Blazers best team in NBA?

and they are 13-11....1 win above .500. That doesn't look like the best team in the league

I also question that supposed defensive rating. Not sure I believe it's accurate or true. That would be 24 games with a 102.6 defensive rating which should really shift their season rating way down. Yet, according to bbref, they are still 29th in the league with a rating of 115.9 68 games into the season. Portland's rating at the all-star break was 116.4. There have been 33 games since then and if in 24 of 33 games their defensive rating was 102.6, that 116.4 rating would have dropped a hell of a lot more than 0.5

so...here are the defensive ratings for Portland, game by game, since Powell became the starter. And remember, that guy in the tweet is saying Portland's had a rating of 102.6:

106.3
118.2
100.3
118.9
83.1
134.5
125.4
106.5
117.6
115.6
110.7
114.0
121.4
116.0
125.6
110.7
109.7
107.2
110.3
117.5
125.3
105.9
102.4
102.8

in that stretch, the Blazers only had 3 games with a rating below their supposed average. For chrissakes, they had 12 games with a rating more than 10 points worse than that 102.6 mark. There is no way in hell those work out to 102.6

I'm calling bullshit on those numbers in that tweet

 

The bottom line I think is it proves that this "3 guard" lineup can work defensively.
Assuming they play alongside a good PF and C. Offensively was never a question.

 

great...so all they have to do is each play 48 minutes a game in the playoffs and Portland is golden

 

So the thread title should be "blazers best starting unit in the league". I would still say no but at least it wouldn't be so convoluted and outright misleading.

 

The real question should be just how valuable is Nurkic and who are the morons that want to trade him

 

I’d trade him. He can’t get any lift which results in fewer rebounds and more missed shots in the paint area. He looks to pass (I like this) however I’d take Towns over Nurkic in a heartbeat.

let’s trade CJ and Nurkic for Towns and a sign & trade of Rubio. Not sure if a sign & trade player can be dealt in a package trade? I’ll even through in a swap of number 1 picks in 2023 to sweeten things.

It’s not moronic to believe Nurkic would be ranked around 10th to 12th best centers in the league. But in no way is Nurk a top 5 center.

 

here’s one of them.

 

looking at Blazer lineups:



in terms of net points, which essentially has the same ratio's as ratings....Dame-CJ-Powell-RoCo-Nurkic has not been significantly better than Dame-Trent-Jones-RoCo-Kanter. Same minutes and only 0.5 points better

basically, the DNA is till the same: as Dame goes, so go the Blazers. Portland was struggling when Dame was misfiring and hobbled. Now that he seems to be himself, the Blazers are winning again

it helps to have Nurkic in beast mode a little more too. Nurk/Kanter is a pretty solid rotation

 

it’s just not nice Scalia. I don’t call anyone names.

That said, please tell me....you think Nurkic is a top 5 center? You can’t be serious if you say yes -

 

He’s not elite at any one thing, but he’s at least average at almost everything. He’s absolutely one of the best all around centers in the league. I probably couldnt name five centers with a more varied skillset. And no, I don’t think the solution to one of the worst defenses in the league is to swap out Nurkic for KAT. I don’t know how much more evidence people need before they realize that Nurkic is the glue of this team.

 

Jokic, Embiid, Gobert, KAT, Adebayo, Sabonis, Vucevic....I'd probably rate all of then ahead of Nukic right now. KAT has been hurt a lot but so has Nurkic

 

I like Nurkic for several reasons myself - mostly intangibles like his spirit, willingness to make passes / try making passes. This year I’d give the “glue” award to either RoCo or Kanter however. Thus far anyway. That said, these final games of the season will give Nurkic plenty of opportunity to rise to the occasion! Go Nurk

 

Rubio is actually guaranteed 17.8M for next season but the trade does work as far as the cap goes despite us taking on an extra 5+M.

I honestly don't think Minny does that deal. CJ can't have much value to them with Russell being their. I do think however that @Scalma is a little nutty if he thinks that Nurk is the better fit for this team when compared to KAT. That's honestly laughable.

 

Who asked?

Nurk is a far better defender, that alone makes him a better fit. Jog on.

 

Bingo

 

I wouldn’t put it past Stotts.

 

This doesn't show that the Blazers are the best team, just that they have the best five-man lineup that has played more than 250 mins.

 

There was a question mark in thread title. If starters are playing this well, could we be...