Game Thread 2024-25 PRESEASON - BLAZERS VS JAZZ - OCTOBER 18, 2024 - FRIDAY - 7:00 PM - KATU 2.2 - BLAZERVISION

Eh, I feel like Ant, JG, Deni, Tou, Ayton and Sharpe could all start on 50 win calibre teams, and DC could definitely play a bench role on such a team.

It's hard to see that many decent players win just 22 games without an insane level of dysfunction. I think 35 wins is a realistic goal, unless one of our guys really pops.

Really excited to surround Ant with rangey defensive types who can also score. Something we rarely did in the Dame era.

I think there's a good chance we already had our point guard of the future when we drafted Scoot. I love Henderson, but I feel like he's worth a lot more in a trade than Ant.

 

Yeah, I really felt the opening lineup was Ant and 4 defensive studs.

 

Having a guy who can get 10 offensive rebounds in a game, who is also a great passer, feels very synergistic and satisfying.

 

I have Blazervision and watched the first half live, got up this morning and can't seem to find a full game replay available - anyone able to watch this game on replay?

 

Maybe the Blazers can lucky and and get a lotto pick for him, before it becomes obvious to the rest of the league that he's crap. That's how we got Brandon Roy, for Telfair.

But I'd be surprised if they don't trot out a Simons/Scoot backcourt next year. I guess that will help us tank.

 

I don’t see it either, in case that helps. I’ll let you know if something changes

 

We just blew out the Kings on the road without our leading scorer and crushed the Jazz without our double-double averaging center. And both those teams played their top players. Oh, and without Shaedon, too.

I realize it's only preseason, but I think we should give this a little time to see what exactly we have. The odds are we're still going to be in the top seven or eight picks even if we're playing well.

I think some people miss the point of tanking. Tanking is what you do when you need to acquire assets to get better. But what happens when you're actually getting better? Do you trade the assets you're acquired to make yourself better in the hopes of getting better?

That seems like a two steps forward two steps back mindset.

I'm not on the immediately tank train if it turns out, you know, we might actually be good.

 

Unless we get an unlikely strong return for Ayton, I'd rather hold onto him and keep both guys around 24 min/game, so they're fresh and healthy. That could be in the conversation for best center rotations in the league.

 

agree, and we don't want to push Klingon too hard his rookie season, he still gets gassed quickly. Let him work on his conditioning and not over tax him so he does not get hurt.

 

We have some length, smart players, athletic types and hopefully better shooters and defenders.

 

Simons and Scoot are not even in the same league right now. If you start Simons and PG and the team stays healthy, this team will make the playoffs. If you start Scoot, it's another lotto year. That may end up being better in the long run, but what if we get another good forward but have a god awful back court, then we'd be wishing we had a PG as good as Simons.

 

Scoot is already a better defender.

 

Scoot didn't look good on defense last night, though, particularly in the second half. He still has a ways to go, although I've seen a couple of things in the preseason that give me hope.

 

Which is exactly why we should trade Simons.

We don't have enough talent yet. We need at least 1 more lotto season. Preferably top 3

 

Wasn't that literally the starting lineup of this game? (I guess Anfernee instead of Scoot. Which makes for better balance than your suggestion, because your lineup is short on shooters.)

 

Agreed, although he still overdribbles and is a ball-stopper. But he's working on it - the ball-sharing is so infectious it's even gotten to him and Anfernee.

I LOVED Josh Hart. Does this mean Deni will be traded and everyone will say "it's for the best - he never would have re-signed with us"?

This is worth stressing: he may have improved more than anybody (even Toumani) just because he was so raw before. Now he looks like a rotation player!

One player who seems to have got lost in the mix is Jabari. After his first SL he was my cult hero, but he's sort of been treading water while some of our other 500 forwards pass him by. HOWEVER, he did showcase an improved three point shot, so maybe that'll be enough to secure him some minutes. He's just not as versatile as basically all the others.

 

Quick, trade him for Payton Pritchard! He's KILLING IT in preseason.


After all, we have a good history of trading our young point guards to the Celtics...

 

This team, as constructed, can be competitive. But there is no way in hell management allows it.

Clingan
Deni
Camara
Grant

are all plus defenders.

 

I wouldn't say Jabari's lost in the shuffle. You just can't play everyone every night. Last night be didn't use him, Ayton, Shaedon, Thybulle and barely played Banton and we crushed the Jazz even with them playing Lauri, Clarkson and Kessler.

Jabari might be the best rebounder on this team. There's a place for him and I think he does some things that none of our other 500 forwards do.

There are just so many combinations right now.

I think who sticks and who gets minutes will work itself out. But I'm a lot happier having too many guys that can play than too few.

 

Rupert's trending that way, too.