We win 1 game, 1 single game and I think it is best that we made the playoffs. I don't want to be swept (obviously) so if I knew that was absolutely happening then I would have preferred lotto but there is always a chance and I think we have a win in us. Should had minimum 2 (if not 3) wins last year so certainly possible.
I'm truly happy. Man the roller coaster and as another thread pointed out I thought without Nurk we would wither away quickly the last 10. While I don't think we would go far in round 1 against the Warriors due to an injured Nurk ( if he plays ) I'd say when we all almost agreed to look forward to even maybe a lottery before the trade, the second half was a thing of beauty. Cherry has already been set on top. If we lose early it'll be like watching a bad movie but boy did that sundae taste good!
Yeah, how'd that work out? Seriously, I remember exactly where I was when we won the lottery. I was in my garage, sitting in my truck, listening to the radio. I'd listened to the lottery on my way home from work and I wan't about to risk missing it in the time it would take me to run in the house and turn on ESPN on the TV. Yeah, that was an exciting moment, but I'd take a Lillard buzzer beater over winning the lottery any day. There are no guarantees in the lottery, even when you win, which we wouldn't have won this year anyway. BNM
You know what sounds weird to me? The way you constantly bash Lillard for his "poor" shot selection and "inefficient" shooting percentages when he absolutely blows Westbrook out of the water in these areas. Jeezus, I can't imagine how much you'd be hating on Lillard if he shot as much, or as poorly as Westbrook. This inconsistency is why everyone in this forum considers you a blatant troll. Last year it was Dame is too feast or famine, while constantly praising Lowry, who, for the second year in a row completely disappeared in the playoffs and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Now this year, it's all about Dame's poor shot selection while constantly slurping Westbrook's nuts. Need I remind you... Damian Lillard: 2FG% = .491 3FG% = .370 FT% = .895 Russell Westbrook: 2FG% = .460 3FG% = .344 FT% = .845 Westbroook shoots worse across the board and he jacks up more than 20% more FGA per game than Lillard. Until Westbrook starts shooting a lot better, or Dame a lot worse, you have no leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing Lillard's shot selection. BNM
I was ecstatic when we won the lottery. But that's irrelevant to my point, the lottery happens after the season is over. I refuse to root to lose.
The Blazers were never bad enough to be serious lottery contenders. Once we got Nurkic, better to get some playoff experience. If we want a higher draft pick, trade for one.
Here's how I look at picking in the back end of the lottery vs. picking a few spots out: Nurkic is essentially our lottery pick, and he's better for us than any lottery pick we were going to get. It was between not trading for Nurkic, and taking our slim chances in the lottery, or trading for Nurkic, fighting our way into the playoffs, and missing the lottery. This is way better. Like 1000 times better. We got our third star, AND the playoffs. And all we gave up was drafting another inexperienced rookie. It's a great day to be a Blazer!
In some ways, getting Nurkic is better than having the first pick in this draft. He's clearly a high lottery level talent. He's proven that his game translates well to the NBA level. He has two+ years of NBA experience, which means he was ready to be a major contributor the day we got him (no need to wait two or three years for him to have a big impact). And, he came with another 1st round pick attached. Seriously, how could anyone prefer getting a pick in the 10 - 12 range over adding Nurk and the 20th pick (plus we still have our own pick in the 15 range)? BNM
This is exactly my thinking. Getting Nurk was like winning a high pick in the draft lottery, and fast forwarding two years, and having the pick pan out perfectly. I am happy to trade the actual lottery for what we got. We got our lottery player, and the playoffs. Score.
We still have 3 first round picks, and other trade assets. It sure feels like the Blazers are in a pretty good position going forward.
And, we got that MEM pick from DEN, our own pick and CLE's. Should be an interesting summer. I wonder what those three picks will turn into. I'm fine with just taking the 3 BPAs and hoping we hit one home run, or at least a ground rule double, and restock our bench with cheap, young talent to help alleviate luxury tax concerns. Or, we can package picks to move up, or to trade for a proven player. So many options... Draft day is like an eBay auction. It's easy get caught up in the rush of the moment and end up overpaying. With three picks in this draft, Neil has the opportunity to be a seller - if someone is willing to overpay. BNM
LOL, typing at the same time. After all the shit Neil has taken for the contracts he handed out last summer, he turned Plumlee into pure gold. He still has work to do, but has the assets to get something done to both improve the team and shed salary. And, he doesn't have to panic. He has until the trade deadline next year to move salary to get under the luxury tax threshold, before we even pay any tax. He can spend the summer accumulating the best young talent possible summer, have summer league, training camp, preseason and the first four months of the regular season to evaluate that talent and how it fits wit the team's needs, before making any moves to dump salary. BNM
And I'm totally fine with that. I see lots of guys in the 15 - 26 range I'd love to see on our team, and I don't usually say that. I see guys in that range that could eventually replace Crabbe for a lot less money, and maybe even challenge Harkless for a starting job in a year, or two. I see back up power forwards that would give us some muscle and rebounding off the bench. Basically, with this draft being so deep at the top in PG and SG talent, I can see some of the best SFs and PFs falling into our range, and that doesn't usually happen. BNM
Olshey, if he does read the way most on here trashed him for everything under the sun, is probably sitting back in his chair with two middle fingers way up high. "Take that bitches" Gotta hand it to him. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat this year.
The only thing I had a problem with was the Crabbe contract, but he had his hand forced on that one. I thought Turner was a reach, in terms of the dollar amount, but knowing our historic inability to attract free agents, I figured spend the cap space or lose it. I thought Turner would be a good fit as an extra distributor and a solid perimeter defender. I still hold out hope, especially with the way he's been playing defense lately. Regardless, this is a work in progress. I can see why some were trashing him based on the results prior to the trade, but he completely turned that around in one fell swoop. I mean, he turned the 23rd pick in the 2015 draft into Jusuf Nurkic and the 20th pick in a much deeper draft. What's not to like about that? BNM
