Game Thread 2025 SL GAME #2 - BLAZERS VS GRIZZLIES - JULY 12, 2025 - SATURDAY - 7:30 PM - ESPN 2

Incorrect.

Correct

Also correct

 

I honestly did not know that. I was under the impression that if waived he could be picked up and the stretch was part of that.
Learn something every day.

 

Front office's know they have to be more careful with big men. lol It's quite early to say he's not the future of the team a month after the draft, but go on...

 

What’s weird to me is that the NBA used to understand that. Jamal Crawford…. Lou Williams…. Antonio Daniels….. Vinnie Johnson.

Why did we suddenly forget that those guys are better suited off the bench in a microwave role?

 

I think you look at how special Dame and Steph were and people started to think players with their style that weren't as rare of talents in that role could be effective starters but history teaches us that Steph and Dame were the exception to the rule and not the rule. Steph was put in the perfect system and they put the perfect players around him. Dame and CJ starting together for 5 seasons was the dumbest fucking thing in the history of our team.

You could have easily moved CJ for a piece that made more sense before his massive contract and after that contract you could have added a second all star if you included picks. Hell if you used all of the FRPs Neil blew on role players along with CJ's salary post extension we could have added a second all nba first team level guy next to Dame. SMH. Every fucking year of that bullshit was excruciating, not because we weren't good because we were good but because we were missing the chance to be great by sticking with that asinine back court.

 

You have a point. It’s Portland and he’s a center.
I just heard Dallas shut down Flagg.

 

So the question is whether we could have won a ring if Neil had actually traded CJ for Paul George.

 

Well, based on the fact that Paul George has yet to win a championship when he was on teams with more talent than Portland, I am going to go out on a limb and say no.

 

I actually think PG could have really benefited from the leadership of a guy like Dame. Dame probably could have got a more consistent result from PG than guys like Russ and Kawhi who were never really leaders. It's a real shame because if you had a consistent peak PG with Dame, you could have put role players around them and really been a threat to win it all. That being said fuck woulda, coulda, shoulda.

I'm just hoping that we see Shaedon take a big step forward this season being more efficient and consistently looking to score and giving everything he's got on D. Hoping Scoot plays so well that we trade Jrue at the deadline. Hoping to see just a little more on both ends of the court from Deni. Hoping that Tou somehow gets even better at D and just keeps being consistent on O. It would be nice to see Donovan with better footwork and finishing on offense too. If we can see all of those things and have Yang surprise us it will be a really exciting season where we probably are competing for a play-in spot.

 

Eh..... pairing him with Russ was never a good option. And by the time he got to LAC he and Kawhi were both so injury prone.

Although he was pretty injury prone in OKC as well. The guy just can't stay healthy.

 

Be careful, you’ll get put on ignore for saying that out loud.

 

And keep that in mind….when taking into consideration who he is playing against. guys that won’t even be in the league this season.

 

You could do this with EVERY team in the league. Draft is an absolute crap shoot.

 

I know, I was just playing around. Every team missed on Joker. Every team has first round picks who were out of the league within a few years.

 

Shit, Denver passed on him for a scrub in the first round…ha!

 

Not a chance.

 

I don't think it's that cut and dried

mainly because if a Portland GM was willing to trade CJ + picks for PG13, it would have signaled he was willing to take bigger risks and swing for the fences....not just call it a day after landing PG13

 

Denver passed on Jokic twice in the first round.

they took Nurkic at 16 and Gary Harris at 19.

 

fair. I just meant that move alone wouldn't have made us contenders.