts you're mushing together to form this generalization, but it sure wasn't the "bad draft" of 2013. The lotto contained many washouts including the #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett who was out of the league after his rookie deal ran out. Of the lotto picks, only #2 overall pick Victor Oladipo made an All Star team (2018,2019). He was a great athlete who upped his skills while in the league... his career was derailed by injuries not ability. Michael Carter Williams was a very solid athlete drafted at the end of the lotto who went on to win the ROY... he never figured out how to shoot but he enjoyed a good career. The clear best player from it was of course Giannis at #14, who was both the youngest and arguably the best athlete with the highest ceiling... again a great athlete who developed into an all time great player while in the league. There were numerous other solid pros from that bad draft (CJ, Gobert), but the takeaway wasn't to avoid the great athletes with upside. STOMP
Look: it's not necessarily about the scouts. It is literally impossible to tell how good an untrained teen will become. For every Giannis there's ten Stromile Swifts. If you're in the top of the draft then you pretty much HAVE to take a flyer on one of the picks that just won't be available later, because (unless you suck permanently) you're not going to get another shot at a player like that. Whereas, if you're Miami or the San Antonio of the past, you can take somebody who can actually play. There's probably as much history of a guy like a Jalen Brunson or Draymond Green, dismissed as "low ceiling" turning into a star as there is of players like Darko Milicic or Shawn Bradley or Stromile Swift.
Then this is the wrong team to be following .. should probably be a bandwagon fan of a winning team if your psyche can't handle the ups and downs of most small market NBA teams.
again, the #2 pick Oladipo was absolutely one of the top athletes in that draft. He went on to develop his skills and enjoy a successful career. In retrospect he is unarguably one of the best players from that draft which seems to directly counter your "never" claim but whatever... STOMP
The part where it would have been easier to build a championship team around Dame than to build a championship team without him? Yeah, that's the part where I decided I didn't want to trade Dame. Unfortunately, Dame knew more than we did, and he lost faith. Which realistically probably means these guys won't be the group that builds a title contending team without Dame, either. So, I'm just kicking back and trying to enjoy as much as I can. Hoping they can pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Building a championship around Dame was not easier. We had no assets and we're not a free agent destination. Right now he's playing next to one of the top 2-3 players in the entire league and they only have the third best record in the East and the 7th best record in the league. They're massively underperforming their expectations. If he can't do anything with Giannis, how were we going to build a team around him at this juncture? Neil pissed away his prime.
Building from the ground up is the reality for franchises like Portland. Realistically we were screwed when Neil let LMA and Wes and Rolo walk for nothing. Traded Batum for nothing. The team was massively set back.
