Can Dame and CJ contend for a title together?

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Can Dame and CJ contend for a title

  • Yes - They can contend for a title on the same team

    Votes: 24 52.2%

  • No - The Dame CJ duo must be broken up to have a chance to win a title

    Votes: 22 47.8%
  • Total voters
    46
  • Poll closed .
SharpesTriumph

SharpesTriumph

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What do you think - is it possible for Dame and CJ to contend for a title together?

I hear some people say CJ must be traded for the Blazers to have a chance at winning a title. Others seem to believe a new coach or new teammates, new starters, could elevate the Blazers to contend. What do you think?
 
Of course they can. You win and lose as a team...if they play as a team...they can beat anyone...these guys can put up 70 pts a night together already...when one is down, we don't lose having a top shelf scorer starting for us....we just need team chemistry...surround them with a solid two way squad and they'll compete....people forget that even guys like Adam Morrison have two championships and he couldn't tie their shoes...Will Purdue has a fist full of rings ...it just takes a lot of intangibles to line up and they can win the chip together. We'll see how they look soon enough with the new staff and bench...CJ was beasting before his injury last season
 
The Blazers roster has been broken ever since Wes Matthews went down with an injury. In his prime, he was a poor man's Jimmy Butler, a 3 and D wing that could also create his own shot. Replacing him with CJ in 2015 has locked the Blazers into the mediocrity cycle that they cannot break out of due to the fact that they are playing two point guards with similar games. This is Olshey's biggest failure. Dame's prime has been wasted by a stubborn front office not realizing that Dame and Dame Lite is not the answer.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
The Blazers roster has been broken ever since Wes Matthews went down with an injury. In his prime, he was a poor man's Jimmy Butler, a 3 and D wing that could also create his own shot. Replacing him with CJ in 2015 has locked the Blazers into the mediocrity cycle that they cannot break out of due to the fact that they are playing two point guards with similar games. This is Olshey's biggest failure. Dame's prime has been wasted by a stubborn front office not realizing that Dame and Dame Lite is not the answer.
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I didn't understand it when we drafted CJ the freaking year after we drafted Dame, and I still don't..... 8 years later.
 
WesleyMatthews said:
What do you think - is it possible for Dame and CJ to contend for a title together?

I hear some people say CJ must be traded for the Blazers to have a chance at winning a title. Others seem to believe a new coach or new teammates, new starters, could elevate the Blazers to contend. What do you think?
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Of course they can. There is an obsession in here about height. Always height. What we should be focussing on is effort.


With a new coaching staff, with a new emphasis on team play and accountability on both the offensive and defensive end, I believe we will see a new and better team, and a team whose backcourt is the envy of the league...
 
Natebishop3 said:
Sure...... if you bring in LeBron or KD or another superstar.

I don't think we can win a title with CJ as our second best player.
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This is it. CJ is fine as a 3rd banana. But he's featured (and paid) like he's a definitive 2nd.

That said, I don't think his contract is AS BAD as some here like to say. He's the ~30th highest paid player in the league, and on a good day, he's about the 30th best player in the league. However, the problem arises when he and Dame have a lot of the same skillset and they don't complement each other as well as you'd hope. The opportunity cost of CJ occupying ~30% of the cap becomes an issue.

Let's also see if Chauncey fixes this. We've only seen this duo doing this taking turns thing with Stotts. It pissed me off even more when Monty Williams figured out how to maximize CP/Booker in one season while they also occupied the same space on the floor and had largely similar skillsets.
 
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kind of a trick question

if it was Dame + Durant or Dame + Giannis or Dame + Kawhi, and CJ was a 3rd/4th option, then sure. But it wouldn't be Dame/CJ, it would be Dame/Durant, etc

the problem is CJ takes all the air out of the room. He gets an elite player's FGA's and an all-star's salary. And he's neither. He makes 15M/year more than the 3rd highest paid Blazer...and the Blazers are still over the tax line. He's the roadblock to contention...or rather Olshey's view of CJ's value is. No room for a 2nd elite talent with CJ on the payroll, and CJ's ball-dominance on the floor

so the answer is no
 
I have a suspicion that Dame and especially CJ are just out of their depth when it comes to defending another back court. I don't think coach Billups is going to be able to change that. You just can't have two poor defenders at the 1 and 2. On offense I think some adjustments could be made that would finally make their games' more synergistic but we haven't really struggled on offense.

I hope I'm wrong and I obviously could be. I hope they come out this season and lock other back courts down on defense and take an already potent offense to new heights. Just because I don't see that happening doesn't mean it won't.

If it doesn't happen Neil better trade CJ at the deadline for something that does make sense on this roster.
 
riverman said:
Of course they can. You win and lose as a team...if they play as a team...they can beat anyone...these guys can put up 70 pts a night together already...when one is down, we don't lose having a top shelf scorer starting for us....we just need team chemistry...surround them with a solid two way squad and they'll compete....people forget that even guys like Adam Morrison have two championships and he couldn't tie their shoes...Will Purdue has a fist full of rings ...it just takes a lot of intangibles to line up and they can win the chip together. We'll see how they look soon enough with the new staff and bench...CJ was beasting before his injury last season
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This is the most troll post about Dame and CJ I've ever seen from you. You just said Adam Morrison could win championships and Dame and cj can't. Wow.

;)
 
Strenuus said:
This is the most troll post about Dame and CJ I've ever seen from you. You just said Adam Morrison could win championships and Dame and cj can't. Wow.

;)
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Are you talking about multiple-NBA champion Adam Morrison?

Checkmate!
 
To me, the key is Nurk. If he returns to Beast Mode under Billups tutelage, the sky's the limit. He was so good before that injury, when the Blazers went on to the WCF in 2019. I still think if Neil doesn't make a deal for Simmons, the Blazers will go after K Love after a buyout if it happens. He'd be perfect coming off the bench. Zeller, Nance Jr. ,Love, Nas , Ant, Snell, & McLemore is a pretty nice bench.
 
tykendo said:
To me, the key is Nurk. If he returns to Beast Mode under Billups tutelage, the sky's the limit. He was so good before that injury, when the Blazers went on to the WCF in 2019. I still think if Neil doesn't make a deal for Simmons, the Blazers will go after K Love after a buyout if it happens. He'd be perfect coming off the bench. Zeller, Nance Jr. ,Love, Nas , Ant, Snell, & McLemore is a pretty nice bench.
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The problem is that Nurk has never been able to sustain beast mode. He only does it in spurts.
 
Strenuus said:
This is the most troll post about Dame and CJ I've ever seen from you. You just said Adam Morrison could win championships and Dame and cj can't. Wow.

;)
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No I did not.....I said Adam Morrison had two rings so of course Dame and CJ could win a championship...learn the difference between optimistic fan and troll dude....Will Purdue was thrown in for humor....winning rings doesn't mean you're a two way player or superstar although CJ and Dame are both quality players...you really should gain some persective about what is serious and what is lighthearted in a post ....I think Dame and CJ could be as good as Isiaah and Joe Dumars...both small guards who won...I think Adam Morrison was Idaho Stampede fodder...show me where I said Dame and CJ couldn't win.....right...you can't because I didn't say anything of the sort...get over your snark
 
So, the Suns just contended for a title with an ancient Chris Paul and a defensively-challenged Devin Booker as their starting backcourt. They had a better/healthier supporting cast than the Blazers, but not so much so that it's beyond the Blazers to get to that level with Dame and CJ as starters. Things broke the Suns' way in that Western teams more likely to make the finals than the Suns last year (Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets & maybe Jazz) all had major injuries and the Suns got to the NBA finals. Could that happen with the Blazers this season with Dame and CJ as starting backcourt? Sure. Is it very likely? No.
 
e_blazer said:
So, the Suns just contended for a title with an ancient Chris Paul and a defensively-challenged Devin Booker as their starting backcourt. They had a better/healthier supporting cast than the Blazers, but not so much so that it's beyond the Blazers to get to that level with Dame and CJ as starters. Things broke the Suns' way in that Western teams more likely to make the finals than the Suns last year (Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets & maybe Jazz) all had major injuries and the Suns got to the NBA finals. Could that happen with the Blazers this season with Dame and CJ as starting backcourt? Sure. Is it very likely? No.
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We lost in 6 games to the same Nuggets team that they swept. We are miles apart from Phoenix.
 
riverman said:
We're not that team anymore by a long stretch...minus 8 players last count..minus an entire coaching staff and with the possibility of health and an actual training camp...I like our chances
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Going back to Dame's frustration after seeing Denver get swept by Phoenix, I think he feels differently. Larry Nance isn't changing that.
 
e_blazer said:
So, the Suns just contended for a title with an ancient Chris Paul and a defensively-challenged Devin Booker as their starting backcourt. They had a better/healthier supporting cast than the Blazers, but not so much so that it's beyond the Blazers to get to that level with Dame and CJ as starters. Things broke the Suns' way in that Western teams more likely to make the finals than the Suns last year (Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets & maybe Jazz) all had major injuries and the Suns got to the NBA finals. Could that happen with the Blazers this season with Dame and CJ as starting backcourt? Sure. Is it very likely? No.
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I feel like this overlooks the massive gap between Ayton and Nurk. Plus, this only proves that you need a decent defender in the backcourt with your defensive deficient guard.
 
riverman said:
We're not that team anymore by a long stretch...minus 8 players last count..minus an entire coaching staff and with the possibility of health and an actual training camp...I like our chances
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by minutes played against Denver:

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the top-5 are back, and 6 of the top-7....of the team that lost to a Denver team missing their 2nd best player plus their 6th man

essentially, optimists are hoping for Billups to have magic beans in his 1st year of head coaching. He only has 7 months of coaching experience, yet many seem certain he will be so superior to Stotts that will make the difference between mediocrity and contention

as for the rotation, It's Zeller instead of Kanter and Nance rather than Melo. It's arguable if Zeller is an upgrade, essentially leaving any talent upgrade in the Nance vs Melo comparison
 

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illmatic99 said:
And Bridges.
And Monty.
And Booker's improvement.

etc.
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I didn't say that the Blazers were there yet; that remains to be seen. Nurk is going to have to play up to the best he's played as a Blazer. Nance is going to have to be a real difference-maker. Billups and the new coaching staff are going to have to get the Blazers playing much more effective defense, etc. But the question in this thread is can a pairing of Dame and CJ as the starting backcourt contend for a title? My answer is, sure, but it's going to have to take a bunch of internal improvement PLUS the kinds of external breaks that put the Suns into the finals last season. Could that happen? Sure. Is it likely to? Probably not. CJ as the second-best player is going to have to play the way he did at the start of last season throughout an entire year in order for him to occupy that position on this roster and have the team be in a position to contend IF things break their way.
 
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