Championship window thoughts

EDIT: YES YES SMALL SAMPLE SIZE THESE ARE JUST IDLE SPECULATIVE THOUGHTS GUYS

With two potentially great 19/20 year old rookies, Nurk at 22, Hark at 23... did Neil just move our championship window out to where Dame and CJ are the Crafty Veterans supporting our front line studs?

 

Our championship window is like a bay window in a rich old lady's house. It's very nice and very large. You could almost fit a table in there and eat your breakfast in it.

 

It’s really really wide now; if the frontline overachieves, then we might get there with Prime Dame/CJ. If not, Dame and CJ can support a Prime Nurkic. A Prime Caleb is now also a possibility...

The thing about bay windows is you sometimes have to bust them open.

 

There's always a chance but the window is painted shut right now.

I think we are one all-level Defensive SF away from being able to legitimately start dreaming.

 

Bravo sir, bravo.

 

Do those exist?

 

Sure, but you tell me how we're going to get Kawaii Leonard.

 

So who are the college prospects at SF this year? NO did a fantastic job of taking care of the PF needs going forward. Can he strike gold at SF in this year’s draft?

 

Honestly at this point it all depends on the trades and off season moves we make for the next couple years. It's there, just gotta move some guys around and keep trying with free agents

 

Honestly, I believe that as we are, you can take your "Championship" thoughts and toss them out your window.

 

It really is amazing how much better and how much younger our front court has become in just 8 months.

Of course, it started with the Nurkic trade. Nurk is four and a half years younger than Plumlee and an obviously much better fit and much more impactful at both ends of the floor. That move, trading the 27-year old (almost) Plumlee for the 22-year old Nurk immediately widened our window.

I said it at the time, and many times since, extending our window was the best move Neil could make. Neither Dame nor C.J. rely on exceptional athleticism. Both are just entering their primes and should have at least five more seasons of performing at peak levels. Their games, especially C.J.'s, should age gracefully. Just look at how effective and efficient Chris Paul has remained into his mid-30s. C.J. doesn't have the court vision and passing of Steve Nash, but he has become a Nash level shooter. Nash didn't even peak until 32 and continued to play at all star level until 37.

Last November 21, I started a thread about the fact that we had five players in our rotation with single digits PERs. My initial conclusion was that our play at the power forward position was our biggest weakness:

Of course, at that time, the draft was over seven months away. So, I was advocating a trade to address our weakness at power forward. Well now, almost 11 months later, it is obvious Neil has addressed our needs at power forward, both current and future, through the draft (although getting that additional first round pick in the Nurkic trade was a big part of that).

Both Collins and Swanigan look like they are ready to contribute this season. Oh sure, there will be tons of rookie mistakes, but I'm willing to live with that for all of the good things these two will bring to our formerly weak front court play. We aren't winning a title this year. Let the young guys play and develop.

Both are obviously years away from reaching their peaks, but in this case, that's a good thing. Our young front court combined with our great back court, who are just entering their primes, definitely gives us a very wide window. Given that we aren't beating GSW this year, that is a good strategy and a good place to be. We will continue to rise as GSW, and HOU, OKC, SAS, CLE all begin to decline.

Our best shot at a title is likely 3 - 5 years out, but in the mean time it will be fun to watch this team grow into contention, from a borderline play off team, to a top four team in the West with HCA in the first round, to conference finalist and, hopefully, eventually NBA finalists and NBA champions. If we get there, thanks to our youth, we should remain contenders, or at least a top 4 team in the West, for multiple seasons, even as Dame and C.J. gradually slide past their primes.

Only one team a year wins the championship. I hope this group eventually gets there, but even several years of serious contention is fun for me as a fan. Remember how exciting it was to be a Blazers fan in the early and late 90s? Neither of those groups won a title, but with multiple finals and WCF appearances, those were still exciting times to be a Blazers fan.

BNN

 

I think we need to trade Vonleh. He's going to be a free agent, he hasn't really shown a ton of growth, and I don't really see a lot of minutes for him.

While I would think that we could maybe get him to sign an extension on the cheap, you just never know these days. There aren't a ton of young power forwards that have the tools that he has, and he's still young enough to develop into a solid player. I would just rather have Collins and Swanigan at this point.

 

...oh the nostalgia -- those 90s/early 2000s Blazers teams were a lot of fun!

 

I think you have to let Vonleh have a chance to compete. For two reasons. First, so you can showcase him--if he's buried behind the rooks then you won't get squat. Second, he still could be better than ZCo and Biggie because he can defend better than Biggie and potentially score better than ZCo.

I do agree that the only scenario that lets him stay with the team is that he blows up and you have to keep him. I don't see that happening with the qualities shown by the rooks.

 

Man... I spent a lot of time looking around trying to FIND an offensively dynamic swingman.... there just aren't many out there. The best you could hope for is Boston. They have a ton of young swingmen and not a lot of frontcourt depth.