2021 Blazers new reality sinking in - Fight for the 10th seed

Can the Blazers finish in the top 10 this season?

With Nurk and CJ both having month plus injuries, Collins out for the regular season, and the unimpressive performance when the team was healthy; making the West playoffs will be hard for this team.

The good news is the team has the ability to make the playoffs as a 10th seed compared to previously needing to be an 8th seed. The other good news is our draft pick is lottery protected.

Maybe the team develops a defensive identity. Maybe the offense becomes more dynamic than DameCJ ISOs. Maybe 5 other teams in the west have even worse struggles or health. Maybe one or more of Trent, Giles, DJJ, NAS, Kanter performance significantly improves as the season progresses. Maybe all our current injured players get healthy as the playoffs start; along with growth of prior mentioned players the team becomes a force?

Maybe none of that happens. I guess either some of those possibilities happen or we shift our thoughts to the draft.

I'm disappointed we don't have a clear HCA team as we hoped after the offseason, but I guess I'm glad I can reset my hopes now and move on from following every game with the mindset that we are on the edge of being a contender.

Sometimes I question why I even put myself through the (mostly pain) of being a passionate Blazers fan.

Go Blazers!

 

Way too soon to make any predictions about the Blazers’ chances. This year, more than any other season, all teams are going to miss players and games. The Blazers have already had two games postponed this week due to Covid. They won’t be the last. Four weeks without CJ has become 3 and change. The Blazers have to suck it up the next few weeks and stay in the playoff mix, then move on from there.

 

Yeah this thread is gonna have to be bumped numerous times by the end of the season?

 

Not as much as mine though!

 

I think the notion CJ misses 4 weeks is well below the minimum. It was 4 weeks till his foot is re-evaluated. And this is not the first injury to the same foot IIRC. Even if the re-evaluation goes well, it's likely to take at least a couple of weeks to increase his workload enough to get him back in game shape

I wouldn't be surprised if Nurkic and CJ come back about the same time, and Nurk just had surgery that forecasts an 8 week recovery

 

Is there any mathematical possibility of making the playoffs as the 10th seed AND retaining our draft pick? That would perhaps be the best case scenario in this supposedly loaded draft. This team isn't built for tanking.

 

It could well be longer, but the fact that he had a previous fracture really doesn't enter into the equation, IMO. His previous break was a Jones fracture, which is to the bone on the outside of the foot. The new fracture was in a totally different spot on the inside of the foot. It was a hairline fracture and one doctor's video that I posted previously said it was most likely more of avulsion fracture, which tend to heal pretty quickly. We'll just have to see how it goes, but this being the Blazers, probably a bit longer than 4 weeks. In any event, the point still stands that, as of now there are two games that the Blazers would have had to play without CJ are likely going to be played after he returns. As far as Nurk goes, I just hope the big fella is getting his cardo in so that when his wrist is healed he'll be in good condition to step right in and play.

 

Same shit every year. Fight for the last spots, get bounced early, then celebrate moral victories. How about moving on? Dame is almost 31. Let’s get this guy out of his misery and allow him to play for a contender or some shit. The dude is too loyal to do it himself but let’s move on we ain’t gonna ever gonna do shit with this roster

 

Your "Tunchi" is on point today.

 

Ironman it’s the truth. Just like usual you guys will realize it late. Then act like nobody mentioned it before. You’ll see soon enough who was right

 

Not built for tanking.....and not built for contending. Smack dab in the middle of NBA purgatory, year after year.

 

And the only path to land a superstar top10 player is in the draft. That has to contribute to mediocrity. Dame or no dame, portland is a small market, iso heavy team.

 

You and others make this same tired "same shit every year" comment so often that my usual response is just to ignore it, but let's take a closer look. Since Dame joined the team, each season is different, with different players and different issues and different outcomes. Some of the teams have been good, some have sucked.

2012-13: Record: 33 and 49, 11th in the West, missed playoffs.
Roster: Hickson, Aldridge, Batum, Matthews, Lillard, Babbitt, Barton, Claver, Freeland, Jeffries, Maynor, Pavlovic, Price, N. Smith
The Blazers were bad. Hickson at 5? The bench flat out sucked.

2013-14: Record: 54-28, 5th in the West, Lost in Western Conference Semis 4-1 to Spurs
Roster: Lopez, Aldridge, Batum, Matthews, Lillard, Barton, Claver, Crabbe, Freeland, McCollum, T. Robinson, Watson, Williams, Wright,
Olshey assembled a solid lineup around Aldridge & Lillard that just met up in the playoffs with a better team in the Spurs.

2014-15: Record: 51-31, 4th in West, Lost in 1st round 4-1 to the Grizzles
Roster: Lopez, Aldridge, Batum, Matthews (Afflalo), Lillard, Barton, Blake, Claver, Crabbe, Frazier, Freeland, Gee, Kaman, Leonard, McCollum, T. Robinson, Wright
Good solid team that Olshey had improved from the previous season by adding Kaman and trading mid-season for Afflalo. Matthews blew his Achilles and Afflalo flat out sucked in the starting 2 spot. The loss of Matthews resulted in the team underachieving.

2015-16: Record: 44-38, 5th in the West, Lost in the Western Conference Semis 4-1 to the Warriors
Roster: Kaman, Aminu, Harkless, McCollum, Lillard, Alexander, Connaughton, Crabbe, Davis, Montero, Plumlee, Roberts, Vonleh
Aldridge & Batum left the team in the summer and this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Lillard, CJ and a decent supporting cast thought differently. Olshey picked up Harkless and Aminu on the cheap and they turned in solid performances.

2016-17: 41-41, 8th in the West, Swept by Warriors in the 1st round.
Roster: Plumlee (Nurkic), Aminu, Harkless, McCollum, Lillard, Connaughton, Crabbe, Davis, Layman, Leonard, Napier, Quarterman, Turner, Vonleh
Olshey's move to acquire Nurkic mid-season saved the Blazers' season and let them make the playoffs. They were swept by the Warriors, but so was the rest of the West. The Cavs managed to get a game off of them. Other than acquiring Nurkic, the summer of 2016 contracts were a brutal thing.

2017-18: 49-33, 3rd in the West, Swept by Pelicans in 1st round. Ugh.
Roster: Nurkic, Aminu, Harkless, McCollum, Lillard, Collins, Connaughton, Davis, Layman, Leonard, Napier, Swanigan, Turner, Vonleh
The Blazers performed solidly in the regular season, but crashed and burned in the playoffs. The Pelicans exposed a major weakness in the Blazers' attack by trapping Dame. Collins was the major off-season acquisition, with Olshey moving up in the draft to get him at No. 10. Despite showing potential, he's yet to improve enough or stay healthy long enough to make that pick look good. Evan Turner? Double ugh.

2018-19: 53-29, 3rd in the West, Lost in the WCF 4-0 to the Warriors
Roster: Nurkic, Aminu, Harkless, McCollum, Lillard, Collins, Stauskas, Labissiere, Baldwin, Layman, Leonard, Napier, Swanigan, Turner, Trent, Kanter, Hood, Curry.
A good regular season and a good playoff performance to get to the WCF was ultimately nipped in the bud due to the loss of Nurk to a fractured leg. Olshey, IMO, did a good job of bolstering the lineup by adding Hood, Curry, and Kanter. His draft of Trent has panned out well, Simons less so. Stauskas? Holy crap what a bad move.

2019-20: 35-39, 8th in the West. Covid-19 waylaid the season, resulting "Bubble" play to finish the season and playoffs. Dame willed the team to the 8th seed. Lost in the 1st round to the Lakers.
Roster: Whiteside (Nurkic), Anthony, Bazemore (Ariza), McCollum, Lillard, Collins, Hezonja, Labissiere, Swanigan (Gabriel), Hood, Hoard, Little, Trent, Simons.
What a weird season. Olshey did his best to cover for the loss of Nurk by getting Whiteside and signing Carmelo when Zach went down with the shoulder injury. Hood blew his Achilles just a few games into the season and Olshey traded the relatively ineffective Bazemore for Ariza. Ariza skipped the Bubble, leaving the Blazers scrambling and forced to play "skinny" Melo at the 3. Nurk returned in the Bubble play and Whiteside turned pouty. Collins went down in a heap with an ankle injury. The Blazers stole a game off the Lakers in the first round, but ultimately, Dame sprained his knee and it was a quick exit.

I'm sure that I've made a few mistakes in my synopsis above, but it's hardly the "same shit every year". Dame started as a young pup playing with a good group that included LaMarcus Aldridge and had a shot at competing for a title before Matthews went down. Aldridge bailed and Olshey planned a rebuild. I think that Dame's talent kind of screwed him up by denying him a down season with a shot for a good lottery pick. That said, Olshey has been hit and miss with his moves. This off-season, he really tried to give Dame a deep and better team, at least to the extent that he had assets to do it. Getting RoCo and Jones Jr. were solid moves. Re-signing Kanter was too. I think that this year's lineup had a chance to compete once the team jelled, but injuries again have raised their ugly head. Hopefully, the team can keep afloat until Nurk and CJ get back.

Damn, I ended up writing a novel here.

 

You sound like our ex-president. "I told you so" "I was right"

 

Did you expect different? Not WANT or WISHED for different....... but EXPECT?

 

Great research bro.

 

But I am so glad you did it. I seriously used to do this but this time just decided to ignore the troll.
Great job.

 

10th seed??? Come on... we can do better than that! This is the worst team I have ever seen!

 

The last two seasons MVP (Giannis) and Finals MVP season before (Kawhi) were not top 10, they were picked in the middle of the first round.

I would rather have higher draft picks than lower, but even with a decade of the worst NBA record chances are a team won't draft an MVP.

 

My point was not the need for a lottery pick but rather the wisdom behind the selections.