If Grant and Nurkic are playing with Lillard and Ant that is not appearing to be in win now mode, that is actually being in Win Now mode. Last season was de-railed by not having a bench. It would have been a playoff team with a decent one. Whomever is starting, the bench seemingly is much better than last season.
Even with Lillard playing until December for the Blazers, the lottery seems pretty likely ... really likely. I'd prefer to pay-off Chicago with 2nd rounders years before the 2027 two second rounders consolation prize. In any case, getting to draft more athletic size that D's up would be nice. Keep these clips coming. Well done.
Didn't you hear?? According to my sources (Danny Marang), Lillard is supposed to score 50 points a night for Portland to increase his trade value. Blazers will just feed Dame 24/7 until he's gone. Take a little break on developing Anfernee, Scoot, Shaedon or any of the other young players.
Must have been bad sound quality on that one. With Lillard and Ant starting, the not-tall-trio of guards is pretty athletic and underwhelming on D. The scrum of 6'5 to 6'6 athletes playing at SF -- Matisse, Little and some Sharpe -- is not tall, but athletic and plenty of wingspan.
In that unlikely scenario, I would start Dame and Sharp at guards. That is not a small backcourt. Then I would play Little and Matisse at SF. As you alluded to Nas with his 7'1+ wing span is plenty long enough and his 220 lbs is certainly big enough. If they could only land the right 4, (one who can defend and rebound) and who would allow Grant to play both forward positions, they would have plenty of length to match up with most teams.
Was Larry Bird the last white American to dominate the game of basketball? Do we have to go back that far?
Are you guys gunna be upset if Dame is traded (say for one good young like Scottie Barnes and picks) and we went to the playoffs? That would mean Sharpe and Scoot are the real deal.
Upset? I thought that was the goal. One good player and picks. (and an ending contract) The problem is that no one wants to give up a good young talent for Dame. If they did the trade would be done.
Honestly, I was thinking that question could be another thread. Like, I understand that we're supposed to "build through the draft," but if we already have our future franchise cornerstones (maybe we do, maybe we don't) in Scoot and Sharpe, then how much more top-end talent do we really need to draft in order to build a contender? Would it really be so bad if we got sufficient production from the youngsters/role players we receive in a Dame deal that we become a play-in team being led by 19/20 year olds?
The reason i posted on this thread is because i see many seems to want us to position for high draft pick (wants us to lose games). My point is we should celebrate losing out on the lottery and root for Shae and Scoot and Dame return (player not pick) to ball out and do the unexpected and make the playin/playoffs
Fuck no. I'd be ecstatic if we trade Dame away and make the playoffs. Look, I'm all for doing a long term rebuild and expecting most likely we will have a poor record the next few years without the playoffs. I'm ok with that route and think the team should go down that path while collecting as many assets as possible to eventually try to flip this thing to win in ~3-5 years or something. But if Scoot/Sharpe/Ant/etc have huge break out years starting in a few months, and prove to be legit stud NBA players right away that is MUCH better than getting any draft pick. Were talking about 3 players we have locked up being way better, possibly being allstars, vs the chance of maybe getting one player that could be a bit better while we know our 3 players aren't good enough to get it done. Having a good pick in next years draft is a benefit and would add talent, but that is not the best outcome we can hope for. I expect this playoff idea is a very unlikely longshot, thus I never really discuss it, but it would be far better that Scoot is leading us to wins than not.
