Game Thread 2024-25 GAME #47 - BLAZERS VS BUCKS - JAN 28, 2025 - TUES - 7:00 PM - TNT - BLAZERVISION

That said Dame never ever did what Jimmy has done like being late by 5 hrs for a team flight or throwing tantrums and walking out of shootarounds.

 

Yeah, they're all offense first guys. Scoot and Shaedon need a dawg as the backup guard.

Send Ant and Banton for Cole Anthony Black... I mean Cole Anthony and Anthony Black. Black guards 1 through 4 and he gets after it on that end, he can set up an offense but isn't a great shooter. Scoot's shot has come around, Shaedon's shot is beautiful he just needs a bit more confidence or maybe more consistent effort... both are things that can come with maturity.

Get rid of Ant, bring in Black and reset the pecking order to see if that's something that will get Shaedon more consistently engaged every play of the game on both ends.

 

I think it’s pretty early to say whether Sharpe and Scoot will remain poor defensively. Both obviously have the bodies to be solid. Ant is what he is. A guy who can get blistering hot as a scorer, but is a bit of a sieve on defense. I think when you have defenders like Camara, Deni, Williams and Clingan you can afford a guy like Ant.

 

Hart slices through opponents, Avdija sends them flying.

 

Yeah Deni is great but I find it funny that he just throws himself into defenders and then stays down like a soccer player or something. He's got a flair for the dramatic after initiating contact.

I am here for it though. He's so much fun to watch and really has that motor. Having two guys with that kind of motor in Deni and Tou is really great.

 

Avidija is averaging 18/8/4 per 36 on 22% usage. Part of me wonders what would happen if you upped his usage to 30% by just handing him the ball and letting him do whatever he wanted. What numbers could he put up? I think 25/8/5 on good efficiency is not out of the question? I think he's on the same tier of players as Brandon Ingram, Pascal Siakam and Paul George. Except these guys are making 3x his salary....what a bargain.

 

I speculated in another thread that there's a very high correlation between Rob sitting and both Ayton and Clingan playing.

 

I love watching Deni play hoops! I really enjoyed this one! Finally justified having tickets!

 

Ingram...maybe. He's just too injury prone to sustain any elite production. Every time he gets cooking he gets hurt. When he returns, not so much. But they sure are different kinds of players

Siakam? Saying Deni is on the same tier is a stretch. Siakam has been all NBA twice, the last time only 3 years ago

prime Paul George? c'mon, no way. 34 year old injury-history Paul George. Sure. Might even be ascending to the next tier while PG13 sinks

and it's worth debating the merits of posting the numbers you suggest on a 50 win team vs a 25 win team

 

Hoping the league gives us some lottery karma for tanking responsibly this season. Seemed to do the trick for us in 2007.

 

I'm obviously talking about Siakam and George now. As in 24-25 Siakam/George.

 

A few tweaks to be made, but this is the team. Y'all taking about the young core, this group is the young core. Love watching it develop.

 

He's comparing their production right now.... or least what Deni's production would look like if he was getting 30% usage.

Siakam


George


Deni


I don't know why my snip tool has been so shitty. As soon as I hit "new" the screen gets all pixelated. Anyway, his best shooting month was December, but his best overall month has been January. I think if you expanded his shots to 15-18 FGA per game he could catch Siakam. He's already better than PG13.

 

I’ve loved watching this season. I love the good and don’t mind the bad. Now, post All-Star break when we sit everyone and run Minaya at starting PG, that’s when I’ll check out. Right now, it’s fun. I especially like doing it in our one TNT game and listening to the announcers talk about how great we are. Good times.

 

So which night is the original gang?

Yep.

Yes indeed.

let’s see what happens after the All Star break

 

I missed the game. By the box score and play-by-play, I see that Simons again was motivated against his mentor. Milwaukee missed a lot of 3s, so Ayton and Avidja got a lot of rebounds. We started 3 forwards, but total minutes was normal...guards 96, forwards 96, centers 48. So Billups tried to surprise the Bucks, and later reversed the lineup mix. Even after this loss, the Bucks are on a 9 win 3 loss streak. I think their current record of .578 will decrease a little.

Camara and Trent are equivalent defenders, but have different roles in points vs. rebounds. The play-by-play sometimes shows one do well, motivating the other to do something on the next play. That rivalry, plus the main one, Simons vs Lillard, helps us play harder vs. the Bucks instead of sleeping with a loser attitude, show our potential, and beat the Bucks more than other teams.

Billups is slowly getting sharper. The coming midseason trade may trim the roster and decrease his options. Fewer options might revert him to tanking, or might increase efficiency and win more. It could go either way, but something big will change then.

 

My favorite win of the the season. Not because of who we played but how we played. Our two forwards are dogs those guys never let up on defense. Those two guys should both be on all NBA defensive teams. I feel good about our future with those two at forward positions.

not even sure what position we need to fill in this years draft? Obviously take an upgrade at any position but pretty happy with the young guys we have.

depending on what happens in trades I would be disappointed if we aren’t at least in the play in for playoffs next year.

 

What part of "displaying our wares in the shop window" don't you understand?

 

I agree, it's hard. We have a bunch of forwards I really like - Camara and Avdija obviously foremost, but I like Walker, Murray and see hope for Rupert. We're kind of committed to Scoot and Shaedon at guard, and I'm a huge Clingan fan at center. So....? I mean, I would've said PG a month ago, and I still might, but Scoot's certainly giving me pause these days. If I'm honest, I'd say SG is our weakest link because Shaedon just doesn't seem to have the attitude to make the most of his possible star talent. Maybe we should be dreaming of Dylan Harper, because he works with both of them? But I think he'll be on a Cade Cunningham timeline rather than a Luka Doncic timeline when he comes to the NBA.