I have a basket of hopes, and I have a basket of doubts. I'm fairly confident some of the things in both baskets will materialize. Hopes: Scoot moves into the #1 spot, while retaining his genuine self, and continues his ascent. Murray continues his rise. He is a plodder, but his ascent is not fast enough. This year is his shot. Thybulle has his best season yet and is part of that "glue" core. Klingan/Yang not only both continue their rise, they become an inseparable duo, solidifying the frontcourt until salaries demand otherwise. Siddy continues to use his effort and power to carve out a role in the league. Love overcomes the tide of doubt. Doubts: I am beginning to doubt that Shaedon develops into an alpha player. I sometimes wonder if he truly sees PDX as his future home. Timelord has had a nice career. I doubt he will play a significant role as a player moving forward. Mentor? Tap in? Yes. I think I have seen Rupert's ceiling. He will have moments, but I truly have doubts as to how far he will develop. JG ill somehow recapture his best game....and fit into this team the way they need him to.
Portland 2024/2025 Season Team stats for 3's. 12.9- 3's made per game 34.2% And the Blazers team stats without Ant last season - 11.8 - 3's made per game 32.1% We're worse of course from deep without Simons, but how much is the question....
Never been a with/without a player stat person. Who else was missing….where was the game……who were they playing……. Too much goes into the with/without
Look when Pigpen left the Dead, they entered their most creative phase because they had to make up for all the songs he used to sing. Yeah we will miss Ant and what he brought but everyone else will get more touches now. And that’s exciting.
You're never going to trade Ant for a guy who brings what he brings. Otherwise you wouldn't trade him.. You're never going to get a guy of similar age who plays defense, passes well, and can get hot like Ant from the three. We just hung on to him too long. He should have been traded for draft picks or prospects a couple seasons ago. And if we lost a ton that would have been great. And if we struck gold that would have been great too. Getting an aging Jrue back for him at this oint is a gift.
shit...don't remind me....I had a couple of good friends who were total dead-heads. Obsessive to obnoxious levels. And I never really got into their music I was driving to the Portland airport with one of my dead-head friends to pick up out wives who had taken a trip to Italy. It was shortly after Jerry Garcia died and my friend just couldn't shut-up about it....blahblahblah....I finally had enough and yelled, "you know what....I'll be grateful when they're all fucking dead". We weren't such good friends after that
Obviously, the biggest thing to be excited about is the internal development that could happen this year. - Scoot, I think having both Dame and Jrue to learn from is just going round out his game, and he definitely has the tools to be a top-tier defender. I remember with every foul I saw he committed guarding the post against guys 6’10+ his rookie season, I thought to myself he is going to be a stout defender one day. I’m interested to see if Scoot learns to become a better PnR operator with Dame being more of an extension to the coaching staff this season. - Shae, it’s really just a wait and see with his intangibles. Hoping Jrue has the biggest impact on Shae. As much as an improved shot will impact his game, I think his defense progressing would be a bigger deal to me. But he does need to get better at his shot, and he will. - Camara, what, hoping for more volume on 3’s? Maybe more of a handle and one-on-one game for end of clock situations? - Avdija, seeing if he can continue in his increased role as a decision maker. I’ve been full advocate of Scoot starting/Holiday finishing and Grant/Camara starting but Deni plays the most minutes off the bench, but having Holiday start at PG actually gives Deni more of an opportunity to continue in that point-foward role. Hoping for a 22/8/7 ballpark season if Chauncey starts Holiday, which I think is most likely. - Clingan, just continuing to get a better feel for how the game is called and his finishing/conditioning. Outside of that, I’m excited to see how he continues to develop on both sides of the ball. - Yang, any type of offensive flashes and glimpses of solid-to-good defense, and we will be dreaming of an offense built around him in a couple years. That SIX guys that are realistically in our core that should see significant time on the court (I’m not relying on RobWill for more than 1/4 of the season). Rounding that core out with Jrue and Grant this year, then having Dame back the following year, this is a team that can really compete that year that Dame is back. In that core of guys, I do think we have “the guy” somewhere. In some alternate universe, I can see Shae becoming DBook with Jordan’s athleticism. In another, I can see Yang being the focal point of an offense once he adjusts to the NBA game defensively enough to stay in for most of the game. I think Camara and Avdija is a very good floor at forward. Let’s see what happens in a year with expectations.
I think Scoot and Sharpe come off the bench. Maybe DC as well. The Conductor won’t sit Holiday or Grant. He may also start Williams. Guys will lose confidence Excited though for all the things the OP pointed out. Hoping Yang learns the NBA and it’s conditioning quickly
The only must start guys are Deni and Camara. Their by far our two best players. Will be insane if they don't start. I'd expect Clingan starts at center. If Timelord outplayed him you still want Timelord minutes and role to come along slowly. If Yang outplays anyone you still want him to prove it off the bench first. I'd expect Jrue starts at PG. If Scoot clearly outplayed him in theory he could start but even in that case I expect the Blazers will want Jrue to be given a chance to keep that starting PG spot in the regular season. That leaves one final starting spot, I'm expecting Grant to be given it similar to Jrue. In theory Sharpe or Scoot could earn it. I think our starters are likely set with the above and not really going to change in training camp or preseason. After game 5 or so of the regular season if any of our bench players, Scoot, Sharpe, Thybulle, Yang - are clearly outplaying a starter they will get a chance to move into a starting role.
