Game Thread 2024-25 GAME #5 - BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - OCTOBER 30, 2024 - WED - 7:30 PM - KATU 2.2 - BLAZERVISION

Nobody has said their improvement would stop. They will likely look better halfway through the season than they do now, no matter what.

But will they be as good as they would have been if they had been getting those reps? No.

And we'll be winning games that will cost us draft position.

 

Will they be as good? You don't know they wont and that is the fact. Having vets to go against in practice can help more than no one to go against.
I don't 100% disagree with you but i think it is considerably less of an issue than you persist it is. You continue to leave out some of the benefits of having vets on the team.

 

There are no benefits to having these vets on the team. They don't play the right way. We don't want our guys learning to chuck those shots. We don't want our guys learning to play bad defense. We don't want our guys learning how not to rebound.

All of that, and they get some respect from the officials, so we'll win some games we shouldn't. Hurting our draft position.

It drives me crazy seeing them out their dominating the ball and jacking shots. Not boxing out.

Either Chauncey is the worst coach I've ever seen or these vets you want teaching the team are showing our young guys how to ignore the coach.

 

I don't entirely disagree with you, blame the NBA for setting up a structure that incentives losing.

 

Pretty simple, Cronin built a roster with 3 vets that take 90 million of the cap but aren't top 80 players in this league so have no chance to lead this team anywhere close to the playoffs. We should have traded away all our vets when we traded Dame.

OKC yes did that and had two bad years of losses then started winning. But they aren't the only ones, Houston also did that well. Spurs have added talent and picks to their roster (beyond Wemby) by using cap space to add picks instead of mediocre vets on bloated contracts as Cronin has done.

 

Having vets is one thing. Having Jerami Grant be Granted minutes is another. It stinks.

Billups is full of poop preaching his Pistons mentality while letting Grant drift through games.

This current team should be all about effort and talent. Not one or the other.

If there's a young player putting out 1000% with positive play, leave him on the damn court.

 

I partially agree with you that the Blazers need vets. But it doesn't have to be vets with positive trade value, it can be a Harrison Barnes that also gets us a FRP like the spurs got. It can be ONE of the Grant/Ayton/Simons trio but doesn't need to be ALL three of them.

 

That's what I meant by Little Scooter playing "economically." He substituted frugal humble play for conceited play.

http://www.sportstwo.com/posts/5715384/

 

again simply your opinion. if you think there is zero benefit, i cant read anything else. You are simply wrong.
Hell i saw grant walking out with walker talking to him. You have no clue what they work on, off the court aNd to imply you do makes it tough to take you serious on this. you don't know that Grant isn't showing walker how to position himself with the back to the basket, etc.

You dont know that ant isn't working with scoot on his shot. You dont know that Ayton isnt working with Klingon.

Take a break. Breathe. It will all be fine. It seems you are letting a small issue turn into the end of the world in your head.

 

Id bet that if we had Barnes on this team the forum would be screaming to trade him because he doesn't fit the timeline… among other things.

 

Wrong.

 

If he were doing the same things for the same amount of time, maybe.

 

Curious. What makes you think im wrong? You have witnessed the practices? Off court conversation?

Or are you saying im wrong in what i saw with Grant and Walker?

Please post some video of the practices you go to that prove that my opinion is wrong. if not, this “wrong” post is just silly…

Do the words, “that could be possible, but i doubt it”, exist in your vocab?

 

You aren't going to learn beneficial things from players who are getting by on their god-given talents alone.

Both Simons and Grant have been gifted their abilities. They choose not to do the hard thing and just get by on their naturally gifted abilities.

I don't want any of our young players learning those habits.

I'd much prefer they learn habits from a player who has average athleticism and average size but whose habits have allowed them to play in the NBA.

Those players typically make far less money. Those players never play the way Simons & Grant play.

If you get players with the talents of Scoot and Sharpe to learn from those kinds of players you wind up with championship caliber players.

 

There are far too many assumptions in thos to rake seriously.
Like athletes make it to this level without working hard?
You seriously think Ant and Grant arent doing anything to try to improve thier game?
Id likely say you are wrong on that.

 

Well, I didn't say they aren't doing anything to improve their games. Both of them very clearly put in work on the offensive side of the ball. And I didn't say they don't work hard.

Ant is definitely not working hard on defense. Grant is definitely not working hard on rebounding.

That indicates that they aren't trying to fix their glaring weaknesses. And haven't done so even after 7 plus years in the league.

Those aren't assumptions. Both of those guys are perfectly capable of doing those incredibly important tasks. They are among the worst in the league at them because they don't care about them.

And they are being rewarded by being able to dominate our whole offense and get the most minutes on the team.

No, I don't want our young players learning that.

 

This is 100% an assumption.
Check out websters…

 

Okay, if you're using Webster's overly broad definition then literally any statement can be viewed as an assumption. And what I'm saying is an assumption based on facts and data.

Either way, your point is completely invalid, and you're now just arguing for the sake of arguing.

They are literally each among the worst in the league at these things that they are uniquely physically and athletically capable of doing (Ant defense in general. Grant, rebounding in general). These are facts.

They are being rewarded both financially and with maximum playing time and maximum offensive opportunity for being uniquely bad at the aforementioned critical aspects of basketball.
This is a fact.

I do not want our young players to learn that this is an acceptable path.

None of that is an assumption, as is commonly used.

Feel free to argue any of that if you like.

 

The problem with Grant/Ayton/Ants contributions to this team is even with them we're a bottom 5 NBA offense. They are earning $90 million. So what benefit does that really provide this team or show our youth to watch veterans lead us to such a poor performance?

If we had more of our youth taking some of their roles and developing would we be worse? Almost certainly, but being 2nd worse or 5th worse just doesn't matter much in a season like this. It doesn't matter much for the next 2 years.

Now I do think we should keep ONE of them on this team. It's nice to have a veteran who they can turn to if we have a deer in the headlights moment and need someone to lead the way. But we don't need ALL THREE of them when were in this deep rebuild.

Also, having some youth in those roles would let us go all out to win with 100% effort instead of doing these fake injuries to tank for the 4th year. That is as damaging if not more so to our young players development. We need a culture of at least trying 100% to win, that has not been the case at all since Olshey was fired.

 

"Star" players know they will play long minutes and play accordingly.

Billups treats Grant like he's a Star.

Grant was really bad last game and played more minutes than Walker, Murray, and Rupert combined.

The message there is that you can have a completely shitty game, and all is well. You can sleep tight after the game. No worries.

There's no way Billups would allow one of Rupert, Walker, or Murray to play 34 minutes

AND shoot 3-14 with only 3 rebounds. No Way. Not if everyone is healthy.

GRANT IS NOT A STAR.

Billups immediately needs to STOP treating Grant like he's anything more than a good-at-times veteran role player.